Thanks for the review on the chapter Tudy.

CHAPTER 2:

I woke up to the beeping of my alarm clock. It read 6:00 AM and I couldn't help but groan.

"So much for sleeping all afternoon in the summers," I grumbled.

Julie and Connie laughed at my comment and we all managed to drag ourselves out of bed. Last night at the pizza place had been fun, but staying out till midnight was taking a toll on my energy level right now. The three of us headed to the bathroom together to brush our teeth, wash our face, put our hair up, etc. It was pretty obvious to me that the three of us would get along. After all, we were really outnumbered by the boys and would need to stick up for each other. In fact, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have problems with anyone; even Banks who has such a different background from me. On our way out of the women's bathroom, we spotted Dean and Fulton trudging into the men's in just their boxers; if they didn't hurry they were going to be late.

"I swear," Julie stated, "Those two never wake up on time."

Grabbing our bags full of gear, we headed off to the rink locker rooms to get ready for our full day of practices. Most people would see waking up at the crack of dawn to play hockey as a negative thing about their life, but there is nothing I would rather do; I live for hockey. For the next few hours we practiced. We had an hour lunch break, where we all crammed down some fruit for energy and went back to it. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted but happy; I worked well with the team and Coach Orion thought I was a good addition. We all hit our respective locker rooms and I peeled off my sweaty clothes and let the warm water wash over my sore muscles. Once I was done, I dressed in a pair of tight jeans, sneakers, and a fitted T-shirt before meeting with the team to go to dinner.

"You did great today, Zane," Charlie told me, fulfilling his captain role.

"Thanks a lot. You guys aren't half bad either," I replied.

As we were leaving the rink, I was surprised to hear Coach Orion stop me and he asked if I would have a chat with him in his office. Not knowing what it was about, I followed my coach into a room which had trophies and pictures of his previous teams.

"There's no easy way for me to say this," Coach Orion started, "but I noticed the new bruises on your face and how you were shying away from the puck a bit today like your abdomen was hurt; I was just wondering if there was anything you would like to talk about."

Busted, but I played it cool. You'd be crazy if you thought this was the first time someone had brought up the injuries I often had displayed on my body. I told Coach thanks for his concern, but if I ever had a real problem I would come to him. He sighed, just like everyone else I'd fed these avoidances to and looked on at me in worry.

"Really, I'm fine; just some hockey injuries," I said.

He knew we weren't going to get anywhere and told me his door was always open. On my way out, however, he told me to go see the trainer to get my ribs taped.

"Hello, you must be the new addition to our Eden Hall JV team," the trainer said to me, reaching out his hand for me to shake.

I took my hand in his, lightly shook it, and introduced myself. Portman was in the training room as well; he was icing his ankle which he'd rolled at practice.

"Well, what can I do for you today?" Tyler, as he told me to call him, asked.

"Coach wants me to get my ribs taped up."

Tyler said alright and asked me to show him the damage. I lifted up my shirt and came face to face with the bruises that had appeared overnight.

'Shit, it's a little worse then I thought.'

"Well, I'll be darned. First day out there and you already got yourself pretty banged up. Nothing a little tape won't help, and I want you to take it easy the next few days."

I laughed uneasily, "Yeah it's pretty rough out there."

Portman was staring intently at me, switching his gaze from my ribs to my eyes. I looked away awkwardly and felt Tyler pull me down on a table before surrounding us with a curtain for some privacy while he taped me up. Tyler was real good at taping and my ribs fell back into place easily. After a good fifteen minutes, he told Portman and I that we were set and could head off to dinner.

"Hockey injuries, huh?" Portman asked me on the way over, "Funny, because I don't remember you getting hit that hard today."

I grabbed his arm lightly and made him stop walking.

"You just keep this to yourself, alright?" I asked harshly, "I don't need the team knowing about my ribs."

"Your dad's not allowed to do that to you," Dean told me stubbornly.

"I don't see him anywhere," I responded, equally as stubborn.

"You're tough," he stated, "I like that."

I rolled my eyes at his comment and made Dean promise he wouldn't tell anyone, even Fulton. Everyone was already talking about my face; I didn't need them to know the whole story. Portman swore he would keep it to himself. A five minute walk led us to the cafeteria and Dean showed me the ropes of the lunch line.

"You see that line over there?" Dean questioned and I nodded, "It's Leftover Line. Steer as far away from that as possible."

I laughed at this and told him I'd be sure to keep away.

"Now, what'd coach want to talk to ya about, darlin'?" Dwayne asked me in his stupid cowpoke language.

"Just hockey stuff," I replied easily, catching Portman raise his eyebrows slightly.

Giving him a glare, I told Dwayne and the rest of the team that Coach had wanted to about my previous team and training. The lies flowed so easily out of my mouth and I felt real bad about lying to my team about this stuff, but it wasn't Chino here. These kids were not all coming from the same type of environment I was. In Chino, you could talk about knocked around by your dad and most adults and other kids wouldn't bat an eyelash to it. Here, however, I had already had an altercation about it with my coach and teammates. In Minnesota, my father's actions towards me were something I would have to keep to myself. If only I could have heard what Dean was telling Fulton in their dorm room later that night.

"Remember her face yesterday once her dad left?" Dean asked his pal.

"Yeah, man, but it was pretty obvious he wasn't the best dad before that. You saw him pushing her around at tryouts," Fulton answered.

Portman then continued to explain what had happened in the trainer's room. When he had promised Zane that he wouldn't tell anyone, he had obviously meant everybody but Fulton. Hell, him and Fulton were like brothers; they told teach other everything.

"Damn, are you serious?" Fulton shockingly said.

Portman nodded and Fulton stated that it sounded pretty rough. Fulton laughed and told Portman to stop drooling over Zane.

"Shut it, man, I'm not drooling!"

"Please, she's fresh meat; we're all checking her out. Plus, she's pretty hot. I mean that blonde hair and the tan. California is where it's at in the girl department," Fulton concluded.

"Yeah, she is pretty smoking," Portman agreed.

Boys, boys, boys, will you ever learn?

END OF CHAPTER.


So obviously there is going to be a romance between Portman and Zane (It's pretty obvious right?), but I am going to ease into it so let's not get our hopes up. I like writing this fic for the Mighty Ducks, but I feel like it's really difficult to get all of the Ducks into the story; any help with that would be greatly appreciated. Reviews in general would help, thanks.