╮the mighty ducks╰
"if these jerseys are ugly, i might quit," sloane told fulton as she slipped her right arm around the one he had resting against the wall. she crossed her legs and pressed her shoulders against the wall as fulton moved his hockey stick to the middle of his chest.
"no, you wouldn't," he said, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"yeah, you're right. i wouldn't. i'd just suffer in an ugly jersey," she said, letting her head fall back against the wall while tucking her left hand in the back pocket of her jeans.
"the ducks? we're the ducks?" jesse scoffed with his lip curled. sloane turned her head and her mouth dropped open slightly at the green jersey with a duck patched ironed on the middle. she cut her eyes at connie and guy as her upper lip curled and she scoffed softly in disbelief.
"man, what brain-dead jerk came up with that name?" peter asked as he quickly ran his eyes up and down the jersey.
"as a matter of fact, i did," bombay answered as he folded the jersey and gripped it in both hands. "i didn't have a choice. we're being sponsored."
"by who? donald and daisy?" averman asked and laughed along with the rest of the team.
"hey, you don't want to be ducks? you'd rather be district five, some stupid number?" bombay asked as he looked over at him. sloane glanced at fulton as he moved slightly to wrap both hands around his hockey stick and rest his chin on the top of the handle.
"better than some stupid animal," peter scoffed with and the left side of his mouth quirked. sloane quietly 'ooh'd along with her teammates as she pressed the toe of her shoe to the tile floor. she snickered quietly, crossed her ankles, and dropped her gaze as bombay began to move toward him.
"i'll have you know, peter, that the duck is one of the most noble, agile, and intelligent creatures of the animal kingdom," bombay explained as he stopped walking.
"but they're wimpy," connie commented as she tilted her head to one side.
"ducks are dumb," sloane added, pulling her arm from fulton's to cross her arms loosely across her chest.
"they don't even have teeth," guy mentioned as his head fell into a small tilt.
"neither do hockey players," bombay said and began slowly walking around the locker room as he continued. "have you guys ever seen a flock of ducks flying in perfect formation? it's beautiful! pretty awesome how they all stick together. ducks never say die. ever seen a duck fight? no way! why? because the other animals are afraid. they know if they mess with one duck, they gotta deal with the whole flock."
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.
✩
sloane swiftly caught the football being thrown at her and adjusted it in her hands so her fingers sat along the white seam. she tossed it to connie, swapped places with her, and readied herself to catch the next football. after running through the entire drill, she grabbed her hockey stick from her bag and joined jesse in shooting pucks at goldberg.
"every time you get the puck, you're the quarterback," bombay said while tossing a football from one hand to the other and carefully watching his team. "make eye contact with the receiver. talk to him. let him know it's coming. come on, guys. this isn't a library. talk to each other!"
✩
"i wonder if he's nervous," sloane mentioned as she watched fulton fidget nervously in the cardinal's box.
"'course he's nervous. he's never played hockey before and he's not exactly our star skater," guy explained and lightly elbowed sloane's side.
"hey, sloane taught him how to skate!" connie defended and reached around sloane to slap his shoulder.
"yeah, i taught him how to skate!" sloane said and poorly feigned offense as she slapped the spot on his shoulder that connie just hit. she reached up to pull one of her braids over her shoulder as she watched bombay briefly talk with fulton. she watched along with the rest of the team as bombay led him to a crate of hockey pucks sitting in front of the empty goalpost. she bit at the inside of her bottom lip curiously as bombay dumped the hockey pucks onto the ice.
"okay, fulton, shoot your heart out," bombay told him. fulton nodded once, picked up a puck, backed away, and took his shot. sloane's mouth parted slightly as guy moved to the front of the box to watch.
"gosh!" he exclaimed, impressed with the force of fulton's slapshot.
sloane cringed and sharply drew a breath through her teeth as he sent a puck into the stands. as she glanced at the cardinal's team, a small smile made its way onto sloane's face at the intimidated demeanor the team had acquired as fulton continued shooting pucks. she startled slightly when a puck hit one section of glass and cracked the bottom half. she watched fulton skate toward the box while bombay gathered the pucks and slowly moved to the door.
"how'd you like my slapshot?" he asked sloane as he stopped just outside the door to stand beside her.
"cool enough," she answered and shrugged coolly.
"whatever, you thought it was pretty cool," fulton said, jokingly rolling his eyes as sloane smiled brightly. the referee blew his whistle and the team gathered near bombay at the front of the box.
"alright, let's forget the past. we lost a few games. tough. that was district five. now we're the ducks," bombay said as his gaze slowly surveyed the team.
"yeah!" they responded eagerly.
"the ducks are undefeated," he continued, smiling as his team visibly grew more excited.
"alright!" they energetically responded.
"quack, quack, quack, quack," bombay started chanting at a low volume, steadily growing louder as the team joined. "go...ducks!" they finished and the starters began grabbing their gear.
✩
sloane moved around the ducks zone, successfully keeping up with the cardinal's player she was guarding. she followed the puck with her gaze as it was passed back and forth by the cardinal's. she broke away from the player she was guarding when one of his teammates made a long pass in front of goldberg. she hit the player receiving the puck in the side and watched the puck slid into the boards.
"get it out of there! dig it out of there! let's go! let's go!" Bombay yelled as guy skated after the puck.
guy slipped at the boards and the puck slid just out of his reach. sloane quickly picked up the puck, skated around the back of the goal, and passed the puck to connie. she quickly returned to the cardinal's player she was previously guarding as connie passed the puck to averman. she watched him turn a small circle with the puck and pass it over to jesse. he quickly took his shot and the crowd cheered loudly when the score siren sounded. sloane laughed as they excitedly grabbed jesse, causing him to fall. she exclaimed loudly when her arm was grabbed and she was pulled to the ice by guy.
"yes! we are alive!" jesse exclaimed, thrusting his hands in the air after struggling to his knees. they all jumped to their feet and hurried to the box where they were met by their cheering coach and teammates.
✩
sloane followed the cardinal player with the puck down the ice, eyeing karp uneasily as he back skated in front of the player. she positioned herself to guard one of the cardinal's players as the player with the puck began to slow down, watching karp drop to his knees as the cardinal's player readied to take his shot. sloane stood up straight and cringed sharply as the puck hit karp's forehead, causing him to fall to the side. she followed her teammates in surrounding him as bombay walked out and took a knee beside guy.
"i don't want to go to school today, mom," karp said as charlie pulled his helmet off.
"karp, how many fingers am i holding up?" bombay asked as he held four fingers above karp's face.
"he wouldn't know that anyway," peter claimed, causing sloane to have to sharply bite her knuckles to keep from laughing.
"shut up, peter," bombay quickly responded, briefly glaring at peter before returning his attention to karp. "karp, are you okay?"
"sheesh, look at this," guy said as he picked up karp's dented helmet.
"the karpster, used his head to stop the puck! mister karpelandi!" averman commented.
"let's get you off the ice, c'mon," bombay said and the rest of the team helped to lift karp before moving toward the box. "put him on the bench, charlie," he said, handing the boy off to charlie.
"okay, ducks, we still got a chance here," he said as he turning away from the scoreboard. "connie, sloane, jesse, guy, time for the secret weapon," he continued before moving down the box.
"okay, fulton. remember, just like we talked about," he said and patted his shoulder. he smiled reassuringly as fulton nodded, closed his helmet, and began shuffling down the box. sloane gave a reassuring smile and patted his arm before exiting the box.
"you're not getting to hot are you, sloane? you're kinda red," jesse said and motioned towards sloane's flushed cheeks as he skated beside her.
"i'm fine, jess," she said and licked her chapped lips, trying to ignore the current hot flash running through her.
"sloane," guy warningly said as he skated up behind the pair. "don't make yourself sick," he said and tapped her arm.
"i said i was fine, guy," sloane snippily responded as she slipped into her left-wing position.
the referee dropped the puck between guy and the hawks center. as sloane skated forward to guard the cardinal's right-wing, guy passed the puck back to jesse. jesse passed the puck up to fulton who turned around and got ready to shoot. he raised his stick to shoot and the cardinal's defense quickly dove out of the way. connie skated by him, picked up the puck, and passed it off to guy standing beside the empty goal. he pushed the puck into the goal and excitedly threw his hands in the air.
sloane pulled her helmet off, threw it at the box, and wrapped both arms around guy's neck. they skated toward fulton, high-fiving connie and jesse on the way by. fulton pulled his helmet off and dropped it and his stick as sloane wrapped an arm around his neck, leaning heavily into his side as the rest of the team high-fived him. she stared up at fulton with a small smile before placing her other hand on his shoulder and pressing a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth.
"be my boyfriend and the next one will be a real one," she said, grinning happily as she pulled away.
"deal," fulton said, laughing softly as they stepped into the box. sloane grabbed a small hand towel from her bag and approached the cooler. she quickly dipped the towel into the cooler and wiped the now cold towel across her forehead.
"didn't get to hot did you?" bombay asked sloane as she dropped the towel in the water, squeezed it, and laid it across her face. she gave him a thumbs up, dragged the towel down her face, and balled it up in her hands as she headed to the locker room.
✩
"i hate phase ten," sloane said while pulling her arm from under her to prop her elbow on the floor to rest her cheek in her hand.
"shut up, sloane, you're winning," charlie said, staring across the small circle at sloane.
"i know, but i've been on the last phase for three rounds and fulton's caught up," she said and motioned toward fulton who was laying on the ground beside her. she laid her cards across the ground, opened the new bottle of water sitting beside her, and sipped on it until it was her turned again. after playing another round, sloane cheered once as she went out.
"haha!" she laughed and she tossed her last card at the discard pile. she rolled to her left until half of her back was on fulton with an L held up to her forehead.
"i can't stand playing cards with you!" guy said as he and charlie tossed their cards at her.
"don't throw your stuff at my boyfriend!" sloane said, pushing the cards across the floor. "come get snacks with me," she said, nudging connie before pushing off the floor and heading into the kitchen with her best friend behind her.
"what movie are we going to bully the boys into watching?" sloane asked as she pulled open her pantry while connie opened the fridge.
"sixteen candles," connie said with a mischievous smile.
"oh, they'll love that," sloane said laughing as she grabbed an unopened box of popcorn and placed it on the counter.