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preparing for her first game against district five was a breeze. the hawks' expectations of the other team were low, especially considering that mcgill claimed their new coach drove onto the ice at district five's first practise. how good could a new coach be if they drive out onto the ice?
it was when the hawks were warming up for the game that leah realised the hawks didn't know the difference between encouraging each other and being outright cocky. they were too confident, and because of that they were just aggressive. in pairs, they were practising their shoves and hits. their gruesome shoves and hits.
"i'm not going to shove you, adam." leah rose her eyebrows pointedly, rolling her eyes as he groaned frustratedly.
"come on, leah. it's part of the game! come at me." adam instructed as leah defiantly crossed her arms and skated up to his face.
"i will not push into them and you won't either, adam. they're district five, give them a break."
"it's practise!" adam defended, preparing himself to argue with his twin sister, before leah glared daggers into his eyes - which he only rolled in return. "fine, i'll be gentle. you should be telling the rest of the team this." he scoffed in annoyance for his do-good sister.
before leah could open her mouth again, the voices of mcgill and larson echoed through the rink.
"hi girls." they teased district five with girlish voices, skating away in chortles as jesse hall tried to jump over the boards and attack them. leah sighed, looking at adam pointedly one last time before skating into coach reilly's huddle. i noticed that district five still didn't have uniforms, and i thought it was unfair the hawks teased them so much. they were trying their best.
"let us use this as a practise round, kids," coach reilly laughed cockily, "practise your pummels, your strength, your power. this is an easy win."
"what about strategy, coach? shouldn't we practise that?" leah piped up, lifting her helmet off her face. coach reilly sighed knowingly and shooed the rest of the team, excluding adam and leah, away.
"now, my star players. i want you to kick some ass out there, you hear me?" coach encouraged, looking particularly at leah.
"i won't play unfa—"
"you won't play unfairly, i know. but you two are my brains, brawn and beauty. the star duo. use your skill - physical and mental. got that?" coach reilly reiterated as he always did, and leah finally felt encouraged for the game.
"yes, coach." adam and leah chimed together, just as coach reilly chuckled and shooed the two away into their positions. adam and leah gave each other their good luck pat, tapping each other twice on the helmet, before going to their first places. as much as leah wanted to do it, mcgill did the first face-off. and, to no one's surprise, was unnecessarily aggressive.
