Chapter 14: Summer Breezers
The Ducks were victorious. Yes, some of them were bruised and battered after that final game, but nothing could seem to get in the way of the happiness they felt in the face of winning. After they showered, several of them got checked out by the medics, and a couple – namely Nick, Evan, Gordy, Jace, and Logan – had to go to the hospital to make sure they would be okay. Nick's shoulder had dislocated again. Evan needed a replacement tooth. Gordy had a mild concussion. Jace's past injury from his torn ACL had reopened, and he needed to wear a knee brace and be on crutches for at least a couple of months until he started physical therapy, and he would more than likely not be playing hockey for most of his new season. And Logan had a sprained ankle, though he didn't need crutches or anything; it was suggested that ice and rest would be enough for him to recover.
Adversity only strengthened the Ducks' unity, but their victory was still palpable in the air. As they prepared to face a new challenge-packing up and heading home-Charlie, their beacon of leadership, guided them. He urged them to load their bags into the waiting RVs. Their destination: Minneapolis. They would spend the night in the RVs, ready to depart at dawn, united in their journey back home.
Teddi grinned as she packed up all her clothes into her suitcases; her hair was still soaking wet from the hot shower she'd taken earlier, and when she arrived at the apartment, she collapsed onto her bed, closing her eyes before changing into sweatpants, a crop top, and her flipflops. Every single one of her muscles ached from the scrimmage, but she couldn't stop smiling, knowing that the Ducks would be celebrating tonight with a bonfire and that Alex was buying all of them Chick-fil-A (a sponsor of the Anaheim Ducks) to eat around the campfire; she'd already put her order in for a frosted lemonade, a spicy deluxe, and a mac and cheese. As far as she knew, Gordon, Casey, and Alex were out picking up all the food. From what she heard, Halldora, Svanna, Stansson, and Stahl from the Iceland team would be joining them, and the official signs of peace between Team USA and Team Iceland were apparent, given that Charlie and Gunnar were now friends, and Iceland had been their biggest supporter when they'd taken their complaints about Coach Cole to the NCAA.
As Teddi packed the last of her clothes into her bags and stuffed all of her personal belongings inside her duffle bag, she hauled everything out of the apartment, nearly stumbling out of the threshold with Sofi on her tail as they headed to the elevator.
"How do you think Evan's doing?" she asked her friend.
"Evan's dad took him to the doctor," Sofi said, "I guess his dad feels a lot of guilt for not being around enough, and this is his way of trying to make things up to Evan by taking him to a doctor's appointment."
"Hey, it's a start," shrugged Teddi as they dropped their bags into the elevator. "And he came to see Evan play. That has to mean something."
"And at least Evan's back with us," added Sofi as the elevator door dinged, signifying they were in the lobby now. When they entered the lobby, they began hauling their stuff out of the complex toward the parking lot where the RVs were still parked, and as they did, they saw Evan and Rob approaching them, having gotten back from the hospital.
"Do you girls need any help carrying that?" Evan asked.
"Evan, you just got back from the hospital; you should take it easy," Teddi insisted.
"I got a tooth knocked out of my mouth, not a concussion."
"I don't know, Morrow; that stick really whacked you good. What was that guy thinking? This is hockey, not major league baseball," Sofi said, shaking her head.
"Your concern is very much appreciated." Evan rolled his eyes, taking Sofi's duffle bag from her. "Just let me take one of them."
"Fine." Sofi watched as Evan shrugged her hockey bag over his shoulder, and together, they walked to the RVs.
"I'll see you at the campfire, Ev," said Rob, heading toward that direction.
Together, they got their bags into the girls' RV; Charlie had already retrieved Lauren and Maya's belongings, which were stowed away. Afterward, the three of them began walking toward the apartment complex, where they saw the smoke already curling in the air from the bonfire. As they neared the building, they noticed Jace hobbling out of his dad's van on crutches.
"Hey, Jace, how'd the doctor go?" Teddi asked as they fell into step with him and Coach Cole.
"Well, I was given strict orders not to be on the ice for most of the season," Jace sighed heavily. "Though, to be honest, I'm taking a break from hockey."
"What?" Sofi and Evan asked together, looking shocked.
"I'm not playing for a team that stabbed me in the back," Jace argued reasonably as he hobbled along on his crutches toward the bonfire.
"And it's not like I'm coaching next season, either," Coach Cole added.
"So, what are you gonna do now that you're resigned?" asked Evan.
"Well, I have a teaching license, so I'm going to look into a teacher's assistant job at the local high school. Besides, my salary from my time in the NHL is going to run out eventually."
"Will they even allow you to teach, considering what happened this summer?" asked Teddi.
Cole shrugged. "I don't know. But I've got to try for something. Because I can't make a living off whatever's leftover from my playing career."
Teddi nodded, and as they neared the bonfire, she saw her dad had the whiffle ball bat out and was marking bases with Maya, Lauren, Sam, Billy, and Koobler.
"Hey, Conway, get on our team! It's boys versus girls!" Maya yelled, gesturing for Teddi to come over.
Teddi grinned, running over to where Maya and Lauren were while Billy stepped up to the plate at home base; from the looks of it, her dad was pitching for both teams, and Ted was umpiring. As Teddi went to guard first base, Jace, Evan, and Sofi took their seats on the lawn chairs around the fire, watching the whiffle ball game intently while Stansson and Gunnar stood near Ted in curiosity. Teddi overheard Ted explaining how he or Charlie preferred umpiring because the Ducks loved to try and cheat when it came to whiffle ball.
"If you're not cheating, you're not trying!" Maya called out from where she stood in the outfield while Charlie threw the first pitch, and Billy swung the bat, hitting the ball into the outfield. Teddi went to catch it, but her hand missed it.
"Dammit!" She scooped the ball up and ran to first base, but Billy got there before she did and was about to make his way to second base; she tossed the ball to Maya, who caught it in her glove before Billy could touch second base.
"Out!" Ted yelled from where he stood off to the side, and Billy made his way back to home base as Sam went up to bat. But before Sam could take his swing, Alex, Gordon, and Casey arrived with all the food. The kids all rushed around them, reaching into the delivery bag for their orders of food, not that any of the adults could blame any of them. After the game, they were all starving. Teddi sat on her chair next to Logan, already attacking her mac and cheese. She pitifully watched Evan be forced into settling for chicken noodle soup and grilled nuggets, as he was under strict orders to eat soft foods due to his mouth being sensitive; luckily, he was able to have a milkshake, at least. Gordy was still in a daze, blinking his eyes and rubbing his head as he stared at the campfire.
"I think the concussion has made him weirder," snickered Billy as he drank his Sunjoy.
"Yeah, me too," laughed Sofi as Evan looked at her spicy deluxe enviously, though he was under the watchful eye of Alex, who made sure that he didn't attempt anything. Even Evan's dad was watching closely; ever since Evan got hurt, his dad seemingly grew a little more protective and was hovering a little closer, as if he expected all of Evan's teeth to fall out suddenly.
Teddi grinned as Logan pulled his guitar out, and Russ Tyler's son Johnny and Luis Mendoza's son Lorenzo lit up as they started putting in requests for songs.
"My girlfriend gets the first pick," Logan declared.
"Whipped!" laughed Nick, to which Charlie shot him a look. "What?"
"Like you even know what that means," Charlie shot at him, rolling his eyes as he ate his salad.
"We know more than you think we do," chuckled Koobler, sharing a grin with Nick.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "Then I'm terrified for when you guys go to high school."
At that, everyone laughed as Logan began the first song; Teddi's choice just so happened to be Bowling for Soups "1985," which Evan commented was so predictable. Nonetheless, he half-heartedly sang along as Logan strummed at the guitar, having gotten increasingly better at playing ever since he'd been taught how to.
The bonfire continued until well into midnight; after they ate dinner, Teddi, Maya, Lauren, Billy, Koob, and Sam resumed their whiffle ball game, with the boys ultimately being declared the winners.
"No fair! You guys cheated! You dirty little . . .!" Maya went off, calling the boys every dirty word in the book, and she ended up dogpiled on Koobler, with Billy going after her to protect his backup goalie. Charlie laughed, going in to pull them apart.
At midnight, Charlie decided it was time they ended it, insisting they head off to bed so they could get an early start back on the road to Minneapolis. He and Cole put the fire out and demanded that they turn the apartment keys over, and the Ducks went off to their RVs so that they could sleep. Though Halldora and Svanna weren't willing to end things just yet, so they decided they'd spend the night with the girl Ducks in the RV while Jace departed from the flock; he and his dad would be heading back home, and Evan's dad departed with hugging his son goodbye, claiming he had a late flight to catch so he could head back home to Maple Grove, and promising that when Evan got back home, they'd have a father-son weekend before school started up for him.
But even when they turned in for the night in the RVs, the girls weren't willing to let the whiffle ball game go, and Teddi, who'd inherited her father's brains, devised a plan that they prank the boys and get them back for cheating, and she ended up recruited Halldora and Svanna to help them out. Luckily, they found a hose near the swimming pool area of the apartment complex and filled up a bunch of balloons that Charlie had bought for a water balloon fight that they'd never gotten the chance to have yet. Once the balloons were filled with water, the girls snuck to the boys' RV, where Charlie, Gordon, Casey, and Ted slept.
"One, two, three!" Teddi gave them the signal, and they started flinging the water balloons at the window of the boys' RV, which caused Evan's head to shoot up, and he raced outside, which was his biggest mistake yet, because he ended up catching a water balloon to the head.
"What's that for?" he yelled, his dark hair dripping.
"Retaliation!" laughed Maya.
"I'm getting you guys for that!" Evan began chasing after them with Sam, Koobler, and Billy; he caught Sofi around the waist, shaking his sopping wet hair at her like a dog, and she shrieked, trying to push him off of her as Gordon and Charlie came barreling out.
"All right, guys, that's enough!" Gordon went in, breaking up the fight between the girls and the boys, though he laughed lightly even though his words were stern. "That's it! Back to bed, all of you! Come on, let's go!"
"Come on, girls, back to your own RV!" Charlie demanded, pushing Teddi and Koob away from each other. "We have to get up early tomorrow if we're gonna get on the road to Minneapolis. And unless you kids don't want Logan's famous candy pancakes tomorrow before we leave, I suggest you get back to bed!"
At this, the girls eagerly raced back to their RV. Nobody could resist Logan's candy-filled pancakes; usually, he stuffed them with all different kinds of candy, from M&Ms to Snickers to Reece's to even Oreos; sometimes, he even did a mixture of all different ones. Just the thought of that was enough to motivate Teddi to get some shut-eye as she curled in the bed she shared with Sofi, though her senses were on high alert in case the boys decided to prank them back.
The next morning, the kids were gathered for breakfast outside the RVs, and Logan handed out plates filled with his famous pancakes. And while the kids ate, Halldora and Svanna had to depart with the Iceland team, as their flight was scheduled to leave in two hours. Teddi, Sofi, Lauren, and Maya hugged the girls goodbye, suddenly not wanting to say goodbye to their new friends, whom they'd grown incredibly close with during this whole experience. If there were one thing Teddi would never trade, it would be her newfound friendships with Halldora and Svanna. And while she hugged Svanna goodbye and exchanged email addresses with her, she watched as Charlie, Gordon, and Teddi bid goodbye to Gunnar and Stansson, who smiled warmly before they said goodbye to the Ducks.
But before they could officially leave, Jace decided he wanted to bid them all goodbye as well. He and Cole both took turns hugging all of them, and Teddi was relieved that there seemed to be no hard feelings at all, though she watched as her dad and Ms. Vaughn lingered in their farewell embrace a little longer than necessary. Still, she couldn't help smiling as her dad kissed Ms. Vaughn on the cheek and shared with her a quiet smile; she was glad that her dad seemed to have found someone who made him happy.
As Alex started the engine of their RV, Teddi cast one more glance at EPIC's arena, feeling a slight bitterness there; of course, at first, she'd hated her experience at this camp, but after a few weeks of adjusting to things and bonding with Halldora and Svanna from the Iceland team, she suddenly realized part of her was going to miss this place, even though a lot of bad things happened here, there was still a lot of good, as she and her friends were now ready to begin their new hockey season as the District Five Mighty Ducks. And as she looked out the window of the RV, she felt Sofi slide next to her.
"Are you gonna miss this place at all, Tee?" she asked.
Teddi nodded. "Surprisingly? Yes."
"It's not goodbye forever," said Maya. "Maybe there's a chance we'll see them again." Teddi knew Maya was referring to Jace, Halldora, Svanna, Ms. Vaughn, Gunnar, and Stansson.
Teddi couldn't help smiling in agreement. "Yeah, I know," she said as their RV left EPIC's parking lot, and they started on the road back to Minneapolis, the place they all called home.
And that's a wrap! Thank you to those who have followed the story and left reviews on the chapters. In the next few days, I'm going to post the third story in this series, titled A New Pond, and part of the inspiration behind that story is the Amanda Bynes movie She's the Man, as well as Mighty Ducks 3, since in this next story, the kids are off to high school. Quack, quack, quack! I just want to give shout-outs to bobcatwriter and RYJAN for your reviews/DMs for the story; I hope what I present for the third story in this series satisfies you and any other Ducks fans.