puck this| g.germaine

1

I walked out into the living room, everything was unpacked the last night before we arrived. Momma wanted the two os to have a fresh start after Pops died back in Philly, so here we are in Minnesota. I was unaware of the two other people in the room, besides my mother and i. The lady had a bright smile on her face while her son looked at the ground and up at me. "Well i suppose this is your daughter?" The lady asks and my mother nods while placing her hand on my shoulder. "Yes, this is Naomi! She plays hockey as well just like Charlie." My mother gushes and the lady nearly squeals. "Oh Charlie, you must bring her to your next practice! You could use a new player!" The lady says and Charlie nods. "Sure, i suppose so." He says with a shrug and my mother pushes me towards Charlie. "Do you have roller skates?" He asks and i nod, i turn to my room to get them and he follows me. "They're right here, why?" I ask and smiles. "Get those on and a helmet, gear if you want too." He says and i nod while tying the roller blades and putting my helmet on. My Philadelphia Flyers jersey was a little loose on me, the pastel orange tanktop i had underneath thankfully was able to be seen. I skated out of the apartment behind Charlie and we hung out in his room for awhile until a mans voice yelled from the window. "Hey, Charlie! Wanna play some hockey?" The man shouts, assuming it's his friend or a coach. He jumps up and puts his blades and helmet on. We skate out of the building and down the street to a basketball court.

We stop at the fence and watch a kid score a paper ball into a trash bin, street hockey i guess you could call it. Charlie makes a duck sound and the kid looks over. "Charlie!" The kid says and comes out from behind the fence. "Jesse, we're back!" Charlie says with a smile and Jesse cheers. "I'm Noami Bwenwick, Charlie's new nie-" I try  to introduce myself but Charlie cuts me off. "She's my new friend." He says and smile at me, Jesse gives me a handshake and we skate off again. "Let's get Averman!" Jesse says and Charlie agrees, i just smile as i skate along. We skate all the way into the mall, doing some tricks and gaining compliments. Charlie let me do the 'duck call' this time and a kid with glasses and curly hair looks over at us. "Averman, let's go!" Charlie says. "Come on! Come on!" Jesse says and i laugh lightly. "But, but, but..." Averman try's to speak but is cut off by Jesse, "Come on, let's go!"

The four of us skate out of the mall, jumping and doing turns. I skate in the back next to Averman and we introduce ourselves to each other, he's a cool guy. "Where we going now?" I ask catching up to Charlie in the front, switching spots with Jesse. "We gotta get Connie and Guy!" He says and i nod while skating with him. We stop near a couple about to kiss when Charlie did the duck call again, making them look over. "Quack Attack is back, Jack!" Averman says signalling them over. "Cmon lets go!" Jesse says, Charlie repeats the same. "I was this close!" Guy says making a hand sign making the four of us laugh.

The six of us are now skating in and out of construction cones, Charlie jumps over the moving machine as everyone else goes around. We meet Charlie around the machine, cheering him on as he landed the jump. We all started screaming until we got to a deli. Charlie made us all do the duck call and call out Goldberg, which is i'm guessing the goalie. "Come on, Goldberg!" We all said as a group, Connie smiled at me and i returned the smile. "Are you thinking of joining us this season?" She asks and i nod. "Great! It'll be like a breath of fresh air with another girl on the team." She says and we laugh, when Goldberg comes out with his skates we all skate away again.

We get to a rich neighbourhood and stop in front of a house with a kid in the driveway. "Hey cake-eater! You wanna play some real hockey?" Jesse calls out to the kid. I look over at Connie and cock an eyebrow. "Oh that's Adam, he used to play for a team called the hawks, it's how he got his nickname." She whispers and i nod. "Makes sense." I whisper back and we giggle, Guy turns around and smiles at us. "Guys it's an international competition! It's us against the world!" Charlie says. "Hey man, bring em on! We're ready." Goldberg says and everyone cheers except me. "Are you ready?" Connie whispers to me and nod. "Yeah, just i guess, joining a team and already going to an international competition is kind of nerve wracking." I say with a small smile. "Understandable." She says and slings an arm around my shoulders while we skate. We all skate down a park path, cheering Jesse on as he does tricks. "That'll teach em to mess with the ducks! Yeah!" A guy cheers as we watched him tie three dudes to a tree. We all cheered but i stopped after a second. "What's wrong?" Guy asks noticing i stopped. "I'm pretty sure this is illegal." I whisper and he shrugs, making us both laugh and cheer again. We all skate to the Ducks coach, i'm right beside Charlie. "Welcome back,Ducks! I really missed you guys. You ready to fly?" The coach asks and they all cheer. A limo then pulls up and everyone mumbles something. "Hey guys! i'm Done Tibbles, Hendrix Hockey Apparel. We're your official sponsors, anyone want a card?" He asks and everyone skated up to get one.