Life's Full of Little Surprises
Disclaimer: I own absolutely none of the 'Mighty Duck' characters or the rights to the "Mighty Duck" franchise, that honor belongs to Disney. So I would appreciate that I wouldn't get sued over something I don't own.
Summary: Dani's life couldn't be going better. She has finally made it to the Olympics, doing the sport she loves the most. But... after arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota things change. First she is constantly badgered by her brother, then she falls for one of his friends, and, of course, there is always a stalker!
I would like to thank all of my reviewers and those who put up with my minimal updating over the past few months. I should be getting my own computer back soon, so I can update more without having to worry about spending to much time on my good friend, Artamis' (if this confuses any one, that's how he spells it!) computer. LOVE YOU ARTI!
PrincessH- Thank you for the review. I hope you like this installment as much as you liked the last one.
ZELINIA- I'm glad you like Max. He's a mix of some of my good friends, expect none of them can speak Italian, I just decided to add that in there. Thank you for the compliments on the translations, I used an Italian/Spanish/English dictionary, I like your way better!
pipsqweek91- It's nice to know that my OC's are liked! Thank you, I tried to make him cool! Yes, Portman speaks Italian. You should figure out how and why very soon, is that okay?
hockey-girl90- Glad you like. Hopefully, you like the rest as much or more!
Chalania- New reviewer! COOL! I am ecstatic that you like my story so far. Glad you think that I am doing a great job. I hope I will continue to do so!
(------)
"Portman has the greatest family in the world." Max was getting all of his homework out of his locker. I was Wednesday and all of the classes for the day had ended. The Ducks had congregated around his locker. They, in someway, had started talking about their families.
"You only say that because your family is psychotic!" Dean added as he took his bag off the floor and slung it over his shoulder. He was right, Max's family could get a little out of control, but Max wasn't going to admit that. He just shook his head and slammed his locker closed.
"Well, well, well. If it ain't the Geese!" The team turned around, and there was the remaining Varsity. Cole, their resident baboon, was the one who had spoken. "We hear that you rejects have a new player. Was he too embarrassed to be part of your team to show?" The team guffawed and snickered.
"Actually, I'm right here." Max said, wondering if this idiot was in some way blind. Being the gentlemen that he was, Max out stretched his hand and introduced himself, "Max. Max Newmen." Cole merely sneered at Max's hand, "Or not." Max mumbled to himself.
Scooter had arrived behind and pushed himself to the front, beside Cole. He reached out and grabbed Max's semi-out stretched hand, "Scott Vanderbilt. Call me Scooter."
"Pleasure." Max said.
"And this lovely young lady is Biff Cole. The group that stands before you is the… Never mind." Scooter cut off. He had his arm around Cole's shoulders and looked incredibly happy, everyone else looked bitter and angry.
"Get off me goalie. Let's go." Cole said threateningly. His face was contorted in rage as Scooter slid his arm off of Cole's shoulder. The Varsity stormed away past Dean Buckley's office and shot it a glowering look as they past the door.
"Well," Max began, once the Varsity were out of earshot, "Aren't they a pleasant bunch?"
"They have a lot on their minds. This week hasn't been a very good week for them." Scooter said with a grin threatening to break out on his face, he was almost laughing.
"Why?" Julie asked. The whole of the team looked ready to know what had irked the Varsity so badly.
Scooter was about to begin when a bouncy figure came up behind him; "I want to tell them." Dani was looking up at Scooter with an excited look in her eye. She was wearing a finger less black glove that went up to her elbow, a black and white bandana on her head, a tank top shirt that said "I heart Angel & Collins" (there were two faces inside the heart) with a small 'Rent' logo at the bottom, a pair of blue jeans, and flip flops.
"You can if you answer me one question." Dani nodded, "Who was that very tall, rather intimidating person I saw you talking to about ten minutes ago?" He seemed to be genuinely interested, and a little scared.
"Ten minutes ago? Oh, that was my daddy." She said, thoroughly enjoying the shock on Dean and Scooter's faces.
"That was you dad?" Scooter asked. Dani nodded, "Well, I certainly feel bad for anyone that you end up dating." He had placed his hand on Dani's shoulder.
"That was only my dad. They would have to worry about my brothers, too." She said as she took Scooter's hand off of her shoulder.
"Bothers?" Adam chimed in, "As in plural?"
"Four, five of us in all. I'm the only girl." She said as she held up four of the fingers on her gloved hand, as she always did when asked about how many siblings she had. "And they are all like him." She added, pointing to Dean.
"Why is dad here?" Dean asked.
"School doesn't start in Chicago until next week on Wednesday, so he doesn't have to be there until Monday. He came down for our birthday." Dani looked at Dean's worried expression; "Chill, the tall and annoying one is currently schooling, and the small and annoying ones are with grandpa."
"Oh, good. So what where you going to tell us?"
"Well," Dani began, but she was cut off by Dean's coach walking through the door, "Oh good, you need to know this too. Well, it seems that Coach Wilson was caught with steroids, and he is suspected with using them, so he got fired. Which means you," She pointed to the team, "are the new Varsity, and you," she pointed to Coach Orion, "are the new Varsity coach." Surprisingly, everyone was to shocked to say anything.
"None of the old Varsity are going to be joining you, so you won't have to worry about anything." Scooter added. Everyone looked at him with a surprised glare, "I figured, you already have two goalies. I'm sitting this year out."
"And I have to go, so bye." Dani said, pulling a dum-dum out of her pocket and plopping it in her mouth, then she crumpled the wrapper and threw it away. The whole team got over their shock and screamed.
(-----)
"Well, it's my first year here, and I'm on the Varsity team. This is awesome." Max exclaimed as everyone set off towards their new 3:45 to 5:45 practice.
"I see you have already heard the good news." Dean Buckley said from behind them, "I'm guessing I have a mouthy ex-Varsity player." He added as he walked up to them. The Ducks merely shrugged and smiled, "Congratulations, anyway." He said, walking past them.
CRASH! "Shit!" Max exclaimed. Everyone looked down and saw that all of Max's homework, books, and anything else that was in his bag fell out, as the bag had ripped. "You guys go on. I'll be there in a second." With protests, they finally left and Max started to pick up his things.
"I can't believe they aren't letting the Drama department show RENT as our big production this year!" someone exclaimed from in front of him. "We have the resources to make a fantastic show!"
Max looked up and saw a girl with short, dark red hair. She was speaking to another girl with long brown hair and bright pink streaks. He had to laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" The girl with brown and pink hair asked in a pushy, I-hate-everyone voice.
"Nothing." Max said as he stood up, "It's just that this school is run by middle aged, white yuppies. They would think that RENT would be to offensive for the majority of the school population. Personally I like RENT."
"You actually know what it is?" The red head asked, surprised.
"Yes, not all jocks are morons." Max told them, "Excuse me, I have to get to practice." He passed them and muttered 'nice talking to you'. As he walked away, Max could have sworn he heard one of the girl's let out a gasp and a whispered 'Oh my GOD'.
(----)
"Newmen," Dean said as Max entered the locker room, "what took you so long?"
Max laughed and threw his stuff into his locker, "Nothing. Although I have a feeling I might be in with a couple of the girls from the drama department." He finished and began to change.
"What makes you think that?" Fulton asked.
"I ran into some of them outside, and they seemed rather surprised that I knew what RENT was, and that I actually liked it."
Dean laughed, "La Vie Boheme!"
"Diritto Maledetto!" Max said as he gave Dean a high-five. (Italian: Damn straight!)
"That's another thing," Fulton said, "What the hell are you saying?" He was looking from one to the other, "And in what language?" The rest of the team started looking from one to the other.
"It's Italian." Dean said.
"You know how to speak Italian?" Connie asked, with a perplexed and bewildered look on her face. "How do you know how to speak Italian?"
"Because my mom is Italian. She was born in Italy, and came over with my grandfather and uncles when she was a year old." Dean told them, as he went back to changing.
"I've lived everywhere." Max said, holding up his hands in a surrendering motion. "No debemos hablar quizá en italiano más." Max said, leaning over and speaking to Dean. (Spanish: Maybe we shouldn't speak in Italian anymore.)
"Sí, quizá." Dean sighed. (Spanish: Yeah, maybe.)
"How do you know SPANISH!" Luis spat out.
"¡Porque mi papá es medio cubano!" Dean yelled out. Then he took a few seconds to calm himself down, "Because my dad is half Cuban." He translated so that everyone knew what he was saying, "Anything else you want to know?" Everyone shook their heads, "Great."
(-----)
Dani was walking down the hall to the main entrance of the Ice Rink. She looked down the stairs and saw her parents talking to three other adults. "Mom? Dad?"
"Dani, come here." Her father beckoned. She walked down the stairs and gave her father a hug. He kissed her cheek and she squirmed away, "What?" He asked in an exasperated voice.
"You haven't shaved today. It feels weird." Her father looked up at the ceiling. Her mother gave him a look that said 'I told you so'. Then Dani's attention went back to the three other adults around them, "From what I can tell, you are Adam's parents," She said to the working, yuppie-ish couple, "and you're Charlie's mom." She told the other woman.
"How did you know that?" Adam's mother asked her.
"Female intuition." Dani answered, with a twinkle in her eye.
"Speaking of our sons," Charlie's mom started, checking her watch "where are they?"
"Practice." Dani said.
"It's only 5:40."
"Exactly."
"But that's the Varsity practice time." Adam's dad said.
"Yup, they should be getting out in about five minutes."
"Honey," Dani looked up at her mother, "do you know something we don't? And shouldn't you be in class yourself"
"I could have a thousand answers to thatfirst question, but if want the answer to the specific question you have, ask him." Dani finished, pointing to Dean Buckley, who was walking toward them. "And as for your other my schooling, Ms. Sims is sick, so she let us out a few minutes early."
"I see you have heard the good news." Dean Buckley said looking down at her. She shook her head 'yes'.
"But we haven't!"
"Dad, chill!"
"Well, it seems our former Varsity coach, Coach Wilson, had, how do I put this delicately, trouble." Dani muttered 'understatement of the century', "So we had to let him go. That makes your children the new Varsity."
"Please don't scream!" Dani said quickly to avoid any loud, over-excited parents.
Dean Buckley said good-bye and left. The adults were going to resume their conversation when they heard a loud voice say, "This coming from the guy who walked around his house in nothing but his briefs, while his sisters best friends were in the vicinity! One of whom is my sister, and another who just happens to be a very gay young man!" Dean and Max had come through one of the doors that lead to the rink.
"I don't wear…."
"Yes you do." Dani cut in, "Remember Dean, Gazelle through the Meadow." Dani was thoroughly enjoying the lovely shade of red that Dean was turning.
"Care on clueing anyone else in?" Julie asked.
"I'll tell you later."
"Don't even think about it!" Dean snapped.
"What a snappy retort."
"Per favore, non inizi nulla ora!" Their mother said as she put a hand on one of their shoulders. (Italian: Please, don't start anything right now!)
"Ascolti la vostra madre." Their father agreed. (Italian: Listen to your mother.)
"Spiacente."They replied(Italian: Sorry.)
"Well, now that that is over, Mom, Dad what are you doing here?" Adam chimed in, clearly trying to not look at Dean, because of the comment that Max had said, and Dani, because of reasons obvious to everyone but Dean (Fulton was trying to ignore Adam's attraction to Dani, out of loyalty to Dean, and didn't say anything).
"Well," His mother started, "We have to go out of town and we won't be back until next week."
"Cool, then I get the house to myself!" Adam said, his eyes lighting up.
"No." His father cut in.
"That's why I'm here." Charlie's mother broke in.
"Casey has been nice enough to take you in for the weekend. Try not go get into any trouble."
"I'm not the heart attack child, remember?"
"Why not?" Dani asked, "Giving your parents heart attacks is fun." Adam gave her a strange look, "Last year, on the last day of school, I went on the roof and walked around the boarder. I don't know why, I just felt like it."
"I remember that!" Dean exclaimed, "You two were green for a week!" He added in his parent's direction.
"Well, we have to go of we will miss our train." Adam's father said.
"Okay, bye." Adam said quickly as his mother swooped down and gave in a kiss on the cheek.
A collective 'AWWWWW' came from the team, Dean and Fulton most prominent amoung them. Adam wiped off his cheek with a sour glare to his teammates.
The door slammed open and Tammy gave through. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Banks, Mrs. Conway."
"Tammy, it's good to see you." Mrs. Banks replied, "Didn't you use to be blond?"
"It changed to red." Tammy said.
"Now we look so much alike!" Tommy said, grabbing his sister around the waist as her eye started to twitch.
"I'm dying back, now." She said as she got away form her brother's grip, and looking as though she was about to convulse.
"I think is looks nice." Fulton dropped casually.
At this, Dani quickly reached into her pocket and pulled out a stick of gum and shoved into her mouth, thinking 'I could say so much right now, but I'm a good person, so I won't!' Adam took notice and at super speed put two and two together; "I KNEW IT!" He screamed, and covered his mouth.
"Aren't you Mr. Subtle!" Dani exclaimed.
"Well, whatever you are talking about, we still have to go." Adam's mother added. "It was a pleasure meeting you." She told Dean parents, shaking their hands. His father followed suite and they left.
"And I have to get back to work." Mrs. Conway said hugging Charlie good-bye. "I'll see you two this weekend."
"Well, this was different." Dean said, "I have homework to get to, so Mom, Dad, bye."
"Ditto." Dani exclaimed.
"Bye Mom! Bye Dad!" Max said.
(------)
"Okay, one question." Goldberg said to Max as he passed an apple from one hand to the other. "Why do you call Portman's parents 'mom and dad'?" The team, Dani, and Tammy were sitting in the room that the Figure Skating team used as a classroom, some of them, like Max, were finishing homework, while the others were either finished of procrastinating.
"Because they are the closed thing to parents I have actually had." He told them as he finished his paper for English and stowed it in his bag.
"Care to elaborate?" Averman asked, bobbing his head as he asked the question, and stared at Max.
"My dad is in the Army and doesn't have any interest in anything that isn't absolutely perfect, and I'm not. My stepmom only has interest in my dad."
"What about your mom?" Russ asked. This question set off a long silence that was broken only by Dean dropping his pencil and sighing hard. He and Dani had heard the story of Max's mom, and knew that he didn't like telling it.
"She died when I was three." Max finally told them, "All I know is what my sister has told me. And, honestly, I really don't want to talk about it."
"WHAAA!" Dani screamed.
"Are you being attacked?" Dean asked, trying to hold in laughter.
"No, I was sitting on my phone, and it was on silent." She shot back as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "WELL! Damn!" she said looking at the screen. Tammy looked over and her eyes got wide too.
Then the phone beeped and a voice came from the speaker, "Don't even think about it, he's mine."
She pushed a button on the side of the phone and talked into the walkie-talkie speaker, "I figured, Doe. Besides, I'm in Minnesota. There are plenty of uncharted waters for me to explore." Dean broke his pencil.
"Dean is in the room, isn't he?"
"Yeah. Look, Doe, I have to go, my mom will kill me if I go over on my minutes again."
"Good-bye my muse!" The person known as 'Doe' screamed into the phone, "By the way, Wilson is completely miserable."
"He better be!" Dani said in a spiteful voice. "I have to go."
"BYE!"
"What the hell was that?" Fulton asked when Dani had put her phone back into her pocket.
"That was Doe, he is a good friend of mine." Dani told him.
"Doe?"
"It's his nickname.
"
"Muse?"
"He is big into designing and I'm his muse. I don't know why, considering there are plenty of other people who are a lot better at being muses."
"Maybe he is inspired by your I-don't-care-want-anyone-thinks-about-me attitude." Adam blurted out before he could stop himself. He mentally kicked himself, and felt that Dean was going to kill him very soon.
"Aren't you just sweet and corn-fed and truthful like that." Dani said. Then she looked at the clock on the wall, "Um, Dean?"
"Yes."
"Doesn't your dorm lock up at 9:00?"
"Yeah."
"Then you had better start moving your ass now. Because it's 8:51." She said as she pointed up to the clock.
There was a bustle of noise as everyone rushed out of the room, or grabbed up their things. Dani and Tammy were the last to leave. They locked the door and walked to their room talking about the difference between a stalactite and stalagmite. (BTW: If that confused anyone, sorry. I just needed a little bit of random at the end!)