Chapter Seven: Flying Alone

a/n: Okay, this is a rather long chapter, so please bear with me. By the way, I'm a sucker for details, so that means everything I put in here is here for a reason or another. ;P

Disclaimer: I'm tired of writing it so from now on...see first chapter, please. ;-)

"You wanted to talk to me, Coach?" Connie asked tentatively, entering Orion's office. She found him sitting on his desk reading something off a bunch of papers he was holding.

He looked up just in time to see her close the door gently behind her. "Yes, yes, come in, Moreau," he said, dropping the papers he was clutching. "Take a seat," Orion gestured towards the chair.

It was Monday morning, and school was officially over. Connie was in locker room with the rest of the Ducks. They were clearing their lockers, until the next school year started, when Orion peeked inside and told her to come to her office.

Connie promptly took a seat, but before Orion could even open his mouth to speak, she already found her throat getting dry. Coach Orion had a somber expression in his face; his fingers nervously tapped the table.

"Is something the matter, coach?" she forced herself to ask. She found his quiet demeanor unsettling.

Orion sat there for a moment, silent, before clearing his throat to answer. When he did, he went straight to the point. "The dean called – "

Blood drained from Connie's face. The dean. Orion had barely said three words, but it was enough to send her whole world crumbling. She did not need to hear the rest of it to see where this conversation was heading.

" – and inquired over last Friday's game. He expressed concern about the… incident, and – "

Since the start, the dean had not been a fan of Connie Moreau. He had deemed her too small and too weak to belong to the physical and brutal world of ice hockey. Many times, he had made his protestations known to the Coach, but Orion wouldn't change his stance. He always stood by his side, saying that she was an integral part of the Ducks. However, seeing him now, she knew something was off.

" – strongly recommend that I take some actions to avoid further similar occurrences." Orion intently watched, waiting for her reaction.

"Actions?" She repeated. "What kind of actions?"

He exhaled loudly. "I know this isn't going to be easy," he started, "but I'm afraid I have to cut your playing time in half."

"Cut my playing time in half?" She echoed, as if in a trance. Was she hearing him right? Did he really say he was going to cut her playing time in half? Connie sat there mutely, letting his words sunk in. Cut my playing time in half?! "B-b-but coach," she stuttered, looking at him as if he has suddenly grown another head, "that's insane! You can't do that! My playing time is already short as it is!"

"I know, Connie, but the dean is twisting my arm on this one." There was a hint of resentment in his voice when he mentioned the dean.

Her cheeks were turning red with anger. That bastard for a dean would do anything to take her off the team. "So he told you to do that?!" She demanded.

"No, I suggested it to him but – "

Connie glared at him.

"Listen, it was not as if I wanted to do it. It was the only way he was going to let me keep you."

"Keep me?! Where, exactly?!" She spat bitterly. Connie knew she was being disrespectful to their coach, but she didn't care. "On the bench?!"

"I'm really sorry, Connie." Orion apologized. "But he told me he would take it to the Board if I didn't do something." He massaged his head with both hands, and sighed. "He insists that he has only your own welfare in his mind."

"My welfare in his mind?!" She asked incredulously. "That's bullshit, and you know that!"

He was taken aback with her sudden explosion.

"You and I both know that the dean could only care less about my welfare, coach!" Connie yelled, rising on her chair. "What he really wanted was to take me off the team!" Without further saying a word, she angrily stomped out his office, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Moreau, wait," Orion stood up and called after her. "Connie!"

"So," Goldberg asked Guy, who was rummaging in the locker beside him, "what do you think coach is telling Connie?" He tossed some shirts inside his bag.

The rest of the Ducks continued putting away their stuff when Orion called Connie to his office. Dean and Julie were on the other side of room, biting each other's head off. They were arguing because Dean was asking, actually ordering, Julie to pack his stuff. Of course, Julie wouldn't agree, telling him to pack his own things. Russ and Ken, meanwhile, were exchanging tips about how to improve their trash talking skills for next school year's games. Across them, Luis was going on and on about how many girls they were going to meet in Hawaii, with Adam listening and silently stuffing his hockey bag. He would nod and laugh, occasionally, at Luis' remarks. Dwayne, on the other hand, was busy amusing himself, playing with a puck on one corner. Fulton and Charlie, standing right beside Goldberg and Guy, were debating whether or not Charlie's shirt smelled the nastiest.

Guy momentarily froze as he remembered Orion's phone call last Friday night. And from what he told him, he was almost sure that he was now telling Connie some bad news. "I don't know," he quickly answered, slamming his locker shut. He was holding some toiletries, and dumped them into his own bag. "The two of us aren't exactly on the best of terms yet."

"Again?" From across them, Averman piped up. "What did you do this time?" He was sitting on the bench, his bag already zipped up.

He looked at him defensively. "What made you think it was my fault?"

Everyone inside the room dropped everything they were doing and gave him a skeptical look. As always, all of them were half-listening. They seemed to have grown a very unique sense of hearing, alerting them whenever Guy would mention that he and Connie had an argument.

"Fine." He replied, looking at them hesitantly. "I kind of freaked out on her..."

"And?" Averman prodded.

"… and I might have called her stupid." He admitted sheepishly.

"You WHAT?!"

Everybody fell silent, and stared at the three of them.

"Would you care to repeat that, Guy?" Fulton, who was standing right beside him, asked.

He answered in a small voice, hoping Fulton would be the only one to hear it. "I said I might have called her stupid." Damn. He wasn't sure whether he swallowed a megaphone or there was a hidden microphone somewhere. Either way, his sentence seemed to reverberate loudly throughout the room.

Guy could feel ten pairs of eyes gawking at him in disbelief. Adam, who caught his eye, had quickly cast his downwards.

Charlie was the first to speak. "Geez, Germaine, and here I thought you couldn't possibly get any more stupid than the last time." He smirked, shaking his head in disapproval. "I guess you just proved me wrong."

"Yeah," Russ agreed with a laugh, and then paused. "Hey wait, Charlie! You owe me a ten!" He exclaimed with a grin.

"Darn it! Why did I ever mention that out loud?" Charlie snapped his fingers, remembering their bet. He wagered ten dollars with Russ, telling him Guy couldn't top that little stunt he pulled last month, when he auditioned for the part of Romeo on their school production of Romeo & Juliet. He got jealous when he learned about a kissing scene with Connie, who had gotten the lead role of Juliet. The audition turned out to be a disaster, and Guy ended embarrassing himself and Connie as well. She didn't talk to him for two weeks.

Charlie fished out ten dollars from his pocket and tossed it over to Russ, who was gloating in glee. As soon as the money left Charlie's hands, he glowered on the corner.

Meanwhile, from the other side, Portman called out. "That's really stupid, stupid!"

Julie gave him a disapproving look, but said nothing.

She probably heard about it from Connie herself. His cheeks started to turn scarlet red as every Duck expressed their disapproval.

Fulton groaned, "That's harsh, man."

"Guy must have gone loco," Luis muttered to Adam. Adam, on the other hand, remained silent. Instead, he pretended to poke around his bag.

Even Ken had something to say. "Tsk tsk tsk, you shouldn't have done that, Guy."

"Why would you call her that?!" Goldberg asked, tossing his bag on the floor. He had already finished fumbling through his locker, and now looking at him with a frown. "Are you on drugs, or something?"

"Yeah," Charlie agreed from the other side. He had stopped scowling and instead came up to him with a goofy grin on his face. "The only person who called stupid before was Peter, remember? When he said girls shouldn't play hockey?" He said, referring to their first encounter with Peter on the pond. "Connie socked him in the face so fast, that was the first and last time somebody called her that."

"Oh, so that's why she suddenly slammed the door to your face last night." Dwayne suddenly chirped. There was a lopsided grin on his face.

"Shut up, Dwayne." Guy replied, his hand automatically reaching up to touch his sore nose. "I said I freaked out, okay? I got scared... I was just really worried about her."

For the second time that day, the room fell silent.

Now they decide shut up.

Julie broke the awkward silence that fell on them. "I think we all were, Guy."

The rest of them mumbled in agreement.

Adam looked like he was about to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. He kept his gaze fixed on the floor, as if examining an intricate piece of artwork.

For almost five minutes, nobody had dared to speak and instead, busied themselves with their packing. When most of them were done, they began talking amongst themselves again.

"Are you sure your mom's okay with us staying over again?" Russ asked, taking a seat on the bench. "I mean, we've crashed there since Saturday."

"Sure. Don't worry about it; it's perfectly fine with her. Besides, it's only until tonight. Tomorrow morning we'll be on our way to Hawaii, and two weeks after that you'll be going home to your own homes." Charlie assured him. "Right?" He added as an afterthought, suspiciously narrowing his eyes at them.

Except for Fulton, Adam, Les and Guy, the whole team had been staying with Charlie for the past two days, until their trip.

"So are we meeting you guys at the airport, or do we need to come and meet you at your house?" Averman asked, ignoring him.

Charlie thought for a moment. "Nah, we'll probably run late if you meet us at our place. We'll just meet you at the airpo – "

The door suddenly blasted open. They all whirled around to see Connie marching towards her locker, visibly upset.

"Cons, what's wrong?" Guy asked quietly.

Connie ignored him completely, and started to hurl all her things inside her bag. Angrily.

All of them exchanged puzzled glances.

The door opened again and this time, it was their coach who stepped in. They directed their bewildered expressions towards him.

"Connie," he called her again, "trust me, it's the only way he'll let you back out there."

She gave a derisive laugh, her back still turned to him. "Yeah right, coach."

"Coach, what's going on?" This time it was their captain who asked.

Everyone shot him inquisitive looks. Connie whirled around and gave him a meaningful glare, waiting for him to answer them.

"The dean asked me to do something about Friday's incident, saying that the game was too dangerous for a girl like her," Orion finally answered, rubbing his forehead. "He agreed not to take her off the team, on the condition that I cut her playing time."

"Well, you might as well have taken me off."

"Think of it as you like, but I believe this is for your own good. I agreed to this not because I want to punish you, but because I don't want you to get hurt out there," he sincerely explained, "in as much as your teammates would."

Connie braced herself for her teammates' protests that she was so sure she would hear. How can they not back her up on this one? They're talking about hockey, for goodness sake! Hockey was her life! Her teammates knew that.

To her disbelief, and fury, not one of them spoke. I can't believe this! She looked at Guy, then Goldberg, then Dwayne. The rest of them had their eyes downcast. None of them were backing her up. They all seem to side with their coach.

"Thanks for your support, guys." She said sarcastically. "I always knew I had the best teammates in the world."

"Look, this isn't just about last week's game anymore." Orion stepped past Guy, who was looking guiltily at her. "Other teams would surely take advantage of your size out there, not only those Bears. And that'll be dangerous."

"It might come as a surprise to all of you but being the smallest player on the team, and a girl at that, doesn't mean that I lack the skills to play hockey with the others."

"I think," Charlie spoke up in a calming voice, showing them again why he was the captain. "That Coach Orion had a point, Cons. None of us would want to see you hurt. And it doesn't mean you won't get to play anyway. You're still part of the team."

Most of them nodded in agreement.

"Team?! What team?!" She asked, her voice dripping with contempt. "The way things are going in here, I'm not part of any team! I don't even see a single Duck in here." Connie grabbed her bag and started for the door when a different voice spoke.

"She's right," Adam, who had suddenly found his voice, stepped forward. Everyone turned their attention to him, including their coach. Connie froze, but didn't look up.

He had barely said a word the whole time they were there that he actually took them by surprise when he finally did.

"We've all been playing since we were kids. We've all seen what she can do. Whatever she may lack in size, her talents on the ice make up for it." He looked at each one of them, straight in the eye. "Out there on the ice, she's quick, she's agile… she's a Duck."

Charlie was biting his lip. Guy only stared at him intently, his expression unreadable. The rest of the team was looking uncomfortably at him.

"We're all supposed to be Ducks. And ducks fly together." He gave them one last angry look. "Why would now be any different?"

Everybody was speechless. Nobody expected an outburst from him.

Connie turned her head slightly, glancing at Adam, before storming out of the room, dragging her hockey bag with her.

Adam followed suit, grabbing his bag, and also stormed out, slamming the door loudly behind him.

Charlie and the rest of the Ducks could only stare helplessly at the two.

There you go! Please don't forget to write a review! thanks. ;-)

Emily: haha, i'm glad Bruno liked the card. Poor Adam, looks like he's going to get a good beating from Bruno this time! ;P