speed of sound // Charlie Conway

| NINE |

USA vs Italy, 6-0

I guess I really didn't have anything to worry about, we were completely rocking our second game!

A team Italy player had stolen the puck from me, almost knocking me over. "Italy with the puck across the line. D'agistino shoots, glove aave by Goldberg." The announcer spoke. "Woo!!" I cheered, standing next to Goldberg.

"Have no fear! Goldberg is here!" He cheered as he high fived me.

"Hey, man, there was nothing on that! How about a real shot?" He taunted the player. "Goldberg, you're practically begging him to fight you, and im not helping." I rolled my eyes and skated away. I wasn't trying to intervene in a goalie fight.

After being half across the rink, I saw the boy pushing Goldberg. Not surprised. "Hey, Hey! Break it up!" The ref yelled after blowing his whistle.

"Goldberg!" Coach called him out.

"What'd i say?" He replied, acting like he was innocent.

The game had started back up, and Portman pushed a boy into the wall, the puck moving over to me. "Fulton!" I yelled, passing it to him. He hit the puck, everybody except the goalie moving aside. We scored! The crowd roared why Fulton yelled.

"Yeah!!"

—

The third period had ended, and we were at 11-0, making team USA win! And yes, i contributed to three of those goals. We all cheered. I looked up at the score. I hugged Charlie, proud of the both of us.

"We did it!!" I wrapped my arms around him tightly.

—

It was our sixth day here and Coach told us he had a photoshoot. After that, he said something about going out somewhere and that we would get the day off from practice.

I was back at the skating rink like I had been a few days ago. I wasnt even practicing or anything, I didnt want to practice, I was just simply skating around.

Before I joined the ducks, I was a skater. I skated on the ice all the time, just for fun. I didnt even want to become a figure skater or anything, it was just calming to me.

I stepped onto the rink, instantly increasing my speed, spinning around and doing tricks. "Did Ken teach you how to do that?" a voice spoke out from the rink entrance. It had startled me, almost making me trip over. I looked over to see Charlie in full hockey gear.

"No, I taught myself. Used to ice skate before I played hockey. I thought you knew?" I tilted my head. I was a little confused as to how he didnt know this, we've been friends for too many years. "Well, I don't see you skate much unless its hockey, can I practice here?" He asked, and I nodded my head, continuing to skate around again.

"Of course." A smile grew on my face again. I was always happy to have company if it was Charlie.

I skated around the rink while Charlie practiced scoring, occasionally cheering every few times he scored. I loved hangouts like this. Even if we weren't talking all the time while hanging out, we were still together, and that's what mattered to me.

"So, why'd you come practice anyway?" I skated behind the goal and leaned on it.

"I dont know, I guess I just wanted to be ready for the game against iceland." He told me. "Yeah, that makes sense. I don't think anyone knows this, but i'm actually kind of nervous about the iceland game. I dont wanna lose and disappoint coach." I dragged my head down. I was scared just thinking about it.