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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Lilmonkey1507- Jamie's friends are a combination of several of my friends, with the addition of tattoos. They sound like friends of your cousin? What a coincidence. From the very first movie, it's obvious that Adam's dad is really, really stubborn, I just wanted to exploit that fact. I thank you and your friends!
And I would like to extend thanks where else thanks is due. That being said, THANK YOU PrincessH and BrokenAngel1753 for your reviews!
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Well, it was Thursday. A full four days since Monica and Ana had first asked Becky to join them at their favorite table, and everyday since, they continued with their request. Becky had to admit, it was nice to have people her own age to talk to. "Becky, baby, wake up. It's time for school." Becky groaned as her dad shook her shoulder as she laid in bed. "Come on, honey."
Becky sat up, "Sure, daddy." She ran her hand through her hair and pushed her legs so that they hung off of the side of her bed. Ted was surprised. The past couple of days had been so strange, in a good way. He didn't have to force Becky out of her bed and into her wheelchair, she seemed happier. Ted and Becky simultaneously leaned over to the phone that was ringing on Becky's bedside table and read the name on the Caller ID. Adam Banks? What the Hell! "Monica?" Becky questioned as she picked up the phone, "Monica? What are you calling me at seven in the morning for?" Ted was baffled. Who was Monica?
"Hi, Becky." Monica replied.
"Becky! I'm here too!" Ana called out really loud, in order to get attention. She called out so loud, in fact, that Ted heard every last syllable of the girl's squeal. Who were these people and why had Becky never told him about them.
"Hi, Ana." Becky responded when she placed the phone back to her ear. "Monica, why are you using your brother's private phone line?" Ted blinked. What, exactly, was going on?
"Well, with him at school and me not wanting to call from the kitchen or living room, I figured that what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him." Monica said as Becky nodded in agreement, "But Ana and I called you to tell you that you need to turn on channel 3, right now!"
"Oh, okay, hold on a second." Becky replied as she reached over her bedside table and picked up the remote to her television. Yeah, she had a phone and a t.v. in room. Her dad did tend to spoil her sometimes, but she never took advantage of that fact like other people she knew would. She pressed the 'on' button and then the '0' and '3' buttons. Becky smiled the most startled smile that anyone could ever smile. Her school was closed, "Wow, Mr. Zalbo and Ms. Tenner don't look all that happy!" On her television screen was her principle and her superintendent, both looking deeply distressed, "Did anyone say why we get out?"
"Yeah." Ana replied, "That storm last night knocked out the power. Talk about a stroke of luck, I am a complete psychic."
"What!" Monica exclaimed.
"I knew that something good was going to happen! I just knew it!" Ana replied. "I had a feeling."
"Yeah, sure." Monica said sarcastically, "And I bet that Becky is a psychic too because she knew that I was calling!"
"No. she probably has Caller ID." Ana said wisely.
"No duh, stupid!"
Becky chuckled, "You two are so weird."
"Thank you!" They both exclaimed. Becky smiled, causing Ted to smile. Whoever these girls were, they made his daughter smile, and that was the bigger and more important picture here.
"Well, I have to go." Monica said, "If mom and dad find me in Adam's room, they'll get really mad. I'm not suppose to be here if he isn't with me."
"I should get going too." Ana added.
"Well, then I guess that I will see you both at school tomorrow." Becky said, "Bye." They replied and hung up. The downside of getting out of school was hitting her like a ton of bricks. She was going to have to spend the whole day at Eden Hall with her dad. Sure, she would get to see her uncle and his team, but she wasn't sure that she would have as much fun without people her own age.
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"Yeah, that figure skater looks like she would be a wild ride." Those words, spoken by former varsity member Jerry Tubs, rang in Adam's ears. He had been walking passed them when he heard that unpleasant conversation between his former teammates, a big emphasis on 'former'. When Adam looked in the direction of their gazes to see what they had been talking about, he saw Dani. Who the HELL did they think they were? So, he snapped and ended up getting into a fight with the lovely Tubs, who was close to an Adam and a half in hight and two and a half Adam's in weight. By the time that Scooter showed up and got the fight settled down by warning them that the Dean was coming, Adam had a split lip and bruises on his cheek, arms, and stomach. Tubs had a bloody nose and black eye, who knew that the cake-eater had it in him. "What the hell were you thinking?" Dani asked when she brought a bag of ice over. She had been shocked when Scooter had dragged a very uncooperative Adam passed her.
"Nothing." Adam said truthfully. He hadn't really been thinking anything, he just seemed to lose control when Tubs had made that horrible remark about Dani, not that he told her any of this. "Dani, thanks for the ice, but I have to get to practice." He said as he stood up and walked away. Dani sighed and Scooter tried, and failed, to suppress a snort of laughter.
"What?" She asked.
"Nothing." Scooter replied, "It's just that you two are so 'perfect-high-school-couple' in a way." Dani raised her eyebrows, "Well, you would be if the perfect high school couple was made up of one of the preppiest guys around and the anti-prep."
"We aren't dating, so we can't be 'perfect-high-school-couple'." Dani retorted.
"Well, yeah, that's unfortunate."
Dani sighed and shook her head, "I have to get back to class. See you around Scooter." Dani stood up and said, "I hear that Rick Reily is on campus. You watch that pretty little backside of yours, stud."
Scooter decided to make a joke of everything, "You think it's pretty?" He asked as he turned his head and looked down. Dani let out a laugh and slapped her forehead. "See you, Dani."
As Dani walked down the hall, she saw Becky, not surprising, and two other girls, one blond, one red head, that looked around Becky's age, "Becky dear?" Dani called down the hall, getting the attention of the three girls.
"Hi Dani!" She replied happily, "Monica, Ana, I would like you to meet Dani Portman. She's a member of my uncle's team. Dani this is Monica Banks and Anabelle Simmons."
"Banks?" Dani asked, "Any relation to Adam?"
"He's my brother." Monica said pridefully. Dani nodded, she didn't know that Adam had a sister, "It's nice to meet you, Becky has told us a lot." Ana nodded in agreement.
"Is that so. Well, I guess I should be flattered. It's nice to meet both of you." Dani replied, "I would love to stick around, but I have to go to class. But before I do, Becky, why weren't you in school today?"
Monica, Becky, and Ana exchanged wide smiles, "We got out today." Becky told her, "That bad storm knocked out the power." Dani nodded to acknowledge that she understood and then waved goodbye and left to go to her class. "I told you she was the coolest teenager in the whole world."
"Yeah, I like her." Monica replied, "Although, I think that I overheard Charlie, Terry, and Jesse say something about her to Adam. Or it might be a coincidence."
"What did they say?" Ana asked. She would be the first to admit that she was a huge fan of the grapevine, "Come on, Monica. Don't leave us in suspense here!" Monica sighed, "Please!"
"Okay." Monica said, "Charlie said that if Adam didn't grow a spine and ask Dani out soon, then he, Terry, and Jesse would have to shoot him. They seemed really, really irritated."
"Yeah, well..." Ana began.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Adam's shocked voice called from the ice below them. Monica rolled her eyes and didn't respond, "Monica! I'm serious, what are you doing here?"
"I was out of school today, stupid, and I came to see Becky." Becky nodded and waved. Adam opened his mouth to speak again, "Ana and I got a ride from Mrs. Simmons, it's not like we walked here or anything."
"Becky?"
"Hi Daddy!" Becky replied as he father skated over to the edge of the ice, next to Adam, "Please continue. We'll just watch and plot wonderful ideas that would give a certain someone a taste of their own medicine."
Ted's eyes grew, "Rebekah!"
Becky put her hands up in a surrender, "I was just kidding, daddy." Becky replied. Ted turned and went back to his team. Children were complicated sometimes, but at least he only had one, he couldn't imagine having any more then that.
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"Hello Alyssa." Casey Conway said as she sat down in the booth that Alyssa had taken as her own in Mickey's, "You remember Corrine Banks, correct." Alyssa nodded and shook her hand.
"Pleasure to see you again."
"The pleasure is mine." Corrine replied. "What are you doing?" She added as she looked at the large stack of papers that Alyssa had put off having to sign.
"I have to sign these for work. It isn't enjoyable." She said as she turned over the page she had been working on and mumbled, "One down, two hundred and ninety-four to go."
"Oh, joy. Papers." Another voice added. Alyssa looked up and saw a women of average hight with black hair and bright red nails looking piteously at the papers, "Bethany. Bethany Reed." She said as she extended her hand.
"Fulton's mother." Alyssa said as she took Bethany's hand. "I have heard good things about you and your son." Bethany looked flattered and sat down with another glance at Alyssa's stack of paperwork.
"G.N?" She asked when she saw the initials between Alyssa's first and last names.
"Gianna Nazario." Alyssa specified, "My middle and maiden names. I always sign everything with both."
"Wait a minute." Corrine said, "Alyssa Nazario?" Alyssa nodded, "That sound immensely familiar. Why would that be?" Alyssa sighed and put her pen on the table. She really didn't want to reminisce about her skating years, but they were the only way that anyone would recognize her name. A lot of things happened when she skated that she just wished that she could forget.
"Well, it would if you were a fan of skating in the mid 70's to the early 80's." Alyssa disclosed. "I skated then. Doubles."
"Hi mom." A voice said as arms wrapped themselves around Alyssa's shoulders. "Che cosa state facendo?" (Italian: What are you doing?)
"Ciao, il mio bella." Alyssa said to Dani. (Italian: Hello, my beautiful.). "Cose diaboliche che non dovete conoscere alla vostra età giovane." (Italian: Evil things that you don't need to know of at your young age.). Dani smiled and shook her head.
"Hello Mrs. Conway, Mrs. Banks." Dani said politely. Then she looked over to Mrs. Reed and was completely lost.
"Dani, this is Mrs. Reed."
"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you." Dani said, silently cursing her dreadful luck. Alyssa noticed the change in her daughter and questioned Dani with her eyes, "Yes my loving and caring mother?"
"What did you do?"
"What makes you think I did anything. Oh, greatest mother in the world?" Dani asked, trying to stay positive.
"That." Alyssa replied simply. Dani didn't say anything, but Alyssa go her answer when she saw Fulton and Dean enter the diner, with Fulton holding his forehead in his hands, "Danielle Melita! Please tell me you didn't."
"Um..." Dani said. Alyssa sighed and held her head in her left hand while her elbow was on the table. "Hi Fulton, hi Dean."
"I'll give you this," Fulton said, "you have one hell of an arm."
"Fulton!"
"Sorry mom. You have one heck of an arm." Fulton corrected himself, " And you were right, Portman, those apples are painful if they are thrown right." Dani shivered in fear inside as he mother raised her head to look at her.
"Okay, wait a second." Dani said, "Let's hear my side of the story." Alyssa motioned for Dani to continue. "Okay, look Fulton. You like her, she likes you. If you don't ask her out soon, she is going to explode. Not to mention her teammates, namely me, are going to go insane! I don't like that fact that she is old-fashioned any more then you do, deal with it!"
"Thanks for the motivational speech, Dani."
"Your welcome, Fulton." Dani replied sarcastically. "Hi Tammy." Dani called across the diner.
"Hi guys." Tammy replied as she walked over to the booth, "Mrs. Portman, Mrs. Banks, Mrs. Conway, Mrs. Reed. Jeez, what is this, a garden party or something. So many 'Mrs.'." Everyone laughed, "Dani, I hope you don't mind, I borrowed this." She pulled out a CD in a thin, clear, almost circular case.
"My mix?" Dani asked as she looked at the CD in the case, "Papa Roach, Disturbed, and System of A Down." She recited as she looked up at Tammy.
"Yeah, I enjoyed it." Dani's eyes widened, "But that's not why I'm here. Coach said that he wanted us to come back to Eden Hall and go over the choreography for our routines again. Although he seems a little frazzled."
"Why so?"
"Something about an eccentric and neurotic Russian by the name Ilia-Svetlana Varlaam has been on his case about something." Dani shook her head and gazed over to her mother and brother.
"Let it out, guys." Dani instructed and they both began to laugh adding much confusion to the mix. "Ilia-Svetlana was my first coach after my lovely mother. I forgot that she had moved here. Uh-oh." Dani sighed, "We had better go, I think that she'll probably make coach go insane. Lead on!" Tammy walked towards that door, but Dani stopped and said in little more then an whisper, "She likes my music now. Good job so far!" And she patted Fulton on the head and walked away.
"If you all will excuse me, I have to go find the deepest hole I can, crawl in it, and die." Fulton said as he walked away.
"I'll make sure he doesn't do the dying part." Dean said as he began to rush out after the retreating back or his friend, "But, mom, when I see you next, remind me that I have something to ask you." Alyssa nodded and gave a mock salute with only two of her fingers. "Thanks." Dean replied and ran off to make sure that his best friend didn't do anything too drastic.
"I'm going to get him." Bethany began after Dean had left sight completely, "I liked her when she was on the hockey team. I think he should follow Dani's advice."