SOMEBODY ELSE ⇢ LUIS MENDOZA [2]

eight

The next morning, the team were up early to play The Warriors.

After last night, Hailee's confidence had boosted, and she was ready to confront Luis.

"I'm gonna do it." Hailee told Connie and Julie.
Connie finished putting her pads on. "You're gonna talk to Luis?"
She nodded and smirked.

"Good on you, Adams." Hailee heard Goldberg say.
"Why the sudden confidence?" Averman asked.
"Last night. Now keep it down, okay? He's right over there." Hailee nodded her head in Luis' direction.

"Alright, team! Let's go!" Charlie clapped.
The Ducks cheered and followed Charlie out onto the rink.

Hailee stopped Luis and made sure everyone had left.
"Hey, babe, what is it?" Luis asked.
"We need to talk."
"About what?" He asked, as if nothing was wrong.

Hailee was still feeling confident, but felt as if she was about to cry. However, she held it in.
"I know about the cheerleader."
Luis furrowed his brows. "What-?"
"I've known for ages. But do you know what? I've been too nervous to say anything because I'm still in love with you, but you obviously don't feel the same way anymore, yet you still act as if nothing's wrong."

She folded her arms, waiting for Luis to answer.

At first, he didn't know what to say, and Hailee could feel the tears coming. She didn't want to do this, because she really did love him. She just wanted to get it over and be able to put her helmet on, because then no one would notice that she was crying.

"I'm sorry, Hailee. I should've told you, but-"
"Don't bother finishing your sentence." She said, cutting him off. "We're over." Just as Hailee was about to walk away, she spun back around on her heal and shot Luis an over exaggerated smile. "Oh, and by the way, Adam kissed me."

Before Luis could say anything else, Hailee turned her back on him. Although she felt pretty good about standing up to him and to piss him off even more, she told him about Adam, but she had to put her helmet on to hide her tears, because after all of this, she still found herself in love with him.

***

The first person Hailee saw when she skated onto the ice, was Adam. "Hailee. I'm sorry about-"

"Hey, Banksie! Stop socialising with the opposing team hottie!" Riley yelled as Luis skated onto the rink.

"Hey!" He shouted, making Hailee spin around.
"Shut up, Mendoza." Hailee snapped. She then turned to Riley and shot him a glare.
Riley chuckled and innocently raised his arms.

Averman and Russ looked at one each-other. "Damn." Russ breathed out.

Luis looked down at the ice, before skating to his position on the rink.

"They didn't tell me until it was too late." Hailee overheard Adam say to Charlie. "Believe me."
"Yeah, right, preppy." Charlie snapped.

"Okay, guys, concentrate now! Check! Set!" Riley yelled.
Everyone else got into position and waited for the game to begin.

Once it did, The Warriors made sure they were getting their point across. They were knocking over any player of The Ducks that got in their way, including Hailee. Luis tried to help her up, but she pushed him away. Little did Hailee know, that Luis was trying to avoid the cheerleader, because he still loved her. But now that he knew about Adam, he was also looking for the perfect opportunity to knock him to the ground.

Riley scored and The Ducks groaned.
The anger from Luis and The Warriors built up. Just as she was about to charge at Riley, her friends formed 'The Flying V'. She anxiously watched as they skated towards the jocks, and crashed straight into them.

That was all Hailee needed for the last string to snap. Seeing her friends being knocked to the ice did it.
Riley scored again and when he and Charlie were back in the center of the rink, she charged for him.

Hailee wasn't surprised that Riley took the puck from Charlie and pushed him over the process, but this just made it easier for her.

She skated towards Riley at full speed and crashed straight into him. Riley fell to the floor and Hailee took the puck.

Hailee could hear Julie, Dwayne and Guy cheering from the bench and the angry growls from The Warriors behind her.

A jock in defense began to skate towards her, but she held out her hockey stick and tripped him up. Hailee smashed the puck into the net and The Ducks cheered. At least they'd scored one goal.

After that, no matter how hard everyone tried, The Warriors were dominating them.

When Riley scored another goal and began to mock Goldberg, The Ducks had had enough.

"What was that, huh?!" Charlie yelled.
"Let me at him, Charlie." Connie growled.

"Oh, hey, here's one. You got a little problem? Come on, sweetie. Come on, take a shot." Riley tutted his head at Hailee. "How about you too, darlin'?"

"Stop calling me that!" Hailee growled, but Dwayne and Averman held her back.

"Yeah, cut it out, man." Adam told Riley.

Luis took in a deep breath and he narrowed his eyes at Adam.

"Come on. No? Huh? Maybe later, huh?"
"You want some, punk?" Fulton stepped in, with Luis at his side.
"Settle down, boys." Dwayne said.

"We can't win if they're gonna cheat." Connie told Charlie and Hailee.
"Don't show 'em we're hurt. Keep skatin'." Charlie said.

Hailee sighed. "I don't know if I can take this much longer."
"Hey, you've already scored. Don't lose hope, Hailee." Charlie reassured.