A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers. You guys are awesome. I'm so sorry that this took forever to get up. I've been busy.

And I must say a huge "THANK YOU" to my beta-Emador.

Chapter 2

Jack's POV

When I woke up the next morning, Rob was already up and gone. There was a note on the door from him informing me that he was down in the building's kitchen helping Anna make breakfast for the team. He suggested that I shower before heading downstairs as Anna did not like smelling "icky boys". So I took a quick shower and headed down to the kitchen. It was easy to find once I started following my nose and the smell of sausage, bacon, and eggs. In the kitchen, I found Anna, Rob, Buzz Schneider and a short woman with long light brown hair. She was introduced to me as Gayle Schneider, "Buzzy's wife, not his sister," Anna added.

"Everyone else should be down eventually," Buzzy told me. "I had an early morning meeting with Herb and then Gayle met me here."

Mac clapped Buzzy on the shoulder. "This guy is moving out of the dorms."

"I'm only going to campus married housing," Schneider protested.

"Yep, and Morrow will be joining you in August," Anna said. "So in August, Ross and Horsch will be moving in together."

"And Horsch will be rooming solo until then," Gayle said. "Because I need my man by my side."

"But I'll still be rooming with Horsch for things like the Sweden trip," her husband pointed out.

"I'll have to warn him about your snoring."

"I do not snore!" Buzzy protested.

Anna rolled her eyes and looked at me. "Hey, O'Callahan, you want to help me with the eggs?"

I walked over. "Sure, what do you want me to do?"

"Cut those onions," she ordered. As I looked at her, I realized that she looked really tired.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" I asked her as I started slicing onions.

Anna shrugged as she wiped a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. "I'm not really sure. My roommate and her boyfriend were having a fight in the living room all night."

Mac looked up. "Were they fighting about her cooking again?"

She smiled. "What else would they fight about? Last night, they were fighting about who would do the cooking if they were ever to get married."

"Did the lady down the hall call the police again?"

"Yep," Anna said with a nod. "The police showed up around four and I had to talk to them for about an hour. That's the fifth time in the past two months I've had to explain to the cops that Jeff isn't beating Rosemary; they just fight really loudly."

I looked at her. "You know we have a couch in our room that one of us could sleep on if you're ever interested."

Mac nodded. "Yeah, if you ever want, Jack or I could sleep on the couch and you could sleep on the bed."

"Wow," Anna said. "That's really nice of you guys. I don't know how my dad would feel about that. He's really strict about my relationships with players."

"I'm not saying you should start dating one of us. I'm saying you should sleep in Jack's bed while he sleeps on the couch. That way both you will get some sleep."

I looked at my roommate. "Are you saying that I'm going to be giving her my bed? What if she prefers the top bunk? Then what are you going to do?"

"Steal your bed," Rob replied. "And by the way, you're crying."

"It's the damn onions," I snapped.

"Watch your language, O'Callahan. There's a lady present. Oh, and Anna's here too. She doesn't like it when people swear."

Anna sighed. "Are you trying to insinuate that I'm not a lady? I am a lady, Robin McClanahan. And I happen hate it when you try to insinuate otherwise."

"Well, look at yourself. You don't exactly look like a girl or anything."

I looked at Anna. She was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a large burgundy sweatshirt that had MINNESOTA printed across the chest in big gold letters. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was wearing a pair of dirty sneakers. She didn't look like she was ready to go to a dance or anything but she looked comfortable. And she looked like she was going to cry. "I don't look like a girl, Robin? Then what do I look like? Can you tell me that?" she wiped something out of her eye. "You've been telling me that for years. Do I look like a boy? What do you think I am?"

"You look like you. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You just never put any effort into looking like a girl. I mean even when you've got a boyfriend, you still never dress up or do anything special with your hair or wear make-up. It's like you don't care what you look like or what other people think of you. You're my best friend, Anna, but I just don't get you. It's like you don't care about yourself at all anymore. You could be so pretty."

I winced for Anna. That had to hurt; hearing your best friend tell you that you could be so pretty had to be painful. And then I heard Anna's hand crack across Mac's face right before she rushed out of the kitchen.

Everyone in the kitchen just stood there for a minute. "Well, someone's got to go after her," Gayle said.

"It's not going to be me," Mac replied immediately.

"I'll get to work on breakfast," Buzzy said. "Gayle, I might need some help from you."

"I guess I should go try to find her," I said quietly.

How are you supposed to find someone in a building you know nothing about when the person you're looking for knows the building like the back of her hand? She could have been anywhere. I had no clue where to start looking. So I just started walking. And I found her on the second floor. Rizzo had her. "Do you know what's bothering her?" he asked me as I approached him.

I nodded. "Mac was being a moron. He wasn't thinking and he said something stupid."

"Okay, I walked out of my room, and she came flying down the hall. I managed to catch her but she won't tell me what's wrong."

"Yeah," I said, rubbing her back. Then lightning struck my brain as Bah Harrington and Dave Silk came walking down the hall. "Bah, can you run down to the kitchen and tell Gayle Schneider we need to talk to her in Rizzo's room?"

He gave me a funny look and then took off towards the kitchen. Rizzo looked at me. "Are we having a meeting in my room?"

"Yep, I need everyone who can be there, but I don't want Mac there. I have an idea but I don't want him to know what's going."

Anna looked at me. "Does it involve me?"

I nodded. "Yep, we're going to mess with Rob's mind."

She leaned her head up against Rizzo's shoulder and smiled at me. "This could be fun. I like messing with Rob's mind."

Rizzo shepherded her into his room where Pav was sitting on his bed putting on his socks. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Do you feel like messing with Rob McClanahan's mind?" I asked him.

"Sure, what are you doing and when?"

"Wait and hear. It's a long story and it's semi-complicated. It might take us a few months to carry out, but revenge will be Anna's."

I thought I saw a smile flash across Anna's face, but I couldn't be sure. A few minutes later, we had about half the team gathered in Pav and Rizzo's room. Gayle Schneider looked at me. "Okay, what's going on?"

I grinned mischievously.

Anna's POV

I was leaning against Rizzo's shoulder when Jack grinned mischievously and said, "We're going to make Anna so gorgeous that Rob won't know who she is."

I looked at him. I knew people didn't think of me as pretty. I guess that was mostly my fault. I preferred to wear jeans and a sweatshirt while other girls liked to get dressed up. I'd had a few boyfriends over the years so I always figured that people were fine with the way I looked. But every now and then I'd hear comments about how "Anna Brooks must think she's a boy." And after hearing my best friend say that I "could be beautiful" and I "don't care about myself at all anymore" I was starting to believe everything I'd been hearing.

Maybe I wasn't trying hard enough. I had three outfits that I rotated around when dressing for church and hockey games. The rest of my wardrobe consisted of jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers. Oh, but rest assured that I do own socks and underwear. I hadn't really spent a lot of money on new clothes since I started college. Maybe now that I was working for my dad and the USOC, I should buy some new clothes. It would probably help if I didn't go out in public wearing clothes that really don't fit me. One thing I should make clear is that my chest is umm, how should I put this? My chest is larger than the average woman's. Maybe my friends and these guys could help me make over my wardrobe and hairstyle and such. Maybe it was time for me to grow up my look.

"Gayle, we're going to need some help from you on this," Jack said interrupting my interior monologue.

"Sure thing," my friend replied. "And if you want, I can get some of Anna's other friends to help too."

"That'd be great," Rizzo said. "We'd love it if we could get some help from some ladies; we men don't know that much about fashion."

"Well, I'll bring in some people who can help turn her into a princess," Gayle told him with a smile. "By December, we could have transformed Miss Anna into someone that Rob would never recognize in a million years."

"But I'll still be me won't I?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," Jack said like it was the simplest thing on earth. "We're not going to change your personality, just your hairstyle and clothes. Oh, and we'll introduce you to make-up."

I smiled and leaned my head against Rizzo's shoulder. "Okay," I said; I knew I didn't sound quite sure of myself. "I guess I can let you guys take off with your crazy plan."

Jack smiled. "We'll make Rob eat his words."

After breakfast, the guys had a few hours of strength training and conditioning. Then came lunch and after lunch, they finally hit the ice to skate. Herb was working those boys to death. And I hated to watch them suffer so much. Well, okay, I was getting some pleasure out of watching Rob suffer. I was still mad at him even though I did think that Jack's plan was amazing and I really did hope it would work.

I looked at myself as I sat in Herb's office. I was wearing a pair of jeans, okay they WERE old jeans I'd had since like tenth grade, but I liked them and they still fit. I was also wearing an old gray t-shirt that I loved. It was kind of tight around the chest, but it was mine and it didn't like disastrous. Okay, so the shirt made my chest REALLY obvious but whatever…

I've dressed like this for years. I used to try to in fashion and all that back in elementary school and middle school. I even did a little in high school, but when I started spending all my time helping Herb out with the hockey team, I just gave it up. It was too much work. I still got a prom date and all, so I figured guys didn't care that much. And in some ways, I think a lot of guys don't care. I mean I've had boyfriends and all, so some guys must not care. But maybe guys would like to see a girl put a little bit of effort into the way she looks.

I looked at the pile of papers and folders on the desk. It was filled with scouting information about these guys. I pulled out Rob's folder. He had been playing hockey since he was a little boy and he was a very talented hockey player. He'd known me for years. I guess he must have been right about my looks though. I probably should start putting more effort into them.

Towards the end of practice, I was standing by the locker room with some things I needed to give to the guys. Suddenly Gayle Schneider came up next to me with a bag from JC Penny. "Give me the keys to your car," she demanded.

"Hello to you too," I said turning to look at her. "How are you?

"I'm fine; it's great to see you. Now PLEASE give me your keys," she demanded holding out her hand. "I need to throw this bag in your car before Rob gets here."

"What's in the bag?" I asked as I pulled my keys out of my pocket. "Go do whatever you want to do. But you have to explain this all to me later."

She took the keys. "Sure, fine, I'll tell you all about it while we make dinner. But right now I've got to take care of your new duds-which I'll tell you about later."

I sighed. "Fine, have fun. By the way, we're having spaghetti for dinner tonight. It's easy and you can make a lot of it."

"So we'll be safe feeding it to the guys," she said as she walked away. "We'll talk then; I promise."

Gayle Nichols-Schneider was not normally like this. She was normally a very open and friendly person. But she was clearly up to something tonight. I knew she'd bought me clothes-probably trendy clothes. I knew she was helping Jack and the other guys out because she thought I needed a makeover. She'd been encouraging me to get new clothes since I started dressing like this. She knew that I started dressing like this to fit in with the guys and to keep from getting hit on by hockey players who were six years older than me. But eventually they became my wardrobe. I currently owned one skirt and no dresses. The skirt I only owned because I wore it on Sundays; I wore the same skirt to church every single Sunday.

Okay, so that is pretty lame. I've been told that I don't really look like a girl; I look like more of an "it". I always wear my hair in a ponytail and I wear jeans and t-shirts and sweatshirts as much as I can. I wear my skirt to church on Sundays and I wear dress pants and a blouse to hockey games. Maybe I don't look that much like a girl, but I really am one under all the jeans and t-shirts. I have boobs and all that stuff underneath all the baggy clothes.

I think my real problem is that my sister is a slut and I do NOT want to be like her. It was bad enough hearing people whisper "That's Anna O'Leary; she's nothing like her sister" every five minutes of my senior year of high school. They kept saying things like "don't try to get in her pants" whenever they walked past me. Trust me; your reputation can destroy your siblings when you both go to the same high school. So behave yourself in public.

So the guys all came out to the locker room. They were all glistening with sweat and smelly; they needed to hit the showers. But these were the kind of guys I was used to. I followed them into the locker room. "Okay, everybody stay decent in the main room. I really don't want to see anything that I couldn't see at a public pool."

"Yes, Mother," Mike Ramsey yelled.

"Rammer, if I'm the mother, then you're my baby and I get to pinch your cheeks," I threatened.

Rob patted Rammer on the shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy; she's a nice girl. She'll only pinch; she won't pull the skin off your face."

I smiled and leaned against the wall, watching the insane banter of hockey playing boys. I loved just watching hockey players interact. I had a couple of files Herb wanted me to hand out. He wanted some more information about some of the players, so I had to give them questionnaires. "Okay," I yelled. "I need to see the following guys over here by the door before they go home: Morrow, Johnson, Christian, Harrington, Pavelich, Wells, Cox, and Horsch."

"Do you want to go on a date with me?" Cox asked coming over to me and looking deep into my eyes.

"No, not tonight, Ralph, but thanks for the offer," I said, sighing. "I'm saving myself for a man with a full beard."

"What about a nice clean shaven man?" Bah Harrington asked as he came over to me.

I took the files labeled "Ralph Cox" and "John Harrington" out of my pile and handed them to the respective hockey players. "Just take these, fill them out tonight and get them back to me as soon as you can. Herb needs this stuff ASAP, so don't spend like twenty years on this stuff."

"Yes, Mommy," Harrington said, patting my head. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd die," I replied blandly before I went to find the other six guys.

Jack's POV

That night Gayle and Anna made dinner for us. They made spaghetti and meatballs. I thought it was really good. Admittedly, it wasn't as good as Mrs. Eruzione's spaghetti, but she's Italian; Anna and Gayle aren't. But Rizzo had to tease them about the food. "Anna, if you're going to make spaghetti, ask me for help. I'm Italian and I can teach you how to make real Italian spaghetti."

Anna sighed. "Thanks for the offer, Rizzo. But if you really want to have some real Italian spaghetti for dinner one night, then you can make it. I can't make you guys dinner every single night. I can cook, but I only know how to make a few dishes. I can make spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, tomato soup, turkey soup, Thanksgiving dinner, a couple kinds of cake and pie, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and several casseroles. So, if you want a variety in the food, you can volunteer to cook."

"Okay," Rizzo replied. "I'm cooking dinner every Thursday night."

"So Rizzo has Thursdays," Anna said. "Anyone else want to pitch in with the cooking? I'm willing to cook two nights a week."

"I'm not much of a cook," I offered. "But I can cook on Mondays."

"Gayle and I can cook on Wednesdays," Buzz said.

"Silky and I have Tuesdays," Jimmy Craig announced.

"Okay," Anna recapped. "We've got Monday through Thursday covered. I think we should leave Fridays open so guys can go out on dates. And I can do Saturdays and Sundays. If anyone else ever wants to help, let the people who are cooking know. We're going to post a schedule in the kitchen so you always know who is going to be cooking every night of the week."

"But we'll still go out to dinner as a team every now and then, won't we?" Mac asked.

"Of course," Anna said. "But we're going to feed you guys good healthy food as much as we can."

"You sound like my mother," Mark Johnson moaned.

"Well, guess what, Johnson?" Anna told him. "For the next seven months, I am your mother."

"Oh no," Verchota moaned. "Now I'm never going to get anyone into my bed."

"I don't care who you sleep with," Cox, Philly's roommate, said.

"But Anna's going to be my mother."

"And she doesn't live here," Jimmy pointed out. "She won't be here at night to put a cramp on your style."

Verchota sighed. "Oh thank heaven. I'm saved. I won't have to take a vow of chastity until the Olympics."

"And do you know if you're even going to make it to February?" Ross asked.

"Because I am the amazing Phil Verchota," Philly announced to the whole room.

"Oh brother," Anna sighed. "These are going to be the longest seven months of my life."

I felt bad for her. One girl spending the next seven months with twenty guys-that was going to be lonely for her. And I suspected that Herb didn't want her dating anyone on the team. Sure Gayle and eventually Morrow's wife were going to be around, but she was going to be spending the bulk of her time with the team. She might be from Minnesota, but we guys were going to have to be nice to her. We were going to have to treat her like a princess.

A/N: Okay, so I think that Jack isn't usually written this way, but I'm kind of basing him on this guy I met when I was working in Mexico. (That was part of the reason this took so long to post; I spent ten days working at an orphanage in Mexico.) Jack is going to be based on one of the guys we worked with.

Anyway, I hope you guys like it. Please review. And I'll try to update soon.