Disclaimer: I do not own The Mighty Ducks. I totally wish I did, though.
The new kid, Peter Mark, went sliding down the ice after trying to go after the puck. At the other end of the frozen pond Goldberg threw his hands up in the air. "Guys, this is pointless!"
Charlie tried to stop only to skate into Terry. "Ooomp. Sorry." He said to his friend. "Look, this has a purpose! Everything happens for a reason."
Terry smirked at Charlie. "No problem, Spazway."
"Right, because screwing up will help us later?" Averman laughed. "That makes perfect sense."
Peter joined the others, "I don't know why you guys do this. It's stupid."
Jesse clenched his fist. "The grown ups are right. We need hockey." The past seven months had been hard on him and his brother. Mrs. Hall divorced her husband and moved away, leaving the boys with virtually one parent. The divorce affected the boys differently. Terry, the younger brother loved his mom very much and being the reasonable one tried to understand why their mom left them but he couldn't. He became quieter; the complete opposite of his brother. Jesse felt his mother was a hypocrite. She had always said that they had to stick together, but she left them. He began letting his anger get the best of him. Jesse now took it upon himself to protect his friends from people who could hurt them.
"Exactly!"
"We might not be good at it, but hockey's fun when you get use it." Connie said.
Goldberg chortled. "It's not fun at all! I'm going to be happy when the ice begins to melt."
"Yeah well I think you're going to fall through the ice before then." Karp told him, causing Goldberg to pale.
Averman frowned at the other boy. "Karp, you could pass as a mini John Candy."
"Shut up."
"Oooh, sorry Mr. Candy. Sir." When Guy saw Karp start to lunge toward Averman he jumped in front of him.
"What the heck? Can everyone just calm down?" Terry asked of his friends. "Maybe we should just go home?"
Charlie looked at his friends' frustrated expressions. "Maybe we should."
"No, we should stay. We have nothing else to do." Guy said. Jesse grinned at Guy. After meeting, Guy became Jesse's best friend. Jesse was surprised to find out the two had a lot in common such as: their mischievousness, their seriousness, ghost stories, annoying aunts, and their love of strawberry ice cream.
The freckle-faced boy shook his head, "No, we have nothing to do. You have a date with Connie-kins."
Connie scrunched up her face. "Connie-kins? I mean, really?" He shrugged.
"Leave them alone! They can't help it if they're in love." Goldberg said. He puckered his lips and made kissing noises. Guy looked calm, while his friend made fun of him.
"I think I'm going to throw up." Said Peter. "I seriously think I need a barf bag."
Goldberg continued and Jesse nodded his head. "Make that two barf bags."
"Oh just leave us alone." Connie whined. "You're just jealous."
Casey Conway walked along the sidewalk toward the kids. "Charlie, your mom is coming!" Terry remarked. "What did you do now?"
Charlie shook his head, "Nothing, I swear!" The kids scrambled around trying to make themselves appear busy. Casey's son clumsily made his way to meet his mom.
Casey said something to Charlie and then she yelled, "Connie come here, please."
Connie did as she was told, and the others followed nosily. Casey ignored the children watching. She said gently, "Your mother called me. You're going to spend the night tonight."
"With Charlie? That's so wrong!" Goldberg's said, with disgust obvious in his voice. Connie shrugged; her expression blank. "Okay."
"I went and got your stuff, so everything is already set." Casey told her.
"Thanks for having me, Ms. Conway." Connie smiled at the older woman.
Casey glanced down at her watch, "Shoot! I'm late for my shift." She directed her next statement at all the kids. "Mrs. Germaine is coming in a bit to walk you home."
After she left them, Guy turned to Connie. "Why are you spending the night at Charlie's?"
Connie fell back on the grass. "I don't know. You know what? I don't want to play any more hockey today."
Karp rolled his eyes at her. "We weren't even doing that before!"
"Shut up, man." Jesse told him. He dropped his hockey stick on the ice. His brother did the same.
"Guy, don't you think it's weird that Connie is going to spend the night with Charlie?" Goldberg dropped beside Connie.
Connie hit him. "Charlie and I used to spend the night at Terry and Jesse's place all the time."
Guy nodded, "It doesn't bug me at all."
Averman adjusted his glasses back onto his face. He frowned, "I wonder why Connie's mom wants her to stay at Charlie's tonight."
"Her parents are probably going out tonight, or something. No big deal." Charlie said. The tall brunette tasted blood as she bit her bottom lip.
An awkward pause followed and wasn't broken until Mrs. Germaine showed up.
Connie hugged Guy before she told him, "I'll see you at school."
Connie knew something was wrong at home. Something had been wrong for a while, she guessed. She knew there was nothing she could do. She wasn't even sure what was wrong.
"I found Candyland underneath the couch." Ms. Conway said as she got up from her knees. "We can play that."
"Sure, sounds like fun." Connie took the box and began to set the game up. "Erm, half the cards are missing."
Casey groaned. "Charlie, don't I always tell you every time you play a game make sure all the game pieces are there before you put it up?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"I guess we could watch a movie or something." Casey sighed. "'cept the VCR went out last week."
"It's alright, we're okay." Connie told her.
"Yeah, mom. Don't worry about us."
Casey laughed, "Who said I was looking for something for you two?"
"Ha ha, very funny mom."
Casey looked at Connie's backpack beside the couch arm. "You two did the homework assigned to you, right?" They nodded. "Did you understand it?"
Connie said slowly, "I had trouble with a few questions but I figured them out, after like forever."
"That's great, Connie!" Casey turned to her son, "What about you, Charlie?"
"I got through it all at least." Charlie said. Casey gave her son the look. "Jeeze, mom! That hurts!"
Connie faked a yawn, "I think I'm going to go to sleep."
"Aw, really?" Casey looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "You must be tired; it's only 7 o' clock."
Charlie told her, "We did a lot of stuff today at the pond."
Connie nodded in agreement even though that wasn't necessary true. They did a lot of falling and talking.
"Charlie you better go to bed too, in that case." Casey said. She watched over the two as they brushed their teeth to make sure they actually did brush them. She tucked him into his bed and her into the dark green sleeping bag on the floor. "Good night, you two."
"Good night mom."
"'Night, Ms. Conway."
Connie meant to grab a light sweater the next morning to pull over her shirt but her hand touched a note instead.
The paper was a scrap of notebook paper and all it said was, "I love you, dad."
Connie showed Charlie the paper. He shrugged.
"Come on, let's go to school." He said. They walked outside where Casey kissed them both good-bye.
"I'll see you both later. I washed your clothes last night so your mom won't have to tonight." Casey told her.
"Thank you Ms. Conway." Connie hugged her.
Guy's father searched the crowd of elementary students for his sons and Connie Moreau. Roger Germaine frowned at himself, finding his sons should be easy. About one hundred yards away he recognized the dirty blonde hair of his second son slightly above the crowd.
"Corin! Over here!"
Corin squeezed through the crowd trying to get to his father. "Hey, dad."
"Where's Connie and your brother?" Roger asked, glancing towards the growing crowd of kids.
Corin furrowed his brow. "Why do you want to know where Connie is?"
"Connie's going to stay with us for a couple of days."
"Why?"
"It's complicated."
"I'm sure it is." Corin rolled his eyes at his father. "Connie and Guy's teacher usually releases them late."
Meanwhile, in room 255 the teacher assigned her class science homework.
"Tonight's homework is 1 through 10." She wrote the numbers on the blackboard. "You're dismissed, now. Have a good afternoon."
The children darted out of their desks gathering their belongings to leave to go home. The teacher walked out of the room. Two kids remained in the classroom after saying good-bye to their friends. The girl sighed, "Guy, I'm scared. I don't understand why I can't go home."
"I don't either. But there's one thing I know." Guy said.
"What's that?"
"I'll never let anyone hurt you."
"Guy…"
"I know. I know you can take care of yourself but I can't help but want to keep you safe." Guy told her. She quickly hugged him as the teacher came back into the room.
"What are you two doing in here? Go home!"
"Yes, ma'am." Guy and Connie exited the room. They began to walk outside to meet Guy's dad. Connie turned to Guy, "I have an idea." Guy blinked. "I dare you to kiss me."
Guy stopped walking and Connie did too. "What?"
"Just do it."
"Um, okay." Guy closed his eyes and leaned forward. A fraction of a second passed and he heard Connie giggle. Guy opened his eyes and Connie ran as fast as she could away. Guy ran after her finally catching up with her near the doors that led to outside.
"What was" Pant. "that?" Pant.
Huff. "Sorry. I couldn't kiss you." Huff. "But it was funny." Connie told him. He opened the door for her.
"You're the one who told me to kiss you!" Guy exclaimed.
"I know." Connie smiled. "I'll kiss you someday. Look there is your dad and brother." She pointed at them.
"Everything's going to be okay, okay?" Connie nodded and the two friends joined the awaiting party.
A/N: I'm so very sorry it took a month to get this up. I really hope you all liked it and aren't mad at the wait. I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed and put this on your alerts. A very special thank you goes out to Guessgirl and Chellifornia for sticking with me. I hope you keep reading! All of you!
