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!
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BrokenAngel1735- Yes, poor Dean. But, life isn't always fair. Thank you for the review. I tried to make the last chapter as funny as possible, without getting ridiculous.
PrincessH- Thanks! Much appreciation!
Lilmonkey1507- Wow, um, wow. That was a lot of unexpected praise. I am happy that you think that I have an awesome story. Also, I am more then happy to know that your friends as school like it as well. I always try to fit my own characters in without breaking down what was already there, and I try to stay true to the characters from the movie (but I have already said that before, so I'll move on). Dani's friends are partly made up of people I know, but they also come from the little friend we all have, imagination (I hope that didn't sound to cheesy!).
malfoy's fair maiden- Well, two reviews, for two different chapters, on the same day. That hasn't happened to me before. Not that I don't like it, it's a real confidence booster! But anyway, I'm glad you like and I hope that you enjoy the rest of the story as well.
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Dean was sitting in his Media Analysis class, tapping his pencil on his desk. He wasn't sure exactly how he had gotten into Media Analysis, but he got a grade for watching or reading and discussing commercials, movies, television, newspapers, and magazines, so it couldn't be that bad, right? Well, it was. His teacher, Ms. Hallem, was a very opinionated women and she had a tendency to bring in anything that had to do with politics and current events, the normal boring things that he heard about everyday.
The bell had just rung, and Dean was waiting for Ms. Hallem to enter the classroom, "Hey, Portman," Fulton asked, leaning over to talk to him, "What do you think Ms. Hellem is going to bring in today?"
"Anything that involves war, famine, or death." Dean said stoically, "She's into that kind of doom and gloom a lot, you know that." Dean was leaning back in his chair and massaging his temples. He had a splitting headache and wasn't sure exactly where it had come from.
"Guys, cut her a break, okay." Adam said as he leaned over the back of his chair and turned his head to look at them. Julie was in this class as well and she turned and agreed with Adam.
"Good morning all!" Said the over excited voice of Ms. Hallem. She was a young women, fresh out of collage, who could be annoyingly peppy when she wanted to be, "Today we are going to discuss unstructured media. I guess that is what you could call it."
Dean looked up from his desk, "What does that mean, exactly?"
Ms. Hallem looked up from her desk and stared at him, "That means lots and lots of sport talk." The class whooped, "Olympic addition." The class silenced, "Meaning they will be talking about the teams and individuals in the Olympics that they, well, the one's they want to. That's about it, and after we watch it we will be discussing the differences from this 'unstructured' news to what is seen as regular or 'structured' news." A groan, "Oh, come on people, it won't be that bad." She pulled a tape out of her desk and placed it in the VCR on the television in the classroom and pressed play, "And, don't forget, if you fall asleep, you will be the first person I call on to lead the discussion, and you had better be good at it."
Dean sat back in his seat and watched. The class wasn't half as bad as he thought it would be. The show was actually interesting and had immediately gone to the subject of hockey.
About fifteen minutes into the argument about which hockey team was going to win the gold, a knock came on the door. Ms. Hallem went to the door and opened it to reveal Coach Orion, Dean's Coach Orion. Dean heard him mumble something about papers and her being a life saver, until...
"Well, off of hockey and onto something else so that you two don't kill each other." One of the hosts, a twenty-something year old named Diana, said to the other two hosts, "Let's talk about the Figure Skating Teams."
The other female host, Portia, said, "Eric Orion! U.S Women's Figure Skating coach! Always has been hot, always will be hot!"
Dean heard a thud behind him, his coach had dropped whatever he had been holding when Portia had proclaimed that his brother was hot. Dean heard him mumble, "I didn't need to hear that!" He, Fulton, Julie and Adam turned around in their seats to see their coach looking like he just swallowed a whole hockey puck.
"Actually," The only male host, Harper, said, "I'm gravitating more towards..."
He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Diana cut him off, "I swear, if you say Danielle Portman, I will personally find a fitting torture method for you!" Harper gave a look that said 'what-is-wrong-with-her?' Diana sighed as Dean cringed, "You moron! She's only, like, 16!"
"Ooops." Harper mumbled.
"When I got on this subject I thought that we would be talking about something important, like what some people are calling 'The biggest rivalry in Figure Skating since the Tonya/Nancy incident'."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Portia asked.
"Let's just go to the tape!" Diana said, thoroughly exasperated. She turned to the large television behind her and was followed by the other hosts. Dean was confused, Dani hadn't told him about any rivalries in the Figure Skating world.
The tape began with a slow, somber melody. Then... a huge crash as two flags, with 'USA' and 'Iceland' written in letters that looked like crushed rocks, crashed together and signaled a staccato-ed, harsh, and angry beat. As the beat hit his ears, Dean saw pictures of two girls flashing in the screen. One of the girls was Dani, the other was a very pretty girl with stick-straight blond hair and icy blue eyes.
The scene changed and clips of Dani's best jumps and spins flicked passed, followed by clips of the other girl pulling off moves that Dean hadn't seen before. The images flicked past as Dean racked his brain to remember what he was seeing.
The mood and sound got faster. The pictures of each girl were alternating and the speed was rapidly getting faster. Finally the clips and pictures were going by so fast that Dean could barely see what was going on.
Then, it stopped. The sound died down and the movement ceased as two pictures came from either side of the screen and slammed together. On the picture of Dani it said:
"DANIELLE PORTMAN: THE USA RULE BREAKER"
On the picture of the other girl it said:
"Gala Stahl: Iceland's classic beauty"
Then it was over. That was it. It left Dean more confused then he was before that stupid tape had played, and it didn't help that Julie, Fulton, and Adam were staring at him. "What the hell was that about?" Fulton asked as he leaned over his desk.
"I have no idea." Dean admitted. "Did anyone get that 'USA rule breaker' part?" He asked, looking to all of his friend hoping that they would be able to give him some explanation as to what he had just seen.
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Dean had gone through the rest of the day with his mind very occupied and full of questions that he would try to not bombard Dani with. He didn't understand why Dani would have not told him about any aspect of her skating, they always told each other everything, especially if it had to do with skating.
"Portman? Man, what is up with you?" Max asked at the end of hockey practice, "You look like you were actually turned down for once." Max laughed at his own little joke.
"Haha, Newmen." Dean said, "I'm preoccupied, so leave me alone."
"Thinking about that tape we watched in Media Analysis today?" Julie asked, Dean nodded, "Doesn't surprise me. That was really weird, not to mention coincidental."
"How do you get that?" Fulton asked.
"Did you see what the other girls last name was?" Julie asked. Fulton and Dean shook their heads, "It was 'Stahl', that name and Iceland have only ever meant one thing to us."
"Wait a minute." Adam cut in, "You don't think that that girl was related to Gunnar Stahl, do you?"
"They do look a lot a like, except that her eyes are bluer." Julie said, "Anything is possible." Julie took a drink out of her water bottle.
"Wait a minute, how do you remember how blue Gunnar Stahl's eyes are?" Dean asked, looking at Julie incredulously.
"Well," She said, walking up to him, "When you can see him staring at you with the hope that you didn't catch the puck, you kind of remember this things." She had been shaking her half full water bottle at him and flinging water all over him, "Oops!" She said sarcastically before walking back to her locker and pulling out her bag.
A knock came on the door, "No one minds if I come in, do they?" Dani's voice asked through the door, everyone replied no. Dani walked in wearing a jersey that matched the one that Leah had been wearing two days earlier, "Hi Dean." She said pleasantly, Dean turned away, "What's with the ice shoulder?" She asked.
"He's just being a whiny little baby because we saw something about an rivalry between you and another one of the skaters." Fulton said, "I think her name was something like Gay.. no Gal...um?"
"Gala Stahl?" Dani asked in an antipathetic voices, Fulton nodded, "They are still spreading around that horse shit?" She asked herself, "Well, I'm not in a rivalry with anybody. And just so you know, the last name isn't a coincidence, she's Gunnar Stahl's little sister."
"Fantastic." Dean mumbled. "And I've been looking for that jersey!"
"It doesn't fit you anymore!" Dani said, indignantly. "Besides it isn't your team anymore, so when are you going to wear it?"
"You have no grasp of the concept of 'sentimental value' do you?" Dean asked as Dani shook her head no and smiled. "You are such a dork." Dean sighed as he turned around and began rummaging in his locker.
"Alright team," Ted Orion called as he walked into the locker room, "You all did a great job today, and it will... Dani what are you doing in here?" He asked when he saw Dani.
"Me? I was just having a little family chat." She said sheepishly, "I'll be going now." When she got to the door she said, "I don't know if this is the time to tell you Dean, but Cami-e-Alec-essere-qui, arrivederci!" She said as she raced out the door. (Italian: Cami-and-Alec-are-here, bye!)
Dean looked ready to keel over and die! But he calmly put down his stuff, opened his locker, and placed his head inside. It seemed that he was about to slam the locker door closed, when Max grabbed the door and said, "Don't try to break your neck, Portman." in a very nonchalant voice.
"Sono venuto qui ottenere via da loro, non รจ il mio difetto che realmente desideriate vedere la vostra sorella!" Dean grumbled. (Italian: I came here to get away from them, it's not my fault you actually want to see your sister!)
"That's because I haven't seen her since I had to move to Paris." Max said, "You get to see them all the time over the summer."
"Let me guess," Dean said, "You would probably change places with me in a second, is that right?"
"No." Max said sadly, down casting his eyes, "I wouldn't." He walked back to his locker and began to put his things away.
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Fulton and Kenny were walking back to their dorm rooms ahead of everyone else, for once they were finished first. "I hate when they do that!" Fulton said out of the blue.
"What?" Kenny asked turning and facing his big Bash Brother.
"Max, Dani, and Dean talking in Italian! It's weird, and I hate not knowing what people around me are saying!" Fulton said, scowling.
"Yeah, I agree." Kenny said, before running into a very large wall of muscle. "Oh, sorry." He quickly apologized before looking up, "Wow!" He said in shock, "It's an even taller Portman!" Fulton's eyes grew as he saw what looked like his best friend, just about 6 or 7 inches taller!
"Hey, honey?" A female voice said to the tall person, "Did you understand what Professor..."
"And a female Max!" Fulton spouted out before he could contain himself, "Ooops." He said sheepishly as they pair looked at them with 'confused' written all over their faces.
"Wait a minute," The girl said, she looked both of them over with fiercely green eyes that made them feel very odd and then seemed to remember something. Flipping her curly blond hair over her shoulder and pointing to each of them, she said, "Ken Wu and Fulton Reed?"
"Um, yes." Kenny got the courage to say.
"CAMI!" Max's voice called through the door. He came racing up to her and hugged her, "Fulton, Ken, this is my older sister Cami, I told you about her, didn't I?"
"Yeah," Fulton said, "And I would guess that that makes you Portman's older brother." He added to the other person.
"Yup," He said as he placed out his hand for Fulton and Kenny to shake, "Alec Portman, it's nice to actually meet you instead of having to hear my brother's rants." They both shook his hand.
"Hey! I heard that!" Dean yelled as he ran up to them, "What are you two doing here?"
"Well," Cami said, "I came here to see my brother. Dani told me that you were here." She ruffled his hair and said, more to herself, "You got rid of the white-man fro! I'm so happy."
"It wasn't a white man fro!" Max said indignantly.
"And I am here fore moral support, and to see you and Dani and mom, I guess." Alec said.
"You better be!" Dani yelled as she ran up an hugged her older brother. The rest of the team walked up behind Kenny, Fulton, Max, and Dean, "Hey everybody." She said.
"Guys," Dean began, "This is my older brother, Alec."
"And my older sister, Cami." Max told them, they all said hi. "Hi Dean Buckley." Max said, looking behind his team, "Hi Coach."
"Hi Coach. Hi Mom." Dani finished.
"Alec? Cami? What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"
"Hi, mom. Moral support. Not on Mondays." Alec said.
"Hello. Visiting my brother. Ditto, no class on Monday." Cami answered. She smiled as Mrs. Portman shrugged and gave them each a hug.
"Dean, Coach, this is my older brother, Alec." Dean said, introducing them.
They shook Alec's hand as Max introduced Cami, "And this is my older sister Camilla, you can call her Cami." She shook their hands as well.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Dean Buckley said, "But, Ted, we must be going." He herded him away as he was talking quickly about something that nobody understood.
"I have to get going too." Dani's coach said.
"Have fun on your date, Coach." Dani smiled as he mumbled something along the lines of 'you're never going to let me forget that, are you?'. Dani shook her head, "I never let anyone forget when I set them up."
"I see that Chicago's little Cupid has been hard at work here in Minneapolis." Cami said, Dani nodded her head and looked very pleased with herself.
"Cupid?" Connie asked.
"I'm good, well, very good at setting people up. And if you two ever stop being together, I'm going to have to kill you." Guy and Connie looked confused, "That means you're good. How long have you two been dating anyway?"
"Since they were 8!" Tammy called as she rushed up behind Dani. "It was actually quite frightening at that point." Guy looked embarrassed and Connie, ready to kill, all of the in-state Ducks agreed.
"Parlando della messa in opera della gente, quando siete che andate fare qualche cosa con..." Dean began. " (Italian: Speaking of setting people up, when are you going to do anything with...).
But Dani cut him off, "I'm working on it!"
"I HATE YOU!" A familiar voice called as Doe came up behind Dani, "I need a shoulder to cry on." He stated as he placed his head on Dani's shoulder. Eve came up and did the same.
"What's wrong guys." Dani asked, patting them on the back.
"Leah is evil." Eve told her.
"One, we all know that, but what is wrong now. And two, why are you still here?" Dean asked, looking rather huffy.
"Dean," Dani said, "Shut up."
But his question was answered when Leah came up to them, "I get Mr. Portman, I get Mr. Portman. And you guys are stuck with those stupid sophomore teachers!" She chanted in a sing-song voice, "It's good to be smart!"
"Oh." Dean said, "Now I get it."
"Your dad is a teacher?" Dwayne asked, tapping Dean on the shoulder.
"The best one in our school!" Eve said, still very sore with Leah, "And he's a senior teacher, so normally you have to be a senior, but Miss Smarty-Pants gets to have him now!"
"I know!" Leah said, extremely pleased with herself. "Dani, we have to leave tonight! Come on, let's go. We do want to spend some time with you!"
"Okay, I'm coming," Dani said, "Bye everybody. Dean, you still owe me a birthday present." She kissed her mom good-bye and ran off.
"I'm stealing him," Cami said, putting her hands on Max's shoulders, "So you all can see him later. Are you coming, sweetie?" She asked Alec.
"Honestly, this your time, I'll catch up later." Alec replied, giving her a small kiss. Max and Dean rolled their eyes. "Want to put me to work mom?"
"Actually, yes." Mrs. Portman replied, "You're the compute genius in this family, maybe you can tell me what is going on with my laptop." Alec agreed and followed his mother away. Max and Cami jumped into Cami's car and drove away.
"Well, they seem nice." Julie said once Cami was gone.
"They are." Dean replied, "They really are."