Disclaimer - I do not own anything even remotely related to The Mighty Ducks. I only wish I had thought of them first…

Italics indicate character thoughts.

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"Stupid, stupid, stupid." Beau whapped her head gently on her knee as she bent over to tie her skates. It had been four hours since her 8am class and every time she stopped occupying her mind with mindless chatter, she heard herself saying things like, "um" and "yeah" and "sexy bra" out loud. To another human being. A male human being.

"You okay there buddy?"

Beau looked up at her roommate and grimaced. "Ugh. I have not had what one would call the perfect first day of college classes."

Hailey plopped down on the bed and leaned back to pull on her cleats and shin guards. "Do you want to go out to dinner and talk about it when I get back from soccer practice?"

"It's still a little too humiliating to talk about over food. I might make myself sick. It's nothing a good workout won't cure though."

"Good to hear. Check you later."

Beau checked to make sure that her cell phone was clipped tightly on her waistband and yanked her hair into a thick brown pony-tail as she rolled our of her room and down the hall. As she rode down the elevator from the 9th floor, she leaned her head back against the wall and thought about how far she was from everything she knew. North Carolina, her friends, her family - they were all hundreds of miles away now. Minnesota is home. This is going to be a good start.

She hit the first floor moving, dying to drive the thoughts of Entomology lecture out of her mind. The campus was all hills and valleys and Beau started working up a light sweat within just a few minutes. She pushed her body, making long strides with the streamline wheels of her skates, working her arms in wide arcs and bending low to work her back and stomach muscles. She steered to areas she knew held stairs and railings and grinned broadly as she forced herself against gravity and into the air.

She slowed down as she neared the end of her skate. She was back in central campus and a wide expanse of bricks spread out before her as she wove her way down the path between the library and the ice arena.

Behind her Beau heard a great deal of chatter and the familiar sound of several pairs of skates rolling over the uneven bricks. In seconds, 3 then 4 then 5 bodies shot past her. She felt a pang as she thought about the friends she spent high school skating with. But before she could dwell too long, two more bodies came flying past.

One of the boys glanced over his shoulder as he passed and when she smiled at him he spun quickly on his skates, facing her as she skated towards him. He was tall, at least 6'3, with jet black hair peeking out from under his bandanna. He smiled broadly and began to roll slowly backwards as Beau got closer.

"Hi."

She smiled at the simple greeting. "Hi."

"I haven't seen you skating here before, and we're out every day it's not raining or snowing."

"I'm new. Today was my first day of classes."

He was opening his mouth to speak again when a voice called out from behind him.

"Fulton! C'mon man. Quit running your game on the poor girl and let's get back to the house." Beau felt her breath catch in her throat when she heard the familiar voice. She drug her eyes over to meet the approaching guy and confirmed her fear.

Charlie shoved Fulton lightly in the shoulder before looking over to smile at her. It hit him like a punch in the gut when she tilted her head in embarrassment.

"Hi."

One look at the face he had been staring up at that morning and he was struck stupid. In the midst of the surprise he stopped moving his feet and his back wheel caught on an off-kilter brick. It pitched him forward and he landed with a thud at her feet, once again looking up at her face, blushing like and idiot. Think Charlie. Say something charming. "So, I guess we're even on the whole embarrassment thing, huh?" Was that charming? Is falling on your face better or worse than exposing your bra? Your sexy bra. Charlie smiled to himself at the thought of it.

Beau still had trouble finding words while looking at him. He was on his hands and knees on the bricks at her feet and he smiled up at her sheepishly, his curly brown hair slightly damp and spread across his forehead. "I think mine's worse, but we can call it even." She reached down her hand and he grabbed a hold and hopped to his feet. He was tall as well. She hadn't really expected that from seeing him in class. And his smile was boyish. She loved boyish smiles.

In staring at his mouth she realized that she was still clasping his hand. She yanked hers back quickly and grimaced. "I'm getting good at embarrassing myself in front of you, huh?"

He grinned. He was making her nervous. Girls didn't usually get nervous around you when you had a stupid boyish smile. Or maybe she's just nervous because she's still embarrassed that you were staring at her breasts this morning, jackass. As soon as he thought it, Charlie's eyes involuntarily dropped from her face to her Indianapolis Colts t-shirt. Look away. Look away! But just thinking it made it even harder to do. Finally she cleared her throat. It was enough for him to pry his eyes upwards as she nervously ran a hand over her messy hair.

"I'm Beau. Nice to meet you."

Charlie sighed. Beau. Cute. "Nice to meet you too, Bra." Shit! "Shit!" Stop thinking about her bra! "I'm sorry. It's nice to meet you too, Bro. BEAU!" He looked at her helplessly, completely resigned to the fact that he was destined to humiliation with this girl.

But now she was grinning naturally. "Well, I'd say you've just taken the lead in the Who Can Embarrass Themselves the Worst contest. You must be very proud."

"I am. It's a real talent."

"And does the man with the talent have a name?"

Charlie rolled his eyes and stuck out his hand to her. She reached out and shook his. "Right. Sorry. I'm Charlie. Charlie Conway." He looked over his shoulder, gesturing to his friend. "And this is Fulton."

"Charlie! Fulton! We're going to be late. Let's go!"

Charlie looked back and raised a hand to their friends. "And we've got to go, I guess."

Beau smiled and shifted to put her hands on her hips. "Well it was nice to meet you Fulton. And you too, Charlie. Charlie Conway. I guess I'll be seeing you on Wednesday in class? I'll be sure to wear a shirt that does not involve the apparently complicated task of buttons."

He started skating effortlessly backwards as she stood in place. His grin was easy and wide and spread up to his eyes. "It's a date."