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 5-
Cate was so happy when the final bell rang to end school. She had a headache from listening to the Spanish Teacher talk about conjugating verbs and the forms for the –ar, -er, and –ir endings. She stood up out of her seat and dashed out of the classroom and towards her dorm to drop off her bag and head up to the rink for practice. One good thing about being an athlete was that she had only 6 classes instead of 7 like the other students. Her final class of the day was Athlete PE, which meant practice.
Connie and Julie had not shown up to the room, which Cate noticed with a smile. She put down her bag and grabbed her hockey skates. She did not trust leaving them in the locker room. She knew she was being paranoid, but Charlie had his ways of getting back at her or sending someone else to do it.
She walked to the ice rink and in the JV girl's locker room. Julie was inside changing into her practice gear.
"Hey." Julie said as Cate walked in.
"Hey" Cate said back and went to her locker and began to change.
""Umm Cate. Was Portman in Bio this afternoon?" Julie asked.
"Nope." Cate said. She turned to Julie " Come to think of it, he wasn't in English either this morning."
"I tried asking the guys- but they weren't much help and I don't have any classes with Fulton." Julie replied.
Connie then rushed into the locker room and announced that Coach O'Rion wanted a meeting on the ice as soon as the team was finished changing into their practice gear.
Connie, Julie and Cate walked out to the ice and found that they were the last one to the meeting. O'Rion gave the girls a look that meant- get ready faster.
"I'm sure that you have noticed a member of your team is missing. Dean Portman had to return to Chicago for a family emergency and is not expected back for the next week. His grandmother is very ill and has been hospitalized. His parents wished for him to come home and be with the family. Portman will be returning to school but we do not know exactly when, maybe sometime before the big JV/Varsity game." Said O'Rion.
Everyone just looked at each other after that statement. Poor Portman, Cate thought. He was very close to his grandmother.
"Because we are now down an enforcer, I have asked Goldberg to step into a more defensive role. He will be moving from goalie to defensive wing. I know that you will all be more than willing to help him out. Also I am changing the lines for our game on Wed."
The team nodded and Cate looked over at Goldberg who was looking a little pale but otherwise happy about the change.
"Alright let's begin practice." O'Rion said.
- - - -
Cate sigh as she closed her locker door and put her pads away. She looked down at her skates and tossed them to the other side of the bench. She had noticed that she didn't have a good "grip" on the ice with them. Maybe it was time to get new one or sharpen them. Sharpen them; mom wouldn't let her get a new pair until her birthday in January.
"So what are your plans before dinner?" Connie asked.
"I have to go see my History teacher about that freshman project." Julie said.
"Oh man." Cate said. "I have to be in the library in like three minutes." She quickly pulled her sweater on over her white shirt and grabbed her red tie. She stuffed her pads in her locker, threw her practice uniform into the basket to be washed and ran out towards the dorms.
She paused in the dorms long enough to drop off her skates- which resulted in a broken shoe lace and grab her bio book and notebook. She looked at the calendar and saw that it was a Blue day- which meant Blazers Night and grabbed that too.
- - - -
Cate finally made it to the library. She had some issues with her skates as she was trying to put them away. She was lucky that the JV team had a day off tomorrow before their game on Wed. She decided that she needed to go visit Han's Skate shop and see about some new laces and get her blades sharpened. She had asked Connie to come with her and she agreed.
Adam looked up and found a frustrated Cate entering the library and scanning the study area looking for him. He saw her notice him and hurry to his table.
"Sorry. Issues with my skates." Cate said.
"No problem." Adam said.
"So, Bio. I don't understand the chapter we are studying." Cate said as she opened her book.
Adam then proceeded to help Cate understand what they have been learning in Bio the last week. He couldn't understand why she wasn't understanding anything- she seemed to know what the jest of the concepts were.
"Cate is something bothering you?" Adam asked.
"The world" Cate replied back as she was finishing answering a question from the text.
"No really. Come on, I'm your friend. You can talk to me." Adam said
Cate said the first thing on her mind, "Portman went home. Now I'm down two friends on the team."
Adam paused then said, "Yeah, but he'll be back Cate. And I may be on a different team, but I'm still here."
Cate looked at him and bite her lip. Should she tell him what was really wrong or not? She debated the question for ten more minutes. She really liked Adam but she had no idea what to do. Maybe ask Connie and Julie- wait the whole team would know in like two seconds if she did that. Maybe an impartial party would be better.
Cate just sighed and looked at her watch. "We're going to be late to dinner." She said as she packed up her books and began to stand up.
"Cate, things will get better. I promise." Adam said.
Cate tried to smile but it was a heartless attempt. They walked to the Dinning Hall and joined their friends.
- - - - -
The next day as soon as classes were over Cate and Connie got on the bus to head into town. Cate was on a mission to fix her skates. Connie was along for the ride and maybe check out the new hockey sticks.
It was only a 10-minute ride to Han's Shop and Hans was of course very happy to see two of the original female ducks.
"Ahh. My little Freshman Ducks. How is school treating you?" Hans asked as the girls gave him hugs.
"School is tiring, lots of work and hockey is going great." Connie said.
"School is great. Hockey is tiring." Cate said.
Hans chuckled at Cate's reply and took her skates to the back to get sharpened. Connie and Cate began looking around the store to see what new things had come in. Cate wondered over to the skates and saw a couple of pairs she might have to ask her mom to buy. She looked at the prices at some of them and prayed that her mom would say yes.
Cate found the laces that she needed and had to pull Connie away from the clothes. Connie protested that she needed some new tops but Cate won the argument by stating they went to a school where uniforms were required. Connie hung her head and went back to looking at hockey sticks. Cate and Connie were not the only ones in the store so they knew that they had to behave. As Cate was looking over the hockey sticks, she saw a brother and sister with their dad getting hockey skates. A couple of teenagers looking at jerseys and a few new workers wondering around trying to help people.
Cate and Connie were looking at the pictures on Han's wall. The girls were proud to see that their team seemed to dominate most of the wall. There was their team picture from peewees, the article about them being Team USA, their Team USA picture, the picture when they won the Junior Goodwill Games and the whole team with their scholarships.
Soon a boy about two years older than them came to the front with Cate's skates.
"Hans had to take a phone order. Is there anything else you need?" The guy named Kyle said.
"Just the laces." Cate said
"Ok" Kyle said.
As Cate was counting out the money she owed. Kyle tried to make small talk with the girls.
"So Hans tells me you girls are on a high school hockey team." Kyle said.
"Yup, we play for Eden Hall Academy " Connie said
"Cool." Kyle said as he took the money Cate handed him.
"It's fun." Cate added.
"Well maybe I'll have to check out one of your games sometime." Kyle said giving Cate her change.
Cate was of course oblivious to the attention that Kyle was trying to give her. Connie saw this and wheels were spinning in her head.
"We have a game tomorrow at 5pm." Connie said.
"I'll try to come." Kyle said.
Cate gave Connie a look as the girls made their way out of the shop. Cate decided that maybe Connie was losing her mind inviting strange boys that they just met to their hockey game and dragged her to the bus stop to get them back to school.
- - - - -
The JV team played the next day and won. Cate saw Connie looking in the stands after their win. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Guess he couldn't make it." Connie said.
Cate shook her head and headed towards the locker room to change. She asked Connie and Julie to watch the Varsity game with her. They both said yes. When they sat down Fulton and Russ joined them. They said the others had homework to do before the late dinner and would meet them in the dinning hall.
Cate just nodded and focused her attention on Adam who was warming up on the ice. She wished that she could tell him how she felt, but knew it was a lost cause. There were other girls who were prettier than her who could easily grab Adam's attention.
The Varsity team won their game, but Adam did not get any playing time. The four JV players got up to go congratulate Adam. As they were making their way down the bleachers they found Luis and Kenny waiting for them. They stopped and talked with them knowing that Adam would take a few minutes to change. A couple of classmates came up to them and congratulated them on their win. A few sophomore guys came up to talk to the girls but Cate was looking at the hallway to distracted to talk to them.
Finally Adam came out and the six of them went up to him. Connie and Julie gave him hugs while Cate just hung back. Adam noticed an immediate change in her demeanor and wondered what was up. They walked to the Dinning Hall and found the rest of the guys already sitting down to eat. When they got their food they joined them.
"Thanks so much for waiting for us." Julie said sitting down next to Averman.
"Yeah you guys are real gentleman." Connie added taking the seat next to Charlie.
"Hey Banks is the one here with manners" Goldberg said.
The girls just glared at him. Adam and Cate took the seats at the end of the table and everyone went back to eating.
Everyone began talking about plans for the week. Guy reminded them about the dinner on Friday and Charlie asked Adam for more details.
"Well, it's a tradition for the Varsity team to take the JV team out to dinner before the JV/Varsity game. The Varsity team is going to drive us to the restaurant and they are paying for the meal. I know that it is a nice restaurant, and the guys need to wear their school blazers. Umm I guess you girls know how you should look?" Adam said.
"Don't worry about us Adam, we know what to do." Connie said.
Cate looked up in surprise- nice dinner! That meant she would have to wear a dress. Oh the week was just getting worst. It was bad enough that she wore a skirt everyday, but now a dress.
Everyone began getting up at putting his or her trays away. The boys began heading off towards the dorms while the girls hung back to talk.
"So what are you wearing?" Connie asked.
"I think the dress I wore for the press conference." Julie said.
"Don't look at me, I have two dresses and no matter what I will look stupid in them." Cate said.
"Don't worry, everything will be ok." Connie said as they walked up the steps into the Athletic Hall.
The girls said good night to the guys and went to their floor.
TBC....