Scoring The Hat- Dwayne Robertson

Five

"Hey, it's Maggie, right?"

She turned on her heels to see who'd spoken her name. The voice seemed familiar, like she'd heard it before, but she didn't know who it was. Maggie was leaving the arena after telling her brother she was heading to a friend's house for the night and to tell their mother. Folding her arms across her chest, she nodded with a smile, approaching the hockey player down the hall, getting ready to change into his regular clothes.

It'd been almost two weeks since the first day of school. JV wasn't having it quite easy. At dinner back home, her father mentioned how exceptional the Ducks were but that Coach Orion couldn't get past their 'Duck' ways and influences. Her brother, Scooter, didn't really mind what was said about JV. So long as it wasn't his team and her other brother, Danny, spent his days at Eden Hall, but played hockey in a different local city league rather than high school level.

Out of all of them, Dwayne did seem rather chill compared to some of his teammates. She'd also been becoming friends with other freshmen Adam Banks. Considering her brother was on the team, she had met Adam through him because he'd been bumped up a level. She was quite surprised to see such a young kid on the higher level teams, but it showed that he had drive for the game and was willing to know more.

"It is. And Dwayne, right?" She approached.

"Yes, Ma'am." He replied.

She smiled at his accent, it was sure different compared to most people. She figured he was from the south, the hat had given her a clue, but the accent and kindness concluded it. "Texas?" She questioned.

He nodded. "Sure am. Austin."

"Hmm." She pondered. "Sounds dumb, but when I used to think of Texas, I used to think of total desert with old wooden buildings and cacti."

"Some places seem that way, but Texas looks like it does here. Just hotter, less wet. You know." He shrugs.

"Never thought of it that way."

"Yeah, we ain't a total wasteland." He explained. "Like, my folks got a farm. We got goats 'n sheep an' pigs." He mentioned.

"I should've seen that coming."

"Seen what comin'?"

"Well," She shifted her weight and brought a piece of hair behind her ear. "That you're a farm boy, too."

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked, furrowing his brows to the city girl.

She shook her head. "No, it's just different compared to us snobs."

"Oh, I don't think you're a snob, Maggie."

She looked away with a small smile. The compliment was lovely, he was a lovely boy. He truly was and she didn't know why she didn't introduce herself sooner. She'd watched him and his teammates the first few days get picked on. Now, she wanted to be their friends.

"Oh," She remembered. "I don't know if you're friends with Adam Banks or not, but do you know where I could find him?" He furrowed his brows at her question. "We're partners for our English novel."

"Oh, yeah." He nods. "If he ain't here, he's doin' his work up in his room or he's playin' hockey round here or at his house."

"Thanks." She thanked him. She glanced down, she needed to go because her friend was waiting for her outside so they could catch the bus. However, she was having a nice conversation with Dwayne that it seemed wrong to just leave. "I have to get going, but I'll see you around."

"Sure." He nods. "We got a game Thursday if ya wanna watch. We ain't too bad."

She laughed at his remark. "I'd say you're all rather good if you got scholarships to such a school." She points around at their surroundings. "See ya."

"Bye."

Leaving with her friend, she'd gone home.

The next day, Maggie yawned into her arm after closing her locker door. Arriving to her history class, she'd taken her seat beside Neveah, who was staring at Luis Mendoza, who was staring at another girl. More than one girl to be exact. Maggie wondered why Neveah always found the 'bad' ones her type. Not that Luis was bad in any way, but why would a fourteen and a half year old kid go looking for a seventeen and a half year old girl?

"Hey," Charlie spoke up, hitting the back Fulton's chair. The boy turned and looked back, the teacher was still preparing things for the class. "She's the girl hanging around with Varsity, right?"

Fulton looked forward again and looked across the room towards the front of the class where Maggie Brooks sat beside her best friend, both pointing to something in a textbook. "Yeah. Why?"

Charlie shrugged.

"What if we messed with her?"

"Charlie, Man," Dwayne began and looked to the boys. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Russ furrowed his brows. "Look who's got the hots for a snob."

Dwayne barely knew the girl, but after conversing with her the day before, he realized she wasn't snobby like everyone made her seem. She was very well willing to be his friend and spoke to him like he was like any other person there. Maggie didn't care for some social status around school, she liked true friends, not back stabbers. She gave everyone a shot.

"Do not." Dwayne shot back defensively. It was a first.

Charlie leaned back in his chair, he disliked every person there except for his teammates and possibly Linda. "Dwayne, she's a nice girl. I'm sure." Charlie began. "But we got it out for Varsity and she's constantly with them. Might as well use that to our advantage, right?"

"I'm in." Russ nodded.

"Just don't kill the girl whatever you do." Fulton adds.

Charlie nods. "Course not. We're just gonna show Varsity who's boss."

"How about you start slow?" Fulton spoke. "Invite her to the game tomorrow."

"Yeah, if she shows up, Varsity will have to question her why she showed." Russ nods.

"Good idea, Fulton."

Dwayne did not, in any way, have new feelings for the snob. He did not think she was snob as much as she seemed to be to other people. He didn't know her enough yet, but he found her quite fun to speak to. Which meant he didn't mind being friends with her. Adam was already friends with her and that was because he was a shy boy stuck with a bunch of older boys who prevented him from seeing his friends. Maggie became a new friend of his and the boys wanted her to watch out for him, to make sure he remained within their group, to which Maggie found terrible.