Chapter 4: Back to Basics

District Five Middle School had always been a fairly decent school for public education, and with the salary her dad made as the sixth and seventh-grade English teacher, it was the best possible option for Teddi to attend school there. He may not be able to afford to send her to some fancy private school like Sofi Hanson-Bhatt and Billy Banks' parents did, but he taught his students with a lot of heart, and he showed his students how much he cared. And that included Teddi, whose English class came shortly after her lunch period.

Teddi had put up the sign-up sheet for the new hockey team that she, Evan, and Gordy were starting on the school's bulletin board that morning before her first class of the day, and she knew Billy had done the same thing over at St. Paul Academy, the all-boys school Adam Banks had attended when he'd been in middle school; he'd even asked if the same sign-up sheet could be posted in the sister school, St. Anne Academy, which was where Sofi went. While they had no official name yet, they'd come up with it as soon as they got some people to join.

However, when she went up to the bulletin board before lunchtime, she saw the list of names that got written. Only four looked like serious considerations.

The rest were just plain insults defaced on there, probably due to the Ducks in the middle school thinking it was all a joke.

Logan La Rue

Nick Ganz

Faggot

Lozers

Gaylord

Stoopid

Adib Samitar

Lauren Gibby

Sighing, Evan and Teddi shared a glance as they tore down the paper. At least they got four more people, making it eight players, well in the criteria.

But Teddi also knew they needed reserve players in case of anything. They couldn't just settle for seven or eight. They needed some kind of backup plan in case someone on the team suffered an injury.

Now, as they stood in line in the cafeteria, they watched as the lunch lady poured a heap of what looked like cheap macaroni and cheese onto their trays; the chicken tenders and the fish sticks didn't look much better, but Teddi settled for the fish sticks.

"Tee, I commend your dad for improving things around as far as our education is concerned," said Owen Averman as he flagged down Logan La Rue to come to sit with them and Nick. "But if he wants to make a difference, he should consider petitioning the lunch ladies to give us more nutritious food. Because this cannot be good for our health."

"I could cook better than this on any given Sunday," sighed Logan, picking at what looked like the mashed potatoes made from a box.

"Then you should join the kitchen crew, Logan," commented Nick shrewdly.

"So, any more luck getting people to join?" asked Owen.

Teddi fished out the defaced sign-up sheet and shot Owen a look. "Does that answer your question?"

Owen sighed. "Yeah, this doesn't look good for you guys. You're screwed."

"Oh, shut up, Averman! You know the game. Your dad was one of the OG Ducks! Why don't you join instead of cowering away from the puck?" asked Evan.

"And risk breaking my glasses?" Owen asked as Gordy came over.

"Owen, it's hockey. Things break all the time," Teddi said, shaking her head.

"Does that sound stupid to anyone else?"

Teddi rolled her eyes hard, but as she glanced over the popular kids' table – the table where a lot of Ducks sat with quarterback Michael Kern, she noticed Maya Kasper, who was off on the edge of the table, not really speaking with anyone, but joining in on the conversation when she could. Teddi couldn't tell if it was pretenses, or if Maya was actually friends with Queen Bee Brittanie Standish.

Maya had only moved to town from Brooklyn, New York, about six months ago when her mom got a good job offer in Minnesota. At first, she seemed nice enough, though after she befriended Brittanie and her little clique consisting of Kyla Corner and Jenna Heller, she'd grown a bit too concerned with fitting in with the popular girls, the girls that didn't have nearly enough money to attend St. Anne's, but just enough prestige to make them feel they were better than everyone and were more than happy to spit in their faces.

Today, Maya seemed to edge a little further away, and she didn't seem to be included in the conversation that much. Teddi figured Maya must've figured out that while she hung around Brittanie and her little clique, they'd never fully accept her in. Though Teddi had seen the girl skate at the local park a few times; Maya had some extraordinary control of her edges, and it looked like she was dancing across the blacktop whenever she rollerbladed. If only Teddi could get her attention . . .

When Maya glanced up, looking but not really seeing, Teddi waved her hand and gestured for the girl to come sit.

"What are you doing? Flagging down Maya Kasper?" Nick asked. "She'd never speak to us!"

"I'm taking some advice from my grandpa about taking a chance," said Teddi, remembering what Gordon had said to her last night while they did the dishes together after dinner. She supposed he was right. She never knew until she tried something. And at this point, she was willing to try anything she could to get somebody to join.

"Besides," Teddi said, "you've never seen her skate. She's really good. Besides, to qualify, we need at least seven players; at least, that's what Mr. Banks told us is part of the League's rules. We've got eight now, but we can't just settle for meeting the criteria. We need to show that we can do more than that."

"Yeah, she's good on the pavement. Not on the ice," said Logan, shaking his head.

"It's not that different," said Evan as Maya approached them, looking apprehensively over her shoulder at her "friends."

"What do you guys want?" she asked, biting her lip.

"Sit down," said Evan. Maya hesitantly did as he said. "Look, we know you can skate, and that you're good."

"And your point is?" Maya asked.

"We're starting up a new hockey team. The criteria we need to meet is seven players. But if we can get more than that, it would be even better," said Teddi. "If you want to, we have our first practice tonight at the Ice Palace after school at five o'clock. And don't worry about skates or equipment. All of that's being provided for us because we know the owner."

"Gordon Bombay? Didn't he get disqualified from coaching because he gave some player money for tape?" Maya asked.

"It doesn't matter. He's not the coach. My dad is," said Teddi.

"Mr. Conway? Wasn't he, like, the captain of the original Ducks?" Maya asked.

"Yeah, that was years ago, when the Ducks weren't all about winning," Evan said, not even trying to hide the bitterness in his voice as he looked over at the popular kids' table, who were all looking at them like they would like nothing more than to spit all over them.

"Look," said Teddi, "we know you want to be accepted by those guys badly. But did they ever truly accept you in?"

Maya seemed to contemplate this before she shook her head. "No. And when they do invite me to be with them, it's like I'm not there."

"Then give us a try and join our team. Show us what you can do. And if you don't like it, then you won't have to join the team," said Evan.

"But aren't you guys a bit late in the season?" asked Maya.

"We are, but we pulled it together. And we get to play our first game against the Cardinals in two weeks," said Teddi. "So, please. Consider it."

Maya finally nodded. "Okay. I'll come."


Later that night, the new team arrived at the Ice Palace; Maya, Lauren, Logan, Adib – who preferred to be called "Sam," and Nick had all walked the twenty-minute walk while Evan, Teddi, Gordy, and Billy all got rides from their parents, who wanted to be there for the first practice. Against Evan's protests, his mom, Alex, insisted on being an assistant coach with Teddi's dad; she knew nothing about hockey, but she did know how to skate; she used to figure skate, meaning she could provide some suitable lessons. But Evan hated the thought of her embarrassing him. Not that Teddi could blame him – she recalled how when she first went to his house, Alex had gushed about how Evan found "such a pretty girl" for a friend. Teddi's face flushed just thinking about it as she walked into the Ice Palace, greeting Gordon with a hug.

"Are you ready?" he asked as he led her to the locker room.

"Hardly," Teddi sighed. "Yeah, I got a team together. But who knows if they're any good? We don't even have an official goalie. And we won't do well with Billy in the goalpost. He's a much better winger."

"But if he's inherited any of his mom's talents, I wouldn't be worried about that. We'll find an official goalie soon," Charlie assured her. "Now, go to the girls' locker room and get dressed. Your jersey and other equipment are already there."

Teddi sighed, walking off to the girls' locker room to start getting dressed. She was relieved to see Maya and Lauren already there; at least Maya stayed true to her word about trying this. Though Lauren, that was the oddball. Lauren wasn't the most graceful, and she wasn't a sports person; she did D&D roleplaying in her free time and wore some furry cape around her shoulders. Who was to say she'd bring anything to this group? However, she also knew why Lauren always wore capes covering her shoulders; she remembered how Lauren would always get picked on for having scoliosis when they were in the third grade, and if covering her back with something so people didn't have anything to make fun of her for helped, Teddi wasn't one to say anything; being on the receiving end of bullying sucked. Then again, Teddi shouldn't be one to judge. Her dad was a Duck, and despite him teaching her how to ice skate from a young age, she wasn't as good as him.

"Hi, Teddi," Lauren said, pulling her jersey over her head; her number was '23,' while Maya was '21.'

"Hey," Teddi said, stripping herself of her t-shirt; she already had a sports bra on, as she saw little point in wearing an everyday training bra since she wore mostly t-shirts and hoodies anyway. Afterward, she slid her new protective chest pads on before changing into the hockey shorts, pulling them over her tights before she put all of her shin guards, elbow, and knee pads on. Afterward, she slid on her new practice jersey, which said '96' on the back of it, and she couldn't help smiling; her dad's number had been '96' when he played for the Ducks. She then slid into her ice skates before putting on her helmet.

"Come on, we should start some warm-ups," she said, gesturing for the girls to follow her out onto the ice. Out on the ice, she saw Evan slowly lagging behind Gordy and Billy in warm-ups, skating around while Alex and her dad observed. Mr. and Mrs. Banks and Mr. and Mrs. Germaine were seated on the bench, watching as Logan came out, wearing a Maple Leafs jersey and what looked like nine-hundred-dollar ice skates, though the minute his feet hit the ice, he face-planted.

"Are you kidding me?" Teddi asked. "He's got all this equipment and can't even skate?"

"I can't believe it," Evan said as he fell into step with her. "This practice is gonna suck so hard. And with Mom as a co-coach, this ought to be interesting."

"Evan, I love your mom and all, but she's got no business coaching. And she's too optimistic to the point where she's blind to everything; she's worse than my moms. What does she know about hockey?" Nick asked as he fell in line with them.

"She decided she knew enough to try coaching." Evan rolled his eyes as they heard Teddi's dad's shrill whistle, and they all skated forward, or in Logan's case, crawled over, because he still couldn't get up.

"Okay, everyone, listen up!" Charlie called. "Welcome to your first, official team practice. I'm Charlie Conway, the new coach. Some of you might even know me from school even though I don't have you in my English class."

"And I'm Alex Morrow, Evan's mom and one of the assistant coaches," Alex added.

"Now, here's the short of it," Charlie said. "This team was formed because the Ducks' coaches were snobbish enough to believe that almost all of you do not deserve a shot on the ice, let alone a place within the Ducks. Well, let me tell you something: When the Ducks were first formed, that wasn't us. We were called District Five. We had nothing. Our previous coach bailed on us. And we were destined to lose. But then, one day, a man named Gordon Bombay came up to us at the pond and said that he was assigned to be our new hockey coach. And from the beginning, we really sucked."

Sam, Nick, Logan, and Lauren all giggled.

"No, I'm not joking," Charlie said seriously. "We were terrible. But then, something happened. The greatest thing that could've possibly come. Coach Bombay, who is sponsoring our team now, he helped us get better. He made us a team, and he made us a family. And if you let it happen, this could be the same experience for all of you." He pulled out the sign-up sheets from his pocket, which Teddi and Billy had handed to their parents at the end of the school day. "Now, I know you guys have had an interesting day trying to find teammates. And let me tell you, these names some people wrote are not very creative." His blue eyes held a hint of mirth as he shook his head at the pettiness behind the insults. "They can say whatever they want about you, try to tear you down as much as they want. But right now, let's forget all that crap. Because none of that matters when you're out there on the ice. What matters is whether you have talent, whether you put in the work to be your best, and if they want to give you hell for it, I say let them. Because if the Ducks of today knew anything at all, they'd know the original Ducks were never a team obsessed with winning. Because winning isn't the only thing that matters."

Charlie swallowed before sharing a look with Alex, telling her, "Get the traffic cones." He then addressed the team again. "We're going to start with the basics. You could all use some drilling; it'll make you more comfortable with skating and warm-up. Now, I want this to be as clean and focused as possible – no petty shoves. No tripping your teammates, either. If you do that, it's an extra lap added on." He watched as Alex lined up the cones to be ten inches apart from one another. "Now, let's go. On your feet, one by one, skate around the cones and get comfortable with your edges. If you fall, get back up and do it again. And if you get frustrated, I don't want to hear any bitching or moaning, either, because there's only so much of that I'll take; if you fall, that's okay. Just get back up and try again. You understand?"

There was a chorus of yeses from the group. Charlie then turned to Billy.

"Billy, until we find a goalie, you're in the goalpost," he said.

"But I never played as goalie, Mr. Conway," Billy protested.

"Doesn't matter. You have to try. Besides, you inherited your mom's attitude; let's see if you have her fast glove, too," Charlie said with a grin. "Now, let's go. Back to basics." He blew his whistle shrilly, and they all lined up, or in Logan's case, he tripped and fell and landed right on top of Nick.

"Dammit, he fell again," Nick groaned as he got up.

"Sorry." Logan's face flushed hotly as he tried rising to his feet, only for him to slide out from underneath and land on his butt.

"That's okay, Logan," Charlie said. "Just get back up."

"If he can even stay on his feet long enough," snickered Sam.

"Adib, be quiet!" Alex said.

"It's 'Sam,' not 'Adib,'" Sam huffed.

"Okay, fine, Sam," Charlie said. "But we're not here to fight. We're here to play hockey. And you won't be able to play if you spend practice insulting each other. I'm not going to have you guys being petty. Logan, just keep trying. You'll get there. For now, just practice skating. Teddi, you're first."

Teddi sighed, stepping up to the cone before beginning to skate around them, though several times, she lost control over her edges, drifting outside the line and even falling, her legs falling from underneath her, but she got back up again until she completed the drill, and Evan and then Maya followed her.

"That's it, guys. Just take the time, go slow at first, and get comfortable," Charlie said. "Don't try to race it. Just ease into it; lean in slightly and then lean the other way, shift your weight, don't just stay stiff. Okay?" He demonstrated by moving in line with them; he glided across the ice smoothly, shifting his weight back and forth so that he didn't stay still in one direction for too long, but Logan proved to be the weakest of them all, unable to keep on his feet long enough, at one point losing control to where he nearly slammed into the boards, but Charlie quickly raced after him and stopped him from crashing.

Charlie reached his hand forward, pulling Logan to his feet. "Do you even know how to?" he asked.

"No, I don't," Logan said dejectedly.

"Don't worry about it. If you want to sit this one out, you can. We'll find something for you to do that could help you," Charlie assured him as he returned to watching the team drill. Maya proved to be the strongest skater, and the fastest; she was so smooth on the ice, it was like watching a ballerina.

"Nice, Maya," Alex said encouragingly as Gordy followed after Maya; he had decent control over his edges, but he seemed to have problems with stopping.

"Easy, Gordy!" Charlie called, wincing as Gordy went flying into the goalpost. He raced over to help the boy in '00' to his feet. "Gordy? Are you okay?"

Gordy tried to sit up, but quickly lay back down as he screwed his eyes shut. Charlie sighed, pulling out a keychain flashlight.

"Open your eyes; let me flash a light in them." Gordy did as he instructed, and Charlie nodded slightly. "Well, you don't have a concussion, but I'll let you sit this one out for now." He offered Gordy his hand. "C'mon, let's get you off the ice, kid." Just as he pulled Gordy to his feet, Connie and Guy went over worriedly.

"Is he okay?" Connie asked, her maternal side coming out as she began smothering her son.

"Connie, you're doing it again," Guy said with a laugh. "Do you remember how many injuries I got playing? He's giving me a run for my money."

"I'm surprised you don't have permanent damage from all the falls you took!" Connie rolled her eyes. "C'mon, baby, let's sit down." She wrapped her arm around her son and led him off the ice to sit on the bench and observe the rest of the practice.

There were a couple of standouts. Evan was a little bit slower, but with time and practice, he'd speed up. Even Nick was a bit of a surprise, proving to be pretty smooth on the ice. But Lauren, Logan, Teddi, and Gordy were going to need the most improvement out of everyone. After a good hour of just drilling, Charlie looked at his watch.

"Okay, you all did pretty well today," he said as he gathered them around to take a knee. "Now, I know that was far from perfect. But guess what? We're not aiming for perfection here. You guys will get better because practice makes you better. But aside from that, hockey should also be fun. And I promise you this: next practice will be a lot more fun, and I've got somebody who'll be coming in to help us out on Thursday, somebody who knows a thing or two. Now, go home! Hit the showers!"

The kids all filed off the ice, or in Logan's case, kept tripping as he tried skating to the locker room. But Teddi approached her dad, skating up to him.

"How do you think your old man did for your first practice?" Charlie winked at her.

Teddi smiled. "It went better than I thought it would."

"You see? I told you. Who knows best?" Charlie teased. "Now, go, honey, wash off so we can go home and cook some dinner. And you've got homework you need to finish; remember, you also have a science test tomorrow."

"You got it!" Teddi skated off to the girls' changing room, still grinning. While the first practice hadn't been what she expected, her dad proved to be a better coach than Coach T or Riley or Cole. He didn't scold them for screwing up and he didn't make fun of them for tripping or not being the best skaters. If they fell over, he helped them up, and he applauded them when they tried again.

Maybe, she could get used to this.