speed of sound // Charlie Conway

| FIVE |

Mr. Tibbles pulled the draped curtain off of a giant box of cereal that showed us all at the bottom. "Ta-da!" He sung.

"Wow!" I smiled, looking at myself on the box. It was still surreal to me that I was on team USA. Commotion of happiness and cheering came from the rest of the room.

"Hey yall, thats us!" Dwayne pointed to the box, smiling. "Duh, Whatta ya know?" Fulton laughed.

"Today, its a wheaties box. Tomorrow, its video games, action figures, lunch boxes. The sky is the limit." Mr tibbles told us. "Ooo, I want a mini version of me!" I butted in. Everyone laughed at me, thinking I was being sarcastic.

Well, i kind of was, but I really did want a little version of myself in my room, on my desk. It could be like a buddy to talk to, I understand myself!

"Now, just to make sure that everybody knows who you are, try on.. one of these! Brought to you by those wonderful people at Hendrix.." Tibbles pulled out a Jersey that had red, white, and blue laid all over it. "Oh, thats so cool!" Connie smiled widely at the jersey.

I looked over to Charlie with a smile plastered on my face, but it instantly faded when i saw that he didnt look the same. "Charlie, you okay?" I asked, furrowing my brows.

"Yeah," He sighed.

I knew something was up, but I didnt wanna bother him. "Everybody take your own, Im not gonna give em out to everybody!" Mr, Tibbles told us. "You want me to go get yours?" I nudged Charlie. I knew he didnt wanna talk, but I did know that he probably wasnt bothered enough to go get his jersey. "Yeah, thanks." He gave me a small smile as I got up.

I picked up me and Charlie's Jersey's, examining them. They were cool, I guess, but something about them made me sad.

Couldnt we be ducks again?

"USA ducks" I imagined in my head. I walked back over to Charlie, handing him his jersey. "These are nice, guys. But we're ducks. This stuff says 'Hendrix' all over it." Charlie held up the sleeve of the jersey. "Yeah.." I agreed.

"Well, yeah, they're our sponsors." Coach Bombay explained to us, but something still didnt sit right with me.

"So, what? Cant we be USA ducks?" Charlie asked. "Or even just keep our colors?" I added.

"Its business stuff, you two. Dont worry about it." Coach patted Charlie's shoulder, and got up. "This 'business stuff' doesnt sit right with me." I told Charlie, frowning.

"Yeah, I know." He said in a quiet tone.

—

Today was our first tutor session, which I was a little happy for, but not too excited. We all wore a white 'USA' shirt, our red and blue joggers, matched with a red and blue track suit top that read "TEAM USA" on the back.

"Ancient Greece was the beginning of western Civilization. See, in Greece, they didnt have professional sports.. or wheaties boxes. So, the athletes competed for another reason. Anybody?" Miss mackay explained to us.

"Falafels?" Goldberg volunteered. "You wish, Goldberg." I laughed, rolling my eyes.

"Charlie?" Miss mackay called on him since he had been raising his hand. "Pride." He answered correctly.

"Thats right. The various city-states waved their flags and wore their home colors proudly." She further explained. "Did America always dominate?" Fulton asked. "Fulton.." I scoffed, everybody else laughing along.

"No, America wasn't around back then.Dont forget that compred to other countries, America is still young, still forming its own identity. America is a teenager just like you."

"Like us?" Portman Questioned.

"You bet. A little awkward at time, but always right there on the verge of greatness." She smiled.

—

It was finally the day we were taking off to go to the junior goodwill games. We would be gone for three weeks, training and playing almost non-stop.

Our flight is leaving in a few hours and I was still packing, wow.

The phone on my wall rang, I instantly knew who it was, Charlie. "Hi Charlieee!" I drag his name, still rushing to pack everything. "Hey Natty, so my mom wanted to pick you up a little early and go out for lunch before we leave, is that fine?"

"Yeah! Im still packing though, so i might take maybe, fiften, twenty minutes?" "Okay, ill see you then!" "Byee!" I hung up the phone.

I packed the rest of my clothes and I was finally finished. Thank God!!! I opened my closet one last time to pick out an outfit for the plane ride. I was still tired from waking up early, so I planned to sleep on the plane.

I ended up wearing a black sweater over a gray tank-top paired with black sweatpants. I was just done putting on my shoes when I heard a honk come from outside.

I grabbed my two suitcases and rushes downstairs. My parents were both already at work, but I had already said my goodbyes to them, and knew that they would make it to all of my games, so I went ahead and left out of the door, locking it behind me.

Charlie's mom opened the trunk and I set my suitcases in there, closing it and entering the back seat of the car.

A/N: im so sorry about this chapter being short!! Its currently 3:15am and I honestly wanted to write but ive written about two chapters tonight and im pretty tired so you guys get a filler chapter...🤕 Im gonna try to write more tomorrow though!!