Disclaimer: I do not own the Mighty Ducks or anything affiliated with them.
- Chapter Two -
One good thing about arriving late – and during lunchtime – was that the hallways were clear.
As she struggled through the rather narrow hallway with two large suitcases, Julie Gaffney thanked the Heavens that she had put most of her belongings into storage last June. Shoving her key into the lock, she almost cried with relief when she saw the neatly stacked boxes that the storage staff had delivered.
She then noticed the other side of the room. A bookcase was practically overflowing with books and the desk was already covered with papers. No form of personal accents in the form of photographs or posters touched the rather austere area. The only suggestion that the other girl wasn't a boring, anti-social bookworm was the bed.
Done in sheets of animal print with a black silk comforter, it was the only splash of vivacity in the room. It also appeared rather expensive as Julie was pretty sure she recognized the ensemble as being in the Ralph Lauren Home catalogue.
"At least they're clean." She spoke aloud, absently tugging on a strand of blonde hair. Just then there was a light knock from the door and Julie turned to see her new roommate.
From the open doorway, a tanned girl with startling amber eyes looked back at her. Julie knew that the stack of papers in her arms hid a body as voluptuous as a 1950s pinup model. Tucking a strand of dark blonde hair behind her ear, the girl deposited the paperwork on her desk and gave Julie a brilliant smile. "I can't say that this isn't a pleasant surprise, Julie."
Julie laughed, pulling the girl into a hug. She was a little smaller than her, must have stood about 5' 4" or so. "Carmen Rivera. Should I start running now or later?"
Carmen's lip quirked. "And here I thought you wouldn't be so easily scared."
The hockey player grinned good-naturedly. "Well…I'm always up for an adventure. I thought you and Maddie would be rooming together."
"Actually, she's rooming across the hall with your best friend." The Latina girl smiled, sitting down. "Like you and Connie, we both agreed we couldn't live together. We love each other to bits but we wouldn't be able to survive being roommates."
"Connie and Maddie? That's so convenient!" Julie said, dumping her hockey equipment in the corner. "Are you working already? School hasn't even started yet."
"Tell that to Buckley and the heads of the student organizations." The other girl muttered, ripping an envelope open rather viciously. "Hey, do you still write for the paper?"
"Yeah." Julie nodded, sitting on her bed. "I mean, I'm going to try. With hockey season coming up and all that. You going to come to our games?"
"I'm going to have to. Dean Buckley said the President of the Underclassmen should be present at every game to show school spirit and unity. He even has a nice seat for me in the VIP box. I can hardly wait."
The goalie grinned at the other girl's blatant sarcasm. "When was the last time you've been to a game?"
"The day Portman decided he should have been born a Vegas showgirl." Carmen answered dryly. "My parents absolutely loved the display." Her tone indicated that they had felt anything but.
"Hey guys, what say you to a movie night in our room?" Russ suggested, obviously wanting to put off school for as long as possible.
"I'm down. Anything to get away from my roommate. I swear to God, he carries around a bottle of disinfectant! I touched one of his books and he started bitching at me like there was no tomorrow while spraying most of the can out on that book." Guy griped.
A stunned silence greeted his words.
"Dude, you got Milton Sawyer as a roommate? Man, that sucks." Ken shook his head, looking at him with much sympathy.
Goldberg frowned as he tried to match a face to the name. "Milton Sawyer? The nut who checks his stocks every morning and night at seven on the dot?"
"Yes." Guy bit out.
"Milton Sawyer? He was the good looking one that was in our history class last year. Right, Dwayne?" Connie asked, folding her napkin on her lunch tray.
Dwayne nodded slowly. "I reckon that's him. I ain't sure about the good looking part but he sure was in our history class."
"Yeah, that's him." Julie suddenly choked on her apple and turned to stare at Connie with wide eyes. "Wait! He's the one that asked you out?"
All conversation ground to a halt as everyone looked at Connie incredulously. She glared back at them defensively. "What?"
Charlie and Guy looked pale, Fulton and Portman looked murderous, Averman, Russ and Julie looked highly amused, Adam and Goldberg looked torn between hilarity and shock, Dwayne looked confused, while Luis and Kenny looked mildly disgusted.
"Get it, girl!" Russ hooted, starting to cackle madly. "Get it! Get yo' man!"
"You actually thought about saying yes!" Averman burst out laughing. "I remember! You actually thought about saying yes!"
"I was on a dry spell." Connie snapped irritably, before glaring at the redhead. "And remind me never to confide in you again."
Averman waggled his eyebrows at her impudently, still laughing. "Whatever. You're still the one that almost did the dirty with Captain Germ-be-gone."
"Averman, that is absolutely sick." Luis remarked, Ken nodding fervently besides him.
Fulton scowled. Obviously, these idiots were missing the point. "Who is this punk again? And where does he stay? I think we should let him know who can come near Connie. Which is no one."
Guy perked up."My room! Room 311!"
Rolling her eyes, the petite brunette stood up. "And the conversation has been exhausted. Coming, Jules?"
"Hey, we're just looking out for you!" Charlie defended, as she gathered her stuff.
"Charlie, as sweet as that is…" Julie raised her eyebrow, as Connie strolled out of the dining hall. "Right now I think she just wants all of you guys to…um. Well, let's not say exactly what she just said. But something along the lines of humping a splintery log. Later, guys!"
"Humping a splintery log? That would be pretty painful. Imagine having to get them out." Russ mused, wrinkling his nose at the thought.
"New subject. Please." Adam sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Dean Portman was not happy.
He was tired, he couldn't believe that school was actually starting and not only that…he was early for his class. That was due to Adam Banks and Connie Moreau.
When the Ducks had compared schedules that morning at breakfast, he had found out that the two were in his first period chemistry class. Portman couldn't believe his pure, dumb luck. Science was bad enough, but to have two giddy, academically motivated teenagers who got turned on by textbooks, pushing him down the hallway was just plain torture.
Portman groaned and dozed off on his desk, ignoring Connie and Adam who were chattering away like a couple of chipmunks. Well, Connie was a chipmunk, Adam was more of a squirrel since he didn't talk as much.
"Hey, I heard that Varsity is getting the JV players that lost their spots to us on their team this year. Do you think it's true?" Connie asked, absentmindedly doodling in her notebook.
"Yeah, I heard that too. I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Adam replied before he was distracted by a flash of blonde hair.
"Hey, Banks." The blonde winked at him.
"Emily." Adam gave her a small smile, ignoring Connie's eye-roll as she turned to talk with a girl a couple rows back.
"Alright, class. Let's begin, shall we? Class! Time to begin! YO!" Their teacher hollered as he sat himself down on his desk. "Now then…I'm Mr. Dobbins and you guys are in chemistry. My rules are as follows. I tell you what to do and you do it. Now then, random seating." He smiled sardonically as he pulled out a hat with their names in it.
"Ugh, I hate it when they do this." Connie groaned, waking the softly snoring Portman. Adam grunted in agreement and surveyed Mr. Dobbins who was barking out names.
"Ludwig, Brianna. Collins, Lane. Over here, you two." Mr. Dobbins motioned to a desk.
"Banks, Adam. Kim, Madison. That desk all the way by the windows." As Adam got up to sit at his new desk, he looked over at the girl walking over to him.
He had seen her around but had never really noticed her. But then again, he was always hanging out with the Ducks and didn't really make room for new friends. The only reason that he even remembered her at all was because she was one of the 40 or so Asians in the entire school and she stood out because of her height.
Adam snorted. Luis had been obsessed with her for an entire month last year, mooning about dancers and their flexibility in bed. That sex-aholic.
The girl sat down and a wicked smile came onto her face. "Nice outfit." She snickered, looking at his pressed khakis, white shirt, and gray sweater vest. Charlie had sleepily yanked his tie off before he left their room.
Adam stared at her warily, having already gone through this once that morning at breakfast. Portman was going to love this girl. "Thanks. I'm Adam." He said, extending his hand rather stiffly.
"Maddie." She then sent him a heart-stopping smile and shook his hand firmly. "I actually do kinda like your outfit. It reminds me of my daddy."
Adam heard a loud snort from somewhere behind him and turned around to glare at a red-faced Connie. She made a face at him, still trying to suppress her laughter. "That's my roommate." She mouthed, jerking her head over to the girl next to him.
Adam raised an eyebrow and looked over at Maddie, who already seemed to be dozing. As he let out a deep breath, he slumped a little in his chair. "This is going to be interesting." He sighed.
Portman was ready to kill.
"What's the matter? You look like you're going to shoot somebody." Adam frowned, coming up behind him as they filed out of the chem lab.
"My lab partner is completely and utterly insane. She didn't shut up once and started babbling about her new ballet shoes that are made of pure silk! I should not have gotten up this morning!" Portman ranted as he glared at the retreating form of a blonde girl.
Adam looked slightly uncomfortable. "Oh. Emily Parker? She's not that bad."
"Tell you what. Let's trade seats. You two can make some preppy ass babies and me and your partner – who had the right idea by the way – can have some sleep time." The Bash Brother snarled, stomping away to his next class.
Adam let out a laugh. He pitied anyone who got on Portman's bad side today.
By the time their first day had ended, Charlie was exhausted. Not even bothering to go into their dorm rooms, he and Fulton just collapsed onto the common room couches and watched dazedly as the others gradually dragged themselves in to do the same.
Charlie's mouth quirked as he saw Connie slump into the room and make a beeline for his sofa. Plopping herself down between him and Fulton, she wriggled around to make more space for herself, pointedly ignoring Fulton's half-hearted growl.
"Tired?" Charlie asked, reaching out to ruffle her hair. His arm dropped behind her head, prompting her to bury her face in his side.
"You have no idea. And then I had to witness a make-out fest between Julie and Scooter." Came Connie's muffled reply.
"Oh. Ew."
Connie just grunted and snuggled into his chest a little more. Charlie looked down at her and there was an odd fluttering in his ribcage. He quickly suppressed the traitorous flicker of emotion that had suddenly engulfed his body. He just didn't understand where these heart palpitations were coming from and why they were even happening.
They had begun approximately last spring…when Connie and Charlie had been placed in the same biology class. Back then, Charlie had chalked it up to the mixture of formaldehyde and frog intestines. It was the chemicals that were messing with his body, not the shininess of Connie's hair or her laugh as he accidentally squished the poor frog's stomach.
But when he had started to have these heart palpitations when he wasn't wearing surrounded by surgical gloves and scalpels, he had reacted in typical Charlie fashion.
And disposed of Linda promptly and efficiently.
Because, naturally, he was getting these fluttering sensations around another girl because Linda obviously reacted badly with his body chemistry. And besides, her holier-than-thou attitude gave him indigestion. Or something like that. Charlie wondered if his explanation behind their breakup had sounded just as inane back then.
Connie let out a curious snuffle and Charlie's attention shifted back to her. She looked like Linda. She was like a longer-haired, slightly darker, more athletic version of Linda. Strange.
"Please stop looking at me like that."
He blinked. "Like what?"
"Like I'm some new sort of cross-breed that they're showing at the zoo." Connie mumbled crossly, although an amused dimple was present in her left cheek.
"You're prettier than any cross-breed I know."
He did not just say that. Please, please, he did not just say that.
Connie's eyes shot open as she looked at him in shock. Faces inches away, the two stared at each other for what seemed to be eternity.
"I've got a date!" Guy suddenly burst into the room, throwing his bag unceremoniously onto Banks' lap. "Alicia Harrolds and I are going to dinner this Friday night. And then, if all goes well…" He then trailed off, seeing the closely intertwined bodies of his Captain and his ex-girlfriend. "I-uh-um-d-d-did I interrupt something?"
Connie tore her gaze away from Charlie's face and looked at Guy. "No. Just our naptime."
"I mean," Guy began, his eyes narrowing at the two. "it didn't look like naptime to me."
Ken looked up irritably. "Get off it, Germaine. He's her best friend and she needed a place to sit. Because she's tired. Like the rest of us."
Charlie looked at the Chinese boy admiringly. It was amazing what one year could do to a boy. This new Ken had a tongue as sharp as a razor and a wardrobe to boot.
Guy nodded sullenly, giving the two one last suspicious glance before he turned to talk to Luis.
"What time do we have practice again? It's the first day; we don't want to be late." Fulton mumbled, throwing his legs over Connie's.
"Four. We have a little less than two hours." Dwayne murmured sleepily, tilting his hat over his face.
Goldberg sighed in relief. "Sweet. Sleep."
Just then, two voices were heard coming from the hallway.
"I can't believe you already lost your key. It's the first day of classes, Maddie."
"It's not my fault! Those things are small, they get lost easily! Besides, if worse comes to worse I'll just make like 20 copies of the key and then I'll never lose them! It worked last year." The speakers were then visible as they neared the common room. A tall, Asian girl trailed after a smaller, blonde haired one as they walked towards the lounging Ducks.
Averman grinned at the former fondly. "The only problem was that you then lost the copies of the keys you made as well."
"Yeah, that and the fact that Linda completely flipped when she found out. If I remember correctly, she dragged me down to the lake to help her throw in all the ones she found in your room." Charlie snickered, looking up at Madison Kim in amusement.
Maddie blinked. "So that's why I couldn't find any of them. She really didn't like me, did she? Huh." She frowned a bit petulantly. "Anyway, I was going to ask Connie if I could borrow her key but she seems to be occupied right now."
Charlie looked down at Connie's sleeping form and noticed her bag next to her. Reaching over, he took out her keys and handed them to the dancer.
"Thank you! I'll bring it right back. Bye, Duckies! Car, let's buh-zounce!" Maddie crowed, waving the key into the air triumphantly. "Car?"
Carmen Rivera waved a hand at her absently as she quietly conversed with Adam, who was looking up at her with rapt attention.
Seeing his opening, Luis took it and ran with it. "Hey, Charlie. Why don't you introduce us to your friend?" He asked smoothly, throwing the girl a charming smile.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "This is Maddie, Connie's roommate. She's from New York, a dancer and used to let me copy off her math tests. Did I miss anything?"
The girl shook her head and jerked her head over to Carmen, who had just given Adam a piece of paper.
Adam looked at them and hurriedly supplied introductions. "This is Carmen Rivera, president of Underclassmen. She's Julie's roommate."
"Hey! Chem buddy! What's cracka-lackin?" Maddie grinned, immediately recognizing Adam.
"You're just a little too happy today. Did you drink Dr. Pepper again?" Averman suddenly asked as his eyes narrowed at her suspiciously.
"No, she just ran into the wall a couple times. Nothing big." Carmen replied dryly, giving the other a slight shove out of the room. "It was nice meeting all of you. And Banks? I'll see you this Friday at 3. Lecture Hall A."
"Now those are two very attractive girls." Luis murmured speculatively once they had left.
Dwayne nodded in agreement. "Nice, too."
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Banksie, what was Carmen talking about?" Charlie's attention was more occupied by his best friend than anything else.
Adam didn't even look up from the sheet of paper Carmen had given him. "Oh. I've just been approved as the Budget Director for the Lower Caucus." He murmured absently, still examining the sheet. Hearing a slight sound of frustration, he finally looked up and sighed when Charlie's face remained blank.
"I'm the Treasurer for the Underclassmen." The boy said tiredly. "Understand, now?"
"Well, yes…but," Charlie looked at him, with a confused little frown on his face. "I didn't even knew you knew how to count."
The prepster glowered at him. "Don't give me your life troubles, Conway." He griped crossly.
Hey, as I said before, there is major editing and construction going on in this fic! I'm reposting the edited parts as soon as I can!
Love you guys so much!