cool kids , fulton reed

five

bombay pulled off his scarf and jacket in one swift motion as he neared his original spot. sloane gasped as her mouth fell open at the ducks jersey he was wearing and quickly looked at connie and guy before turning to charlie. she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips together as a short laugh bubbled in her chest.

"i'm proud to be a duck, and i'd be proud to fly with anyone one of you. so, how 'bout it? who's a duck?" bombay asked and scanned the room.

sloane slowly surveyed the room before stopping her gaze at guy. she pointed at him before pointing at the box and quirked one corner of her mouth when he shook his head nervously. she audibly sighed, pushed herself off the wall, and approached the box of jerseys as she adjusted her shirt. she high-fived bombay's lifted hand with a small smile and dug around the box until she found her jersey.

"i'll be a duck," fulton said, propping his hockey stick against the wall to approach the box. sloane turned to smile at him before digging out his jersey for him.

"yeah, me too!" charlie said as he began to smile. he smiled at casey, handed her his hockey stick, and got up to retrieve his jersey. sloane stared at the jersey in her hands as she walked toward bombay while her teammates rushed the box full of jerseys.

"bombay," she said, finally looking up from her jersey.

"yeah?" he asked and turned his attention to her.

"why'd you get us the ugliest shade of green to be had?" she asked as she tilted her head to one side.

"thought it'd pair nicely with that green belt you've got in karate," he responded, slowly smiling as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"fair enough," she finally answered and shrugged one shoulder before walking toward fulton, connie, guy, and charlie. "we finally have real jerseys," she said as she held the jersey up by its shoulders.

"too bad we don't have better colors," connie commented as they inspected their jerseys curiously.

"i think it's starting to grow on me," sloane said, tucking a long strand of hair behind her ear.

"no, it's not. you hate it," guy said, nudging at her calf with the toe of his shoe.

"you're right, i really don't like," she said as she slightly shook her head.

"now we're the ducks!" bombay shouted over the loudly chattering kids.

"yeah!" they cheered excitedly, thrusting their jerseys in the air.

"the mighty ducks!" bombay cheered as a smile began to grow.

"yeah!" they repeated as they lifted their hands once more.

"who are we?" bombay asked as his smile grew.

"the ducks!" they answered loudly while holding their jerseys over their head.