flipped. charlie conway

57

"that wrist of yours doesn't look too hideous anymore." adam noted, slapping his sister's wrist playfully. leah gave a look of faux offence, silently scolding adam for his choice of words.

as the team bustled onto the empty ice for their final practise, russ whistled to coach coach bombay's attention. "coach, shouldn't we have our hockey gear on?" the california boy held his arms akimbo in confusion.

bombay smirked, silencing the team by clapping his hands together eagerly. "guys," he began, glancing over the happy faces of his expectant team, "this is our last team practise... which means—"

"the return of captain blood?" averman joked with a smug grin, eliciting a chorus of laughter.

"no," bombay laughed, reaching behind the boards, "it means: let's have some fun!" he pulled out an inflatable beach ball, throwing it once in the air and catching it as the team cheered excitedly.

leah scurried away, julie hot on her tail as the ball was thrown into the centre of the ice. jesse cheered loudly, skidding past the two girls as he halted in front of the ball. kicking it as hard as he could, the ball flew into the air and made its way to goldberg, who only yelped in fear at the large ball flying toward him.

the smile on leah's face felt like it stretched past her cheeks. this was what the team was all about, and she could fully forgive coach bombay for his neglect of the team. it was clear that bombay knew exactly what fuelled the team, and that meant he was part of it himself. bombay was the best coach leah had ever met.

"race me!" luis challenged, circling the other speedy player on the team.

leah rose her eyebrows, accepting the challenge. the two sped away on a lap of the ice, manically laughing as they pushed their way in front of one another. as they approached the end of their lap, the two looked up in fear.

"luis, stop!" leah exclaimed.

the boy simply screamed bloody murder, hurtling towards charlie at full speed. the conway boy turned to the noise in confusion, immediately breaking out into the same scream of fear as luis approached him. charlie braced for impact, having not time to dodge the flailing boy. yet, impact never came.

luis skid the ice, spraying a wave of fresh shavings over charlie. the room was silent as they revelled in the serene silence of a saved collision. luis had stopped, he'd actually stopped.

"yes!" charlie cheered, jumping onto a shell shocked luis.

jan bellowed over the ice, seemingly amused by the two boys. "that's it, boy!"

team usa skated around the ice in celebration of luis' achievement, patting the boy on the back.

"you're lucky he stopped, banks. otherwise..." charlie coughed, scavenging for a threat in his mind. but as he looked at her apologetic face, her cheeks pink and eyes downturned, he felt that familiar, fluttering taunt return. charlie shook his head, sending a threatening glare to leah as she slid away from him.

averman kicked the ball to the other end of the ice, slowing to a stop as the ball rolled away. the cheers began to silence as the team bundled into a group, staring at their new companions on the ice with heartfelt glares.

coach stansson of iceland picked up the inflatable ball with a snicker, unamused by the childish and trivial activity. immediately, stansson was certain his iceland team were guaranteed victory if the bunch of buffoons in front of him were their competition.

charlie settled himself on the edge of the group, beside fulton and leah. she was glaring at the iceland team venomously, and charlie huffed with a proud smirk. at least her beak had one thing right.

stansson grit his teeth, crushing the ball between his fingers. the sound of the deflating ball echoed through the stadium, almost taunting team usa with iceland's barbaric nature. he threw the ball away carelessly, flicking his finger forward to usher his team closer.

"playtime is over," stansson growled as he approached, "we have the ice now. you and your little 'rink rats' must leave." he smirked, eliciting a chortle from the iceland team. it was silent as each group stared down one another, sending personal glares in attack.

"we're right here, coach." dean reassured, a cohesive nod following over team usa.

gordon bit back a smile. "the only thing 'little' was your career in the pros." he laughed. leah rolled her eyes, crossing her arms disapprovingly.

ms mckay seemed to agree. "gordon, no. let's go." she scorned, her honey eyes remaining gentle.

"at least i had a shot," stansson remarked, "i was there." he condescendingly peered down at bombay over his nose.

bombay stiffened, his face hardening like stone. leah almost felt a little embarrassed. gordon tightened his lips into a stiff line. "you were a disgrace."

charlie nodded in approval, sticking behind coach bombay. leah shook her head, hoping to leave the ice as soon as possible. no one dared speak a word.

"alright team, let's get outta here." bombay huffed, waving to the exit. "let's go, i said!"

leah and ms mckay were the only ones to move. as leah began to sullenly slink off her skates, charlie pulled her back sternly. she had to stand up to iceland with them, she couldn't just dig her head in the soil to look for worms again.

"ah," stansson chuckled in his spot, "i greatly look forward to our game. we'll have an easy win without your star duo on the ice." the iceland coach glanced at leah with faux sympathy, laughing in amusement as she glared back. his icy eyes turned to stone as he looked back at bombay. "can you still move on the ice, or have you neglected your own injuries, too?" stansson dug at bombay, referring to leah's wrist and gordon's knee, "please, play a little with me."

bombay narrowed his eyes, now refusing to admit defeat after the mention of his wrongdoings.

"show the famous triple deke your dear daddy taught you," stansson teased, showing off his crooked teeth as he pouted mockingly, "or was it that old geezer, over there?" he gestured to jan. jan stood a little straighter, hoisting his chin in distaste for the iceland man.

leah scoffed, sending an apologetic look to jan. he shrugged at the young girl. all of team usa knew that jan and hans had done more for their team than stansson could ever give his own. stansson was pathetic. leah knew bombay was better than that, she knew he wouldn't stoop to stansson's level.

the iceland coach snatched a stick away from their trainer, tossing it between his hands. without second thought, he threw the stick over to bombay. gordon peered down at the battered stick, contemplating the challenge.

"coach, you can't." leah spoke, her quiet voice barely echoing through the stadium.

charlie audibly groaned, running a hand down his face in annoyance. "shut it, banks." he lowly growled.

ms mckay held a hand on gordon's shoulder, whispering at a low volume. "she's right, you're still in recovery from stitching up your knee."

gordon froze, glancing back at his team. ms mckay frowned in disapproval as he shook her hand off his shoulder, looking over to stansson with a ferocious glare. "three bar. first one to hit both posts and the crossbar. you have to take it out past the blue line."

stansson smirked as bombay stepped up to the challenge. "i know the game." stansson shrugged, sending his team away.  iceland and team usa cheered for their coaches as they settled on opposite sides of the rink. ms mckay pat leah's back assuringly, despite her own disappointment. hockey was an ego sport.