Chapter Two The Plan

Wham! Charlie felt something soft smack into his head. "Wake up, Charlie," was Adam's stern command.

So abruptly woken from his deep sleep, Charlie opened his mouth to tell Adam exactly how he felt about the Captain taking orders from anyone, but then changed his mind. A real leader wouldn't do that.

So he got up, full of groggy annoyance, his burning eyes a reminder of his sleepless night. Linda. He sighed. Don't think about it now, he told himself. Think about the Ducks.

He pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt, glancing across the room to see Adam finish combing his hair and applying a light spray of cologne.

"Knock it off, Preppy," Charlie snapped. "Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," was Adam's non apologetic reply, "You know, Linda's turning you into a real grump."

Charlie was quite stunned. Such a comment was incredibly out of character for Adam. As the Captain, Charlie prided himself on knowing what to expect from his teammates. He made a mental note of Adam's strange behavior and said nothing.

Part of the reason Charlie didn't object was because he couldn't honestly say he felt Adam's comments were completely untrue.

"Let's not go there right now, Banks," Charlie said, as he herded his roommate off to Orion's emergency meeting.

The two boys entered the locker room to find they were the last ones to show up. Charlie tried to suppress his dismay. He liked being the first to arrive, the last to leave.

Seeing his team assembled, Coach Orion got right down to business. He didn't like wasting time.

"Alright, team, I'm going to cut right to the chase. I've decided you're ready to play in a tournament."

The team exchanged glances. This didn't really seem like earth shattering news.

"What kind of a tournament?" asked Connie Moreau. "We play all the high school teams around here all the time."

"You've never played these high school teams," Coach Orion informed her. "This is a three week tournament in Pennsylvania. We leave on Friday."

"We're going to Pennsylvania?" Goldberg chirped up, obviously thrilled.

"Three weeks? What about school?" Ken Wu asked, concerned. "Shut up, dude," Portman hissed. "Well, some of us care about our grades," Ken muttered, but obviously not wanting to upset Portman too much.

"You'll have a tutor," Orion said. "And like I said, we leave for Pittsburgh on Friday, so get your things in order." "What?" Goldberg asked, his tone suddenly not so pleasant. "You mean Philly."

"No, Pittsburgh, as in the Penguins. The tournament is at their facility, Mellon Arena. Mario Lemieux?" Orion said. "Philadelphia would be way cooler," Goldberg grumbled.

"We're playing a tournament in a real NHL arena?" Banks asked, incredulously. "Yeah," Orion said, "And you can count on it being hard so we're going to need you to bring you're a game, Banks."

But Adam's mind was already in Pennsylvania and he was thinking about one thing. Scouts.

"Alright, team, I will se you after class today for practice. Now, get out of here. And Charlie, can you come see me in my office?" Orion asked.

The room erupted in confused, excited chatter. "Bash Brothers are gonna rip it up in Pennsylvania," Fulton shouted above the mayhem, as much for his own benefit as anybody else's.

Meanwhile, Charlie went into Orion's office and closed the door. "What's up, Coach?" he asked.

Coach Orion cleared his throat. "I just wanted to tell you that I wasn't joking when I said this was going to be hard. I'm counting on you to have this team pumped up. This is a really big opportunity. Gordon got you Ducks a lot of exposure when he was dubbed the Minnesota Miracle Man and the leading you to the gold medal at the Jr. Goodwill Games."

Charlie nodded, not really understanding where Coach was going with this. "The thing is," Orion continued, "We have to keep that exposure alive. We can't let people forget about the Ducks. Anybody who wants to be in the pros needs to stay in the spotlight and not be forgotten. It's my job to finish what Bombay started."

"You're talking about Banks." Charlie said quietly. "I'm talking about everyone," Orion said firmly, "But yes, Banks, too. He has so much potential, you all do. And when this opportunity came up, I knew it was only fair we take it."

"You can count on me, Coach." Charlie said, "I won't let you down." "I know, Charlie." Orion replied.

Back out in the locker room, everyone was gone except for Banks, Portman, and Julie.

Julie and Portman were fully engrossed in their own conversation. Adam came over to Charlie, he was obviously nervous.

Charlie knew Adam had no idea about this tournament was mainly for him. And he knew he could never tell him. It was obvious Adam was plenty nervous already.

"We really have to be on top of things," Adam said. Charlie eyed him keenly. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure Adam didn't know. "We're a team, Cake eater," Charlie said, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't worry."

"What I mean is, we all gotta be focused." Adam pressed. And Charlie got the message. Linda. Adam thought Linda was going to distract Charlie into not playing his best in the tournament.

"I got it under control so mind your own business, Banks" snapped Charlie and he stormed out of the locker room. He passed Julie and Portman still talking as he slammed the door behind him.

Even in rage, his captain instincts were still sharp. Julie and Portman? He made another mental note.