flipped. charlie conway

31

"so, tell me about my new kids." coach bombay held his hand on his hips, the flock of ducks hovering behind his shoulder.

don tibbles excitedly piped up at the prompt for him to introduce the new team members. a dark, curly-haired boy in an orange and blue south miami jersey skated up to the blue line, taking in the size of the state rink. don tibbles gestured toward the boy to show his new coach something. "that's luis mendoza," don tibbles introduced, "he's from miami. a real speedster - incredible skater. clocked him 1.9 seconds blue line to blue line." tibbles exclaimed.

bombay scoffed at his impressed state of disbelief, "seems you've got some competition, leah."

"good lookin' skater." lester remarked to guy and connie.

"very good looking." connie agreed, nudging the banks girl to her right.

"yeah, what do you think, guy?" lester pushed, giggling as guy rolled his eyes.

"shut up, averman." guy groaned, pushing lester to the floor. as laughter emerged amongst the group, leah helped lester back up to watch luis mendoza glide across the ice.

luis began to track a circle, immediately gaining momentum.

"there's just one problem," tibbles began once luis began to zoom down the ice. if leah wasn't paying attention, she could have sworn he disappeared from where he was last skating. luis was on the other side of the ice in seconds, and before leah could applaud his speed, the boy crashed. he crashed so hard it almost seemed he didn't even try to stop, "he has a little trouble stopping."

"you say so?" goldberg exclaimed. leah began to push her skates toward the boy to help him up, before jesse pulled her back.

after receiving jesse's stern eyes, leah just watched as the new teammates helped the boy to his feet. before she could compose a thought, another boy quickly redirected her attention.

"yee-haw!" he yodelled in his orange jersey, taking leah by so much surprise she nearly jumped, "how is everyone? y'all ready to play some puck?" the boy exclaimed, switching out his broad-brim hat for his helmet.

"hey look, it's hop-a-long gretzky." jesse exclaimed, pointing to the boy. leah nudged his side quickly, giving him the same stern eyes she had received not so long beforehand.

"that's dwayne robertson, from austin. he's the best puck-handler i've ever seen." tibbles explained.

coach bombay frowned, "you mean for his age?"

though with a shake from don's head, gordon was once again impressed. "no, i don't." tibbles remarked.

dwayne shot pucks into the net consecutively, never failing to send the puck flying into the gentle crotchet of the net. with accuracy like that, leah couldn't wait to play alongside bubbly dwayne robertson.

next, a girl in a red jersey pulled her pristine white helmet onto her braided head. "that's julie 'the cat' gaffney," tibbles introduced, leah immediately take note and liking to the nickname, "she won the state championship for maine three times in a row."

"well, we already have a goalie. goldberg." gordon immediately rebutted, diverting his and tibbles' attention to greg, who was hyping himself up before sliding out onto one heel and one knee.

"watch this." don scoffed, as a few ducks took genuine attempts to make a goal past julie. leah watched in adoration, she really was like a cat, instant catching any measly, mousy puck that tried to sneak past her agile paws.

leah nudged her coach, urging gordon to look down at her. the girl nodded eagerly after the impressive show. "well, we could use a backup." gordon shrugged, receiving an instant scoff and shake of the head from the banks girl. gordon returned his attention to the new boy skating down the rink, and with a frown he placed his hands onto his hips. "isn't that the kid from the olympics? the figure skater?"

"yep, ken wu. what can i say? i convinced him hockey had more of a future." don nodded. ken was incredibly precise, and with a gentle swing of his arm, he was turning like a spinning top. leah secretly wished she could turn like that. "you put a stick in his hands and nobody's gonna be able to touch him."

almost dizzy from watching ken spin, leah looked away to find their last teammate. to her surprise, a meaty boy in a skull-adorned bandana began strumming his hockey stick like an electric guitar. leah let out a chuckle of pure surprise and amusement.

"that guy's a teenager?" gordon exclaimed.

"yeah, hormones." don dismissed.

"he's a goon." gordon frowned. leah found enough strength to stop sniggering once greg was shoved to the ground by the singing air guitarist.

"c'mon tex, sing it with me!" the boy exclaimed to texan dwayne johnson, who could only muster a fearful shake of his head in reply. the boy shook his head, continuing down the line of hockey players before chucking his stick to julie.

"my kids don't play that kind of hockey." gordon sternly shook his head.

"i believe they're called enforcers," don defended his choice, "and when you play iceland, you're gonna need him." the final teammate, who leah assumed to be dean portman, lifted small ken wu onto the top bar of the goal net. in an uproar, the ducks began skating over to the new players. alarmed, leah sped over to diffuse the sudden yelps of argument.

"if you're gonna say i can't join your ducks, leave it. i'm here to play hockey, not duck-dive into elimination." julie gaffney was quick to fire at the approaching banks girl. leah simply shook her head.

"barely a duck myself." leah shrugged, awkwardly meeting the girl's eyes. julie instantly relaxed with a relieved smile, holding her hand out.

"julie gaffney," she chuckled, "and you are?"

taken aback by the sudden change in demeanour, leah shook the girl's hand gingerly. "leah banks."

though before she and julie could get far, an angry voice calling her name somehow managed to overthrow the other shouts.

"and would you look at that, les!" charlie nudged his friend on his left, luis mendoza and dwayne robertson across from them to defend their own necks, "leah banks is already friendly with them! i told you, she's not a real du—"

"hey, freeze!" coach bombay boomed over the racket, instantly silencing the bickering hockey players, "now we didn't come here to fight, we came here to play hockey!" gordon approached the flock of players, "we're team usa, and you represent your country."

"that's right." don interrupted the lecture.

"i want you to be—"

"—to be all that you can be!"

gordon sighed. "that's right, now let's scrimma—"

"—yeah let's scrimmage!" don tibbles blew his whistle as coach bombay sighed defeatedly. "hey, you don't need me here. i've got an appointment anyway, with miss mackay, the team tutor." tibbles bid his farewell.

"don," gordon halted the man, holding out his hand expectantly, "come on." tibbles slowly placed his whistle into the palm of gordon's hand disappointedly. "you'll get it back at the end of the school term."

gentle laughter rippled across the sea of players.

"alright ducks, let's show 'em what you got!" coach bombay ordered, blowing his whistle.

"good luck, julie."

"you'll be lucky to get a goal past me."