speed of sound // Charlie Conway

| FIFTEEN |

I woke up around 10am. I had woken up multiple times last night, and it wasnt for any good reasons at all. There were about three dreams I had, two of them being about the Iceland games, and one of them about Charlie.

It was so weird, because I never had nightmares like that, especially about certain people.

I woke up in a cold sweat, mumbling to myself. What scared me even more was the fact that both Connie and Julie were gone, but I let out a loud sigh when I realized Connie was hanging out with Guy, and Julie went to practice with Adam.

I was glad to be alone though, even if I wasnt happy. I always believed it was okay to feel emotions other than happy.

I picked up my journal and turned on the radio that sat on my night stand. I hummed to the song "Living legend" by Lana Del Rey, while writing a prayer.

"Dear God, im so confused. I cant tell if my only crush likes me back, I cant tell if he's trying to tell me he likes me or not. I dont know anything, I just need help. I dont know if you can hear me, but please, God. Please, help me through this, I dont know what I even want anymore." I finished writing, tears slowly rolling down my face and dripping onto my paper.

I slammed my journal shut and tucked it under my pillow. I loved Charlie, I admired everything about him, but I couldnt feel like this anymore. I needed someone or something or anything to tell me whats going on right now. I didnt want to spend the rest of my life not knowing if he likes me back or not.

I wiped my tears and got up, deciding to do one of the only things that made me feel better, make myself look pretty. I looked through all the clothes I packed, trying to find some sort of dress. I found a yellow floral short sleeved dress, and thought that it would be okay. I put it on and paired the dress with white heels. After that, I went into the bathroom and curled my hair, then pinned it up into a half up half down style. I didnt care about putting any makeup on, I already felt confident.

But not just about myself. I asked God to help me, and he did, because Ive felt the most confident in me and Charlie's relationship than I ever have. It was all of the sudden when I felt the need to confess to him.

Obviously, this happens with all my crushes, so I'm gonna wait a day or two, and if I still feel the same way, ill think about it. I walked out of my dorm with my purse after writing a note to Julei and Connie, telling them I was going out.

I decided I wanted to go back to the ice cream parlor I went to last night.

It was vintage themed, and if you were my friend, you would know that i love vintage things.

I walked there and ordered a milkshake this time, instead of a cone. It was vanilla, just like yesterday. I sat in the same booth, now by myself. I sat there, almost done with my milkshake, when I heard the door jingle open.

"I knew you would be here again." Charlie walked over to me, his face expression now calm. "You were looking for me?" I let out a laugh.

"Yeah, Coach wanted us to go to practice today, but he said, 'no gear', with no explanation."

"Interesting." I giggled. "Well, lets go!" I said as I got up from my seat, grabbing Charlies hand, and walking out. "Can we stop by the dorms? I gotta change out of this, obviously." I pointed to my outfit, talking a 'duh' tone.

"Yeah, but you look really pretty." Charlie complimented me, and I paused. The word 'pretty' repeated in my head while I stood there. Since I was feeling confident today though, a smile grew on my face, the idea of teasing Charlie came to my mind.

"So I only look pretty when I dress like this? and do my hair?"

"No! No- I didnt mean it that way, you look really pretty every day! I mean— not like in that way, but," Charlie stopped talking and sighed. He seemed frustrated with himself. "Charlie, I know what you meant, calm down!" I looked up at him, resting my hand on his shoulder.

—

Me and Charlie were now at the rink, meeting up with the rest of the team. I was wearing a light grey longsleeve with light grey leggings and light pink leg warmers, my hair was tied up in a ponytail, a few front pieces left out like always.

"Coach, shouldnt we have our hockey gear on?" "Yeah?" I skated up to my team.

"Guys, this is our last practice, which means," Coach started but was cut off. "The return of captain blood." Averman joked, making everyone laugh.

"No." Bombay chuckled. "It means... lets have some fun!" He pulled out a beach ball. "All right!" I cheered. We all skated together, kicking and throwing the beach ball around to each other. Everything felt so surreal. It was so crazy that this was our last practice for the junior goodwill games. We were leaving in just a few days, and these oast few weeks had gone by incredibly fast.

I hit the beach ball in a "volleyball serving" type way over to Charlie, who then hit it over to Averman.

Averman did the same thing as me, but ended up hitting the ball to the other side of the rink, where the Iceland team appeared. "What'd they do, teleport here?" I crossed my arms, now next to Charlie.

The Iceland coach picked up the beach ball and popped it with no hesitation. "Playtime is over. We have the ice now."

Their coach informed us, the rest of the Iceland team skating closer to us.

"You and your little rink rats must leave."

"The only thing little was your career in the pros." Bombay shot at him.

"Gordon, come on, lets go." Miss Mackay tried to pull coach away. "Well, at least I had a shot, I was there."

"You were a disgrace." They argued, coach Bombay paused before speaking again.

"All right, team, we're out of here." None of us moved. "Lets go, I said! Come on!"

"Can you still move on the ice?" The Iceland coach interrupted. "Well please, play a little with me. Show me the famous triple deke your daddy taught you. Or was it that old geezer over there?" He looked over at Jan.

He took a hockey stick and tossed it to Bombay. I didnt like any of this, I knew something bad was bound to happen.

"Three bar, first one to hit both posts and the crossbar. Have to take it out past the blue line."

"I know the game."

my team, and team Iceland, stood on opposite sides of the rink, watching each of our coaches play.

The pushed each other around, fighting for the puck. I didnt want to watch the game, so i turned around and covered my eyes, though I smiled when I heard my team cheering.

"News flash, that wasnt even my triple deke." Coach told Stansson.

"One more post and you go home crying. By the way, Standson, you owe me a beach ball." Bombay commented again. I decided to un cover my eyes, not too worried about the game. I laughed when I saw that Stansson was on the floor, but my laugh faded immediately after he got back up and hit Coach in the leg, the one that had been injured.

We all rushed over to him as fast as we could. "Its all right." Coach assured us, but I didnt believe him one bit. We grouped around him, helping him stand back up. "Get your coach off the ice, we have to practice now." Stansson practically ordered.

We decided to leave the ice, which I was thankful for. I wasnt wanting any fight today, especially since we had our last game tomorrow,

Iceland vs USA.

A/N: oh my gosh, guys!!!! We are almost done with speed of sound! I appreciate you guys and all the support ive gotten soo much. Whenever I started righting this fic, I didnt think I would ever finish it, especially after school started, but you guys motivated me so much to keep on writing and get this done. I plan on trying to get around 5 or 6k for the last chapter, but since thats so long, im gonna split it into two parts. Im also going to try my best to write everything tomorrow if I dont have any homework, but im gonna try my best to finish it this week and start the second book this weekend!

P.S. I know the song I mentioned in this chapter was realeased way after the 90's, but I just put it because It fit with what was going on🙈🙈