flipped. charlie conway

60

hi, i'm so sorry it's been so long!

despite the rumbling cheers reverberating through the stadium, leah had never felt a silence so loud. the ice was silent, the tension hovering in the air.

an icelandic player scowled as he met leah left of centre ice, bearing his teeth at the young girl. leah should have been scared, but she wasn't. she was ambitious, thirsty to prove herself. leah wouldn't stop at anything. coach bombay's words rattled through her brain; "head high, stand tall, fly straight!"

leah could physically feel the pressure, like the weight of her heavy backpack. leah would do her best, she always did her very best. the banks girl glanced to the bench, catching eyes with a ferocious-looking julie. the gaffney girl smiled instantly, holding her padded thumbs up encouragingly. leah's heart warmed, sending a flurry of eager excitement through her veins.

but even if she'd tried to, leah couldn't ignore those blue eyes boring into her. the eyes that widened like a deer caught in the beaming headlights of a car, the eyes that refused to ever spare her a glance. staring right at her. leah looked away, hiding the blush of embarrassment from her cheeks.

averman slid up to centre ice for the face-off, making some remark to his opponent. leah payed no mind, instead spying the shiny puck that slid into the hand of the referee. like a hawk, the girl watched it lower for the face-off. even with the beefy iceland player pushing into her side, leah could describe every beaten dent on the puck by the time the face-off started.

as the puck dropped, averman was shoved to the ground as his opponent slid away with the puck. leah sped away, her opponent hot on her tail as she raced to intercept the puck intertwining through the sea of black jerseys.

as leah darted toward the travelling puck, she was barrelled into the boards. leah scolded herself a fool for thinking she'd intercept the puck so easily. she pushed herself up, watching dean get sandwiched against the boards, guy following suit. as an iceland player swung his stick to make for a goal, leah groaned in frustration. this was not a good start.

"line change!" she heard the voice of bombay echo, ushering her to the bench. throwing her helmet off, leah puffed for a breath. not even ten seconds into the game, and iceland had scored.

"are they as rough as they look?" adam asked sheepishly, gulping with dismay as his sister sent him a pointed look. the banks boy defensively held up his hands in innocence.

dwayne pat the two on the back encouragingly. "good try!" leah smiled dimly.

"banks," a stern voice caught her attention, "i gave up my spot for you, you need to step up." charlie scoffed, blaming his reddening cheeks on the team's failed attempt at winning the puck. bombay quickly ushered his new co-captain away, rolling his eyes with annoyance.

as the new line slid onto the ice, leah furrowed her brows. the beefy players began the same: knock down centre, into boards left, into boards right, goal. the siren wailed, sending damned groans of defeat through the stadium. iceland had already scored two points, and not even a minute had passed.

adam nudged leah's shoulder as the teams reset. the two cringed as a pattern arose, a perfect pattern that hit team usa when they were off-guard. iceland would get rid of centre, rid of left, rid of defence: easy goal.

"you see a pattern, right?" adam questioned, glancing between his sister and the resetting teams.

leah nod her head. "yeah. we'll just have to break it."

"line change!" bombay bellowed, patting the banks twins on the back.

adam settled down into centre ice, leah on his left, ken on his right, fulton and dean behind him. instantly, the puck dropped. leah made it her mission to get as far away from her opponent as possible.