"NOW YOU LISTEN UP AND YOU LISTEN UP GOOD" Coach Orion began walking up and down. "We are here for one reason and one reason only." He stopped at Averman. "You know what that is? It starts with a 'W'"
Averman gulped, and picked up his enthusiasm, "to win, Coach Orion, sir!" Russ and Darcy couldn't contain their laughs but quickly put heir heads down when Orion eyed them. "To work!" He went back down the line.
"High school hockey is very hard work." By now Darcy gave up listening, she was just thinking about her parents back home in New York and how her brother and her had moved to Minnesota just to go to fucking school. Luckily Eden Hall had dorm rooms, but Darcy still missed her parents. As she was sure Violet did too.
"And it all begins . . . with defence. I've seen your tapes. I know you can score goals, I just don't know if you can stop them." Darcy shook her head at his words, what an ass.
"You're not kids or little ducks anymore so I'm not gonna treat you that way. You're gonna learn to play two-way hockey: offence and defence. It's gonna take one thing." He turned around and went the other way down the line, walking back and forth in front of them.
"It starts with a 'W'" he informed. "To work, Coach Orion, sir!" Averman puffed his chest out and yelled like he was an army soldier. "Wrong" Orion looked at him while Dwayne tapped his arm. "Will." He turned around once more.
"Yeah, whatever" Darcy mumbled, not really paying attention anyway. "It's gonna take real Will— if you wanna play in my barn." Darcy cringed at the sentence, it just sounded so out of context. Charlie kept doing laps, pushing harder and harder each time he went around.
"Count off. Let's climb the ladder." He told the teens, finally standing still. The ducks began shouting out numbers counting in threes. "Two" Darcy raised her voice a little.
"Who, all right, Banks. Let's see what you got baby. Come on. Bring it up." Goldberg stood in the goal as the rest of the team lined up while Adam took a shot at him, eventually getting it in the net. Guy went next, then Dwayne but he didn't get it in, then Averman and etc.
"Goldberg! When's the last time you practiced?" Coach Orion stood at the side watching. "Well, uh— we don't really practice per se. We either play or play around. You know, have fun." He skated over to the man.
Julie took his place as the rest of the team took their shots. Julie blocked almost all of the others shots.
Everyone entered the locker room, sweating their asses off. "Somebody get a shovel and bury me right here." Goldberg groaned as he took a seat on the bench. Darcy sat down, catching her breath as Charlie sat opposite her.
"I will teach you to play like what? Starts with a 'W'!" Charlie mocked Coach Orion, finally sitting down. Darcy tried to hold back her smile. "Wussies." Averman answered, sounding tired. "That's right. Wussies on offence and defence." He mocked again.
"Defence! Defence! Defence!" A few of the boys chanted, russ hitting the back of the bench with . . . well himself. Darcy gently hit her skate against Charlie's as she looked up to him opposite her. He gave her a small smile, hitting hers back.
"Eden Hall Academy requires you to maintain a 'C' average to compete." Coach walked through the middle of the two long benches. "I believe that's a bad rule." He added. A few of them acted surprised at this. "Go coach." One of them, she didn't know who, but one of them said.
"I don't want any 'C' players on my team. I want 'B's or better. Or your gonna be riding the pine pony." He explained, putting up a piece of paper on the notice board. They all sighed quietly. "Knew it" Darcy whispered to herself. "Now you got 15 minutes after each practice to clear this locker room. You got homework to do. Oh, one more thing." He turned around.
"Stay clear of the varsity until we play them in the J.V.- Varsity Showdown." He walked out slamming the door. Goldberg shook his head in a mocking way.
"Fifteen minutes? Man, I can not move" Russ slumped down on the bench. "Can I talk to you, alone?" Charlie filled the silence, everyone's eyes turning to them. "Can it wait? He posted our positions and everyone's here" she said awkwardly, her cheeks going pink knowing everyone's attention was on them.
She quickly stood up and walked to the notice board followed by the team. "I don't believe this, I play left side not right." Fulton scoffed. "I play right not left." Darcy shook her head, walking away to get changed.
"I'm not even posted" Adam walked up to Connie. "Yeah, you are. Adam banks, third line, centre— Varsity?" She turned to him. "I made varsity?" He turned away shaking his head. Julie had been put as one and Goldberg was two meaning he was backup.
"Hey, who's— who's Captain Tibid?" Dwayne asked as he looked at the sheet of paper. "Oh, that's Captain T.B.D. To be determined." Guy explained to cowboy. "Oh, oh I see. Well, no, I don't. That's your job, Charlie" Dwayne looked at him.
"Wait, you didn't get Captain?" Darcy narrowed her eyes, walking back up to the board half changed. "Bullshit." She scoffed, walking back to her spot and giving Charlie a sympathetic look as he looked down. "Anyone have a pen? I wanna scribble that out" she checked her bag, not finding one.
****
Charlie grabbed Darcy's hand as they left the locker room and the others looked at them, walking a little bit away. "What's up? Why have you been ignoring me one minute then getting mad about me not getting something the next?" He looked down at the girl.
She let out a soft sigh, fidgeting with her fingers. "I saw you talking to that girl before. You were smiling and laughing and I don't know what was going on, or if it was just nothing but my jealousy got the best of me and I— well I kinda just started to ignore you."
He nodded, lifting her head up so she would look at him. "She asked me to sign a petition to change the Warrior's name. I told her I was the new hockey team's captain and she just thought I was a jock like the others but that's all, okay?" He explained.
She nodded softly. "Are we good again?" She asks innocently. Charlie runs his thumb over her chin gently as his finger held her head up to look at her.
"Definitely, but you seemed to get really defensive when I was getting made fun of. You in love with me or something?" He joked. She stared at him for a minute, not knowing how to reply. She smiled, looking into his eyes.
