Chapter 6 – Manic Monday

Gordy Germaine never imagined he'd be given captaincy over the Ducks. He wasn't fast like Sam or Lorenzo. Or as big and strong as the Johnson brothers. Nor was he as charismatic as Percy and Jimmy Hall.

However, he was falling into his new role well. The team listened to him and respected him. He led them to victory in their first game against Eden Hall, while Varsity seemed to be falling apart at the seams – not that Spencer Vargas was a bad captain, it was that Evan and the other underclassmen were dealing with a mix of upperclassmen bullies who felt that they did not belong, and were determined not to work with them.

It relieved Gordy that he hadn't been promoted to Varsity. He wouldn't want to be in Evan's shoes right now.

He skated up to the goalpost and took his shot, only to have it blocked by Anthony.

"Sorry, Gordy!"

Gordy nodded back at the first-line goalie, skating to the back of the line to join Sam, his alternate, as Henry took his shot, which went in.

Coach Vargas had been having them do this drill in front of the net all morning. Granted, Vargas was pleased with their five-to-three victory against Eden Hall, but that didn't mean he was pushing them less. J.V. was on a hot streak, having beaten Varsity twice in both exhibition matches last season. They would've won their state championship had they been all boys with no girls on the team, but given the circumstances of them not having a separate girls' hockey team, that turned out not to be the case, because that state championship turned into an exhibition, as well.

But Gordy was glad that this practice was fun. After Vargas had them do laps around the rink for their warm-up, he had them do a variety of drills. But he wasn't being as stern as he usually was, probably because he was so happy that they worked hard on Friday night and brought home the win. Still, they had their second game on Saturday afternoon, and then they had a third game on Sunday, which meant the closer they got to Saturday's game, the harder Coach Vargas would work them to the bone.

They finally ended practice that morning with the shrill screech of Vargas's whistle.

"All right, boys, take a knee!" Coach Vargas barked, and they all gathered around him, kneeling down. "Excellent job today. But don't think that you don't need to work hard tomorrow night because you will. And I've got word on who we're playing against on Saturday; we're going to be playing against the Randolph Academy Patriots, and it will be in their home court – that's not around the corner, either, so make sure that you meet me at the bus stop as soon as you get out of your last class of the day on Friday; make sure your bags are packed up because we will be staying at a hotel overnight. After all, it isn't just us and the Varsity team playing against them; the girls are, too. And then we have our home game against the Jackson Hornets. Now, you all remember how it was last year: the Patriots are known for their cheap shots, and the Hornets are a really tough team, so I expect you all to go hard or go home. On that note, go hit the showers and get to the dining hall for some breakfast. And make sure you take advantage of there being no practice tonight; you've got homework to do."

"Yes, Coach Vargas!" the boys all chorused, and together, they headed off to hit the showers, their bodies smarting and aching everywhere. Gordy's shoulders and legs were on fire, and his knees were sorer than ever, but he felt jubilant, knowing that they were starting off their season on such a high note. It was far better than how their season started last year, with them losing to Eden Hall Academy sourly.

Sighing, Gordy opened the locker room, except when they entered, things in the locker room were . . . frostier than usual, to put it lightly.

Everything in the locker room was white, like it was covered in snow. Their lockers were frozen, and written on the wall in bright letters was FRESHMEN SUCK ICE!

Gordy weakly laughed. "Really, Tyler? Varsity stealing from your dad's playbook? Real original."

"But why would Evan and the others go along with it? They're our friends," said Jimmy Hall.

"Maybe they didn't know about this; there are a few Varsity players left who still hate our guts," pointed out Sam.

"Should we get Coach?" asked Percy Hall.

That was something to consider, given that Coach Vargas wouldn't stand for this. He'd make sure that the bullies were reprimanded. However, it wouldn't be as satisfactory as pranking the Varsity back and including Evan and the others in their fun (knowing that Evan, Nick, Billy, Jace, and the others who'd been on the team with them the previous year wouldn't go along with this, especially if they knew nothing; the least they could do was include those guys so Varsity wouldn't suspect Evan for being a snitch or something).

"No," decided Koobler. "We should prank them back."

"But what about the others?" pointed out Henry.

"If we don't include them, then they'll be in trouble with Izzah, Hart, Finnegan, and Goldstein," said Matty Maywood.

"Sad but true," said Connor Underwood, Oliver Underwood's brother.

"The least we can do is give them the heads up, though," pointed out Jackson Greenburg.

"Then we'll need to be careful about that part. Luckily, I've got class with Evan this morning," said Gordy. "I'll warn him, captain to captain."

Lorenzo Mendoza shrugged. "Sounds reasonable."

The Minnetonka Bugle, September 16th, 2024

VARSITY ON THIN ICE?

J.V. And The Girls Roast The Competition (While Varsity is Sent To The Butcher Shop)

By: Milton Ryerson, Sports Reporter

Minnetonka Preparatory students are shaken up by the Varsity Ducks' loss against the Eden Hall Varsity Warriors at two to one, and apparently, so are their captains.

Newly crowned Varsity captains Spencer Vargas, Jace Cole, and Billy Banks have expressed doubts about their own leadership capabilities, with Cole stating his feelings that Evan Morrow should be the captain instead of him. Is this because Cole is insecure about his own skill level, despite being in this game far longer than Morrow and having a famous father who played pro for the Sabres? If the Varsity's own captain doesn't think he can lead the team to victory, then there isn't much confidence that he can bring home a state championship for the Varsity team, even if he does have another supreme Duck and an experienced upperclassman and fellow NHL-born and bred son as his alternates. But who is to say that Evan Morrow could do better? After all, he was one of the renegades who opened up his spot to the girls last season, proving the lack of comfort he feels with his own masculinity – he quite literally sent women in to do a man's job. However, in regards to Coach Chase's coaching style, Billy Banks had this to say:

"Coach Chase expects nothing but perfection. I'm not quite sure whether we can meet those expectations without Evan's leadership."

So, Banks seems to be questioning the coach's decision not to make Morrow a captain, let alone an alternate, and demoting him to the second line (even if Morrow is clearly less skilled than the players on the first line). If the team's own alternate and star goalie is questioning the coach and can't handle the pressure, then will the Varsity team be fated for a blowing loss at the end of the season? Nothing ever good comes from one of the captains not having confidence in their own coach. They say if you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. Perhaps that's what Banks should consider.

But on a high note, Junior Varsity and the Mighty Hens brought home proud victories against Eden Hall, with Teddi Conway – captain and the newly-cast leading lady in the school's winter production of 9 to 5: The Musical – being one of the players to score the first couple of winning goals. Perhaps, Coach Germaine isn't making a mistake putting her goddaughter front and center; if Conway keeps playing like this, the girls will be well on their way to gaining a Varsity team of their own next season as Conway heads into her junior year.

So far, hockey fans are in for quite a treat this year. But let's hope that the Varsity team gets their act together so that treat is far more sweet than bitter.

"I didn't say that!" spluttered Ducks captain Jace Cole as he spat up some chocolate milk. "I didn't – I mean, I did – that's out of context!"

"Nice to know you think I deserve the captain's position, though, man," Evan Morrow commented shrewdly, his face bright red.

Jace rolled his eyes.

"And I didn't say it like that, either!" Billy pointed out, stabbing his finger at the quote from him. "Like I'd be stupid enough to disrespect Coach Chase. God, if he reads that, then I can kiss my alternate position goodbye."

"We'd be better off," sneered Arod Goldstein. "We don't need you spazzing out in front of the goalpost every time someone comes at you."

"Hey, watch it, asshole!" snarled Nick protectively. "You leave him alone!"

"And what are you, Ganz? His boyfriend?" laughed Joshua Finnegan. "I mean, you've got two mommies. You'd be a product of that."

Nick looked like he wanted to jump on top of Finnegan and strangle him, but Logan quickly leaned a hand onto his shoulder. "Take it easy, Nicky," he said.

Nick rolled his eyes and stuck to giving Finnegan a death glare.

Evan sighed. If this was how the team acted, half divided between the old Varsity members and the new ones, he wasn't confident that this season would go well. Truth be told, half the reason they lost on Friday night had been because Finnegan, Goldstein, Hart, and Izzah picked a fight with literally everybody, both from their own team and the opposing team, yet Coach Chase didn't seem to care; he only seemed to care if it was the newer Varsity players who were underclassmen – almost everyone on the team knew that he favored the upperclassmen, even though he put Jace and Billy into captaincy positions, but it was also clear that Chase put Billy in that position because he felt that Billy should live up to the reputations his parents had.

Evan suddenly decided that he wasn't hungry anymore and felt it best to head to his first-period class of the day, geometry, which he shared with Gordy, Lauren, and Teddi, and his assigned seat was right next to Gordy. Still, he rolled up the paper, deciding he'd show Gordy since Gordy was the J.V. captain. He'd feel a lot better if he vented to his old teammate.

He made his way across campus to the main building, where he was greeted with the lovely smell of horse manure from the horses that were part of the school's equestrian team. You knew you were at a cake-eater's school if the place had its own equestrian program (at least, that was what Charlie told him a year ago before he moved into his dorm).

Luckily, Gordy was waiting for him in the classroom, sneaking bites of a muffin before their teacher, Mr. Morris, arrived. Quickly, Evan sat beside his old D-Fiver and unrolled the newspaper.

"Hot off the presses," he announced, showing Gordy the sports collum. "Did you see this?"

"Yeah, I did. It sucks," Gordy said sympathetically. "You know what also sucks?" he added in a grave tone. "Ice. And your lockers being covered in it."

"Wait, what?" Evan demanded. That he was unaware of. He was having a serious case of Déjà vu, and he shuddered, remembering the prank war from a year ago and how intense it almost got. He had a feeling it was going to heighten this year with Varsity gaining Ducks from last season.

"Come off it, Ev. Did you not know about the little mess that your boys left behind for us? That only could've been caused by liquid nitrogen."

"No. I didn't hear anything. I didn't know anything. The others don't, either. Izzah, Hart, Goldstein, and Finnegan are the only suspects I can think of. They hate that there are people from the previous freshman team in Varsity this year. They resent Jace for being named captain as an underclassman and pick a fight with anybody whenever they disagree. They're out of control. Someone needs to put a leash on them." Evan thought of Hart's attitude problems during practice and all the times he tried taking Billy out from the goalpost, as if Billy didn't have bad enough PTSD over that incident at Camp EPIC. It would serve Izzah, Hart, Goldstein, and Finnegan right if the underclassmen pranked them right back.

"Or give them a little surprise back," Gordy smirked.

"You're restarting the prank war again?" Evan asked.

"Ev, do you really think J.V. is gonna take this lying down?"

Evan shook his head. "I wouldn't expect you to. Just be careful. Though can I offer a suggestion?"

"I'm up for anything."

"Pull a Billy Madison. Or something from Men at Work. There's plenty of horse shit outside. Might as well not waste it."

Gordy grinned back at him. "And that's a classic pulled right out of my Uncle Les's playbook."

"It felt appropriate." Evan pounded his fist against Gordy's. "And don't worry. We won't give you away."

Later that night, when the Varsity team went to the locker room to get dressed for practice, which took place after the girls' practice, they all knew Coach Chase was going to be even harder on them than he'd been on Saturday afternoon. They just wanted to win this next game because Coach Chase cared a lot about wins, and they were determined to get that lit match out from under Coach Chase's ass, because when he was in a bad mood, he took it out on everyone and would go to war with anyone who dared to speak out.

It reminded Jace of how his dad had been when the Ducks first went to Camp EPIC. However, he had the distinct feeling that Coach Chase wasn't going to have a moment where he came down to earth. While he didn't physically harm anybody or hurl too many verbal insults, he did obsess over winning, and he did speak to them in ways that made them feel like their best wasn't good enough. He saw how it was affecting his alternate, how Billy would freeze like a deer in headlights whenever Coach Chase yelled at him for something he was doing wrong but did not advise him on how to improve it. And he hated that he couldn't keep Izzah, Goldstein, Hart, and Finnegan on a leash – those four bullies were further dividing the team even more, turning Ian Sheen, Devon Derrington, Alex Nolan, and Colton Walters against them, which meant the Varsity team was being split almost in half between seniors who hated their guts and Tommy, Spencer, and other underclassmen who got along with them just fine.

He bitterly kept that in the back of his mind. He could add that to the list of things he'd complain about to his dad when he called him later in his and Evan's room.

As he passed the girls' practice, he saw Teddi working up a sweat on the ice, leading the first line in a scrimmage against the fourth line. While Jace was unhappy about the team being split, he knew this was for the best. Teddi and the girls deserved a team of their own to have an equal playing field – they worked so hard for it last year, and they proved that they deserved it; they annihilated Eden Hall Academy's female team, and they could only fly higher from there.

When Jace entered the Varsity locker room after Coach Chase unlocked the door, though, he was hit with a horrible, acrid stench of something like grass and hay mixed with . . . with . . . shit?

He gagged, coughing as he entered the locker room. When he unlocked his locker and pulled out his ice skates, he saw horse shit stuffed inside them, and he gasped.

Only Gordy, Sam, or Koobler could think of doing something like this. Even Henry Conway inherited his father's brains for pranks. He remembered the prank the Ducks pulled on the Dominators by spilling water and soap all over the floors of the Dominators' locker room at EPIC's summer camp those couple of years ago after the Dominators stole Evan away from the Ducks in that stupid trade-off.

This had to be some sort of revenge prank. Because they never pulled the first punch. The pranks they pulled were simply a reaction to bullying they received from someone else. And Jace had to guess Izzah, Hart, Goldstein, and Finnegan did something. Those were the only four he could possibly think of.

Evan opened his own locker to find his skates filled with shit. But Izzah, Hart, Goldstein, and Finnegan opened their lockers, and shit sprayed out of their lockers, leaving them covered in it from head to foot.

"Oh, my God! Shit! This is shit!" screeched Hart, his eyes widening to the size of tennis balls. "I need to hit the shower. Fast!" He tried to run, only for him to slip and slide in the horse crap and land flat on his ass. His screech caught Coach Chase's attention because he came into the locker room and looked furious, his whole face turning crimson.

"What the hell happened in here?" he roared, looking at all of his players. "What is this?"

"This is shit!" yelled Hart from where he sat, covered head to toe in horse poop.

That was when Derrington caught sight of the graffiti on the locker room wall. It read VARSITY STINKS!

"Those Ducks did it!" snarled Izzah. He turned on Evan. "Did you do this?"

"They put shit in my skates, man. I did nothing." Evan threw his hands in the air. Jace knew Evan was lying. No doubt, he conspired with Gordy before this.

Izzah turned on Logan, Billy, and Nick. "Did you?"

"No, sir," the three of them said simultaneously.

Coach Chase sighed, shaking his head. Yeah, they wouldn't be practicing today. Instead, they would be spending their night cleaning up the locker room free of horse shit.

After hockey practice finished, Teddi, Sofi, and Grace grabbed a quick dinner from the mess hall before heading off to play practice. Because they were the leads, they had more scene work and more rehearsals than anyone else. At least today, they were to go up to the music classroom to learn the songs for the play.

Singing was always Teddi's comfort zone. She figured even if her acting skills were horrendous, her singing voice could well make up for it (even though Mrs. Connors and Mrs. Willow assured her that she was a natural). Sitting in front of Mrs. Ryan's piano, she listened as Sofi started her solo portion of the song. Luckily, Sofi's vocal range was perfect for Violette, but what made Teddi nervous was that the character Judy required her to sing "Get Out and Stay Out," which would require her to belt and hold out the final note for about as long as Lea Michele did on Glee when she sang Barbara Streisand's "Don't Rain on My Parade." Part of her was scared that she would never be able to hold that final note out long enough, especially after spending half the show dancing on that stage.

"Okay, Sofi, that was perfect," said Mrs. Ryan once Sofi finished. "Teddi? You wanna give yours a try?"

"Um, sure."

"Okay, start where it says Judy begins."

Teddi nodded, listening as the piano started her portion of the song. Once she got the cue, she opened her mouth and started to sing.

As she sang the lyrics, she closed her eyes, imaging what it must've been like for her grandmother, needing to work constant double, sometimes triple, shifts at Mickey's Dining Car when her father was her age, how she struggled to have anyone take her seriously because she didn't have a college degree all because her ex-husband left her and Charlie when Charlie was barely a year old – she knew Charlie was always told that Casey left his dad, but Teddi also knew her father wasn't stupid; over the years, he'd grown to realize his dad left because he didn't want him. She poured all of her empathy for her grandmother into the words that streamed out of her, her voice vibrating as it echoed through the empty music room.

"Yes!" Sofi applauded.

"Oh, my God, Tee, I don't know where that came from, but that was . . . that was perfect," Grace said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

"I guess I just thought of my grandma when singing that." Teddi had to wipe away tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She'd also been thinking of Connie and Julie, how they'd spent their years looked down upon for being women in a man's sport; they'd spent years mocked by boys for playing hockey, who suggested they were weak. They'd also been bullied by girls who indicated they were less of a girl just because they enjoyed such an aggressive sport and playing with boys. Somehow, the song lyrics for the music from the musical made it all a little more real.

"Well, I'm sure when she sees you up there in December, she's going to be extremely proud," Mrs. Ryan assured her sweetly, and it made her feel a little less anxious about needing to go up on that stage.

"Yeah. And Mom would love it," Teddi said, sniffling slightly as Grace wound an arm around her.

"Are you gonna be okay, hon?" Mrs. Ryan asked sympathetically.

"Yeah." Teddi nodded. "Yeah, I'll be okay." She gripped tighter on Grace's hand. "I've got these two up there with me."

Sofi smiled and leaned in, sisterly kissing her on the cheek.

Charlie wasn't a superstitious person. But when he saw Linda again, this time at the local coffee shop on his route to work this morning, he had a strange feeling in his gut that seeing her multiple times in the same month couldn't be a simple coincidence, given that they had too much history for him to ignore the fact that she was there.

Now, as he lay awake in his bedroom in the house that he'd lived in with his parents and his children ever since that car accident that killed his wife, he couldn't help thinking back to his last exchange with Linda at the coffee shop, how they were effortlessly able to ease back into a conversation even though they'd broken up years ago. Charlie chalked that up to them both, realizing that they were both adults and they were capable of being civil and behaving accordingly.

Still, he wouldn't deny how easy it was, even though he and Linda had a dating history.

But he told himself the same things he'd been telling himself for the past few weeks: they were too different now; he had kids; she didn't; they had different goals and ideas, but those were probably just excuses he was making because he was scared that if he started talking to her again, he was going to revisit something he thought ended a long time ago, and for a good reason: they couldn't have anything real while being thousands of miles apart. In many ways, they were still over a thousand miles apart from each other because they were at different stages of life.

He sighed hard as he heard a knock on his bedroom door while he flipped through the last of the essays he was grading for his sixth-grade English class. He peered up to find Ted and Gordon coming in.

He had a feeling they'd be coming in to talk to him. Over the years, he always felt like he had two dads. Between Gordon and Ted, he had two very distinct father figures – Ted had been around for the awkward stages of puberty and had even given him the sex talk; Gordon had made the Ducks a family. Charlie couldn't deny how important they both were in making him the father that he was now.

He peered up from his paperwork. "Can I help you?" He looked at them from behind his reading glasses.

"Linda's been around a lot more lately," Gordon said.

"Can we not talk about that?" Charlie groaned, shaking his head. l

"No," Ted said. "There's too much history there. And I know you two are being civil. But, if she gets closer to you, your kids are gonna ask questions. You've got to sort out where the two of you stand."

"There's nothing to sort out. She and I broke up because we're too different. And we dated in high school. We can't all be Connie and Guy."

Ted and Gordon glanced at one another, and Charlie rolled his eyes. Now he knew what Teddi meant when she said those two gossiped like old women. Most of the time, they talked about him. And he knew why – throughout his high school years, Gordon, Casey, and Ted practically co-parented him, Gordon doing it from a distance, Casey being at home all the time, and Ted being his primary supervisor during hockey practice, and somehow, the three of them contributed to raising him. He supposed the saying that it took a village to raise a child wasn't an understatement, and he came to learn that later in life after Cheryl passed away. All of the Ducks, Gordon, and Casey helped him and his kids get back on their feet after his wife's death.

"Charlie, you can't completely close yourself off from her. She's been back in town for the past four years. It would help if you addressed whether there is even a hint of something between you. Otherwise, you'll never know. And then you'll torture yourself with the what if. You know how you are," Ted said seriously.

Charlie glowered at him. "And how would you know? You and Bella divorced five years ago." He knew he was being unfair and using that against Ted, the same way he'd been unfair when he called Ted a "washed-up pro who needed to show off to a bunch of kids." He still winced whenever he thought of that day because he knew it wasn't true. Still, he felt there was a point to be made there. Ted and his wife had grown too far apart over the years and knew they couldn't keep going on the way things were between them. It was the exact same thing with Linda; the only difference was that Charlie didn't need to sign any divorce papers.

"That's because we grew apart. But just because you grow apart, that doesn't mean you completely fall out of love with that person and suddenly stop caring. Bella and I will always love each other, but for us, it's easier to love from a distance."

"That's the same thing with Linda and me."

"Are you really sure about that?" Gordon raised an eyebrow. "We're just telling you what you've been telling me and your mother all those years."

Charlie's cheeks flared hotly as he buried his face into his hands. "That was different."

"How so?"

"Because you and Mom made it work for me. You kept talking because you knew it would upset me if you didn't. With Linda and I, we've got no one to do it for."

"Not even for yourselves to gain closure?"

Charlie groaned. He wasn't sure why Ted and Gordon were suddenly so invested in his dating life.

Gordon answered that internal question before Charlie could ask it. "I know you were a mess after Cheryl died. But now is the time when you deserve to be happy. Do you really want to be single for the rest of your life? Because your kids are older now, they're not living at home, what are you going to do when they go to college and you need that space filled with something? Just think about it."

"Does it have to be with Linda?"

"You'll never know."

"I just don't want Teddi thinking I'm replacing her mom," Charlie admitted.

"You won't be," Ted said firmly. "She will be happy to see you happy. She'll need time to adjust, but she's strong."

"I hope you're right about that." Charlie peered up at them seriously. "Because Connie told me about something that happened the other day when she took Teddi out dress shopping. She said she thinks Teddi's going to end up having a mental breakdown. But I don't know how I'm going to ask Teddi about that yet because she won't take that well. Trust me. She's too much like me. If you push her too hard, she hates it."

"Oh, I remember," Ted agreed, clearly thinking back to that very first J.V. Warriors practice when he and Charlie met for the first time, how Charlie approached him with a chip on his shoulder and resisted change. It was a time neither of them cared to remember at all. "But unfortunately, it's time for her to grow up. She's becoming a woman. She needs to learn what that means, even if it's going to be hard for her."

Charlie's head slammed back against his headboard. He hated it when Ted was right.

"Just think about it," Gordon whispered.

And Charlie thought about it all night long. In fact, he lost sleep over it. All night long, every time he closed his eyes, he kept seeing Linda's face flash before his memory, from the day they first met, to when she first kissed him after the J.V.-Varsity showdown, to her in her prom dress the night of their senior prom, to even the day they had that difficult discussion about breaking up as she prepared to go off to California for college. The memories continued to play over and over again, and as he stared up at his dark ceiling that night, he knew Ted and Gordon were right.

Until he and Linda addressed things, this was going to bother him every time he saw her.

The song used in this chapter is "9 to 5" from the musical, which was originally written by Dolly Parton for the film and eventually turned into a song on the Broadway musical soundtrack. If you want to see the unfiltered version where the lyrics are used, you can check out the story on AO3.