Forever and Always | Adam Banks

Eden Hall Tradition

The entire JV team was eating lunch together, no longer hostitlity between Ellie and the rest of the team. Charlie had apologized at their Saturday morning practice, realizing that he had been acting like a grade-A douchebag. Ellie was a Duck, and she had never once proven otherwise. He was also appreciative that she had turned down Orion's offer for him. She was one of his best friends and didn't deserve the words he had said to her. 

"Check out the new jackets, guys," Averman points out as the Varsity team walks toward them. Despite not being a fan of the feud going on between the two teams, Ellie did find the prank the JV team pulled to be funny. However, she was a little upset that they had decided to freeze Adam's stuff too. Everyone else on the team saw Adam as one of them, and unfortunately Ellie wasn't able to say anything that would change their minds. 

"Hey, congrats on the Blake game," Riley congratulates them. Though, no one on the team believed he was being sincere about it. Riley had been threatening them about his dad and the rest of the board taking away their scholarships since the first day of school. 

"Yeah, right. We tied," Charlie responds, still upset over the tie. The Blake game was a game they should've won, but they fell apart in the final period. It was an embarrassment for the JV team. 

"Hey, a point's a point. We're all Warriors now. You guys proved your guts. You all set for dinner Friday?" Ellie looks around at her teammates, who wearing the same confused look she was. What was Riley talking about?

"Dinner?" Russ asks, wanting him to clarify what dinner he was talking about. This was the first they had heard about any dinner. 

"Well, it's an Eden Hall tradition. Varsity got to treat the freshmen to dinner. So, round up your posse and meet us at 6:00 at the Minnesota Club, downtown. Anybody need a ride, we can take you. I mean, you guys do like steak and seafood, right?" While the rest of the team seemed thrilled about the invitation, Ellie was a bit apprehensive toward the idea. Riley has hated them since the beginning. Whether it was a tradition or not, it seemed unlikely that Varsity team actually wanted to go to dinner with them. 

"Yeah, we do," Charlie speaks for the team. It was true; the team did enjoy steak and seafood. Plus, they would be foolish to pass up a free dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in town. 

"Look, I don't like you pukes, alright?" Cole started talking while the rest of the team walked away, except Adam. "But this is a tradition. At Eden Hall, I learned to care about tradition."

"It's cool," Adam tells his old teammtes. The Varsity had told him all about this tradition, which started the year Eden Hall got its hockey teams. He thought it was nice that Varsity was extending an olive branch to the JV team. It seemed like the feud was finally going to be over. 

The team had been more persuaded to go once Adam had told them it was going to be fine. Ellie looked at her boyfriend, as she was always able to tell when he was lying. However, it seemed he was telling the truth. After the prank the rest of the team had pulled, Ellie for sure thought Varsity was going to want revenge, but maybe they had decided it was time for a truce. 

Once school was over, Ellie waited in the normal spot her and Adam met at so they could walk to the rink together before practice. Since they were no longer on the same team, this was something they had been doing to spend a little more time together. After a couple minutes had passed, Ellie was starting to wonder where Adam was. He never took this long to meet her.

"Hey. Sparks, right?" Ellie looked up and in front of her was Riley. She was surprised he even knew who she was. The two had never spoken a word to each other.

"Yeah..." She responds, hesitantly. She had no idea why Riley was talking to her, as it seemed he wanted no association with JV team. "Why?"

"Just trying to learn some of your names," Riley tells her, doing his best to keep up the facade him and the rest of the Varsity team was playing. "You waiting for Banks?"

Riley had been taking notice of the couple ever since the Blake game. They seemed attached at the hip and Riley couldn't have that. She was the only remaining JV player that was still talking to Banks, and that needed to change. Banks was on Varsity now, but he wasn't exactly acting like one of them. Riley figured the best way for Banks to be one of them was to cut off all ties to the JV team.

"Oh, um, yeah. We usually walk to practice together." Ellie wasn't sure how Riley knew she was waiting for Adam, but she was hoping that maybe he knew where he was. 

"Last I saw, he was still at his locker. I'd check there." Ellie quickly nodded a thanks to Riley and headed toward Adam's locker. His helpfulness was odd, but maybe Varsity really was turning over a new leaf. 

When Ellie got to the end of the hall that Adam's locker was at, she immediately froze. Adam's back faced her, not knowing that she could see everything that was going on. Some blonde cheerleader had her hand on his arm, laughing at something he had said. The space between them was almost nonexistant. Ellie couldn't believe what she was seeing. Never once did Adam give her the idea that he would leave her for someone else. The past four years, he only ever had eyes for her. Adam wouldn't do this to her, but she couldn't deny what was right in front of her. 

Ellie was no longer interested in seeing what was going on just a few feet away. She turned back down the hallway and headed to the rink. She was hoping that practice would be able to get her mind off the events that had happened today. Adam wouldn't cheat on her, so whatever she saw must have been something else. However, her mind kept taking her back to the what if's. She was certainly going to need more than one practice to wrap her head around what was going on. 

Author's Note:

Ugh, not me causing drama. And also, fuck Riley. He just had to start the drama between Ellie and Adam. The man just doesn't know peace, huh? I apologize for what's to come in the next chapter