1 Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

1.1 The Shadow Duck

1.1.1 Chapter 3: Kickin' Some Ice

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Erin helped Andy out onto the ice.

"Dude, is your knee *still* bothering you?" Erin looked concerned.

"It'll get better after I skate some and warm up. It takes time to heal from an injury of that..." Andy cringed as she took the first step on the ice. "Damn, dude!" she screamed.

"Hey, watch your language!"

"Huh?" Erin and Andy spun around and Andy cringed again.

"Guys, I'm Coach Bombay. I see we have a large class." Bombay looked at the five girls gathered on the ice. "Well, let me see what you can do. Skate!" He blew his whistle.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun." Andy muttered sarcastically. She bit her lip and started skating with Erin right beside her.

"How's your knee doin'?"

"I told ya it would get better when I started skating." Andy grinned at Erin. "No pain now. It's really weird, but ya know, who am I to complain?"

Andy and Erin proceeded to double lap the three others, one being the girl who offered Andy the textbook in her previous class. Andy turned her head to Erin. "Hey, you don't mind if I..?

"Nah, go ahead." Erin grinned. When Andy got like this, there was no use in trying to stop her.

Andy put a hand on Erin's shoulder. "Thanks. I owe ya!"

As Andy skated past her, Erin grinned again and shook her head. "Go, Andy, go!" She whispered. Andy circled the rink at an amazing speed. Erin laughed as Andy attempted to show off by doing some fancy skating.

"Knight!"

Andy turned to see where the voice was coming from. Coach. "Should've known." Andy smiled.

"Knight! Stop dragging your right leg! C'mon!"

Andy gritted her teeth and did as she was told. "Oh, son of a.!"

"Knight! Get over here!"

Andy let out a deep breath and skated towards Bombay. She stopped right in front of him, ice spraying onto his khaki's. "You called?"

Bombay raised an eyebrow and glanced briefly down at his pants. "You're new here, aren't you?" Andy nodded as Bombay turned his attention to Andy's information sheet on his clipboard. "Andrea Marie Knight. Well, Miss Knight."

"Andy." She cut him off.

"Ok, Andy. You're just about the fastest skater I've ever seen." Bombay laughed. "And believe me, I've seen a lot of skaters. Now, I know you can skate, but can you handle a stick?" He held out a hockey stick to her.

Andy couldn't believe her ears. "Well. I. um. that is, uh, only if Erin can."

Bombay grinned. "Gladly. What's her last name?" He flipped through the papers. "Lawson!"

"Yessir!" Erin slowed her pace as she approached Bombay and Andy.

"Here ya go." He tossed Erin another hockey stick and threw a puck out onto the ice. "Let me see what you got," he smiled.

Andy and Erin looked at each other and grinned slyly before Erin quickly said, "Race ya! Loser gets 'D'!"

"Oh, you're askin' for it now!"

Andy and Erin tore after the puck. Andy reached it first and nudged it forward with the blade of her skate and gained control of it.

After playing for 25 minutes nonstop, Erin and Andy heard Bombay blow his whistle.

"All right, everybody c'mon in!"

The two trudged slowly over to Coach and dropped the equipment into the box. Andy put on her Philadelphia Flyers hat, grabbed the Gatorade bottle she had brought with her and chugged a fourth of it, while Erin downed half a bottle of water, as Coach talked quietly to the other three girls.

About a minute later, Coach Bombay placed a hand on Andy's shoulder. "Andy, Erin, I'm Gordon Bombay, the JV Hockey coach. I've seen some pretty incredible things on the ice, but you two are amazing. Now, I've talked it over with Bron, Alex, and Morgan, and we know you're both a little old to be playing JV, but I'm offering you both a spot on the team."

Erin looked skeptical, but Andy, enjoying Bombay's hand on her shoulder, grinned. "How could I say no?"

"All right!" Bombay smiled. "Erin, what about you?"

Erin shot Andy a Look. "Sure. Sounds like fun."

"Great! Then I'll see both of you back here for practice at 2:30." And with that, Bombay hit the bill of Andy's hat playfully and walked off.

"Hey, congrats. Welcome to the team. You're Ducks now." Bron, Alex, and Morgan offered their congratulations before heading off the ice.

"Why'd you do that?!" Erin hissed at Andy.

"Do what?" Andy pulled the bill back up so she could see again.

"Do you have any idea of what you just got us into?! Augh!" Erin snatched Andy's hat off and hit her with it.

"Ow, Skipper, that hurt!"

"Yeah, I meant for it to, Gilligan."

"Mean."

The two grabbed what they had brought out to the ice and headed towards the exit in silence.

"It's not my fault the Minnesota Miracle Man is hot..." Andy muttered under her breath.

Erin's eyes got wide. "You told him yes because you thought he was HOT?!"

"Um, no." Andy sounded like the guy in the Dell computer commercials.

Erin hit her again. "You know if this backfires, it'll be your fault."

Andy turned serious. "Yeah. I know."

Erin sighed. "Look, I'm sorry." She gave Andy her hat back.

"No, you're right." Andy pursed her lips together. "You know, let's just go back to the dorm. I think I need a nap."

"Yeah, we better save up some energy for practice today. We're definitely gonna need it."

Andy looked at Erin. "You're gonna stay with it?"

"Are you kidding? We're too good not to!"

They both laughed before Andy replied quietly, "Yeah, we did kick some ice, didn't we."

"Oh yeah."

The two fell silent once again as they exited out of Hans Arena and headed back to the dorm room.