Disclaimer: I don't own The Mighty Ducks.
You don't know the exact moment you realized you wanted to be a Duck. That you'd rather be a Duck than a Hawk.
It was a Sunday night, the night before school started after Winter Break. You used to like school, if only for the social aspects. You hated school now. None of the Hawks liked you, so you were alone most of the day.
An outsider. Again.
You hated how all of your friends went to a different school. How could you sit with all of your friends and team at lunch instead of alone like you've been for the past few weeks, and probably the rest of your middle school life. High school, probably, too.
Your mom didn't like it either, but there was nothing she could do. School lines were drawn and they were final. Your father was the only one that liked it.
"You may have won the Championship with them, but that was only because of you. YOU scored the first goal," your father had said when your mother and you had complained.
Maybe it was the North Stars game. You certainly had fun on the ice before the game and during the game. Reilly certainly never gave you guys treats. It was always hard work and no play. But fun only lasted so long. You had seen Larson and McGill, and hid from them, but you hated it. Couldn't you just have fun with your teammates, and hopefully one day friends, without someone punishing you?
Or maybe it was the Championship when you realized; where you saw how awful Coach Reilly was against other teams. Had you really been willing to do anything to get into Reilly's good graces? How had you not realized how awful you were being to others? You had apologized when the Ducks had visited you in the hospital later that night, but it still hurt you knowing that you had done that. Like, who would intentionally knock you into the post and almost give you a concussion?
Or maybe it was during the Championship after you had been knocked into the goalpost. When it had gone in and you were lying on the stretcher when Jesse was smiling and said he'd obey your request about kicking some Hawk butt. Or when your other three teammates high fived you back?
But you think the answer was when you had become friends with them. When had that been? You didn't know that either.
Fall asleep! You try and will your mind, but it doesn't work.
Your mind drifts to the upcoming Saturday. Charlie had called you up and said the Ducks were playing a pick up game on Saturday and they needed all the Ducks.
That meant you.
To them, you were an official Duck. Jesse had even said that when he was in the hospital and all the Ducks and Bombay were around you.
They usually played on weekends, which made your weekdays at school better, but there was no denying that everytime you saw the Ducks somewhere near Edina, for whatever reason, or whenever you were near their part of the town, you always smiled and talked to them—even Peter and Karp no matter how much they seemed to dislike you at the beginning—for about half an hour or more.
You look over at the clock: 11:24. You have to be up by 6:30 tomorrow. You internally groan, but you want to figure this out. Why was it your mind always worked overtime when you were supposed to be at school the next day?
Your mother knocks on the door and you pretend to be asleep as she walks in.
"I know you're awake," she says as she turns on the light and you open your eyes to the brightness. "What's on your mind?"
"I'm trying to pinpoint the exact moment when I realized that I wanted to be a Duck, not a Hawk," you answer.
"Ahh," your mother responds. "You know when I think it was?"
"When?"
"When you came home from that Stars game. You looked so happy then, even if you did see Larson and McGill. You had a smile on your face all throughout the rest of the night. You said you had a wonderful time and meeting two of the North Stars was probably your favorite thing. How the jumbotron said 'Welcome Gordon Bombay and the Ducks' and how you were so excited that that had happened. I don't think it was just because Bombay had a present for playoffs, I think it was more because you were having fun with the team."
"I think you're right."
You think your mom is correct, but you can't be sure. She kisses you goodnight and leaves you to your continuous thoughts.
But when did they start liking me? You think and then internally groan.
Questions came with more questions and that meant more thoughts and no more sleep.
Probably around the same time you started liking them, you think. You agree with yourself but still don't know when that was. Definitely not because you scored and helped win the games. Charlie, Guy, Connie and Jesse, the other four best players besides Fulton, could have done it.
But it wasn't like you had to figure this out tonight. There was school, and you could always figure it out tomorrow.
But as you're drifting off to sleep, you realize that the exact moment didn't matter. That pinpointing the minute you started realizing you like the Ducks, and being on the Ducks, more than the Hawks would just make you think of your past with the Hawks and how awful you were and how much you hated them.
To you, it didn't matter that you didn't know the exact second the Ducks mattered more than the Hawks. All that mattered was that you loved being on the Ducks more than the Hawks, and nothing could ever change that.