Illicit Love | Charlie Conway

That's an insult to girls

Annabelle sat on the bench with her team, Reilly leading them in their trademark win chant. The young girl wasn't stressed, district five sucked. 

Her eyes drifted to the opposing team, their pads were newspaper, and they had no uniform or proper helmets. She almost felt bad. Almost.

"Look" the girl giggled nudging her brother and motioning to the team who were attempting to perform the win chant. It was clear even they knew they weren't going to win.

Adam snickered, shaking his head "losers" he teased before hopping over the bench towards his position.

Belle made eye contact with Charlie "Good luck" she called, making him smile, quickly she changed her attitude as she remembered who she was.

"You losers will need it" she mocked, jumping over the bench, ignoring the insults from the tiny greasy district 5 boy named Peter.

"Let's go Adam" her dad cheered making her sigh and roll her eyes in annoyance although deep down it really stung.

The girl skated over to her brother as he stood with Alex and Dave, the boys all giving her a small smile as they began to prepare for the beginning of the game.

"Hey Addy, can you touch my arm? I want to see if I'm invisible" she spoke dramatically, the boy looked down at her and snickered as he reached out informing her she was most definitely not invisible.

Belle laughed it off, making eye contact with her father and sending him a sarcastic wave watching as his eyes widened, it was clear he had just realised he had forgotten to get his youngest child.

The girl turned to her brother "one day I'll be good enough for him to love, I just have to turn into you" she joked. 

Adam looked down at the girl, sadly. Her tone showed humour, but her eyes showed pain "Belly" he began softly.

She quickly shook her head, sending the boy a grin as she tapped his helmet with her stick, Adam grinned fondly copying the gesture.

"Hi girls" Alex teased making Belle roll her eyes as she overheard him, she shared a look with Adam who had pretended not to notice.

"Don't call them girls" The younger girl defended as she approached, she noticed the glare of her friends and quickly cleared her throat as she continued.

"That's an insult to girls, call them garbage" Belle laughed, skating away as Jesse Hall lunged at her.

"Right, sorry Anna-Banana" Alex smiled, holding his hand out for a high five, the girl looked at his hand, a smile on her face as she skated away.

"What's this the oreo line?" McGill teased as Jesse, Terry and Guy skated up. 

Jesse tried to attack the bigger boy as Guy, and the referee kept the boy back. The girl rolled her eyes dramatically at McGill's racist words before she looked around the ice.  

Her eyes landed back on her target, a smile instantly spreading across her face as they made eye contact.

"Hi" she whispered quietly, sending a discreet wave to her best friend. 

The boy sent her a smile back before moving to stand back between his teammates.

Belle had been keeping a secret from her Hawks teammates; she'd been friends with Guy Germaine since she was 4, the pair meeting in the park one day when they were little and having endless adventures together behind their team's backs, it just wasn't worth the drama if they knew. 

Guy knew the real Annabelle Banks, and he had for the past 6 years. He was the only person that loved her for who she was.

That's why the girl found herself reaching up and harshly slapping McGill's helmet as he insulted one of the only people she truly cared about.