ɢᴜʏ ɢᴇʀᴍᴀɪɴᴇ
"𝐈 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 good news," Bombay announced, nearly skipping into the locker room over how excited he was. "We're getting two new players."
The room fell dead silent. All I could hear was the scraping of Jesse rotating his stick in his hands.
"So are you going to tell us who or...?"
"Adam Banks..."
I shut my eyes so tight, I saw red.
"And Maeve Williams."
"What?" I erupted along with the rest of my teammates.
"They're Hawks," Karp protested.
"They're good players," Bombay defended.
"Yuck."
"Everybody hates them!"
"Yeah, we don't need them!" Connie spoke up, and at that moment, I'd never been so grateful for her.
"Look, I'm the Coach and I say we do need them. If we make it to the playoffs, they could be a big help."
"If?" Karp repeated. "All of a sudden, you don't think we're good enough?"
"No, he thinks we're losers," Peter jumped to answer. "That's what he told Reilly."
All eyes shifted between the two of them.
"What?"
"We heard what you said. You said we were losers. We didn't deserve to live!"
Now, I'm no genius. But, after my many years of dealing with the satire of Mae Williams, I was almost positive that 'sarcasm' is the word we were all looking for here.
"That's not what I meant."
"I saw that picture of you missing that goal. You were a Hawk, weren't you?" Peter says, walking towards our Coach.
Part of me wanted to laugh at the extreme height difference between the two because Gordon Bombay was not that tall of a guy.
"Guess you guys stick together to the end. You know what? I don't need your stinkin' equipment."
Peter bumped his shoulder into Bombay's arm as he left. "See you around."
"Peter come back here. I'm talking to you, son!"
"Forget it, Cake-eater. If you wanna play, play with yourself," Jesse sneered. "Come on, Terry."
"I don't believe this," Bombay whispered. "Alright, I'm going to the bench because that's where I am supposed to be. Anyone who wants to join me can. Anyone who doesn't..."
My eyes followed my teammates out the door, one by one until it was just me, Connie, Charlie, and Fulton. Connie looked at me, her gaze saying more than words possibly could. I nodded my head as we both stood up.
"Guys, come on," Charlie pleaded.
"Charlie, they're Hawks. You can't seriously be okay with this," Connie said.
"We have to give them a chance. Right, Guy?"
"You know how I feel about Williams," I slowly respond, not sure how strong my voice sounds to anyone in the room. "She doesn't deserve this chance, and neither does Banks.
He stared at me for a moment. "It's been 2 years. Isn't it time to move on a little bit?"
I didn't have an answer. So, I looked back at Connie and shifted towards the door.
