𝔟𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔞𝔩 | 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗻

eleven: "i know the game"

"Uh Coach, shouldn't we have our hockey gear on?" Luis spoke up from beside me as we walked into the practice arena with the team. We had all been told to drop our bags and hurry to the ice as soon as we got to practice. The only thing Coach had us grab was our skates.

Bombay had actually been starting to grow on me over the last few days. He had devoted a lot more time to the team and much less to publicity and sponsors. He even burned that stupid cardboard cutout of himself that used to be in our team locker room. I got the honor of throwing the match into the barrel.

Russ had joined our team after some recruiting by Charlie and we had managed to beat Russia for a spot in the finals. Things were certainly looking up. 

Coach did though, find out about Adam's injury. I wasn't sure how but he was now benched. Of course, I wanted what was best for Adam, but the selfish part of me wished he could still play. He was one of our best. 

"Guys this is our last team practice, which means-"

"The return of Captain Blood?" Averman interrupted and we all laughed.

Bombay smiled and rolled his eyes. "No. It means..." He pulled a beachball from behind the bench and smacked it out onto the ice. "Let's have some fun!"

We all cheered and took off after the ball. Goldberg and Averman kicked it around while I skated over to Connie and Julie. 

The three of us chatted and occasionally hit the beachball whenever one of the boys passed it our way. 

"Bexley, what's up with Portman lately? It's been like three days since he's said anything to you." Julie asked as we skated around one of the goals.

"I have no idea. He's so weird sometimes." I took a second to look over to where Dean, Fulton, and Jesse were trying to help Tibbles maneuver on skates. It was clearly his first time. "I'm definitely not complaining though."

We continued doing loops around the rink and I kept stealing glances at Dean. He didn't seem any different to me. Other than the silent treatment he was giving me, it was the same old Portman. Although after what Charlie had told me, this was all getting very confusing. 

I turned away from Dean and was suddenly face to face with Coach Stansson. I yelped in surprise and dug the front of my skate into the ice, screeching to a halt. I tilted my head up at the tall man. "Uh, hi."

Coach Stansson glared at me, picked up our beachball, and crushed it between his gloved palms. 

"That wasn't very nice," I whispered as Julie and Connie hurriedly pushed me away from Stansson and to where our team stood. It was like a faceoff. On one side of the rink stood Team Iceland. From across the rink, I made eye contact with Crew. He started to smile and I immediately looked away. Fat chance I was going to forget what he had done.

Coach Stansson started to skate closer with his team following close behind. "Playtime is over. We have the ice now. You and your little rink rats must leave."

"We're right here Coach," Dean spoke up and we all nodded in agreement. 

Coach turned back to Stansson and smiled. "The only thing little was your career in the pros."

Some of my teammates laughed but this situation was way too tense for me to find it humorful. Kudos to Bombay for attempting a comeback though.

"Gordon no, let's go." The ever level-headed Ms. McKay grabbed Coach's arm and tried to lead him away. 

But Stansson fired back, stopping them both. "At least I had a shot. I was there."

"You were a disgrace." The two men stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Bombay broke eye contact. "All right team we're out of here. Let's go."