"This room is huge!" Tammy looked around the dorm room and smiled. The room she'd shared with Bec in California had been about a third of the size of this one.

"I know" Bec replied dumping her bag on the floor. Dean Buckley had long since left the girls to get settled in.

"So which bed do you want?" Tammy asked knowing that Bec was a little fussy about where she slept.

"That one" Bec pointed to the bed by the wall.

"Fine, I'll take this one" Tammy dumped her own bag on the bed by the window. She liked to see the moon through the window at night anyway.

"So lets get unpacked then" Bec indicated to the boxes that had been marked either "Tamara" or "Rebecca". Their ex-coaches in California had organised for their stuff to be shipped to Minnesota ahead of time.

"God I hate my name" Tammy cringed when she saw her full name printed on the box.

"Yeah me too" Bec agreed picking up a box with her name on it.

The girls set to work placing various posters on the walls and putting trophies, books, photos, cds, etc on the shelves.

Tammy paused when she pulled out an old photo of herself and her old Pee Wee hockey team, the Ducks, posing with their trophy after they'd won the State Championships.

She had forgotten all about this photo. Smiling she placed it up on the shelf next to her bed.

"Tam what time is it?" Bec asked knowing Tammy would be the one out of the pair who actually bothered to wear a watch.

"Nine thirty, why?"

"Shit didn't the Dean say there was an assembly at nine?" Bec smacked her forehead in realisation.

"Oh crap! Let's go" Tammy dropped whatever she was holding on the bed and raced out the door with Bec in tow.

They reached the building that Dean Buckley had pointed out to them earlier and were surprised to find that the doors were locked.

"Now what do we do?" Tammy asked hoping she wasn't going to get into trouble on her first day.

"Wait out here and try to blend with the others when they come out?" Bec suggested.

"I guess" Tammy replied and sat down on the grass waiting for the doors to be opened again.


After what seemed like an eternity, the girls heard chairs scraping on the wooden floor and a stampeded of footsteps as the students at Eden Hall exited the building.

"Hey there's Rick" Bec informed Tammy as they scanned the crowd looking for a place that didn't have them standing out like dog's balls.

"Rick" Bec cried out dragging Tammy into the crowd behind her.

"Hey I was hoping to see you two again" Rick grinned as he stopped and waited for the girls to catch up.

"Did you see the spectacle the new JV Hockey team made in there?" Rick asked with an obvious look of distaste on his face.

"No we um kinda missed the assembly by accident" Bec whispered hoping no one important like, say Dean Buckley was standing behind them.

"No kidding? Well the school has brought in a new JV team that has kicked the others out of hockey, including my younger brother, and if that wasn't enough they actually pulled the stage apart as they fell over each other. I've never seen such idiots in all of my life" Rick explained as they walked along.

It didn't escape Tammy's attention that his hand had been placed on her lower back as he guided her across the lawn.

"Wow" Tammy replied.

"And I seen that Latino kid eyeing up Mindy" an enormous blond guy cut in.

"Tammy, Bec, this is Biff Cole my vice-captain" Rick introduced the new stranger to the girls.

"Hi" the girls said politely.

Tammy couldn't help but wonder if he was missing a few brain cells. Must be from too much hockey.

"So what's your first class then?" Rick ignored Cole's whining about Mindy. Didn't Cole realise that his own girlfriend was actually Cindy and that Rick and Mindy had broken up last week.

Besides, he thought Tammy was a much prettier girl.

Tammy peeked at her schedule and made a face "Ugh American History" she winced. She hated all kinds of history. Too many names, faces and dates to remember.

"Let me see" Rick gently took the schedule from her.

"Wow, you're a Freshman?" he asked amazed. Tammy sure didn't look like a Freshman to him. Not that it mattered anyway.

"Yeah why do you have a problem with that?" Tammy asked hoping her new friend wasn't about to hold it against her.

"No of course not. Just surprised is all. You look way too pretty to be a Freshman" Rick smiled.

Tammy blushed "Um, okay. Thanks" she said taking her class schedule back.

"What about you Bec?" Scooter asked the other girl out of politeness. He found it all too cliché to hook up with the friend of the girl Rick was interested in.

Besides, he was pretty sure he'd just met his match during the assembly in the form of a female hockey player from the new JV team.

"Same as Tammy. I guess they thought it'd be a great idea to keep us together" Bec replied.

"I have English near there so I'll walk you" Rick held his arm out for Tammy.

"Sure, thanks Rick" Tammy accepted his arm happily.

If only her mother could see this. She'd have the biggest fit of her life.

Tammy could almost hear the lecture now.

Tamara you mustn't let a boy distract you from your skating. You've worked too hard and come too far to ruin it for a little fling.

Complete that with the standard waving of the index finger and the disapproving clicking noise from her mouth and we'd have a winner.

"Come on then that was the warning bell" Rick led the two girls back towards the building that held their classroom.

"I'll come get you after class okay?" Rick promised Tammy before he gently grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips kissing it.

"Okay" Tammy managed to stammer out. She knew she was turning bright red. She never in a million years imagined her first day of school would be like this.


"Dude I can't believe we totally got called to the principal's office on our first day. That's like a new record or something" Fulton high-fived Charlie.

"Fulton it's nothing to laugh about" Ken Wu said very seriously.

"Lighten up little Bash Bro, they wanted us here so badly then they can put up with a few of our tricks right guys?" Fulton was full of the confidence that Charlie had whilst in Dean Buckley's office.

"Russ I cant believe what you said to him, that was so funny!" Julie Gaffney was still laughing at Russ' 'and you're the Queen?' comment to Dean Buckley.

"Yeah Russ that was gold!" Averman patted Russ Tyler on the back.

"I try" Russ replied modestly whilst grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"So where the hell are we going?" Connie Moreau asked looking around completely lost.

"Beats me, I think I've got Biology next" Charlie replied.

"Me too" Adam Banks was looking at his schedule.

It turned out that Fulton, Connie, Guy Germaine, Averman, Ken and Goldberg were in the same class.

Dwayne, Russ, Luis and Julie were in the American History class.

"Well we'll see you guys at lunch. Don't work too hard preppies!" Russ laughed mainly taking a friendly dig at Adam's sweater vest, shirt and tie.

"Eat me Tyler" Banks called back causing the rest of the Ducks to stop dead in their tracks.

"Okay who's been teaching the Cake-Eater to trash talk cos whoever you are you need to work on your skills!" Russ laughed before adjusting his backpack and leading the others down the hall towards their class.

"You'll get him next time Adam" Connie patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah right, Russ is the King of trash talking. He even beats Jesse" Adam said referring to their ex-team mate Jesse Hall who couldn't attend Eden Hall because of a family emergency.

"True" Guy agreed and Connie swatted him on the shoulder.

"What?" he snapped. Since they'd broken up over the summer things weren't quite so friendly between them.

"Could you at least pretend to be supportive?" Connie hissed before storming off with Charlie and Fulton in tow.

"I swear to God I'll kill her before hockey season even starts" Guy said to Averman.

"Please don't we kinda need our team all intact" Goldberg said dragging the others along.

None of them knew just how right Goldberg really was.


GALINDAPOPULAR - it was actually Princess H's stories that inspired me to do a Tammy/Fulton (so did Hiding in the Shadow's 'Life's Full of Little Surprises')

HIDING IN THE SHADOW - I thought a nice little Rick/Tammy/Fulton triangle would make for a spectacular fight. Fulton's so gonna be pissed off when he finds out! (BTW, your fic was a little inspiration for this, together with 'Beauty & the Bash Brother')

TORITHY - thanks for your review, glad you like it.

THANKS ALL FOR REVIEWING!