And…the usual disclaimer: Disney owns the Mighty Ducks. The name, the characters, Orion, the Varsity players, and Linda are not mine. However, I do own any characters you don't recognize…i.e. Ken's parents, Ken's grandfather, Elaine, Brian, Sky, Tony, Sonja, etc.
Ok, I finally decided exactly which way this story is gonna go. The next two chapters may seem a little slow or a little pointless, but I'm setting up details and stuff like that. Then things will start to get interesting, so hang on.
And chocolate chip cookies to all who reviewed! You guys rock! And thanks to Flat*Out*Crazy, I will never be able to eat chocolate chip cookies without thinking of the Ducks…not that that's a bad thing…! Yummy…
And I'm always interested in hearing what you guys think of this. If you like it, tell me! If you hate, great!, tell me why! And if you don't care either way, tell me your favorite cookie! Mine's butterscotch chip…mmm….ok, moving on.
Ken rolled over in his bed and squinted at the tiny numbers on Adam's glowing alarm clock. 4:38 am. Ken groaned. So much for getting any sleep; he had been tossing and turning restlessly all night, never dozing for more than half an hour. He glared momentarily at his sleeping roommate, jealous of his closed eyes and rhythmic breathing. He sighed and rolled noiselessly out of bed. He felt his way to his closet and removed a hooded sweatshirt from the mess. He pulled it on over his t-shirt and sweatpants and felt around for a pair of socks and his tennis shoes. After pulling these on, he grabbed his hockey bag and keys and left his room, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Ken tiptoed through the hallway, down the flights of stairs and out the front door of the dormitory. As he hurried toward the Eden Hall ice rink, the old snow crunched under his feet and his breath fogged in front of him. Reaching the arena, he passed the front doors and hurried around to the back entrance, which could be opened either by key or by a pass code punched into a keypad by the back door. Orion had given the Ducks the pass code to the door after he had run late to one of their early morning practices and found them waiting outside the arena doors, shivering in the cold as he ran up, forty five minutes late.
Ken now punched in the pass code and opened the door and locked it behind him. He then carefully made his way towards the control room of the rink and turned on the lights and the heat for the seating area of the arena and the refrigeration unit that kept the ice itself cold.
Ken smiled to himself as he reached the ice. He sat on one of the first rows of bleachers in the stands and pulled on his hockey skates. Quickly tying his skates and shoving his shoes into his bag, Ken opened the door to the ice and stepped out.
Breathing deeply, Ken began stroking around the perimeter of the foggy rink, slowly building speed. He loved the smell of the ice. He began a series of crossovers, crossing one foot first, than the other, shifting his weight back and forth on his edges, adjusting himself to his newly sharpened blades. It felt so good to be back on the ice again; Ken hadn't been able to skate since his last day of school before the winter break. Now Ken felt as though he could skate all day, just feeling the speed and the power and the icy wind in his face.
Things now seemed as though they hadn't changed; Ken always turned to skating when he couldn't concentrate or couldn't sleep or when he just couldn't take anymore of life. Even when he was younger, if he'd had a bad day at school or if he'd gotten teased or forgotten his homework, every time he stepped on the ice, he could leave all of that behind him. Now he relied on it even more at Eden Hall. Throughout the last semester, through those first horrible weeks, the prank war, the scholarship hearing, and the JV/Varsity game, Orion had found Ken on the ice at the most random times, 11 at night or 5 in the morning or even during his lunch time, practicing shooting or puck handling or even just doing laps around the rink.
He slowly progressed to faster speeds, turning backwards and forwards and backwards again. He raced down the ice, chasing or defending against an imaginary opponent, losing himself in the ice and fog, occasionally slowing down enough to catch his breath, then putting on another burst of speed.
After putting himself through numerous plays against his invisible opponent, Ken skated over to the door to go fill up his empty water bottle and was surprised to find Adam sitting on a bench, lacing up his skates.
"You mind sharing the ice?" He asked, pulling on a jacket. " I woke up and you were gone, so I figured you were here."
"Why not." Ken glanced at the clock at the end of the rink. It read 6:45. He had been skating for nearly two hours. Ken walked over to the water fountain, filled up his bottle and returned to the rink. Adam skidded to a stop by the door as Ken stepped back onto the ice.
"You wanna play some one-on-one?" Adam asked.
Ken nodded and the boys pulled two hockey nets onto the ice from the door near the Zamboni. Ken grabbed his stick and a puck and skated to center ice, feeling a bit anxious. Ken had found out in their first practice as Team USA that he could out skate everyone on the team. Some players, like Goldberg and Portman, made it easy for him; it was obvious that skating wasn't their best skill. But Adam was probably one of the hardest; he'd been playing hockey for so long and whoever had taught him, had taught him well. Though Ken constantly worked on his puck handling, he relied mostly on his skill as a skater to get him through games, usually letting other players do the scoring. He wasn't sure how he'd fair against Adam, easily the best player on the Ducks.
Not bad, Ken told himself fifteen minutes later, the game still scoreless. As expected, Adam was dominating the game, but Ken's skating skills made it difficult for Adam to get a decent shot off. He faced off against Adam, who shot the puck around him and flew down the ice, Ken close behind. Coming up alongside Adam, Ken tried to snatch the puck away from him but ended up tripping Adam with his stick. Adam fell to the side and shot his stick out, tripping Ken, who also went down. They lay on the ice for several minutes, breathing hard and laughing.
"Sorry, man." Ken told Adam.
"It happens." Adam told him, pulling himself off the ice and offering Ken a hand. "Your puck handling is getting a lot better."
Smiling at the compliment, Ken skated over to the bench and sat down. He had been skating hard for over two hours and was starting to feel it. He watched Adam race up and down the ice with the puck, dodging imaginary opponents. After half an hour, Adam joined Ken on the bench, breathing hard.
"Got anything planned for today?" He asked Ken, who was untying his skates.
"Unpacking is about it." Ken replied. "Charlie'll probably have us practicing or something."
"Don't count on it." Adam replied, smirking. "He'll probably spend the whole day trying to get Linda to talk to him."
"Again?" asked Ken, rolling his eyes. That couple had more drama in their relationship than Connie and Guy. "What happened this time?"
"Something about a Christmas present." Adam said offhandedly. "I didn't bother listening to the whole story."
As Adam predicted, they didn't hear from Charlie and the day ended up being fairly uneventful. Ken unpacked the rest of his stuff and soon his wall matched Adam's, covered nearly floor to ceiling with hockey posters. Julie came to visit them, trying to get away from her new roommate, some crazy girl named Leiah. They found Luis and Portman in a room down the hall, across from none other than Portman's old roommate, Brian. Portman kept himself entertained for a good part of the day by chucking stuff against the poor kid's door. Even though the kid wasn't in a mental hospital now, he's gonna need to be by the end of the year, thought Ken, feeling a bit bad for him.
After a visit from Guy, Fulton, Averman and Goldberg, who confirmed that Charlie had been on the phone for almost seven hours and was now considered a lost cause, the Ducks decided to go out to dinner and catch up on all their winter break stories. Despite the cold, they skated over to the diner and were joined by Connie and Charlie, who, it seemed, had finally unglued himself from the phone.