"Okay, where is she?" Karissa complained.
"I don't know," Jess shot back at her. "She said she'd
be here."
"Well we've been waiting here for twenty minutes now."
Karissa put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, impatiently.
"Does she have a cell phone? Why don't you call her?"
a third voice asked. It was the voice of Jess's fincee, Byron James.
He had been standing there, by the players benches, with Jess
and Karissa, waiting for Angelwing. However, when Jess told him they were waiting for a friend, she never told him their
friend was one of the Ducks. In all actuality, Jess never told him much about the Ducks. Byron had no idea that
his 'wife to be' and her friend, Karissa, risked their lives helping the Ducks battle against Dragaunus. She didn't
want to tell him, for fear he would worry about her too much. Plus, Jess knew that Byron would disapprove of her helping
the Ducks, because of it being too dangerous.
So, she kept it all a secret from him. He knew nothing
of the Saurians or of Dragaunus' demented plans of taking over the world. For all Byron knew, his fiancee was just a
cheerleader for an NHL hockey team. And that's the way Jess planned on keeping it. Although, now she wasn't so
sure she could keep it quiet anymore. With Byron actually meeting the Ducks now, she had a bad feeling something was
bound to happen.
Jess thought about their current situations and turned to Byron
and Karissa. "You know, on second thought," she announced, "I think I will give her a call." She opened up her
com as Byron stared at her in awe, raising an eyebrow.
"What the hell is that?" he asked her, sounding curious.
"A wrist communicator," she answered.
"A what?! And where'd you get that?" Byron drilled her,
thinking she had spent a lot of money on something new that she didn't need.
Jess made a motion with her finger to shush him. "I'll
explain later." Then she went back to her com, pushing buttons and speaking into it. "Angelwing, where are you?
We've been waiting for you."
"Right here," a voice answered from behind her. Jess
turned around to find Angelwing approaching her, with Wildiwng and the rest of the team trailing behind her.
"About time!" Karissa huffed, with her hands still on her hips.
"Sorry," apologized Angelwing. "We were busy training
and I lost track of time."
Jess glared at Karissa as if to scold her, then she turned
back to Angelwing. "That's okay." She faced the other Ducks and greeted them, so as not to be rude. "Hey
guys!" They all replied with various waves and hellos.
Byron stared at them in amazement, yet he was also a bit nervous
at the same time. He had known that Jess knew the Ducks, but this was his first time meeting them, so he didn't really
know what to expect.
"So, where are the three of you off to?" Wildwing asked Jess.
He had yet to notice Byron standing nearby.
"Actually, there's four of us," Karissa corrected him sarcastically.
"Four?" Nosedive asked, sounding curious himself. Obviously,
he hadn't seen Byron yet, either.
"Yup," Jess nodded. She reached behind her, grabbed Byron
by the hand and pulled him over by her side. "Ducks, this is my fiancee, Byron. Byron, meet the Mighty Ducks."
She motioned towards the Ducks with one hand while still holding on to her 'other half' with the other. Then, she introduced
the Ducks induvidually, naming each one, beginning with Wildwing.
Byron greeted each one by saying "hello" and shaking their
hands with a slight bow. When the couple reached Grin, he greeted them both with a bow and they both followed in suit.
The other Ducks looked on with confused expressions.
"Byron and I practice Taekwondo," Jess explained.
"Oh," they all nodded in unison.
"You never told us you're into martial arts," Mallory commented.
Jess just shrugged and chuckled.
"Yeah, and she's never told us she was engaged to be married,
either," Duke added.
Now, Jess's face turned bright red, feeling a bit embarassed.
"Well, you know," she shrugged sheepishly, "I've got my secrets too."
Just then, they were all interrupted by the voice of another
human. "Jessica Lewiston! The captain of the Mighty Ducks cheerleading team, engaged!" Phil exclaimed as he rounded
the corner. Oh great, everyone thought. He looked just as surprised as everyone
else. "I better alert the press. It would be great publicity for tomorrow," he said as he turned around and ran
(or attempted to run) towards his office.
Jess's eyes widened in fear. "Phil, no! Wait!"
she shouted as she ran to catch up to him. But, she stopped short when she got to the end of the hall. Then she
sighed deeply, turned around, and walked back to her friends. She returned to the group with her shoulders slumped,
looking distressed and frustrated.
"So much for your big secret," Nosedive joked lightly.
"Yeah, looks like the cat's out of the bag now," added Mallory.
Jess looked up at them and sighed again. "Swell," she
huffed under her breath. "Just what I need."
Duke walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Face
it sweetheart, Phil's got a one track mind."
"Hmm, once he gets an idea, he runs with it," Wildwing mentioned.
"Literally," Angelwing chuckled. Jess smiled.
"Yeah, well, he only has enough room for one thought to begin
with," Mallory joked.
"And I'm surprised he could even run," Karissa added, throwing
in her two cents, as everyone laughed.
"So, where are we going anyway?" Angelwing asked Jess, at last,
changing the subject.
Her human friend shrugged. "You know, all this time we've
spent waiting, and we never did decide on a place," she chuckled. Then she turned to the other Ducks. "You guys
wanna join us?" There was a moment of silence as they all looked around at each other, then they all voiced their agreements.
"Great!" Jess exclaimed. "You don't mind, do ya Hun?" she checked with Byron as she turned to face him, smiling.
He returned the smile and answered her. "No, but I suppose
I don't have much of a choice either way," he joked.
Jess stood quietly for a moment, thinking about her fiancee's
comment. "Good point," she said, smirking and she playfully punched him in the arm. "So, anyone have any ideas
on where to go?" Everyone exchanged glances, shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders. Finally, Angelwing
spoke up.
"How about pizza?"
"I'm game," Wildwing answered and the others agreed, while
Nosedive cheered.
"Woo hoo! Good thinking girl. You paying?"
Angelwing looked at him and narrowed her eyes, staring at him
coldly. Then her mood quickly changed and she smiled at him, slyly. "Yeah, I'm paying," she quipped. Then
she added with rude sarcasm, "for my own." The others chuckled and they all joked and laughed as they walked out of
the Pond and made their way across the street to the mall.
At the Pizza Place................................
The Ducks and their human friends, Jess, Byron, and Karissa,
had all been eating pizza and chatting. Byron had learned a bit more about the Ducks. They all explained to him
why they were on Earth and how they had come to be there. Byron took everything in and found all of it interesting.
At one point, he found himself talking to Wildwing about goal tending, since he, himself, was a goalie whenever he played
street hockey.
After awhile, Wildwing turned his attention to Jess and Karissa.
"So, is your team ready for tomorrow's competition?" he asked them.
Karissa let out a nervous chuckle. "As ready as we'll
ever be," she answered.
Duke, who was in the next booth over, turned in his seat to
look at Karissa. "You don't sound so sure about that," he called back to her.
Jess rolled her eyes in spite of her friend's comment.
"We're ready," she assured the Ducks. "Karissa's just overly nervous."
"Oh, and you're not?" Karissa questioned her with a cheeky
attitude.
"No," Jess snapped in defense. "I'm just as nervous as
you are. It's just that I'm more confident about our routine."
Karissa crossed her arms and stared at her captain, sneering.
"Oh."
"Come on Kris, you know I have faith in you guys. I know
we can pull it off," Jess explained, trying to reason with Karissa.
"And you know, coming from Jess, that's gotta mean a lot,"
Byron pointed out to Karissa. "Because trying to get her to think positive about anything is like pulling teeth," he
joked.
"That's not true!" Jess cried out. "At least, not completely,"
she added after. Then she gave her fiancee a playful shove, nearly knocking him out of the booth. Luckily, Byron
could take a joke and he laughed along with everyone else.
Before they knew it, the pizzas were gone and their drinks
finished. After a few more jokes and hearing Nosedive complain about eating too much, everyone decided at once to head
back to the Pond. Once they arrived at the Pond, the Ducks and Karissa bid farewell to Byron before Jess gave him a
ride back to his hotel.
"You, uh, coming back here tonight?" Karissa asked Jess with
a smirk and a wink.
The cheerleading captain looked back at Karissa and narrowed
her eyes, while Byron stood behind her, grinning broadly. Jess put her hands on her hops. "Yes, I'm coming back,"
she retorted. "I've gotta concentrate on tomorrow."
"Awe," Byron whined. Jess glanced back at him and saw
the look of disappointment on his face. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Sorry Hun," she apologized and shrugged her shoulders.
The Ducks watched on, their expressions looking shocked.
Then they all shook their heads and continued on walking into the Pond.
"I just don't want to know," the three humans could just hear
Nosedive saying, and they laughed.
"Okay, so, see you in a bit?" Karissa waved to Jess and Byron.
"Yup," Jess answered as she and Byron walked to her car.
"Later!" she waved back to Karissa as she and Byron got into her car.
"Ciao!" Karissa called out again, watching the couple drive
off. Then she grinned slyly, thinking to herself. "Yeah, right! She'll be back much later than she plans."
She thought about the whole situation and shuttered. "She better not tell me any details tomorrow, 'cause I do not want
to know," she chuckled quietly and made her way back into the hockey arena.
To be continued..........................................
Disclaimer: All original characters are owned and copyrighted by Disney,
all others are owned by me.
