The next day, the principal called a special assembly for all of their students at Craftswood Academy.

Principal Thompson waited for all of her students to be seated. As they were, she stood up on the platform and spoke on the microphone.

"Students, I called this assembly as there is a special announcement that will affect this school. Some of you may have heard that Stonebrook Academy are under reconstruction as they are redeveloping parts of their building. Whilst their school may still be open, certain facilities will be closed. This is related to this assembly as our school's partnership with Stonebrook Academy will allow them to share our facilities."

The students started murmuring with each other in hushed whispers. Principal Thompson regained their attention back on her as she continued.

"This means that starting by tomorrow, there will be an influx of students who will attend this school as they will be using the facilities that aren't available at Stonebrook. These facilities include the science department, the gymnasium plus the equipment, the school field and the hockey rink."

Hearing the last sentence sent alarm bells ringing in Adrian's ear. 'Does this mean we have to share the same space with the Eagles?'

Most of the Ravens were familiar with the some of the Eagles - even before they officially joined the team. There were many reasons why they didn't get along.

Fighting often happened in the rink as part of the sport, fighting happened off the rink as well due to outside aggression. There has been some personality differences between the players that caused dislike between them, and of course their competition for superiority.

Adrian has had some history with some of the Eagles. That included the one who threatened to choke him and now Sinclair who seemed to try to be better than him at everything.

"I expect all of you to be fully accommodating and make this school proud by setting a kind and welcoming environment. Thank you all." Principal Thompson left the stage as the students went back to talking about the news.

~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian called a team meeting with Coach Taylor as they had all learned about the merger.

Sitting in the locker room all together, Adrian turned towards his coach. "Coach, tell me none of this is real." Adrian asked his coach. "Please don't tell me we have to share everything with those barbarians a.k.a the Eagles."

The rest of the team shouted in agreement as they disliked the idea of sharing all of their resources and their facilities with the enemy.

"Now team I know this is all sudden and unexpected but this is all true." Coach Taylor announced.

Chatter within the team continued as they all expressed their hatred about the merger.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

"No fucking way."

"What the shit?!"

Coach Taylor attempted to gain control of the team. He blew his whistle loudly which silenced the room. "I know everyone isn't thrilled about this but think about the opportunity. We can all learn a lot from each other and help improve our skills."

"More like they need to learn from us." Adrian snickered which earned a laugh from the team.

Coach Taylor ignored Adrian as he continued. "Those people could be our future teammates or even our friends if you guys give them a break."

Coach Taylor turned to look at Adrian. "Not all of them are as bad as you guys are making them out to be."

"Was that directed at me?" Adrian asked sarcastically.

"Give them a chance..." These were Coach Taylor's final words before leaving the locker room.

The conversation between the team continued once the door closed.

Adrian stood up from the bench and started pacing the room.

"So what happens next?" Callum asked the group.

Adam replied. "There's not much we can do, we just have to bare down and be civil with them."

Adrian continued pacing the room as his blood pressure began to increase. Thinking to himself;

'That's more time I have to spend around Sinclair.'

'More time I have to see everyone praising his ass off.'

'More I have to see his stupid, pretty boy face.'

"Pretty boy?" Adam asked Adrian.

Adrian was confused, "Huh?"

"You just said 'pretty boy face', who are you talking about?" Adam explained.

Adrian didn't realise he was heard - he didn't even realise he said that. "Nothing. Don't matter."

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