Elastic Heart ➵ C.Conway

VIII. CHANGE OF HEART

No matter how annoying Riley could be, Sawyer hated seeing his big sister upset.

So when Sawyer sees Riley come home with their dad, miserable and tired looking, he knows he has to do something.

"How was the game, sweetie?" Sue questions as she stops making dinner to look at her daughter.

"Terrible." Is the girls blunt response. "Would you mind if dad filled you in? I need to take a shower." Riley gives a small smile to her family before she heads to her and Sawyers shared bathroom.

"Was it that bad?" Sue quietly questions Andrew, only to get solemn nod back before he explains what exactly happened.

~~~~~

Riley stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she went over the days events. She wondered if she should go back to the team with a coach like that. She didn't want to lose her friends and she loved hockey, but having a coach that makes the team cheat could make her completely hate hockey. Riley knew she couldn't let that happen.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Riley walks out of the bathroom and towards her bedroom, the only thing the girl wanted to do was sleep at that moment and not think about hockey at all.

The girl is literally ripped out of her thoughts as something small and heavy collides with her right side upon entering her room. Riley screams as she lands on her left side, her dirty clothes flying out of her hands and across her bedroom floor.

Looking up, Riley sees Sawyer looking down at her with a grin, only making the girl throw her head back to the floor in annoyance. She was tired and sore, could you really blame the girl?

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Riley questions the eight year old.

"Wrestling. Duh." The curly haired boy replies with sass. Hearing his sister groan again, Sawyer tries to explain what he means, "remember when we were little and would wrestle all the time? And mum and dad would get grumpy because we would destroy the house?" The boy asks his sister.

"Yeah, so?"

"We would laugh the whole time and not once be sad. And I don't like seeing you sad." Sawyer explains, smiling shyly at his big sister.

Riley could only look at her brother in amazement. She didn't understand how he had all of a sudden became smart, but she couldn't be more grateful.

A mischievous smile makes its way onto Riley's face, before she pins her surprised little brother to the floor. "I guess I have a title to defend."

~~~~~

"I can't believe he's actually going to buy us new gear!"

Charlie had somehow gotten Riley to somewhat forgive their Coach, and she was really glad she did. The team had been given the chance to buy proper gear, something most of them had never experienced. Charlie had explained to Riley and her family the next morning that Coach Bombay had come and apologised, before saying that he had also managed get enough money to buy them all gear. To say Riley was surprised would be an understatement.

"Yeah, he had a quick change of heart." Riley mumbled to herself as she stared at Coach Bombay, who was talking to the owner of the shop. Coach Bombay caught her gaze and smiled at the girl, but Riley was pulled away before she got a chance to respond.

"Look at this, Riley!" Charlie goes to grab one of the sticks off a rack, but when he does he knocks all of them over, causing Riley to double over in laughter. "Shut up." Charlie mumbles in embarrassment.

Riley only laughs again causing Charlie to huff and walk away from her.

~~~~~

The shop was in complete and utter chaos.

In one spot Goldberg was trying on goalie gear and falling over, while in another spot Jesse, Averman, Terry and Karp seemed to be playing their own game of football and maybe some... karate? Riley only laughed at her teammates before she joins Guy and Coach Bombay who seem to be watching Fulton help Charlie get a stick out of some sort of ice stand.

"Who is that kid?"

"Fulton Reed. He's in one of my classes." Riley says over the top of Guy, making the boy playfully glare at her.

"How come he's not on the team?"

"He only plays football. Some preppie school gave him a scholarship as long as he doesn't play hockey." Jesse butts in this time. "They don't want him gettin' hurt."

"I heard it was colleges," Guy finally gets to have his say. "He's been accepted to four of 'em."

"Yeah, but I heard he's got to repeat sixth grade." Goldbergs the one to butt in this time.

"Ah, shut up." Jesse tells the chubby boy as Guy and him shake their heads at their goalie before walking off.

"You know they're all rumors, right?" Riley asks Bombay, "nobody really knows why he doesn't play." Coach Bombay finally looks at the brunette, surprised she was willing to talk to him.

"Your not mad?" The Coach questions causing the girl to scoff.

"Of course I am," the man deflates at her answer, "but maybe I won't be if you actually coach us this time."

Gordon Bombay smiles at the girl in front of him before he ruffles her hair and playfully shoves her as he tells her to go get everything she needs.

No one notices as Peter finds the old news article of Gordon Bombay, the one of him losing a big game for the Hawks. Peter could only shake his head in disbelief, losing his last amount of trust in his Coach.