𝑯𝒆𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒉 | ᴹᴰᴳᶜ

TRACK NINE: Somewhere I Belong

DELILAH

"I can't believe Evan would even consider going back to the Ducks after everything he's done to get me to join." Sofi told us.

"This whole place reeks of betrayal." Lauren said.

"Yeah. Don't let my naturally joyful eyes fool you. Inside, I'm hurting." Logan stated.

"What's wrong with Sam?" I questioned.

"He's pretty bummed." Koob told me.

"Yeah, but I've never seen him just sit there before." Maya added. "He's always skateboarding into walls."

"Or me. He often skateboarded into me." Nick said. "Sam, what's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know. Evan going behind our backs like that. It's like I don't have the will to be crazy." Sam answered. "I hate what he's done to you!" Lauren exclaimed, slamming her fist onto the counter. Then Evan and Alex walked in.

"Oh, thank God! I didn't think anybody was gonna be here." Alex told us. "Nick forced us. If it was up to us, we wouldn't be." I told her. "Hey, don't bothers, looks like you're ready to bother." She said, walking towards us as we all ignored her. "What did I do?" She asked. "Gave birth to a traitor." Maya responded.

"Okay, looks like we've got a team problem. And the only people who can solve a team problem is the team. So, I'm calling a team meeting. Players only." Alex announced. She brought us to the locker room. "Okay, alright. Everybody in." She said. "Stay in there until you figure things out."

"You're keeping us in a room that smells like feet until we make up?" Maya questioned, annoyed. "Yes, exactly!" Alex said before she closed the door. Evan stood in front of us as we all sat in silence.

"Thank you all for coming." He said. "Your mom literally just locked us all in here." I replied. "True, and you want to know what else is true? That I only went to one Ducks practice." Evan said, causing everyone to get even more annoyed.

"But as soon as I got there. I knew something felt wrong. I'm never going back. Please, you guys have to forgive me. We have a big game against the Hornets coming up, and we have to pull together if we want a chance of beating them." He stated.

"Are they looking for a new player? I heard you're available." Logan replied. I smiled and nodded at him as we fist bumped. "You were supposed to be our captain. Our fearless leader." "I know. I screwed up. I'm sorry." "You totally let us down." Koob said. "You can't just walk all over us like that." I told him. "You think you're better than us?" Nick asked. "Who am i kidding? I can't pull off anger." He added.

"It's not about who's better. It's about loyalty. You just went and screwed everything up." Maya told him. "Maya, should you really be lecturing anyone about loyalty? You're the one with the history of ditching people." Lauren said, now turning to Maya.

"She's not the only one." Logan said. "Why didn't you guys invite me to the sleepover you had?" Logan asked the boys. "I mean, I live across the street from you! Yes, I did go and hang with Delilah for a little, but I saw you popping Swedish fish all night. Every fish was like a dagger to me!" Logan said to Nick. "It was a best friend hang, okay? Koob was just an impromptu addition." Nick told him, making Koob mad now.

Sam stood up and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back to sit next to him. "What are you doing?" I asked as I removed my sunglasses from my head. My hair fell slightly in my face as the glasses were holding it back earlier. "I know how you get when it comes to fighting, and I don't think Ms. M would be happy to know this meeting turning in a boxing match." He answered. "I hope you know you're like a brother to me." "And you're like a sister to me."

Finally, after all the arguing, Alex came in. "Great meeting. Good job. Let's calm down and make some friendship bracelets." she suggested. "They'd be bracelets woven of lies." Lauren told her. Then the power completely went out. "Nice one, Evan." Logan blamed. "Oh, come on. That's clearly not my fault." Evan responded, making us all agree. "I mean, it's seventy-five percent..." He said, getting quieter.

🏒

Bombay took us to the woods on a trail after the power went out. "Where are we? What's happening?" Lauren asked as Bombay and Alex led us to a frozen lake outside.

"Here it is. Nature's Ice Palace." Bombay said. "Where's nature's WiFi?" Maya asked. "And nature's Cocoa Bar?" "Pond hockey. Shinny. Pick-Up. Whatever you want to call it, it's the reason so many kids fall in love with the game when it's played out here. On the pond, there are no boards, no zones, and no one in the stands. Out here is where you get the tactical edge on your opponent. So we're gonna develop your sixth sense. Instinct." He went on.

"Yeah, my instinct tells me I'm more of an indoor person." Nick said. "That's why we'll start small. No gear. No skates. Just feel the ice under your feet." Bombay replied.

🏒

Our puck passing practice was more than we expected. We had to pass our phones back and forth to our partner on the frozen lake. Logan said he only trusted me as his partner, so we paired up.

"Oh, Lilah, your dad's calling." He said, looking down at my phone. "Should I pick up?" "If you want. He's probably calling to say he'll be working late again." I answered. He bent down and picked up my phone before Bombay came over and took it from him. "Hello, sir. Please leave your message in a text format because currently, your daughter and possible future son-in-law are currently practicing their hockey skills. And yes, sir, before you say anything, this is Gordon Bombay."

He hung up my phone and sat it back down onto the ice. "Back to it." "Did you seriously just call Logan my dad's "future son-in-law"? He's gonna kill me." I told him. "Well, we'll pay our respects to you at halftime." I rolled my eyes as he walked away.

🏒

We were packing up to leave. "Are we still mad at him?" Nick asked. We all nodded and told him that we were still mad. After a moment, Evan removed the C patch from his jersey and held it in the palm of his hand.

"What are you doing?" Sofi asked. "I don't deserve this. A real captain doesn't do what I did. A real captain stays with the ship. And a real captain stays with the crunch. Now, I don't get to wear this until I earn it back." Evan told everyone. "Okay. We forgive you." Lauren said, and we all agreed.

🏒

The next day, we went out to the pond again, but Sam never showed up. Bombay helped Koob learn he really could be an amazing goalie, and Alex made us try to play blindfolded. Which didn't end well.

Logan was practically stuck to my side the whole time while we all kept bumping into each other. It was a complete fail. Sam told us he was quitting, but thankfully, Evan convinced him otherwise. I don't know what I would do without Sam. We're a duo on the ice. I told him we were like the Bash Brothers from the original Ducks. We ended up creating the name, "The Smash Siblings."

We were tied with the Hornets 3-3. When Alex convinced us to use our blind trust. We were all unsure at first but decided to give it a shot. The other team was confused and ended up scoring and winning our first game!

When I went home, I really wanted to tell Dad about the game and my dad, but since he wasn't home, I ended up just lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. I put on some music so I wouldn't be surrounded by silence.