"𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗰𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿." || 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗺 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀

04 | new stuff, new players, new training.

i'm helping mom cook dinner while Charlie asks a bunch of random, weird questions. "where do all the thoughts go when they're forgotten?" he asks. "if someone dies in a living room, is it still a living room?" "if a vampire bites a zombie, does the vampire become a zombie or does the zombie become a vampire?" me and mom look at each other and burst out laughing, when the knock of a door cuts us off. mom walks to the door and i look at Charlie, teasing him for those questions, and asking where they came from.

"hi, um.." the person starts. "please just go away. Charlie and Olivia don't want to be on the team anymore, and neither he, she, nor i have anything to say to you." mom says, starting to close the door. he stops it, "well, i have something to say to you. all three of you. i want to apologize." he says. she sighs and opens the door, "Olive, Charlie!" mom yells into the kitchen. me and Charlie run into the living room, "who is it?" i question before seeing Gordon standing there. "hey, guys. how ya doin'?" Bombay asks. neither of us answer. "i was just walkin' around thinking, and uh...." he starts. "can you give us a minute?" Bombay asks mom and she nods, walking into the kitchen. i sigh while rolling my eyes and Charlie shakes his head no, annoyed. Gordon sits down in one of our chairs and Charlie sits on the other, leaving me with the couch.

"listen, it was very wrong of me to ask you two and the other players to cheat. and i never should've said that to you. i was angry. i was frustrated. and it took a lot of guts and bravery for you to do what you knew was right, Charlie. i admire that. you two are an incredible duo, and i love that you guys stand up for each other no matter what. you guys are great kids. and i just...i wanted to let you know, that i'm..."

"you're sorry!" i hear moms voice from behind the wall that's separating the wall between the living room and the kitchen. "i'm sorry, alright! i'm sorry. tell your mom that hopefully it'll be a lot more fun this time around. what do you say?" Bombay asks.

"do you wanna stay for dinner?" Charlie asks B̸o̸m̸b̸a̸y̸ coach. "what?" coach questions. "yeah. coach." i agree, elbowing Bombay because i called him coach, referring that i'm back on the team. "Charlie? Liv?" mom comes around the corner. "uh, no i...i cant. uh.." coach starts but mom nods her head yes, that if he is able to, he can. "oh....well, what are ya having?" coach asks mom with a smile and me and my brother look at each other with joy.

~next day~

i'm laying on my bed, daydreaming, when my phone rings and i jump, getting scared. i flip onto my stomach and answer it, and it's Connie. "OLIVE!" she yells. "CONS!" i yell her name back. "YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" she shrieks. "COACH GOT US FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS, AND WE ARE GOING SHOPPING FOR UNIFORMS AND EQUIMENT!! AND HE BOUGHT US A RINK! GET READY, MY MOM IS PICKING YOU AND CHARLIE UP!" she yells the news, and before i can reply, she hangs up. i bolt into Charlie's room and tell him the news, and we both get ready.

we run into the shop, immediately looking around at things. me and Guy are looking at some helmets when coach taps Guy on the shoulder. "who is that kid?" coach asks, pointing to a boy, who's handing Charlie a hockey stick. "that's Fulton Reed, he's in one of my classes." Guy answers. "how come he's not on the team?" coach questions. "he only plays football. some preppy school gave him a scholarship as long as he doesn't play hockey. they don't want him getting hurt." i answer. "i heard it was collages. he's already been accepted to four of 'em!" Guy adds. "yeah, but i heard he's gotta repeat sixth grade!" Jesse teases. "ah, shut up!" Guy demands, punching him in the shoulder.

we walk into our new rink, a see two kids that stand out a bit. "dude, check 'em out, man!" Goldberg admires the two. "holy cow!" Peter mumbles. "they're pretty good skaters!" i state. "anybody know who they are?" coach asks. "that's Tommy Duncan. he's in my science class. and that's his sister, Tammy." Karp introduces the siblings. "ya think they'd wanna play with us?" coach asks and we shrug. "alright, go suit up. i'll do the small-talk." coach says and we all go to the bathrooms, Connie and me being the only girls that go into the girls bathroom out of the team, and the rest going to the boys restroom.

coach slides a jersey over Tammy's head, "just think of it as figure skating....with a stick!" coach encourages. "you're gonna love it, Tammy." coach finishes as her brother skates up to the group, "hey, atta boy, Tommy! lookin' good, lookin' tough! give me five, show me you're alive!" coach says to the boy, who gives him a high-five. i stop ease-dropping on their conversation and turn to Terry. "i don't think Tammy likes this all that much." i say with a giggle. "yeah. she looks mad heated." Terry replies, following up with the laugh. coach trains us, and actual playing, not cheating. we skate around cones with a puck, and we do really well. besides Charlie, he sorta falls over.

coach picks up an egg out of the carton, "soft hands. you don't shoot the puck to your teammate, you sail it to him." coach says. "or her." i add, getting smiles from Connie and Tammy, that i return. coach looks at me, "or her." he repeats me. "Karp, on your feet." coach demands and Karp stands up. Bombay puts the egg on the floor, right infront of Karp's stick. "sail it to me." coach demands. Karp hits the egg with his puck, clearly not softly, because it explodes and of corse we all tease him for it.

we're all standing now, trying to pass the egg to coach, softly. Terry tries, it explodes. "you don't stop the pass. you accept it. cradle it." coach teaches, demonstrating with his stick. Averman tries, it explodes. "again. concentration, not strength." coach advises. "like the Karate Kid, right? wax on, wax off!" Averman jokes and all of us laugh, besides Tammy. man, she really don't wanna do this.

geez, calm down, princess.

i think to myself. she needs to chill, and loosen up a bit. "haha, very funny." coach says sarcastically, sending another egg towards Averman. "try again." coach demands and Averman actually succeeds, and the egg lives. "amazing. Charlie." coach says, instructing for Charlie to go next. coach passes an egg to him, and he cradles it. "good, good! now sail it back." coach demands. and with that, Charlie hits the egg with his puck, causing it to explode all over Bombay's brown sweater. "way to go, Spazway!" Peter teases.

we do some more, and he separated us into partners to work with instead of him. i pass it to Connie, my partner, who cradles it softly and passes it back to me, and i catch it gently. "good, Liv! amazing, Peter! great job, Karp! outstanding, Jesse!" coach skates around encouraging. "uhm, nice drill, coach. really very cute. but uh, when are you gonna work with me in goal?" i hear Goldberg ask coach. "Goldberg, do you trust me?"

"my mom would NOT approve of this, coach!" Goldberg states. "she'd like me to live to be bar mitzvah'd." Goldberg tries to talk him out of it. "this is your bar mitzvah, Goldberg! today you will become a man." coach replies, tying the last tie and skating off. "coach, i think you got the ceremonies mixed up!" Goldberg pleads. he begs to untie him, coach ignoring it. "District Five! ready?!" coach questions and me and Averman share eye contact with smirks. "i was born ready for this, coach." i say, keeping my eyes on the goalie who's about to get it. "FIRE!" coach instructs and the whole team starts shooting pucks at Goldberg, him screaming like a two year old when it didn't get it's way. after about 10 straight seconds of  him screaming, he starts to laugh. "this doesn't hurt! you wimps! gimmi your best shot! oh, come on! hex goal! goalie boot save! come and get me, whatcha got? woah, nice shot, Tammy!" Goldberg says, all tough-guy. Tammy smiles and that turns into a grin. i think she's starting to like it a bit. "i'm a dog! i'm a crazed dog! come on!" Goldberg states, dodging pucks. coach starts to bang his stick on the ice and we follow, starting to chant. "Goldberg! Goldberg! Goldberg!" we chant.

we do more of those exercises, and Tammy and Tommy become one of us. we skate around the cones, and Charlie makes it through. "let's go, Conways! alright, Karp!" coach says with excitement, tapping me, Charlie, and Karp's helmets. "you guys hungry?!" coach asks. we all scream, "yeah!!!"

"tired?!"

"yeah!!!"

"do ya ache?!"

"yeah!!!"

"are you pumped up?!"

"yeah!!!"

"good! that was a hell of a practice! be proud of yourselves!" coach compliments.

"how 'bout some hot dogs and hamburgers at Charlie and Olivia's mom's restaurant?!" coach asks.

"yeah!!!" we all yell for the last time before skating out of the rink.

forgetting to untie someone.