Alaska | Adam Banks

life-threatening problems

CHAPTER TWENTY | LIFE-THREATENING PROBLEMS

*spoilers for Ireland, read with knowledge of the reminder*

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When I awoke, I was slightly confused. I didn't see any light trying to peek through my eyelids, so that made me think that my sleep schedule was just way off and I didn't even realize it. There was no way I had been asleep for more than a couple of hours. 

The suspicious thing about me waking up was the itching urge that I got. 

Once it was on my leg, so I shifted to get rid of it. 

Then it was on my torso, so I raised my arm to scratch at it. 

When it finally reached my neck, I had had enough and sat up, furiously scratching. 

Then I felt the itching sensation all over my body. Groaning loudly and still itching, I stood up and reached to turn my lamp on. Rubbing all over, I looked at my arms to see what the hell was happening. 

Ants. 

A shrill scream escaped my mouth as I frantically began scratching and removing Adam's sweatshirt from my body. 

I eventually felt nothing else other than stinging pain all over, and went to open my door and run to the restroom down the hall. The thing was that my door wouldn't open. I kept pulling and tugging at it but it wouldn't budge. 

When the door finally gave way, I ripped it open as hard as I could and exited the dorm. I heard scuffling and screams from down the hall and I rushed to check it out, despite the protesting of my body. 

I turned the corner to see the varsity boys running out of their dorms and also itching all over. And just past that I saw a bunch of kids, laughing loudly. Not just any kids, though. The Ducks. They did this? 

I pushed my way through the frantic boys and made my way to them. When they saw me, a few stopped laughing, but most of them just stared. Charlie was in the middle of them, and he narrowed his eyes as we made eye contact. 

I was absolutely furious. 

"What the hell, Charlie?" I shouted over all the noise. 

He didn't say anything, but when he opened his mouth to do so, I harshly cut him off. 

"What the actual hell is wrong with you? I know those boys hate you and bully you, but ants? Seriously? Someone could be having an allergic reaction!" My expression must have been scary because I saw him take a tiny step back. 

"Oh, please, Jensen. Don't act like you care about them!" Charlie shot back. 

"They may be absolute pricks and a bunch of idiots, but they're my teammates. I care more about them than I do you lot at the moment!"

I felt a presence come to stand next to me, and I didn't have to turn to know it was Rick. 

"This is for making us pay for dinner, assholes," Charlie snapped at us, sending a very harsh glare at us. 

"We're settling this. You Ducks don't belong here!" Rick told the boy and returned the glare. I didn't show it, but his words hit close to home for me, so I was sure he struck a nerve for Charlie. 

"We'll take you anytime, anywhere," Charlie said confidently. 

"Dawn. Meet us at the rink at dawn. After this, there will be no mercy for you." Rick spat, turning to our teammates. "Let's go."