It's Maggie Brooks's first year at Eden Hall Academy and she can't wait to dive into a school year full of fun. Down to earth and understanding good girl, Maggie finds herself getting into a crowd her brother and his friends don't necessarily want...
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After school, Maggie had noticed a few of the Ducks were missing when she approached them in the hallway with Neveah, who stared at all of them equally, eyeing up a few a bit more than the others. Maggie couldn't care, it was Neveah, she always stared. Russ, Ken and Julie weren't to be seen, but the rest of them seemed to be there. She could only tell because they always traveled in groups together, always remaining together.
The group have the girls smiles when they approached. Neveah pursed her lips and darted her eyes elsewhere when Luis Mendoza got a look of her. She found him cute, but she didn't want him to know that. Playing hard to get was something Neveah found fun.
Charlie stuck his tongue to his inner cheek, looking at the girls, mainly Maggie, as he didn't have much to say to her. He stood at the front of the group with Connie to his right and Fulton to his left. Maggie wasn't intimidated, not by these boys and two girls. "Rick send you here?" Charlie asked.
"Charlie." Connie gritted, hitting his shoulder, but he wasn't phased by it. Connie looked back to Maggie with a kind smile. "He's nice, trust me."
She nodded in return. "I believe you."
"How come you hang around Varsity?" Guy asked.
Maggie glanced to him, blond shaggy hair. "My brother's on the team." She answered. "They're like my older brothers most of them." She mentioned with a shrug.
"And you like hanging with them?" Averman asked. "They're a bunch of mean goons."
She laughed at his remark, a few of them knew her brothers played hockey, but weren't quite aware that one of her brothers were Scooter from Varsity. He was the nicest of the bunch. And her other brother, Danny, attended the school but left once the bell rang to do hockey elsewhere, get his studies done, and hang out with friends.
"I recall. I'm sorry about that."
"Don't sweat it." Dwayne spoke up, being hit in the shoulder by Goldberg.
"The Varsity boys have always been full of themselves, and no, I'm not on their side...Actually, I wanted to say that I wanted to help you guys."
"No." Charlie shook his head.
"Oh come on."
"She can help."
"Why not?"
"Really?"
The boys groaned and hit Charlie, who stared down at Maggie and her odd friend, Neveah. "If you let me finish I was gonna say because you don't know a thing about hockey. What good is that for us?"
"I might not know a thing about hockey, but I know the council members, who, might I remind you, aren't really liking you guys because of that tie yesterday. Besides, I've noticed you guys are having troubles."
"We are not." Fulton shook his head.
"I don't mind." Luis shrugged.
"Me neither." Neveah spoke.
"Who's that?" Goldberg pointed.
"She's good looking." Averman whispered to Goldberg and Charlie rolled his eyes, keeping his stare locked on the two shorter girls.
Maggie turned and Neveah, who stood a bit taller, fixed her posture and stood up straight. With a smile, she stepped forward as Maggie watched. "Name's Neveah. That's heaven spelt backwards." She winked.
"Priss, too." Charlie said.
"Hey!" Maggie called. "You don't know what you're talking about. For all you know, we could call you loser cause you're brats who live on the streets." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Not like you don't."
She scoffed with raises brows. "I can see why Banksie left."
"That's not the reason." Fulton interjected.
"Back off, Fulton." Charlie said, approaching Maggie, who remained with fixed arms across her chest as she eyed the boy, not afraid of him. "Just stay away from us and go back to your stuck up friends and brother. I'm sure his friends would want that."
Neveah placed a hand to Maggie's shoulder. "Why don't we go...If they don't want us here, we'll escort ourselves elsewhere." She huffed, glaring at Charlie, who she was not fond of.
"Let's go." Maggie nodded, walking off. "Hope Varsity doesn't kill your rep. See the rest of you around." She waved to the rest of the team and Connie turned her smile into a frown, disliking the way that conversation ended dreadfully.
"They already have thank you very much!" Charlie called, throwing a hand into the air.
The team turned and surrounded Charlie, staring at their once captain who had let them down. The kind girl who knew her way around the school had just been rejected by the newbie. None of them really liked the way Charlie had treated those two girls because they were nice and welcoming when no one else was. They'd offered help and Charlie had to refuse it, the boys and Connie believed that even though neither girl knew how to play hockey, they could help in other ways.
Maggie shook her head as she approached a picnic table outside, leaning back against it and Neveah had taken her seat on the wooden bench. Their books tossed onto the table as the wind blew lightly. Maggie turned and placed her hands down on the table, taking her seat. "No wonder Linda doesn't like that guy." Maggie shook her head.
"Oh, I signed her petition the other day."
"I know," Maggie nods. "I suggested she see you guys."
Neveah sighed. "Don't let those jocks get to your head." She said, opening her books and grabbed a pencil from her bag.
"I'm not." She grumbled. "I'm just wishing that Charlie guy would have the decency to say 'no thanks' in a nicer way."
Junior Varsity she felt was a team with much passion for the sport, if not, they wouldn't be at her school in the first place. She knew they were there for a reason and it wasn't to bash heads with Varsity, it was to play hockey. Whatever Charlie said wasn't going to stop Maggie, especially not his teammates who grew fond of her over the last while, but today especially got them liking her.
Kids began leaving the courtyard on buses, cars or by foot. Maggie had watched them walk by as Neveah was explaining a math question to her, who hadn't heard, too busy thinking and watching the students leave. She was going to catch a ride home with Scooter and Neveah would join, they had a bedroom to clean up since they trashed it the night before having fun.
"Mags, are you listening to me?" Neveah said, tossing her pencil across the table to her best friend.
Maggie looked down, escaping her trance, and picked up the pencil, passing it back. "No, sorry."
"I was saying, who cares about any of them. You never bothered with them before, why now?"
She shrugged. "I don't know." She declared truthfully, unsure herself why that team of misfit kids made her like them. Was it because of one person or all of them? Because Varsity said not to mess with them and she wanted to disobey them? Perhaps that was reason, it was what she'd been doing for the last bit, but now, she wondered if that was the real reason.
