𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗 ── a. banks¹

𝟬𝟬𝟱. the hawks' girl

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Chapter five — the hawks' girl
TW: foul language & yelling

October 12th, 1992
Cassie Conway

THE TEAM WAS ARGUING with one another as I was sitting on the bench with my head down looking at my skates, knowing I had zero room to talk because I was the only player that did something in the game.

"Hey, shut up!" Bombay yelled, we all shut our mouths and looked his way. "You guys stink! I thought we came here to play hockey!" he yelled as I shook my head and looked down at my skates.

Averman laughs and says "You know, I knew we forgot something." before everyone laughs with him but me.

"Oh, you think it's funny? You think losing is funny?" coach spits.

I take a deep breath, "Well, not at first, but once you get the hang of it." I said louder than I should have.

The team goes silent for a moment before Terry stands up. "We're the ones out there gettin' our butts kicked," Terry says quietly.

Jessee added, "Yeah, it's not like you coach us or anything. At least we try."

"You didn't listen to a word I said." Coach deflects, " I said keep your heads up, you put your heads down. I said hustle, you went slower! That was the sloppiest playing I've ever seen! Cassie is the only one who did something." Coach yelled louder with every word until he echoed in the rink. Coach says "Why the hell don't you just listen to me?" Before I finally stand up.

"Why the hell should we?" I asked as loud as he was. Hearing my voice echo made me cringe but I wasn't going to let some guy yell at my friends, "You showed up and only yelled at us, that's not coaching."

"I don't care. If you want to lose, fine. you're the ones who look like idiots out there." Coach says and walks off. Tears fill my eyes as I watch him walk away. I pat Charlie on the shoulder and he gets up and we skate off the rink into the locker rooms.

Walking out of the Hawks rink with my bag in hand and Charlie by my side, I see the four best Hawks players standing by the Hawks logo, including Banks. They looked at me as three waved me over, Banks holding up one with his finger. This should be fun.

"Go ahead, I'll meet you at home." I looked over to Charlie.

He nodded and hugged my side, "Okay, be safe. Love you." he said as I hugged him back saying love you back to him.

Walking up to the boys, I ran my hands through my damp hair before putting my hands in my pockets. "You come to torment me?" I asked keeping my distance from them.

"We came for a good reason," one says and smirks. Adam reaches a piece of paper out to me. I take it and open it up, revealing an address and time on it.

I looked back up at them, "What's this, a trap?" I asked and looked at the paper again. It has a business card attached from the Hawks home rink as well as the Coach of the team

"Coach Riley wanted us to invite you to practice." Adam explains, "He said that he's going to talk to the board about getting you to join the team as well."

Folding up the piece of paper, "I don't even know you guys. How can I trust you?" I asked putting it into the pocket of my jeans.