Disclaimer-Ducks Disney's. Rae mine.

Wounded Duck

By SalyaSky

Chapter 3-Campus

            The campus was just as I had envisioned it. It was grandiose and impersonal, the perfect place for rich snobs. All I really want to see is the rink, I'll be spending most of my time there so I should get acquainted with it.

            The outside looks like all the other buildings, but I don't care what it looks like, I just care about how good the facilities are. We enter the arena, not bad, average rink size, good, I hate small rinks, they make me feel cramped, and Olympic size ones take my breath away, and not in a good way. Bleachers on either side of the ice. The benches on one side and the penalty and scorer boxes on the other. My favorite setup, less chance of offsides. It was slightly warm, not a good sign, the pampered fans don't realize how bad it is for us players, warmth equals soft ice and more sweat.

            I turn to the boys. "I'm guessing the ice is soft, huh?"

            "Yeah, usually. Except on really cold days," says Portman.

            "Can you show me the locker rooms?"

            They nod and lead me under the bleachers. There are a total of seven rooms. Four for use by visiting teams and the youth league that shares our ice. The other three were the varsity, jv, and girl's locker room.

            I look at the boys. "The girls dress separately from their teams?

            They nod.

            "Why?"

            Louis furrows his brow. "Many think it is not appropriate for girls to change with guys."

            I blink. "Do you think that?"

            "Not really. Connie and Julie change with us, but other teams had girls who wanted to change separately and so they converted a storage room to a locker room. And now they may be making our girls change in there from now on."

            I make them show me the room. It's small, possibly room enough for three girls, if they squeezed and none of them were goalies. There is no way us Eden Hall girls will all fit, especially if the other team has a girl. And there's not even a shower in here, I bet those visiting girls love those smelly rides home.

            "If I have to change in here I will protest."

            "Aw, come on. It ain't that bad," says Portman.

            I look at him incredulously. "Yes it is. One, it's really, really small. And two, I'll miss out on all the locker room bonding."

            "Yeah, we do have fun in the locker room," Louis says, "and there is a lot of bonding."

            I look at him. "Don't start that again."

            "Yeah." Portman smacks him upside the head.

            "So how about showing me the other rooms?"

            "Sure."

            The locker rooms are pretty average. They're good but old, metal lockers instead of wooden, interlinked rubber mats instead of the rugs you see in most well funded arenas. Not a very modern place, guess they used their money for other things.

            "Where's the weight room?"

            "Oh, that's in another building, the gym complex. It holds a track, basketball courts, cardio machines, and weightlifting machines."

            "Can we get in and look around?"
            "Well, we could, or we could go eat dinner," Louis says.

            "Hungry?" I ask them.

            "Starving!" they both cry in unison.

            I laugh. "Okay, I'll look at the gym some other day."

A/N-Yeah, I know. Boring chapter. I'll try to make the next one better.