flipped. charlie conway

20

(you are all too nice, thank you so much for reading!)

almost all the ducks were congregated in the locker room, excluding adam and leah since they lived the furthest away from the rink. excited and nervous chatter filled the room as charlie worriedly put his protective gear on.

"hey, jesse?" charlie turned to his teammate innocently. jesse adjusted his laces as he finished pulling on his skates, looking up to the captain of the team.

"spit it out, spazway." jesse teased as charlie pondered his next statement.

"do you reckon leah and adam will sabotage us? that they'll be on the hawks' side, since they were only hawks two months ago?"

connie rose her eyebrows in shock. "woah, charlie. as if! they're ducks." she emphasised, as if the answer was obvious.

"that's the thing - they're not! leah breaks the rules all the time. they're hawks and they'll want the hawks to win." charlie argued.

guy jumped into the conversation to defend his new teammates, "you think they would try to lose?"

"they are hawks - if we lose, they win!" charlie explained his mind, only trying to express his worry.

"i don't know," jesse finally spoke up, "charlie has a point. they could easily switch sides."

"jesse, don't be ridiculous." terry scoffed at his own twin.

"no, i saw them at the north stars game! they were embarrassed to be with us when larson and mcgill saw them." jesse defended himself.

"wait, what's going on?" peter interjected the debate.

lester rested his elbow on charlie's shoulder, "our captain thinks that adam and leah will sabotage us so the hawks win."

"they're literally the reason we're here about to play!" goldberg exclaimed.

"guys!" charlie interrupted, "i'm just saying, as captain, that we should be careful of them."

"one captain you are, thinking your own teammates will sabotage you." dave rolled his eyes.

"not you guys! just leah, and maybe adam." charlie sighed. a short second of silence filled every corner of the room as the ducks internally shook their heads at charlie. before anyone could muster a response, coach bombay broke the conversation.

"who's ready for some hockey!" gordon bombay burst into the room, adam and leah trailing behind him. the ducks cheered, hyping themselves up for their game. though the worry still fizzled away in charlie's stomach, the rest of the team seemed confident. the ducks knew their game against the hawks would be a challenge, but they were ready.

adam and leah scurried to throw on their protective gear, listening in to the collective encouragement from their team as they hurriedly dressed into duck uniform. soon enough, the ducks left to warm up on the ice as leah and adam followed soon after.

leah let out a heavy sigh. "shoot, adam. i'm nervous." the girl shook her head with dread as she and her brother made contact with the ice. the two banks children were being eaten by their own fearful stomachs, dreading the embarrassment that would come with losing to their former loyal team. the hawks would not show mercy no matter how badly adam and leah played, and yet they'd still rather play than sit on the bench.

"we good enough yet?" adam gulped, taking a quick sip of water as leah adjusted her helmet onto her head. with a shrug, she tapped her brother's helmet to manifest good luck.

"we'll try."

the ducks and hawks skated in their own respective circles on each end of the rink. the referees were dressed in their striped zebra uniforms as they chatted amongst themselves. leah had never seen the bleachers so full: it was like every local hockey fan had come to watch the undefeated hawks play against the underdog ducks, with a little rivalry mixed in to the teams and their history.

the warm up flew by as the ducks practised the skills and strategies they had learned. leah relieved her nerves by whacking the puck into the net, which goldberg could only whimper in fear at. to think he tried to fight her once - greg was counting his blessings that he hadn't. both adam and leah were in a trance, as if they had been possessed, they were so concentrated that lester couldn't even joke around with the two, as everything he said went through adam's ear, into leah's ear, back into adam's ear and then out of leah's. adam was just pleased to see his sister get aggressive once again, as she only allowed her fierceness to ignite in dire situations.

the referees ushered the hawks and ducks into two lines in front of the american flag before leah could practise her sprints. she mentally cursed the referees, knowing her warm ups were more important than the national anthem. nonetheless, she stood in the duck line behind adam and in front of jesse. both the ducks and hawks paid no mind to the pledge, taking the minute to stare each other down instead. dave and terry glared at brown, who could only muster a blank face in return. adam and leah tried to stare down the hawks as the rest of the ducks did, but they found it a little harder. leah couldn't help but feel the ducks were getting cocky, and she was pleased adam finally wasn't one of her teammates to be too confident.

mcgill smirked and larson scoffed as adam averted his gaze from the hawks shamefully. leah kept her glare firm and focused, feeling a little better once adam looked up again at the sound of larson's scoff. adam and leah didn't have to talk to know that neither the hawks or ducks knew what was coming: the banks twins were winning and they were going to win big.