✔︎ 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, Charlie Conway ¹

𝐨𝟐. 𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐒

"ELIZABETH, what the hell was that?" he father shouted through the rink, sending her a disappointed look. "dad, i'm trying." she breathed heavily, bending down and picking up her hockey stick. "well, try harder! you're looking like a fish out there. you have a name to live up to! don't disappoint." he pointed his finger at her, before sitting himself back down. she only nodded, skating herself back to the rinks box.

she immediately sat herself down on the cold, metal seats. "don't listen to him, el. you're doing great." a voice whispered. she turned her head to face the voice, sending a small, tired look his way. "i'm just trying to make him proud, a." she whispered, shaking her head at herself. "eliza, you're the best player on the team. don't listen to him." adam gave her a smile, patting her back.

eliza only sighed, pushing herself up and skating back onto the ice. the cold air immediately hitting her body as she swiftly raced around the ice, hockey stick in hand. her eyes slow dragged towards the puck on the ground, watching as larsen stole it, rushing towards the goal. eliza couldn't let that happen. adrenaline kicked in, causing her feet to skate over to the boy. she quickly caught the puck with her hockey stick, dragging it away and shooting it in the goal. multiple cheers escaped her fellow team members mouth, supporting their captain.

elizabeth only smiled there ways, before skating towards the box. "atta girl, banks!" her couch, jack rielly, smiled. he slightly shook her arms, congratulating her, before letting the kids go. everyone nodded, making their way to the locker room and changing themselves to leave. eliza left without saying another word to her teammates, exhausted from today. she could barely speak, in all honesty. that felt more like a job to talk to someone, then anything else.

adam followed her to their fathers car, immediately joining her side. their father was already in the car, impatiently waiting for the twins. eliza, like always, let adam sit in the front. the favouritism for adam was clear in eliza's eyes. maybe, it was tough love with her father. but, something told her he simply just loved adam more than her. he never wanted a girl, nevertheless twins. but, he got stuck with them after their mother left. he seems to take his anger out on eliza, more than adam. it just toughened her up, she supposed.

adam took a seat in the passenger side of the car, while eliza took a seat in the middle back seat. the two buckled themselves up, without sparing a word with their father. he finally did open his mouth to talk, but only to adam. the two had simple conversations, while elizabeth just sat back and listened. the tiredness lingered over her, making her want to fall asleep right then and there. her stare slowly turned out the window, looking out at the icey weather of minnesota.

driving past the frozen lake, her eyes immediately caught sight of the stupidest team in the state, district 5. charlie conways team. her eyes slightly narrowed, looking at the team in disgust. quickly, the car drove off. she slightly frowned to herself, looking down at her hands. eliza was lonely. her only friends were her brothers, and the team. she had a lot of fake friends, and you could tell from a mile away that they were either using her for adam, or to get close to the hawks. she had horrible trust issues, from her mother, all the way to half of her friends yelling at her over stupid things.

she wouldn't call herself depressed. just sad, and wanting someone to understand, and be there for her when she needed. she loved adam, but he wasn't good at comforting people. she missed her old friends, her old life before middle school, before the hawks. of course, she loves hockey. it's her life, the hawks are her life. but, she missed the times when her old friends enjoyed her for who she was, not just so they could get close to annoying, thirteen year old boys.

what was the obsession with boys anyways? she always believed they were a waste of time, and not worth crying over. yes, she has had her first kiss, with someone who she'd be shamed to even talk about, if she ever even told anyone. the two both spoke about how they'd never tell anyone, and want to keep whatever happened, strictly in the past. it was one kiss, that'll never happen again.

the car seemed to come to a jolt all of a sudden, making the banks girl look up, to see random people looking at the car, horrified looks plastered on their faces. but, eliza quickly realized who it was. distract 5. "stupid kids!" her father growled, smacking his steering wheel. eliza flinched at his sudden anger, watching as he turned himself around to face her. "eliza, get out and go tell them to move! they're holding up traffic." he spat towards her, giving her an angered look. she knew better then to anger her father more, so she only obliged.

she thought about how truly stupid he was. they weren't the ones holding up traffic by running out into the street, it was her father who was throwing a fit. she hopped herself out of the car, the cold, crisp air immediately hitting her skin. she rolled her eyes at the sound of her father muttering loud curses throughout the car. she slowly started to walk forward, catching the eyes of the district 5 team. some sent small smiles, while some glared. by some, she meant charlie.

the other district 5 team members were nice to the banks girl. but, had to put themselves in a act of hatred for charlie, every time they saw eliza. "what are you doing, banks? tell your daddy to try and run us over?" charlie spat her way, crossing his arms as he towered over her, giving her a nasty look. she simply rolled her eyes, putting a hand on her hip. "get over yourself, conway. you were the ones who ran in the middle of the street. now, if you'd finish your little temper tantrum, and please move off the road before you get run over, it'd be appreciated." she growled, backing herself up and going towards the older car door.

charlie let out a fake awe, putting a hand on his heart. "don't want me to get hurt, banksie? how considerate of you." he put a fake smile on towards her, making her whip her head around to face him. "oh please. get over yourself, conway. the fact you have to act like i care, really shows how sad your life is." she smiled, before plopping herself in the car. charlie let out a scoff, rolling his eyes and ushering his team to move, which they did. her father started to scold her, even more angered that her little chit chat with the conway boy, wasn't quicker.

elizabeth only listened to his words, trying her best to block them out as she could. adam shared small glances with her, sending comforting smiles to her each time, hopefully to make her feel better. she wasn't sad, honestly. she was used to her father blaming her for a lot. she just wished he was different, and treated her like how he treated adam.

— AUTHORS NOTE
i'm sorry if this is boring or anything. i'm not trying for it to be, but i also want slow burns. their ofc is going to be a lot of charlie and eliza moments before they date, but i just want to add detail to the story. if you skip i understand cuz i get bored of this type of shit too