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 3-

Caitlin woke up the next morning to the sound of her alarm going off at 6:30 AM. She groaned and hit the alarm off. She laid back and then jumped with a start as to why she set the alarm early. School- Uniform-Ride. She quickly made he bed and grabbed her bathrobe and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She luckily beat her brother (again). 10 minutes later armed with her make up bag (that Julie and Connie forced her to get sometime during the summer), straight iron and blow dryer, she raced back into her room to try and get dressed.

Caitlin looked in the mirror, she did not look that bad in the school uniform. The skirt was regulation a bit above the knees, the blouse was ok, the red tie looked stupid but what can you do. She decided to wear the black v-neck sweater today. She shook her head and sat on her bed to put her socks and shoes on. She went back to the mirror and decided that her hair that she had straightened look ok but added a hair tie around her wrist just in case her hair bugged he during the day. She had put on little make up some mascara, little face powder. That was the best she was going to get to look like a girl.

She walked out of her room and into the kitchen with her backpack. She made sure to check that her hockey bag was already by the front do- it was.

She went and sat down to breakfast. Today was the beginning of "fend for yourself" in the morning. Her mom was one of the managers of Mike's Diner and she had the day shifts. She noticed her mother had already eaten breakfast and was probably in her room finishing getting ready. Casey sighed as she grabbed the cereal box and poured some into a bowl. Then Charlie walked into the kitchen to get breakfast as well.

"Why so glum?" Charlie asked.

"Huh. Oh, no reason" Cate said.

The sibling ate breakfast in silence. Their mother came into the kitchen and said good bye to them and told Charlie to behave at school and Caitlin not to fight with her brother on the way to school.

Charlie looked up and noticed the time and stood up from the table. He rushed back to his room to grab his stuff. Caitlin sighed again and put her's and Charlie's bowls in the sink. She grabbed her backpack and went to the front door and yelled to her brother to lock up and she would meet him downstairs.

Caitlin had just opened the door to the outside when she noticed Mrs. Bank's SUV pull up. Charlie came out the door behind her and walked up to the car. Adam and his mom got out of the car to open the trunk and help the Conway's put their gear in. Charlie and Adam were already putting stuff in the trunk when Caitlin came up to them. Adam turned to her and smiled. He took her hockey bag and Caitlin managed a peak at him in his uniform. He looked good in the khaki pants, white shirt, red necktie and black pull over sweater. Charlie noticed his sister staring and playfully shoved her out of the way.

"Ok kids, get in we need to get you to the rink to put your stuff away." Mrs. Banks said.

The tree Eden Hall students got into the car- Caitlin in the front with Adam and Charlie in the back seats. The drive wasn't too long- they went a different way then the Ducks did yesterday morning and soon found themselves at the Eden Hall gates, Mrs. Banks drove them as close to the rink as she could and dropped them off. She told them that she would be back after practice to take them home and to remind Adam that Connie was coming with them.

Adam, Charlie, and Cate walked to the rink to drop their stuff off. Cate made a detour to the girls locker room and saw Connie and Julie putting their stuff away. She put her stuff in her locker area and turned to the girls. God they actually looked pretty in their uniforms. Cate looked down at herself and wondered why she didn't look as good as them.

Julie noticed that Cate was unhappy and asked her about it.

"What's wrong Caitlin? Did Charlie say something this morning?" Julie asked.

"No. Nothing is wrong, really." Cate said.

"Come on Cate, I've known you since pre-school. Something is bugging you." Connie said.

"Well, its just... you guys look like girls in your uniforms and I look well- stupid." Cate said.

Julie and Connie shared a look and laughed. Cate frowned,

"Oh Cate, trust us you look very pretty in your uniform. You look just like us." They both tried to say.

Cate gave up and left the locker room with Julie and Connie trailing behind her. The two girls were still giggling when they met up with the guys. Charlie and Adam were deep in conversation when they noticed Caitlin walking past them.

"What wrong with Cate?" Charlie asked Julie as he managed to stop one of the two giggling girls.

"Nothing, she is just going to class." Julie said.

"Oh, ok " Charlie said.

The rest of the gang decided to follow Cate's lead and head for the main part of campus. There they split off into their different 1st period classes- history and math.

- - - - -

Lunchtime finally came. Cate was so hungry and all her morning classes had left her with a headache. She got into the lunch line and tried to find something edible. She looked around and spotted a table that had a few of the ducks at it. She went to sit down and said hi to Fulton, Kenny and Russ. Adam, Charlie, Guy, Connie and Julie joined them a minute later with Luis, Averman, Goldberg, Portman and Dwayne after them. Goldberg was trying to convince Julie that since she was the starting goalie she would need more energy for the game- therefore needed to eat more food during the day. Cate shook her head at Goldberg's logic and tried to stop Julie from eating some of the stuff.

Connie told Cate to leave them alone and if Julie had enough sense she wouldn't listen to Goldberg at all.

Adam got up halfway through lunch and said something about a Varsity meeting that he had to attend. The Ducks told him good-bye and Cate followed him with her eyes out the door. She noticed quite a few freshman girls checking him out as he made his way to the door. Then Dwayne interrupted her thoughts by announcing that the housing department needed to see the team during lunch to go over dorm assignments. Everyone quickly finished up and left the lunchroom.

The lady in charge of dorm assignments- Ms Clemens- was a very organized lady. She had each floor of the new Athletic hall color coded to each sport and level (JV on one side of the wing and Varsity on the other) and gender. So she was a little perplexed when the Ducks came in. Out of the 14 Freshman- one was suddenly placed on Varsity and 3 others were female. All 14 of them were suppose to be on the same floor, but with Caitlin, Julie and Connie being female- there was a problem. Adam being on Varsity was a problem that had been solved that morning- he would stay with the JV duck since the rest of the Varsity team was juniors and seniors. But the girl's situation was a different problem- where to find a three-person room on the other floors. She gave the boys their room assignments- Fulton, Portman - Russ, Luis, Kenny - Averman, Guy, -Goldberg, Dwayne-Charlie, Adam. The girls would be together but she sis not know which female floor yet. They could move in this weekend and the guys were given keys to their rooms. Ms Clemens explained that the key cards worked on each floor- the stairways lead to each common room area. After 9pm the keys would not let them into the girls area and the girls into the boys area. After 10 pm the keys would lock them out of the building unless they were with a faculty member who could let them in.

They all just nodded their heads like they understood what she had said. She then gave the boys some papers to fill out and the girls decided to leave since they had no rooms yet.

Connie lead the girls to the bench outside the office and there they sat waiting for the guys to come out. They still had time before their afternoon classes started so they just sat and relaxed.

"Guys what do you think of Portman?" Julie asked.

"He's ok. Good hockey player." Connie said with her eyes closed.

"he's a good friend." Cate said looking out to the main part of school. "Why?"

"Well he asked me to get ice cream with him after practice today and I said yes." Julie said.

Connie and Cate turned to look at her. Julie was smiling and playing with the strap of her backpack.

"I didn't know you liked Portman." Connie said

"Well, I've had a crush on him since the first Iceland game." Julie said

"Wow" was all Cate could say.

Then the guys came out of the building interrupting the rest of the conversation the girls could have. They all walked towards the main building and once they got inside they spilt off into three groups- Julie, Cate, Dwayne, Kenny and Russ to Science. Connie, Charlie and Fulton to Spanish. Portman, Averman, Goldberg, Luis, and Guy to English. Adam joined the science group as soon as they sat down at their lab tables.

- - - - -

Practice was over for the day and Cate thought that she was going to die. She was so tired and sore. She sat on the bench and started to take off her pads. She winced as he say the bruise that was forming on her side. Charlie had checked her hard during practice.

"Don't forget we have to go see Ms Clemens after practice." Julie said.

"oh yeah." Said Connie.

"Hey Cons, your riding home with us right." Cate said.

"Yeah, Adam and I have to start a English project that is due Friday." She said.

Cate nodded and finished taking off her pads. She jumped in the shower and quickly changed back into her school uniform.

As soon as they girls were ready they headed out with all their stuff. Cate saw Adam and Charlie waiting with Averman and Goldberg outside.

"Hey my mom's running a little late." Adam said.

"That's ok. We have to go get out dorm keys." Connie said.

"Can you watch out stuff?" Julie asked.

"Sure. But if you don't come back I might have to sell it." Charlie said.

"Don't worry we will watch it " Adam said.

The girls made the trek up to Ms Clemens office, filled out the paper work, got their keys and were given the same lecture the boys had been given during lunch. The girls had been placed on the same floor and the tennis and equestrian team, They had the least amount of girls on their floors and Ms Clemens thought that the girls would get along. The girls left the building and sprinted back to where they left the boys.

Mrs. Banks was waiting for Connie and Cate when they came back to the rink. Julie said good bye and walked back to her dorm room with Portman. They had a "date" and Julie wanted to change before they went. Cate and Connie waved to Julie and told her to have fun, Charlie and Adam were to busy talking in the back to notice. Cate got in beside her brother and Adam got out and went to the front so Connie could sit in the back with Cate.

The siblings were dropped off and went inside.

Cate opened the door and dropped her stuff on the floor,

"Don't you ever pick up after yourself?" Charlie muttered as he maneuvered himself around Cate's hockey bag.

"Oh, like you every pick up after yourself." Cate snapped back.

"Are you ok?" Charlie asked.

"Fine." Cate said. She picked up her hockey bag and dragged it to her room.

Charlie shook his head at her retreating back and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

TBC....