Chapter One: Eden Hall Blues

Kelsey Alexandria Paris hummed to herself as she walked to the latest prep school that she would be attending. Nearly every year, since fourth grade, the young lady faced the struggle of transferring to a new school due to her father's busy work. After spending a year in the jungles of Argentina, her father had decided to take a job shooting advertisements for a company based in Minneapolis. This meant Kelsey had the choice between leaving Albany Academy for Girls in New York or attending Eden Hall Academy. Eager to leave the all girls school, Kelsey immediately chose to move to the Midwestern state. And while she was ecstatic about leaving the emotionally charged atmosphere of the previous school, she was not thrilled to be attending a prep school known for its athletic program above all others. Though she was a bit of a jock, herself, she was well aware that most jocks had a tendency to be egotistical brats. However, she would take bratty jocks over crazy rich girls any day of the week.

She had just turned the corner of the block, when a group of teenagers rollerskating whizzed by her.

" Watch where you're going!" she shouted angrily, her shoulder length blond hair flowing into her sapphire blue eyes.

One of the young men stopped and skated back towards her. " Sorry about that. We're running a little late for school."

Kelsey noted that he was wearing what appeared to be a hockey jersey, and immediately allowed her anger to abate. " I totally understand. I'm sorry for being so rude. I'm Kelsey Paris."

Kelsey held out her hand, and her brown haired peer grasped it firmly.

" I'm Charlie Conway."

Kelsey was about to ask him about the team he played for, but his antsy teammates interrupted before she could open her mouth.

" Yo, Charlie! Hurry up!" a kid with red hair yelled as the others waved impatiently.

" See ya later." Charlie said with an apologetic look as he skated over to the rest of the gang.

Kelsey let out a sigh and continued the lonesome walk to the school. As she neared the prestigious building, she could not help but let out another sigh. All of the new prep schools looked exactly the same to the jaded teenager. The front lawn of the academy was meticulously kept, and the students milling about were mostly dressed in expensive attire. She readjusted the strap of her black messenger bag and slowly walked inside the school and made her way to the line gathered outside of the main office.

By the time she had made it into Dean Buckley's office, she was quite bored and wanted nothing more than to go home. She should have listened to her dad and left earlier, despite the fact that she was excused from all of her morning classes due to having to have her schedule made up. Seeing as it was the first day of class, she assumed most students would already have their schedules made up, due to the majority of them living on in the school dorms.

" Good morning." the principal said as she entered into the richly decorated office.

" Good morning." she replied as she took a seat, placing her bag gently onto the floor.

" I hope you enjoy your time at our school. You are quite lucky that there has been an opening slot, Ms. Paris. Rarely are we able to admit new students on such short notice. I understand that your father is a world-renowned photographer."

" I suppose that is what they call him." Kelsey said humbly as she placed her hands onto her black slack covered lap. Her father's celebrity (money) was probably the only reason for why he had been able to get her into the school. " We are both really grateful for this opening. My father has heaped praises upon Eden Hall Academy these past few days, and I am so fortunate to be attending such a prestigious academy of learning."

Dean Buckley looked thoroughly pleased with her remarks, and opened a folder. " Your previous transcripts have shown that you are a satisfactory student. You have met all of the requirements for your year, so you make take anything that appeals to you. You can now go to the office next door to decide which classes to take for this year. Ms. Tuddle, our school counselor will help you choose your classes for this semester."

Kelsey shook the dean's hand and made her way over to the counselor's office. In the end she decided to take Biology, 20th Century Studies, AP Algebra,Anatomy, and Advanced Physical Education. She also had to take a two hour block of senior Language and Writing as part of her requirements to graduate.

" Everything is now in order, my dear." Ms. Tuddle chirped as she handed Kelsey a piece of paper. "Here is your schedule. It's lunchtime, so you can go and eat. Also, if you are still interested in playing hockey, there are try-outs this afternoon for the Varsity Ducks squad. Or, if you want to play under the Warriors' name, the J.V. squad is having tryouts tomorrow. "

" Thank you, Ms. Tuddle." Kelsey replied as she happily left the office.

As it was already lunch time, she decided to make her way to the cafeteria. Upon entrance into the loud room, she noticed that there appeared to be a hierarchy of cliques.

" Oh, man." she groaned aloud.

She stood nervously at the lunchroom entrance until a girl with perfectly straight black hair walked into the cafeteria.

Kelsey gently tapped the girl on the shoulder. " Hi, I'm Kelsey, and I'm new here."

The girl returned a warm smile, nodding her head." My name's Constance. You can come sit with me. Are you in the Drama Club?"

" I'm thinking of joining." Kelsey lied as she followed the girl to a table.

She really wasn't intent on joining any sort of clubs while completely her final year of high school. Hockey was the only thing she wanted to participate in, but since this girl seemed nice enough, Kelsey would have agreed to being a chess geek if it meant she wouldn't be awkwardly standing around.

" I should explain how the system of tables work. Okay, cheerleaders sit at the very first table. Varsity hockey players sit in the table behind them, chess club after them, then the basketball team. The football team sits at the table beside the cheerleaders, followed by the people who aren't into clubs, then the J.V. hockey team, and this table is for the Drama Club."

The pair sat down at the nearly empty table.

" Oh, so nobody sits with people outside of their own clique?" Kelsey could already tell that this school was going to be her least favorite.

A few of the schools she had previously attended had unwritten rules about cliques, but this one took the cake. People obviously only participated in one activity, which meant socialization outside of the group was probably non-existent.

" Not really." Constance stated, shaking her head. "So, where are you from?"

" New York."

Though this wasn't exactly the truth, it wasn't exactly a lie, either. Kelsey had spent the last three years living in New York, but she had been born in Chicago, Illinois, and had lived there until she was eight. From there, she had lived in Norway until the age of fourteen before moving back to America with her father.

" Wow! I've always wanted to go to New York!" her new friend said excitedly. " I bet you've been to Broadway a million times."

" A few. I'm really from Albany, so it's a rare occurrence. If you don't mind, I'm going to get something to eat."

Kelsey got up and walked to the line, grateful for the distraction. Constance seemed nice, but too enthusiastic. She was also rather hungry, and it looked like the drama club members did not use the cafeteria for eating, but for conversing.

" Today's lunch is probably going to be horrible," said a boy with a 'humph'. " My mother-"

" Goldberg, I could care less." a boy in front of him interrupted.

Kelsey was slightly amused with the senseless bantering; the mismatched group in front of her looked like the kind of people she would be willing to hang out with. However, whatever good humor she had been in was soon replaced with abject anger, when she noticed a burly guy in front of her motioning for one of his friends to join them. The hours spent waiting to meet the dean and counselor finally caused her latent anger to boil over as the boy walked right in front of her.

Kelsey tried, but could not keep her mouth shut. " Hey, you cannot skip me. I was here first!"

" So?" he smirked.

" Let me guess. You must be one of those snotty rich jocks who thinks they are better than everyone else. Well, go ahead. I'm leaving!"

Kelsey stalked out of the lunchroom, so disgusted that she no longer even wanted to eat. Instead, she went to meet the teachers of her morning classes, and after gathering the homework assignments and textbooks, went to her locker to cool off. After organizing the items and deciding on how she wanted to decorate the small space, she decided to head to her next class early, in order to avoid anymore arrogant jerks, lest she be suspended her first day.

" A little early, aren't you, Kelsey." Charlie said as he noticed the blond storming down the bleachers.

It was now three o'clock, and school was over. Kelsey's mood had not improved at all since lunch. Though the classes and teachers were nice, she had the unfortunate pleasure of sharing her two hour block English class with the jerk she had encountered at lunch.

She stopped with a huff. " Hi. I just thought I should get ready early. Aren't you a little early, too, since you're already dressed?"

Kelsey was looking forward to letting the steam off during practice, and sincerely hoped she would not be running into anymore rich brats. She had spoken to Coach Orion a week before school had started, and was informed that while the team he coached was not made up of the elite of the school, it was made up of some very talented hockey players. After last year's disastrous season playing with an all girls' team made up of spoiled rich kids, Kelsey was hoping to play for a team that knew what they were doing.

Charlie laughed, causing Kelsey to smile. "Yeah, but I'm the captain, so I'm trying to set an example."

Kelsey rolled her eyes, feeling the anger from earlier slowly dissipate.

" Do you know where the locker rooms are?" Charlie stood up, matching the 5'9 height of the girl beside of him.

" Oh, yes. I came here for a tour of the building last week."

She walked to the locker room and grabbed her things from an unmarked locker. It was very kind of Coach Orion to allow her to store her gear there so she would not have to bring it to school with her on the first day. Since she still was not officially a part of the Eden Hall Ducks team, she put on her New York Stars uniform. The black jersey included the team name in yellow, along with a few stars. The bottoms were a plain black. The dark uniform highlighted her pale skin and fair hair, which she pulled up into a messy bun before lacing her skates and grabbing her hockey stick and helmet. She left the locker room and sat down on the bench with Charlie, who was lacing his skates.

" Was that the hockey team at your last school?" he asked giving her uniform the once over.

" No, but it is the uniform from my favorite team. I played for them for two years. I went to an all girls academy last year because it was mandatory to live on the campus, and my dad was away in Argentina for most of last year. My dad and I move around a lot, but the Albany Prep Academy Stars had to be my favorite team to play with when we moved back to the United States. I'm looking forward to playing with the Ducks, though." she added with a small smile to Charlie. " So, when will the other team members be here?"

She was anxious to meet her potential new teammate, and even more eager to make sure none of them were the goons from earlier.

" Any minute." he said, glancing at the door.

With a rush of laughter, the boys she had 'met' in the lunch line a few hours before appeared, with a few others she had not seen before.

" This day just gets better and better." she muttered with a sigh.

A.N.- I do not own the Ducks or any of the places in the story. However, I do own the created characters like Kelsey, her family, Constance, and anyone else I make up. If there is a team called the New York Stars, then I don't own them. I also made up the Albany Prep Academy (well, I don't think there is one), but if there is, I don't own it.

Author's Note for the Revised Version: So, I realized that I have not updated this story in a very long time...Well, four years to be exact. However, reading through the reviews, I realize just how bad this fic was at times. This was my first fan fiction, and though none of those rude reviewers will ever see this again, I started writing it when I was 14. I was a naive child, and I was full of imagination and creativity, so of course my story was vague and unrealistic. However, I do see that this fan fiction has great potential, and since my other fics are currently stalled due to losing the hard copies, I am revisiting this fiction and making it all it can be.

And to those of you who were kind, supportive, and enjoyed this fic, thank you so much. Towards the end, I had quite a few rotten reviews that literally made me cry because people were so harsh. Thank goodness I did not let that deter me from continuing with writing.

I truly hope that a revision of this fic will give it the honor it deserves. Also, I will finally finish it once I have completed the revisions to make it an even better story than it was to begin with. I think those of you who were so wonderful in your reviews deserve that much, at least!

So, please, leave me a review to let me know if I should continue with revising this story and making it the best it can be.

And, thank you to all of those who were kind enough to give this story a chance.