flipped. charlie conway

58

leah gnawed at her lip with worry as her chapped skin caught beneath her teeth. charlie stood in the centre of the group, encouraging his teammates to cheer on their coach. they clapped and yelled words of encouragement, but leah sensed they were cautious to get excited. after all, stansson was known for collecting teeth — they already knew coach bombay would be no exception. the thought of such a gruesome sight made leah feel queasy.

"ms mckay," leah looked up to the honey-eyed woman, "i want to leave."

the kind woman reluctantly smiled and pat the girls shoulder. michelle mckay let out a breath, trying to hide her scoff as she watched the two coaches circle one another like birds of prey. "we'll be off soon."

leah turned back to the men with a frown. this face off was so unnecessary.

"you got this, coach!" charlie clapped, cupping his hands to amplify his cheers. fulton, luis, dwayne, jesse, dean, guy, lester, adam, and connie followed his cocky shouts of encouragement. leah rose her palm to her forehead, trying to calm the burning headache emerging from her skull.

kenny audibly gulped from beside leah. "that man— he's for-sure scary."

julie tut with a roll of her eyes. "remember what i told you, kenny. we wouldn't be watching this stupid brawl if bombay and stansson were women."

kenny sighed disdainfully at julie's recurrent revelation whilst ms mckay chortled. "i like the way you think, julie." the smart woman applauded.

julie shrugged in response. "we could brawl better, anyway."

"go!" dean howled, stamping his skates into the ice as the two coaches sped off. though the stadium only saw two teams, it sounded as though an entire audience had filled the stands. the air grew thick as shouts lingered in the still air.

stansson held the puck, bombay drifting in front of him like an eager puppy. before bombay swooped in to retrieve the puck, stansson had already diverted the attack. bombay swooped in again as stansson swung around the goal, but was merely thrown to the hard ice with little effort. with a proud and mocking smirk, stansson perfectly shot the puck at the right post.

team usa groaned, but leah almost had to hold back a sadistic laugh. did her team expect minor coach bombay to overpower the beefy iceland pro? in seconds, bombay had pulled himself to his feet and raced back to centre ice. the puck was in his possession, and bombay showed no will to let it slip away. the team held their breath as bombay swept his stick back, flinging the puck into the left post. team usa cheered gleefully at the success.

stansson started with the puck once again. but soon enough, the two coaches were simply bashing against each other ferociously. bombay slipped away with the puck and scored against the right post. team usa bellowed proudly at their one-up to iceland. the usa and iceland coach remarked to one another, the latter evidently angered by bombay's comment.

leah frowned and released the breath she'd been holding. bombay just had to hit the crossbar, and then they could leave with their pride. the banks girl crossed her fingers as her coach took off from centre ice with the puck.

stansson threw himself at bombay, leaping through the air like a soaring eagle. the gelled-hair man hit the ice with a yell as bombay slipped out of the way. he was angry, and bombay was loving every second of it. leah grit her teeth, waiting for bombay to shoot for the crossbar. bombay took his time teasing stansson.

the two were up again, approaching the ragged goal net. before bombay could even swing his stick back, stansson had struck his stick against gordon's right knee.

coach bombay fell to the floor with a yelp. team usa immediately rushed over.

"hey!" leah raged as she approached the iceland coach, "what if he got hurt?! did you think about that, asshole?"