Disclaimer: You think I own this? Hahahaha!
A.N: I know almost nothing about the court system or how lawyers actually work, so I am going to write this Hollywood style… because that's the only exposure to it that I have had. I am sorry if how I write this is inaccurate. The same can be said for my knowledge of the foster care system. Also, I have no clue how airports work beyond movie versions.
Also, I know several kids that are either in the foster care system or adopted. They are some of the happiest children I know. I fully support the foster care system as long as the children are happy, healthy, and cared for.
Chapter 21: Travel and Five New Ducks
Everyone was awake (mostly anyway), fed, and ready to go by six thirty. The airport was only twenty minutes from the shop, so we made it there around seven. Our luggage was loaded and we had gotten through security by eight thirty. By eight fifty, we were boarding the plane and finding our seats. The ride was only about two hours, so the movie was fairly short. By the time Goldberg decided to take a nap, we were landing. Coach made sure we all stayed together and that we all got our luggage. We were then loaded into a tour bus and taken to a college campus and showed where we would be staying. Coach handed out keys and told us to put our stuff in our rooms and then meet him in the hallway in five minutes (all of our rooms are along one hallway… even Connie's).
I opened my room to see that my roommate has already been here, which means that he's one of the new Ducks. It didn't take long to put my bag on the unoccupied bed. I got back into the hallway first and watched as everyone else came out. Connie was next; she either has a room to herself or there's a new girl on the team because no one in their right mind would put a boy in with her… either she would kill him or Guy would (or her parents when they found out). Adam and Charlie came out next (they were rooming together). Goldberg, Averman, and Guy all came out of different rooms, which meant that their roommates are all new Ducks. Once everyone was in the hall, Coach led us to the rink. Connie was sent to the visitors' locker room while the rest of us went to the home locker room. Coach warned us that if he caught any of us in what he's calling the girls' locker room, then he would bench us for an entire game and make sure our parents knew.
We walked into the locker room and saw that four of the lockers were already full. We all changed quickly. I think we all just wanted to meet our new teammates. Connie met us on the ice. We all lined up behind Coach as Mr. Tibbles walked out on the ice followed by five teens in full hockey gear. Coach asked Mr. Tibbles to tell him about the new kids, and Mr. Tibbles started naming them off, telling where they were from, and telling why they were picked for the team.
The first kid was named Luis Mendoza. Mr. Tibbles said that he's a speedster from Miami with a blue line to blue line time of 1.9 seconds… the problem was that he could not stop once he got started. He slammed the boards hard and had to be helped up when he started showing us how fast he could skate. The second new kid was Dwayne Robertson. He's very loud and was showing off as soon as he got the puck. Mr. Tibbles said that he was from Austin and is known for his puck handling skills. The third kid was Kenny Wu. I've actually heard of him. Tammy used to watch him on the TV all the time and liked to talk about him. He's from San Francisco. I can see why he was picked… he's one of the best figure skaters in the world in our age group. The fourth is a goalie named Julie Gaffney. Connie must be happy… she's not the only girl on the team this year. Mr. Tibbles said she was from Bangor, Maine. She looks like she's a better goalie than Goldberg, but I could be wrong.
Mr. Tibbles didn't have a chance to introduce the last kid. Coach can't believe that Dean Portman is a teenager, but he's about the same size as me. I had to stand here and watch as he skated across the ice, singing, and playing his hockey stick like a guitar. He started pushing people down and even put Kenny on top of the net before pushing the kid over. Who does he think he is? That kid is one-third his size and he's pushing him around? I joined the rest of the team in yelling at the new kids. I can hear Goldberg yelling at Julie over everyone else. Coach yelled for us to freeze. He tried to give a nice speech about how we have to come together to play hockey and represent the USA, but Mr. Tibbles ruined the effect by interrupting a lot.
After kicking Mr. Tibbles off the ice, Coach had us facing off against the new Ducks. A few minutes into the scrimmage, I can already tell that I'm going to hate Portman. He's been knocking us down left and right and laughing about it. I finally got the puck and lined up my shot against Julie. I can hear Coach yelling at the team to look out. I kinda hope it hits Portman… he's standing right in front of the net (no, I am not aiming specifically at him… it's not my fault that he's standing where right where the puck is going to go). As the team flees from the path the puck is about to take, I can hear him calling my friends a bunch of wusses. As soon as the puck came at his face though, he moved just as quickly as the rest of the team. Julie moved a split second after he did, not that it mattered. The puck hit the cross bar and bounced off, hitting one of the ceiling rails and bouncing around a little bit before heading right at Mr. Tibbles, who had come back with some woman. She yelled at him to duck, but he wasn't quick enough and the puck hit him right in the middle of the forehead, knocking him out. I'm glad it bounced a few times before it hit him; otherwise it might've done a lot more damage.
He woke up a few minutes later. The woman with him made sure he was alright before introducing herself… she's our new tutor. Portman's "I don't need no school" was very helpful in convincing Coach that we didn't need to go to school this year (hear the sarcasm here). Goldberg's idea of optional attendance was a good idea, but it didn't work. I guess this is what Coach meant when he told Jan that our schooling wouldn't suffer.
After we met Ms. McKay, Coach told us that we had a few hours off to get settled into our rooms. We would have lunch in the college food court at twelve every day, followed by two hours of school and three hours of practice followed by supper at five thirty. This (plus a two hour practice and two hours of school every morning) would be our schedule for the next two weeks. With this schedule, we would have time to finish our homework and have some fun every night. Coach told us that he had fixed the roommate assignments with help from Mr. Tibbles and that we would have to figure out who our roommates are ourselves. I can guess who mine is.
Yup, looks like I'm right. I'm stuck with Portman. I've known the guy for all of an hour, and I don't like him. I can't stand people who pick on their own teammates and then laugh about it. I've spent the last year protecting my team against bullies, and that's what he's acting like… a bully.
It's almost lunch time. Portman and I can't agree on anything. He keeps making jokes about the other Ducks and generally getting on my nerves. I've been trying not to get mad, but he finally makes me snap. Yes, I threw the first punch, but he shouldn't be talking about my friends like that. Coach had to come and break up the fight. Counting our argument on the ice this morning, we've fought twice, and Coach is already sick of it. He gave us a short lecture about how we have to work together to protect our team and that if we kept fighting, he would have no choice but to bench us during games. He told us that we had until tomorrow to figure it out ourselves before he started giving us extra practices. We agreed to stay away from each other if at all possible until after practice tonight (Coach's suggestion).
Ms. McKay made sure we didn't sit anywhere near each other in class. We had to do the normal introductions, and then she let us sit around and talk. The others told me their room assignments (Charlie was with Adam, Connie with Julie, Goldberg and Averman with Dwayne, Jesse with Luis, and Guy with Kenny) and sympathized with mine. The last hour of class ended up being more of a gossip session than anything else.
Portman and I are either going to kill each other or become best friends. Every time I say something, he contradicts me. Of course, I'm doing the same thing to him, but he just keeps getting on my nerves. Coach has us do a lot of communication and teamwork exercises during practice and even lets us out a little early since it's our first day back (we probably would've been let out earlier if not for us breaking a major piece of equipment and a wall though). We all went to supper as a group (with me on one end of the group and Portman on the other since we did promise Coach).
After supper, we all went back to the dorms. I ended up sitting in silence, staring across the room at someone doing the exact same thing. It only took two minutes to make me decide that silence was boring and reach for my stereo. I grabbed the first tape I could reach and Nirvana boomed across the room. Portman started smiling and singing along. Huh… so we do have something in common. Several songs and a few tape changes later; we were getting along as if we had known each other for years. We didn't just sing along with the tape. We took the time between songs to figure out that we both wanted to protect the rest of the team and that we both had lousy parents. The only major difference is that he still lives with his. I told him about joining District 5 and my problems skating (I'm still a little shaky when I'm not focused on something else) and he told me about his team in Chicago and his problems with school. I don't think there're going to be any more major fights between us. There might be some hatred from the rest of the team when they hear our music, but we're bigger than they are and most of them should know by now that I won't give up my stereo (hey, the walls at the brothers' place might be thick, but they're not completely soundproof and most of the team have stayed there at least once over the last year).
Coach was really happy that we're getting along now. He didn't even ask for details. Practice and school both went a lot smoother now that I'm not worried about a bully terrorizing my friends and the team isn't worried about being pulled into the middle of a fight between the two biggest players. Our two weeks here went by a lot faster than I thought they would. We were all given a few hours to pack, and then we were shuffled straight to the airport for our flight to LA. Coach had warned all of us that if we didn't behave, he would bench us, so there were few problems (other than Goldberg asking for food all the time).