"So what happened?" Fulton Reed was sitting on his bed in the dorm room he shared with his team mate and best friend Dean Portman.

Dean smiled "Nothing, I swear. She turned bright red and pretty much ran out of the locker room" he replied finally letting out the laugh he'd been holding in ever since it happened.

"Poor Julie, do you think she'll recover from the sight of it?" Fulton laughed. Julie Gaffney was the teams leading goalie.

"Man she loved it" Dean laughed and Fulton threw his pillow at him shaking his head.

……………………………

"Hey are you okay?" Connie Moreau asked her team mate and best friend Julie Gaffney.

Julie had been debating all afternoon whether to tell Connie what happened in the locker room after that morning's practice. She knew that once she told Connie, she may as well have told the rest of the team. That was the way the Ducks worked. Tell one, they tell another and so on until the entire team (and possibly the entire school) knew what was going on.

Julie sighed "I spose I'd better tell you before Dean goes and spreads it around and makes himself look like the stud" she started.

Connie's mouth dropped. "Wait, something happened with Dean? And what? Stud?" Connie interrupted.

Julie shook her head. "Let me finish" she said "I thought everyone had left after practice this morning so I went to have a shower and when I opened the stall door, there was Dean" Julie paused for effect "In all his glory!" she finished.

That did it for Connie, she burst out in a fit of giggles and couldn't seem to stop

"CONNIE!" Julie exclaimed, "Come on, it wasn't that funny" Julie protested but she couldn't help but smile herself. If it was Connie who had accidentally walked in on Dean Portman in the shower she would find it impossible to stop laughing too.

"Yes it is" Connie managed to get out before she started laughing again. Julie let herself laugh with Connie for a little while until a thought popped into her head. She immediately stopped laughing and threw her head into her hands, sighing.

Connie stopped laughing and took notice "What's wrong? Don't you see the funny side of things, we finally have some good ammo for Portman's lame wisecracks" Connie reasoned almost giddy with the thought of having the perfect comeback for Dean's sexist jokes which was usually aimed at her and Julie.

"Yeah, I know but its not that" Julie said sadly.

"Then what?" Connie sat up on the edge of her bed and looked at Julie.

"What's gonna happen when Scooter finds out? You know he already hates Dean and its no secret that Dean hates him but we both know a fight's going to break out over one of Portman's stupid comments and then Scooter's going to get mad at me and want me to stop hanging out with the guys on the team" Julie looked seriously worried.

Scooter was Julie's boyfriend and a member of the school's Varsity Hockey Team, the Junior Varsity Ducks' No. 1 arch enemies.

Connie thought about her reply carefully "Oh come on Julie, Scooter wouldn't make you not hang out with us. He's a good guy remember?" Connie said with the realisation that she hardly knew Scooter at all.

"You don't know Scooter like I do" was all Julie said and she could have kicked herself the second she said it. She knew that Scooter was a great guy but there had been a few occasions recently when he'd gotten a little violent with her. Nothing physical, just the tone in his voice and the look in his eye that made Julie shiver with fear. She'd never told anyone about that side of Scooter as she knew that the infamous "Bash Brothers" (ie Dean and Fulton) would take it as a personal threat, as would all of the Ducks. Julie was one of their own.

"I guess I'd better tell him" Julie said finally dreading the moment.

Connie nodded her agreement "Yeah I think that's the best idea, I mean if it was me, I'm sure Guy would want to know from me before anyone else told him. That way it would seem like it wasn't such a big deal" she said.

"But it isn't a big deal" Julie reminded her smiling a little at the memory.

"JULIE GAFFNEY!" Connie exclaimed catching that little smile "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are actually quite happy with what you saw" Connie said before launching herself onto Julie's bed where Julie was sitting.

"I want to know everything" she said getting settled for a discussion about one of the hottest players on the Ducks team.