Spunky's Disclaimer: I've chucked every stupid penny I could find into a stupid wishing fountain… and I still don't own the Mighty Ducks! Why oh why is the world so cruel?! I could've invested them in stocks!! Okay back to reality. I don't own the Ducks! Heck I don't even own Taylor Brooklyn, she just kind of made herself at home in my brain. So I decided to use her in this story so she can pay up the five months rent she owes me! LOL!
Taylor Brooklyn Walter: Born and raised in the City of Angels (that's Los Angeles for those of you that don't know). She is 5'5 and has an athletic frame. She has straight chestnut colored hair. Her eyes are green. She is entering Eden Hall to pitch for the Varsity Softball Team. She plays guitar and likes to go against the grain sometimes. Her dad is a director.
Summary: High School has its ups and downs, and it is no exception at Eden. The Ducks are having the time of their life at Eden. Some will find love in unexpected places, make friends, and lend a helping hand. May become a trilogy. I'm horrible at summaries. Takes place sophomore year.
Chapter notice: The reference to teen vogue isn't just something I threw in for kicks. You'll see why I added that in much later in the story.
Shout Outs:
luvhockeyboys-21n00- Thank you for your awesome review. I'm glad you like. A Mary Sue is a character that is a little too perfect. Perfect body. Perfect looks. Perfect boyfriend. Perfect manners and morals. I have little to no problems with Mary Sues. I think that it's fictitious, so let them be perfect. Sure it kind of takes away from the realism of the story… but that is the writer's deal. I just don't like it when people bag on others work.
Yaaamish- Thank you for your supper helpful review. I hope you like this chapters length. And I'm happy to here that I'm keeping all characters in character. I tweaked Linda's character. I don't like her much and made her like this for future conflict. I think that Taylor seems a bit Sue-ish in this chapter, but it won't be like that in the future.
Ladies and Gentlemen please put your hands together for my new beta… Yaaamish
(Thunderous applause)
Portman had called Adam's house earlier to get all the details. Adam informed Portman that it was a pool party, and that it was going to start at 11:30.
Portman had called at 9:30 so that left them two hours to get ready and get there.
As soon as Julie and Taylor had reached their residence hall, Julie ran to on of the payphones sitting in the main corridor.
While dialing she informed Taylor that she was going to call her boyfriend, Scooter. Taylor nodded and motioned that she was going upstairs. Julie nodded and listened for Scooter to pick up.
Taylor walked in to her room. She felt sort of angry at Julie's excitement. It was almost as though she felt jealous.
Taylor shook her head, 'that is so ludicrous.' She thought
She quickly walked over to her drawers, opening on of them. She looked inside and rummaged through all her swimsuits (she's from California so she has a bunch of swimsuits) till she found a Dolce & Gabbana bikini. She looked it over. It was her favorite. It was a black halter bikini top with a black hipster bottom. It had been given to her after a photo shoot with her father for Teen Vogue. She shook her head in frustration and slammed her drawer. Just thinking about him made her angry. She then got up and opened her closet. It was mostly filled with vintage tees, jeans, and blazers. Most of her clothes were bought at thrift stores and vintage shops, but some were designer clothes given to her as gifts. She seldom wore those clothes, she never liked rubbing in her fathers wealth.
She looked down at the swimsuit in her hands as it dawned on her that it was a designer label. She debated on whether or not to wear it when Julie burst into the room.
"He's coming! I'm so happy!" Julie twirled around the room before stopping in front of her closet. Taylor had never seen Julie show that much emotion. I guess this Scooter guy is great. She looked over at Taylor's suit. "Cute bikini."
"Thanks. I don't know if I should wear it though."
Julie stopped rummaging through her closet, "It'll look great on you. Trust me, wear it."
Taylor nodded in agreement; it was her favorite bikini after all. The two girls rummaged through their closets looking for what to where over their swimsuits.
The out of states stood outside the gates of Eden waiting for Scooter.
Taylor looked over at Julie who seemed really happy that Scooter was going to the party with them. Taylor noticed that Julie had made herself look extra special for the occasion. While getting ready for the party, Taylor had found a red and white hibiscus flower attached to a hairclip in her drawer and gave it to Julie to wear. She let her hair down, parted on the side, and placed the flower by her ear. She applied some lip gloss and a bit of blush, and was wearing denim shorts, and red halter-top. The straps of her red and white hibiscus bikini top sat on her pale shoulders. Taylor had also found a red beaded anklet, and let Julie borrow it, which she wore with red sandals.
Taylor looked down at her own outfit. She was wearing white Dickie shorts, and a black halter-top. She wore black sandals, and had a silver anklet on her left ankle. Her hair was parted to the side and was in a low ponytail. A pair of black-framed sunglasses sat upon her head.
Just then a black Lincoln Navigator pulled up in front of them. The passenger door opened and Julie climbed in as Scooter greeted everyone and told them to get in. He politely kissed Julie on the lips. Dwayne opened the door and climbed into the back as did Russ and Ken. Luis then went in and sat on the middle row, followed by Taylor, and Dean.
"Scooter this is my roommate, Taylor. Taylor this is my boyfriend Scooter."
Taylor and Scooter shook hands.
As the teens drove off to Adam's house Scooter and Julie talked to each other quietly, as the rest of the group talked to each other. Taylor listened to the guys talk about girls back home, and couldn't help but feel out of place. As if sensing her discomfort Scooter asked Taylor a question "Julie tells me you're from LA. I have some family down there. I didn't catch your last name?"
"Walter," she said Scooter nodded
"Her dad is a director." Julie added.
Scooter suddenly hit the breaks, causing Portman to bump heads with Taylor "No way! You mean The Tyler Walter is your father?!"
Taylor nodded, her face contorted in pain as she rubbed her head. Julie smacked Scooter.
"Sorry guys."
Portman rolled his eyes and grabbed his head with his hands. "Yeah, whatever man, you're not the on with a concussion."
Everyone laughed as they safely reached Adams house.
Music and laughter could be heard as the teens got out of the car and walked to the door. Ken rang the doorbell, which was promptly opened by Adam himself in a pair of black swim trunks. (A.N. Spunky squeals!)
"Hey guys, you're the last ones to arrive. Come on in."
Everyone steps inside, still amazed by the houses grandeur (all minus Scooter) and greeted Adam with hugs.
"Oh, Adam Banks this is my roommate Taylor Walter. Taylor Walter this is Adam Banks."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you" Adam said shyly as he extended his hand
Taylor took it and shook it "It's nice to meet you too." She said smiling. The group headed outside.
Outside
There were about 15 people already outside. Connie, Fulton, Charlie, and Linda sat on the edge of the pool. Linda was babbling on about something while Charlie and Connie pretended to listen. Fulton was looking at Averman, Goldberg and Joel (Goldberg's younger brother) play Marco Polo. Averman was it and the Goldberg brothers had just snuck out of the pool. Leaving Averman alone in the pool. Guy was inside the pool talking to a blonde. There were about 6 others lounging in and around the pool, 3 girls and 3 guys. Adam led the group to the pool house. The others had not noticed them yet.
Once inside Adam led Julie and Taylor to the girl's dressing room. Once alone the girls removed their street clothes, and grabbed their towels. Both girls looked great to say the least. They were both slender and toned. Julie looked like the classic All-American girl. Taylor had the California girl look with her sun-kissed tan. They stepped into the pool houses sitting room where Scooter and Luis sat down waiting for them. Julie cleared her throat and both boys quickly jumped to their feet. Their eyes opened wide and their mouths hung open. Julie and Taylor laughed and took them by the arm, before dragging them outside.
The minute the four stepped out Russ and Portman start throwing catcalls.
"Woo. Break me off a piece of that." Russ called out.
The two girls smiled and blushed. All the other guest turned to see what all the ruckus is about. The rest of the out of states joined in on the catcalls as well.
"Come on babes, show us what you're working with!"
The two girls laugh and play around doing a little catwalk. After everything started to settle down Julie led the group over to where Charlie, Fulton, Connie, Linda and Adam sat. Julie and Luis hugged the group. They hadn't seen each other for a month and a half. Scooter waved at everyone. He wasn't that close to his girlfriend's friends.
Luis took Taylor's wrist and pulled her over to his teammates.
"Guy's this is Taylor, Julie's new roommate and my lucky date for the evening," Taylor rolled her eyes at the comment which made the others laugh, "Taylor this is Connie, Fulton, and Charlie. They're on the JV team. Oh, and this is Linda. Charlie's girlfriend."
Taylor smiled and shook their hands, before taking a seat between Adam and Connie. Linda looked at Taylor with a small glare before speaking.
"As I was saying before our… little interruption, I'm going to start a petition at school to…"
Taylor spaced out and looked around her. The JV hockey guys are defiantly hot, well most of them anyway. If they are this cute imagine how the rest of the male population at Eden Hall Academy looks like. She smiled at her thought.
Taylor noticed Connie looking at her bikini intently. Connie noticed this and instantly blushed.
"Is that a Dolce & Gabbana bikini?" Connie asked
Taylor nodded, "Yeah, it was a gi-"
"You know instead of wasting your money on that designer swimsuit, you could have bought one at Wal-Mart and donated the money you saved to a non-profit organization." Linda snapped, interrupting Taylor.
Taylor shook her head and pursed her lips before turning to Linda, with a smirk on her face.
"First of all Linda, this was a gift. Second of all, my father and I donate tens of thousands of dollars to many nonprofits. I have even rescued three of my kittens, my puppy, and my dog from an animal shelter. And lastly, I would never step foot in a Wal-Mart. Why would I buy from a company that exploits third world country workers? That company is making billions off of sweatshop workers in third world countries."
She turned too Adam "Could you show me were I can get a drink?"
"Sure." He answered before getting up. He offered her his hand to help her up and she took it. She got up and they excused themselves, heading over to the snack table. Linda looked stupefied, while the others looked slightly impressed.
Adam turned to look at Taylor "I don't think anyone has every shut her up like that."
Taylor shrugged "I hate people like her. They have this whole 'mightier than thou' personality, and are so judgmental."
"That she is." Adam replied as they reached the snack table.
Adam grabbed two cups "We've got bottled water, Pepsi, Sprite, Iced Tea, Lemonade."
Taylor bit her lip "I think I'll have a glass of lemonade please."
Adam nodded and filled the two glasses with lemonade. He handed her one of the cups.
"Thank you." Taylor said accepting the glass
"Your welcome. Are you hungry? There are some chips and sandwiches and stuff on the table."
Taylor shook her head "I'm good thanks."
Adam led Taylor over to couple of vacant lounge chairs. He sat down on one while Taylor lay down on the other. Taylor took a sip of her lemonade, before turning to Adam. "So, tell me about yourself Adam. What are your hobbies? What do you do here in Minnesota for fun?"
Adam rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, I'm fifteen. I like to read, go to school, and play hockey. That's all I really like to do."
Taylor nodded Well if that isn't the wishy-washiest answer I've ever heard? Okay maybe not wishy-washy, but it definitely lacked character.
Adam looked over at her, "What about you?"
Taylor bit her lip before speaking, "I too am fifteen and I'm originally from California. I love jamming on my guitar and playing softball. When I'm doing either thing it's like I'm in the zone. It's just me and my game. You know? I also like hanging out with my dad. He's a director. He's got, like, all these kooky ideas that just spring in his mind out of nowhere, at the strangest time. Like one time, we were walking the red carpet and being interviewed when suddenly snap a new movie plot jumped in his mind. He just left me and the reporters hanging. He does that a lot." Taylor's smile turned into a frown.
"Do you mean he leaves you hanging?"
"Yeah, he does. I guess I've never really thought about it till now."
Adam nodded his head glumly, "I know the feeling. My da-"
Goldberg, who was standing by the pair, interrupted Adam by yelling cannonball at the top of his lungs. He jumped into the water, creating a tsunami-like splash, which soaked both Adam and Taylor. The two stood up and looked at Goldberg, who had just surfaced, with vengeance clearly etched in their face. Goldberg instantly noticed this.
"Come on you guys, I warned you ahead of time. As far as I see it I gave you enough time to run and hide."
Taylor and Adam looked at each other. They shrugged and started to walk away. At seeing this Goldberg visibly relaxed and was about to swim away, when suddenly Taylor and Adam both jumped into the water, and began splashing water at him ferociously.
At the sight of this Charlie stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs "Water fight!"
He and everyone else, minus Linda, jumped into the pool and began splashing water at each other. Charlie noticed Linda was still sitting on the pool's edge. He swam over to her.
"Come on Linda. It's fun," Charlie splashed the water around him with a cheesy grin on his face to emphasize his having fun
Linda shook her head "There is no way I'm partaking in this adolescent display of maturity."
Charlie shook his head and rolled his eyes "Fine. Can you give me a hand so I can get up?"
Charlie extended his hand and Linda took it without thinking. Charlie then pulled Linda into the pool. She quickly came up to the surface, sputtering water. She looked really pissed and Charlie cringed at his mistake.
"Charlie, you are such an asshole!" Linda yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone stopped splashing and looked over at the duo. Charlie started to step back and looked around at everyone. Linda turned around and looked at everyone before turning back to Charlie. He looked down at the water.
"I'm really sorry Linda. I had no id-"
Charlie was silenced by a large splash of water. He stood frozen before turning to look at Linda, who had a giant grin on her face.
"Oh, now it's on" He said before splashing water at her. Everyone took this as a sign to continue splashing water at each other. Portman even grabbed Ken at one point and threw him into the air. Dwayne climbed out of the pool without anyone noticing and grabbed his lasso. In fact no one noticed till Averman found himself lassoed. As realization dawned on their faces, Fulton found himself lassoed. Everyone broke away from each other and tried to run away from the cowboy.
Later in the afternoon, a short while after the day's earlier events had settled down, the teens were once again scatter through the yard. Some were lounging by the pool others were grabbing snacks from the snack table. Connie and Taylor were sharing a two-person inner tube and were floating by the shallow end, where most of the other ducks minus Goldberg, Fulton, Dwayne, and Luis; were hanging around at. Charlie had a mini basketball in his hands and was throwing it at the basketball hoop that hung just a little above the pool.
"What should we do now?" Ken asked as he floated on his back.
Everyone shrugged and Julie, who was on Scooters shoulders, smacked the ball away from the hoop. Charlie gave Julie a dirty look, before grabbing the ball back. Suddenly an idea hit Charlie.
"Anyone up for a little game of b-ball?"
Everyone looked around at each other and shrugged.
"Linda, get up on my shoulders."
"Okay…" Linda said as Charlie bent down so she could climb onto his shoulders.
Portman glided over to Taylor "Climb on babe." Taylor rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.
Portman shook his head "Alright. All right. Please climb on my shoulders Taylor."
Taylor looked satisfied with the request and was about to climb on when Charlie stopped her.
"No way Portman. The last time we played b-ball with you, you were checking everyone left and right. You can be ref. Adam would you mind carrying Taylor?"
"Nah." Answered Adam as he shook his head. He swam over to the inner tube and squatted. Taylor climbed on.
Connie climbed on Russ's shoulders. It was going to be a three on three (or six on six if you counted the guys), Connie, Julie and Taylor against Linda, Cheryl (the girl guy was with) and another girl.
The guest who weren't playing sat around the pool's edge. Averman and Goldberg were acting as the announcers.
"Hey what are your teams names?"
"We're the West Coast Ballers, and those fools over there are the No-Coast Lunatics." Russ yelled out as Taylor high-fived him.
"Hey" Connie, Scooter, and Adam replied in mock hurt.
Russ smiled "No offense guys."
"First to twenty wins," Goldberg said as both teams faced-off, "Are you guys ready?"
Everyone nodded and Averman brought a water bottle up to his lips in a mock microphone, "Well, Let's get ready to rumble!"
Fifteen minutes later the score was tied, 19-19. Linda had the ball and passed it to Cheryl, but Connie intercepted the ball and threw it to Taylor. Taylor was about to shoot it when Linda lunged at her, smacking her on the face. Taylor turned red and passed the ball to Julie who made the shot. It went in, but everyone remained still.
"I'm so sorry, it was an accident." Linda said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
Taylor glared at her, and looked ready to pounce on her.
Dun-Dun-Dun
What will Taylor do? Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Time of your life.