Disclaimer: Mighty Ducks belongs to Disney, I do not own anything!
A/N: This was my first MD story~
It was the season of '95 and the Ducks had won the Junior goodwill games under the guidance of Coach Bombay the year prior. New members joined the roster and everyone brought something unique to the team. However, it wasn't easy for some of them to fit in. Kenny Wu was much smaller than anyone else on the team, even the girls, and he sometimes had to deal with mean comments from Portman. However, on the ice, the big enforcer always made sure he protected Kenny from the goons on the opposite team. Luis, who was flying on the ice, still had trouble stopping most of the time and that had cost the Ducks one or two missed goals. Dwayne had the tendency to show off quite a lot with his insane puck handling skills, sometimes missing the opportunity to pass to a teammate who could score a goal. Portman had issues of his own. His explosive personality and anger management issues made him get more penalties than anyone else on the team. The Bash brother was an asset on the ice, especially against big guys like the team from Iceland, but he was taken out of games too many times.
And then there was Julie. The Catlady was incredibly fast and she soon became the primary goalie for the team after Goldberg's poor performance against Iceland. Being a girl on a predominantly male team wasn't easy, and Julie had to develop a seemingly cold personality in order to not show she was hurt by sexist comments. Once again, Portman had on one or two occasions called her demeaning names like "babe" in front of the team but that didn't faze Julie too much. She knew she was good and her priority was winning. She had developed a somewhat close relationship with Connie, the other girl on the team, and the two had worked hard to show the boys they are just as worthy. It wasn't just the new Ducks who had still fit in, though. Adam, who had joined the team from the Ducks' mortal enemies, the Hawks, still had to deal with being called a cake eater by many teammates, especially Jesse, and being the only one who came from a wealthy family, that created a divide between him and the other Ducks. Charlie, who had been the only one accepting of him when he joined, was his closest friend and the two often hung out. Jesse, on the other hand, still had a hard time accepting him. Before Adam joined the team, Jesse was the best player ever since they were District 5. However, Adam had quickly become the star player and the one the Ducks relied on the most to score goals, and that made Jesse jealous.
The next big step for the team was the International competition in France, where teams from more than 15 countries were to compete for the prize of 500 000 dollars. Upon finding out the prize money, the Ducks got excited and started discussing what they would do with their cut.
"I think I'll buy a new horse," said Dwayne.
"I'll take my mom on a vacation" Charlie chimed in next.
"My parents would probably use the money to open a second restaurant" Goldberg sounded disappointed.
"Are you sure you won't just spend it on cheeseburgers, Goldberg?" teased Russ.
Goldberg threw his head back in defeat "Aw man, I could buy a year's worth of supply!"
The team laughed.
"Hey, team!" Coach Bombay walked into the locker room. "How's everyone doing? Are we excited about going to Europe?"
"Yeah!" everyone yelled out in unison.
"Alright then, we got a lot of work to do! First, we gotta work on your special skills! Luis!"
"Yes, coach?"
"You're a crazy good skater, man, but you gotta learn how to stop! Dwayne! You can't hold the puck for too long, you gotta pass it to your teammate. And Ken! We might be able to use your tricks, too! Alright! Everyone on the ice in 5!" Said Gordon as he walked out.
The Ducks finished putting their gear on and headed out. Julie took her place as the others, one by one, took shots. She managed to easily save all but one, that of Adam.
"Dammit!" she said under her breath.
He was the only one that could score against her. Even though she was fast and managed to save some impossible shots, somehow he always found a way to trick her into going the other way. After that, the coach had them stand in a line and had Luis skate over to them and try to stop. Needless to say, the first few times were disastrous, and after he had crashed into them, there was a pile of bodies on the ice. The Ducks all laughed and after some playing around with Dwayne roping them, they hit the showers.
Julie looked visibly annoyed.
"What's wrong?" asked Connie.
"Ugh, I always miss Adam's shot. He always manages to trick me, I feel so stupid!"
"Don't beat yourself up, this is Adam Banks we're talking about."
"And I'm Julie the Cat! I should be able to stop it!" she snapped back.
"Alright, maybe you can talk to him about it and see if he can give you some tips" suggested Connie.
"Yeah right, that's like admitting he's better than me!"
"Don't be silly, you're a goalie, he's a shooter. Plus, we're all on the same team."
"I guess…".
"Let's go, come on, Guy and I are gonna grab a bite, you should join us."
"I think I'm just gonna head to the dorms, I'm feeling a bit tired."
"Alright then, I'll see you when I get back." Connie gave Julie a quick hug and headed out with Guy.
The locked room cleared out pretty quickly with most Ducks leaving together to go grab dinner.
"Hey, Adam, let's go!" Charlie yelled out at his friend who was just coming out of the shower.
"I'll be right there!" he replied.
"Okay, we'll wait out front!"
Adam came out into the main space and got startled to find Julie still there. "Oh...Julie, didn't know you were still here."
"How do you score against me *every single* time?" she blurted out.
Adam was taken aback. "Uhm…" he looked down, feeling a bit weirded out at her sudden outburst.
She stood up and went over to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a jerk, it's just that...there's a lot of pressure on me. Making primary, saving that last penalty shot against Iceland, now the international games… I can't afford to make any mistakes."
"I know how you feel," he replied. "My dad has been bringing scouts to all my games and is counting on me to make the Junior League and then get a scholarship to an Ivy League school."
"Wow.." Julie trailed off, she couldn't help but feel bad for him. He was a perfectionist on the ice and too hard on himself. "Would it...would it be okay if we practiced some more?" she asked.
"Oh… sure thing, I'm always up for more hockey. I just need to tell Charlie and the rest I won't be joining them for dinner."
"Oh, it's okay, don't wanna mess up your plans."
"No no, it's all good, I didn't really wanna go anyways." He ran out to tell the guys.
"Hey, guys, sorry, I forgot I was supposed to go home tonight and have dinner with my parents."
Charlie, Jesse and the rest groaned collectively. "Sure thing, cake eater" said Jesse as they walked away.
Adam came back into the locker room to find Julie already in full gear. "Alright let's do this."
The pair went out on the ice and Julie took her place. Adam kicked the puck into motion and started skating towards Julie, elegantly shifting it from one end of the stick to the other. She didn't even notice when he swerved to one side and swiftly slid the puck in from right under her stick.
She angrily took her helmet off. "How do you do that?"
"Julie, you're focusing way too much on your glove and forgetting about the stick.
"Right…" she replied.
"Come on, one more time, you can do it!".
Once again, he skated towards her and took his shot. Julie kept her eye on the puck and just as it was about to fly into the net on her right, she stopped it with the top of her stick. "I did it! I did it!"
"Yeah! Great save!" he said.
She excitedly took her helmet off and skated towards Adam, hugging him. The two rejoiced for a moment before realizing what had happened and awkwardly backed off each other.
"So...uhm, are you hungry?" he asked.
"You bet."
"I have some sandwiches in my bag, you can have one if you want." He suggested.
She smiled "Yes, thanks."
He brought them over and they both sat on the ice, hungrily devouring the sandwiches.
"Is it weird that I never feel as alive as when I'm on the ice?" She asked absentmindedly.
"No, I feel exactly the same," He replied.
She turned to him and their eyes locked.
He was the first one to break eye contact. "We should probably go"
"Yeah, good idea."
They changed and headed out.
"Are you going to the dorms?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Same."
They walked in awkward silence for the majority of the way home until Julie shivered.
"Are you cold?" Adam asked, concerned.
"It's okay, we're almost there anyways.
Adam was a gentleman and handed her his jacket. "No, it's really okay, Adam, it's not that bad." She blushed.
"Take it or you'll get sick and you'll miss the games, we'll have to have Goldberg as the goalie."
She chuckled at his joke and they both had a laugh. "Okay thanks".
They parted ways when they reached the dorms, her going towards the female section and him - to the male. When he closed his door, he dropped his bags and sat down at his desk. He had homework to do. Never really caring much about school beyond getting good enough grades to play hockey, he studied for about an hour, after which he went to bed.
That night he lay in bed thinking about Julie. He never really looked at her as a girl, just another teammate. Plus, he never really thought about girls anyways. All his time was devoted to playing hockey and keeping good enough grades. His father had been adamant he spent every free minute on the ice so that he could get a sports scholarship to Harvard, his own alma mater. He thought girls were a distraction for Adam and never had any talks about the matter with his son. Even though he was good looking and the star player, and had many female admirers, Adam never really gave girls any thought, he found them annoying and would get frustrated when they'd circle him and shower him with compliments. But Julie...she was different. She was smart, composed and loved hockey as much as he did. He pictured her face from earlier when she managed to save his shot. Her face was radiating, her long blonde hair messy and she was glowing with sweat, but somehow that made her more beautiful.
"She is very pretty" he thought and fell asleep soon after.