CHARLIE'S POV

I knew betting against Portman would be a bad idea. He's ten times crazier than Fulton and a better guitar player too.

"Pay up!" Portman ordered with a triumphant grin.

The rest of us, except for Guy of course, handed over our cash.

Portman counted it then split it with Guy who looked mighty pleased with himself. At least he can take his little princess out on a special date now.

Karen seems like a nice enough girl but she did cause massive conflict within our group, especially with Connie and I won't stand for it.

Ducks Fly Together.

That was our number one rule.

Now came the hard part. Could Connie, Averman and Guy fly together?

I sure as hell hoped so.

I'm a little apprehensive about the pair becoming an official item.

On the one hand, I'm really happy that Connie has found herself a boyfriend she could trust. She's been my best friend since we were in diapers. She could've gone and gotten herself a jerk for a boyfriend but instead she chose Averman who was about as trustworthy as you could get.

But on the other hand, I remember what it was like when Connie and Guy broke up for good. It was hell for the rest of the team and I really don't want to see that happen again.

But who am I to tell either of them who they can and can't go out with?

Connie might just break my nose like she did Guy's.

I suppressed a little grin when I looked over at Guy with his swollen nose. It did look really funny but I was the captain of the team and I was supposed to set an example for the rest of them. If Coach Orion even caught wind that I was being irresponsible then he'd have no hesitation about taking away my "C". He'd done it before and he'd do it again.

As much as I didn't want to take sides Guy should have known better than to call her creepy to her face. It wasn't the first time she'd punched a guy for calling her names. In the fourth grade she made Karp cry after she gave him a very painful chinese burn after he said she had cooties.

Not to mention the time she broke poor Averman's arm in kindergarten to stealing her GI Joe. That was Guy's fault too.

Maybe Connie and Guy are better off without each other.

"As King of the Guitar I declare we go play some puck!" Portman yelled waving his arms around like an idiot. Not that I'd ever say that out loud. I kinda like my face as it is.

"YEAH!" the Ducks including myself cheered. We were always up for a bit of hockey.

"What's all the commotion in here?" Russ asked sticking his head in the door.

"Just in time Tyler, we're gonna play some puck" Portman grinned.

"Alright!" Russ was happy.

It turned out he had Julie, Dwayne, Averman and Connie with him so the team was complete.

"Last one on the ice is a rotten egg!" I called racing out the door.

"Gee what are you Charlie five?" I heard Connie teasing me good-naturedly.

I turned around and grinned at her. I'd previously used the same phrase on her when she was whinging about her break-up with Guy. I wasn't exactly popular with her for a little while after that.

I laughed aloud when I felt her tiny hands give me a shove. I fell into the wall and she poked her tongue out at me as she ran past, dragging Averman by the hand.

"Is he alright?" Averman was trying to stop to see if I was okay.

"He'll live, come on!" Connie laughed knowing I was okay.

"Looks like Spazzway's the rotten egg!" Banks smirked at me on the way past.

"That's it!" I declared pushing myself off of the wall to launch myself forward. No way was Banksie gonna beat me.

I pushed my legs even harder as I tried to catch up with our star center. He was almost within my reach when I tripped over my own feet and crashed into his back. He in turn crashed into Guy in front of him and we had a domino effect. I felt someone slam into my back and before we knew it the entire team was a tangle of arms and legs on the floor and Mrs Madigan, Eden Halls "test lover" teacher was standing in front of us. She was not impressed.

"No running in the halls. You have now earned yourselves a weeks detention. Report to the detention room at lunchtime on Monday" she said simply before turning on her heel and walking down the hall.

"Good one Spazzway" the group grumbled slowly rising to their feet.

I grinned sheepishly "Sorry guys" I replied.

"That lady's obviously never had the entire team in detention before" Goldberg had a glint in his eye.

The District 5 Ducks immediately knew what he meant.

"I WILL NOT QUACK AT THE PRINCIPAL" Connie said with a smile.

"I WILL NOT QUACK AT THE PRINCIPAL" the rest of us joined in.

The out of state Ducks and Adam were looking at us as if we'd lost our minds.

"Pity Bombay won't come and bust us out this time. You think Orion might?" Averman pushed his glasses up.

"Doubt it" Guy replied.

"Oh well it was worth a shot!" Averman said brushing off the bitter tone in Guy's voice.

Like water off a Ducks back. That was the cool thing about Averman he never took anything personally.

"Would one of you idiots mind telling the rest of us what the hell "I WILL NOT QUACK AT THE PRINCIPAL" means?" Russ spoke up.

"Yeah!" Julie and Portman agreed at the same time.

They looked so startled that they actually smiled at each other for a split second before Julie regained her composure and glared at him again.

"Back in the D5 days Karp and Peter started a fight with Charlie over Bombay and we quacked at the principal. We got detention, Bombay broke us out. End of story" Averman contributed.

"Right" Russ said not quite understanding.

"One of those things you had to be there for huh?" Adam asked not understanding either.

"I spose" Goldberg shrugged feeling a little uncomfortable. It wasn't that the original Ducks went out of our way to make the others feel left out, it was just that sometimes old D5 stories come up.

"What was the fight about?" Julie asked looking at me.

"Bombay has the hots for Charlie's mom!" Guy laughed.

"At least my mom wasn't in Sports Illustrated!" I shot back.

"Shut up about that" Guy warned.

"No way! Mrs Germaine was in Sports Illustrated? Was she naked?" Portman asked earning a smack from Julie.

"Jeez Cat what was that for?" Portman glared at her.

"Show some respect for Mrs Germaine" Julie scolded.

"Thank you Julie" Guy was glad at least one of the Ducks was on his side.

"Guys I hate to break up the pleasure of teasing Guy about his mom but are we gonna go play puck or what?" Russ asked.

"YEAH!" the Ducks finally remembered what it was they were supposed to be doing and took off down the hall again.

I shook my head laughing and followed them. Sometimes they really did have the attention span of a goldfish.