The Best That You Can Be
PG-13 (just in case)
DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff
Chapter 2
Caitlin opened the door to the Conway apartment and dropped her backpack and hockey bag in disgust. She was so tired and sore. Thank god next week she would not have to make a daily trek from home to school twice a day. She would be living in the dorms and only have a 10-minute walk from the rink to her bed. She walked to the couch and sat down. She closed her eyes and tried to get everything that had happened this morning out of her mind. She still could not believe what a horrible first day of school it had been.
FLASH BACK TO THE MORNING::
Caitlin woke up with a start and then scrambled out of bed remembering that it was the first day of school. She made her bed and opened up her closet to find something to wear. She was glad that it was a free dress day today- she would have to start wearing her uniform tomorrow. She grabbed some pants, a top and a light jacket. She quietly walked to the bathroom hoping to get it before her brother woke up. After taking a quick shower, changing and doing her hair she walked out of the bathroom to the annoyance of her brother.
"Morning Spaz" Cate said to her brother.
Charlie muttered something back that was incoherent.
Cate just shrugged and went to grab her backpack from her room. She was glad that she was smart enough to have left her hockey bag in Julie room yesterday, Connie did the same claiming that she did not want to lug it on the first day.
She went into the kitchen and saw that her mom was up and had put out the cereal and toast.
"This is the only day I am doing this. It's your first day of high school," Casey Conway said to her daughter.
"Thanks mom" Cate said.
Charlie walked into the kitchen as she was pouring milk into her cereal. "Mom, you're still driving us to meet up the ducks, right?" Charlie asked.
"Yes to the alley to meet up with Fulton" Casey said.
"Yeah" Charlie responded back.
Cate finished her breakfast and put her dishes into the sink. "Come on guys we are going to be late meeting the Ducks".
"Cate, we have time. Don't stress" Charlie told her.
Cate walked out of the kitchen and into the family room and sat on the couch waiting very impatiently for her mom and brother to be ready to walk out the door. Cate was very nervous about school starting. She was nervous about meeting the new coach, seeing all the new students and the workload.
- - - -
Casey stopped the car by the alley that the Ducks always meet at. "Have fun you guys." She told her children.
"Bye mom" they both replied.
"Hey Fulton, you ever think of shooting into the alley" Charlie asked as they came up to Fulton Reed.
"No" Fulton said then took another shot at the trunk that was serving as his goal.
Cate and Charlie sat on one of the boxes and began to change their sneakers for roller blades. Today being a free dress day and the first day of school- the in state Ducks decided to roller blade to school rather than take the bus the first week until they moved into the dorms.
"Hey, did you guys here that Jessie isn't come after all. His dad got transferred to LA so they leave in two weeks. Jessie decided that he wanted to stay with his family instead of go with us." Charlie announced.
Cate was shocked- why hadn't Charlie told her this before. She looked at her brother for an answer.
"You were with Connie and Julie and I forgot to tell you when you came home last night." He told her. Cate nodded her head and went back to tying her laces of her blades.
Fulton took another shot and thins time it hit someone. Cate looked up and laughed as she say Greg Goldberg coming up to them rubbing his helmet.
"Hey watch it, the puck grazed my head." Goldberg said.
"Dude, you're a goalie. Deal." Fulton said.
"Yeah, do we need to tie you up to the goal again?" Cate added. That comment sent Cate, Charlie and Fulton into a laughing fit while Goldberg just glared at them.
"Let's go. We have to meet the other ducks near Adam's house " Charlie said as they began to stand and blade out of the alley.
They met up with the other ducks and somehow Charlie and Goldberg got separated from them.
They joined up with them and soon speed off to the school. They were late and decided to take the back door into the Auditorium thinking it would lead to the back seats. Little did they know that they were entering the back stage area and as they got caught in the curtain, they soon say the entire student body staring at them- including their fellow out of state teammates.
Soon they met with the Dean, who informed them that he was hoping for many good things from them. He gave them their schedules and they found that they had some classes together except for Science, Math and their electives. The workload that the teachers were expecting of them was a lot more than junior high.
Finally it came time to go to hockey practice. Julie and Connie found Cate in the main hallway and the three girls went to Julie's temporary dorm to get their stuff. There they met Julie's roommate who was on the soccer team and thought it was so cool that the girls played hockey with they boys team. They said good bye to the roommate and grabbed their gear to head toward the rink.
"So what do you think the new coach will be like?" Cate asked the girls.
"Don't know, but my dad said if I don't like him I can come home." Julie said.
Connie and Cate looked at each other in shock- Julie would think of going home.
"But you wont, right?" Connie asked.
"Maybe" Julie said.
Cate just shrugged at Connie and the girls walked into the rink heading for the JV locker rooms. They made a detour to the girl's locker room that had been constructed last year and began to change. After changing they meet with the boys in the main JV locker room and proceeded to the ice. What they say impressed them very much. It looked so professional- much better than the rink that they practiced at for the Junior games.
Cate was in the back of the pack but she noticed that Connie and Charlie were standing really close to each other and whispering to each other a lot. Hmmm wonder what's going on there she thought. She tried to catch Julie's eye but she was too busy taking in the banners on the ceiling to pay attention to Cate. Cate just shook her head and walked with the rest of the team to the ice.
The Varsity team stopped them and the two captains had some words. After they left, Charlie told Dwayne it was time for some Cowboy Roundup. Connie asked Charlie if it was ok to do it without the new coach around. But somehow Charlie convinced her it was ok. Cate noticed that Connie gave in too quickly without an argument.
Dwayne began to throw the rope around as the Ducks scattered around the rink. The girls decided that safety in numbers was better so they tried to stick together. Somehow Cate lost her grip on Connie and when the three girls mad a sharp turn, Cate went flying into Adam Banks.
"Cate, you ok." Adam said with a laugh.
"Yeah, thanks for stopping me." She said with a grin.
"No prob." Adam said. Then he helped her to her feet and they took off in the other direction away from the fast approaching Dwayne Roberts.
They skated around a little more until Dwayne managed to capture Charlie who fell and landed in front of a stern looking man.
He introduced himself as Coach O'Rion and he was expecting a lot out of them. He knew that they could score goals- but their defense needed a lot of work. He told them that high school hockey was a whole different league then the peewees.
Charlie of course made the coach mad so he was skating laps while the rest of the team began warm-ups.
After a had 2 hour practice the team stumbled into the main JV locker room before the girls split off into theirs. O'Rion then came in with the roster that told them their spots on the team as well as line-ups. Connie was the first to notice this and came up to it to take a look.
Most were disgusted to see where they ended up. Goldberg mad a comment about being lucky to be a goalie and know where they would stand. Unfortunately for him, Julie was 1 he was 2. Cate came to look at the page when she noticed Adam go tense beside her. Connie noticed it to.
"I'm not even posted." He said
"Yes you are. See Adam Banks. Third line... Varsity" Connie said.
Adam and Cate shared a look. Varsity...Adam made Varsity. Cate got a little queasy and decided to look for herself to see where she was. She was First line right side while Charlie was First Line Center. With Adam gone, she had moved up a spot. Joining her would be Charlie, Fulton, Portman, and Guy. Second line was Connie, Luis and Dwayne. Russ, Kenny and Averman were the third line. Julie would be the starting goalie and Goldberg would be second string. Everything on that list was so off.
Cate looked sadly at Adam who was still in shock. Julie dragged the girls out to their locker room and they showered and changed. Connie tried to strike up a conversation but all three where tired and numb from the shock of what just happened to their team. Cate was trying to comprehend the fact that Adam was not going to play with them at all this season. She was so upset she wanted to cry.
Connie announced that they had five more minutes till they had to get out of the rink so Cate quickly brushed her hair and stuffed her things into her hockey bag. She walked out of the locker room to the bewilderment of her female teammates and headed for the bus station.
She spotted some of the guys ahead of her walking to the dorms to drop stuff off. She tried to stay out of their line of sight, but Adam caught up to her.
"Hey" he said.
"Hey." Cate said looking at the ground.
"Cate, come on. It will be ok. It's a shock but it will be for one season." Adam tried to reassure her.
"It's just First Bombay, then Jessie now you." Cate stated "It won't be the same anymore."
"Cate, It's not like I'm going away and not coming back. We still have classes together and we all can hang out." Adam said.
"I know, it's just..." Cate began but then stopped. "I guess I'm just tired" Cate luckily stopped before she said something she didn't want anyone to know yet.
"Come on. My mom was going to pick me up. We can give you a ride home since Charlie seems to have abandoned you." Adam said.
Cate looked around and noticed that Charlie was getting on the bus without her. She frowned then smiled. A car ride with Adam. That could make up for the crummy day she was having. Adam picked up her hockey bag and they walked to the Student parking lot where his mother was waiting for them.
- - - -
"Thank you for the ride Mrs. Banks." Cate said as she stopped the car in front of her building.
"It was my pleasure Cate. Tell your mother that I will call her later., OK." Mrs. Banks said.
Adam walked with her to the door of her building and gave her back her hockey bag.
"So I'll see you tomorrow in class." Cate said.
"Yeah." Adam said He then walked back to the car and then turned around.
"Do you and Charlie want a ride tomorrow?" Adam asked. He turned to his mom and she nodded.
Cate saw the nod and smiled. "yeah that would be great."
Adam smiled and got into the car. Cate smiled and opened the door to her building and walked into the apartment.
END FLASH BACKOk so maybe not everything that had happened the first day was that bad- the ending turned out great. But she was not about to let anyone know that she Caitlin Conway had a crush on Adam Banks- best friend of her brother.
She sighed and grabbed her backpack dragged her hockey bag into her room and fell onto her bed. She decided to take a nap before tackling any of her Math homework.
TBC...