Hey everyone! I'm posting another story! And for some bizarre reason (well not really bizarre) I do not own the Ducks. I'm just a poor teenager who will have to work all summer. This story takes place during the Duck's sophomore year in Luis's point of view. The story title is Spanish for 'the duck.'

Chapter 1: The Shortest and Worst Hockey Practice Ever

I happily unpacked my stuff in my dorm room, alone. I'm in a weird mood because I am actually excited to be back at Eden Hall. The three months of summer at home were too much for me. It seems going away to school has made me feel like I can't fit in with my large, eccentric family. That's why I'm glad to be alone finally.

I'm alone because I have no room mate. See, last year there were a lot of mix-ups with room assignments. They put all of us Ducks in rooms alphabetically, but instead of being with Goldberg, he was matched with Robertson, and I was with Reed. When Portman showed up, they tossed him in our room. Now, I love all my teammates, but sharing a two person room with both Bash Brothers is indescribable mental torture. When a room finally opened up, they were going to put Portman in it. However, Fulton and I threw the biggest fits, so I got my own room last February. And since the school tries to isolate us from the preppies as much as possible, they kept the room assignments the same, without giving me a roommate. I'm thrilled because at home I share a room with three of my brothers. Boy, do they get on my nerves.

"So this is what a single room feels like," said Guy as he entered my room. "Ready for practice?"

"I guess. Don't have much of a choice do I?" I answered.

"I still don't understand why we have to practice as soon as we move in," grumbled Charlie. "School hasn't even started yet."

"And if you all could have arrived on time last year, instead of wrecking the orientation assembly, we wouldn't have practice now," Ken called bitterly from his doorway across the hall. Coach Orion scheduled practice right before the assembly to avoid a scene like last year. Can't say I have a problem with that. I'll be here no matter what, and I don't need another bad start for this school year. That was embarrassing.

I am a little upset with what Coach Orion told us on the trip from the airport. Some guys in the grade ahead of us made varsity this year after not playing last year. Orion told us we would all be JV again because Coach Wilson doesn't like us. At least he was honest. Looks like we have to wait until we're juniors to move up. Not that I could have move up with my fantastic braking skills. Then again, after last year, I'm not sure I would want us to be split up. It's just too bad Adam will be on his own again to face varsity. At least we've settled our differences with him.

I grabbed my hockey bag and followed the guys out of my room. They made their way down the hall, reminding everyone it was time to head to practice. Adam came with us, saying he wouldn't mind skating around a bit.

To no one's surprise, Coach Orion was late. We, or well Charlie, decided that we should warm-up with a little cowboy roundup. He claimed this would not result in anything embarrassing. Well, what happened wasn't embarrassing, it was just painful, horrible, exactly what I was trying to avoid this year.

I'm not sure what went so wrong. I skated towards the end of the rink, toward the empty goal, fast like always. I tried to stop to stop, but guess what, I couldn't. I tried to jump over the goal, like I've done before. The glass hurts less than the goalposts when slamming into them, but somehow I didn't clear it. Next thing I knew, I was lying on my left side on the ice with pain shooting through my arm. I rolled onto my back to get my weight off my arm. I heard my teammates gather around.

"Oh man! Is he conscious?" Goldberg asked. I didn't answer.

"Give him room. We shouldn't move him if he hit his head. He could have a neck injury." Strange, Adam giving orders?

"You're the expert," Charlie conceded. "Everybody scoot back." I heard shuffling.

Averman began to babble. "But what do we do? Orion's not here yet. What do we do? We have to do something for him. He could die being unconscious with a head injury. What do we do?"

"Actually knock me out so I don't have to listen to you," I managed through clenched teeth, followed by a few incoherent Spanish swear words.

A collective gasp filled the air. "You're conscious. How do you feel, Luis?"

"I was never unconscious, Charlie. The pain in my arm is going to kill me though." I inhaled a quick breath of the cold air as I pushed myself into a sitting position with my right arm.

"Coach is going to kill us all if you're seriously hurt," stated Averman.

"Thanks for the concern," I replied while Guy elbowed him.

"What are you all doing over there?" I heard Coach Orion yell across the ice.

"Luis is hurt," explained Charlie as everyone scooted back to make a path for Coach.

"What happened?"

"We were warming up, and he couldn't stop, so he ran into the goal," Charlie explained.

"Should've guessed," Coach grumbled. I still wonder how I managed to get on this team without being able to stop consistently. "What hurts, Mendoza?"

"My left arm."

"Can you move it?" I started to bend my elbow, only to have the pain increase by a million. I cringed. Tears threatened to fall from my eyes. A couple actually got through.

"It might be broken. You all need to stop starting practice early. Moreau, Mr. Hollis is in his office. Go and get him," Coach ordered. Now why didn't we think to go get the school's trainer? "Portman, Reed, help him to the bench."

Without a word, the two picked me up in a fireman's carry, carefully leaning me towards Portman on my right and skated towards the bench.

"You two realize that it's only my arm that's hurt. I could have skated over here."

They didn't answer until they had set me down. "You shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Portman, you sound like you've been hanging around Dwayne to much."

"All we're saying is that you're hurt and should let us help you," replied Fulton. Aw, isn't that sweet? The big, bad Bash Brothers are just two softies on the inside. I should know after rooming with them.

"So how bad does it hurt now?" asked a very concerned Dwayne.

"On a scale of one to ten, a fifteen." My teammates looked shocked. Geez, the truth and my arm hurt.

"Is it really that bad?" asked Coach.

"Yeah." I can see me being out of quite a few games. Might as well lighten the mood a bit. "Unfortunately, I can't lie as well as Adam." That made everyone giggle.

"Well, I'm so glad you learned from my mistakes, Luis." Then, Mr. Hollis came in and sat down next to me with a first aid kit.

"Okay, everyone. Let's practice," ordered Coach. Everyone grumbled. The Bash Brothers made their way back onto the ice. "Five laps. We need to let Mr. Hollis take care of Mendoza." They grumbled more but obeyed. Adam sat down next to me on the right.

"Can you move your arm?" Mr. Hollis asked.

"I prefer not to." I gasped as he held my arm and bent it a little. I felt a couple more tears roll down my cheeks. He opened up the medical bag.

"Here, take a couple aspirin." I didn't even mind that I had no water. I was in pain. "Well, I'm going to wrap your arm with an ace bandage. You need to have this x-rayed. I'm pretty sure it's broken." Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

"How long will he be out?" Coach asked.

"It looks like a clean break. Should take six to eight weeks to heal." Well, my season's over before it started. We were quiet while Mr. Hollis loosely wrapped up my arm.

"Guess you'll be short a right wing, Coach," I announced.

"Oh, don't worry about that. You getting hurt made me forget my announcement," he replied.

"What announcement?" asked Goldberg. Everyone had finished their laps.

"I'm late because I was helping a new player register."

"Already found a replacement, Coach?" Russ asked.

"Not a replacement, Tyler. A new recruit. You all will meet him tonight, I'm sure, because he's going to be Mendoza's roommate."

I forgot about the pain I was in momentarily. "What do you mean? I don't want a roommate, especially some preppy snob that thinks he's all that with a bag of chips!"

"Coach, you know we don't take to new people easily," Charlie warned. "We don't have to replace Luis. He'll be better before we know it."

"This is a total diss to Luis. You can't just bring in somebody else and expect us to welcome them," Russ said.

"You all are absolutely right. Nothing good can come from new people. I realize that listening to Russ's hypocritical mouth." We were so shocked to hear Adam talk like that that we all shut up. Coach took the quiet as an opportunity to set us straight.

"He is not a replacement. If you see it like that, he'd be replacing Banks, not Mendoza. I've been trying to get him to accept this scholarship all summer, long before I knew Mendoza would get hurt. I am quite sure that he will not have any problems from any of you."

Fat chance. Then a thought dawned on me. "Well, what about my scholarship? Will I get sent home if I can't play?" My teammates looked as horrified by that idea as I felt.

"Goodness, no. I expect you to be back out here as soon as the doctor clears you." Yew. That was close. "I want you to check in with me when you return from the doctor." He turned towards my teammates. "Now, let's get to work." He started them on a shooting drill.

"It's time to take you to get that x-rayed," Mr. Hollis announced.

"Can I come?" Adam asked. "I don't have anything else to do."

"Sure, why not. You two go change and meet me outside my office." He left carrying the first aid kit.

"Can you make it to the locker room?" Adam said.

"Like I said before, my arm's hurt, not my legs."

"I know. I just don't want you to skate over there, not be able to stop, and slam your broken arm into the glass."

"Good point. We'll go very slowly." It took us like five minutes to edge around the rink to the locker room. Then it took another twenty to take my pads and skates off and to change into street clothes, even with Adam's help. I was glad that aspirin was beginning to set in.

As we made our way to Mr. Hollis's office, I asked Adam why he was so eager to come with me.

"Because one, it's no fun getting hurt and having to wait in all day alone in the doctor's office, and two, this will take long enough that we will miss the assembly."

"Good point. The less we have to listen to Dean Buckley's speeches on how we are the future, the better off we'll be."