Gonna Take a Miracle

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We're barely hanging on out there. Varsity are brutal, but at least they haven't scored. Walking into the locker room, I see a medic still looking at Guy. I thought the Iceland game was tough.

"How are you, Guy?"

"I'm alright, I can skate."

"Can he? Or is he being stubborn?" I ask the medic as I sit in my place - the others close behind.

"He'll be fine - his body temporarily went into shock. He'll probably wake up with bruises, but he's fine to skate next period."

Orion walks in. Like us, he seems defeated. I'm exhausted, so Dwayne let's me lean on him for whatever time we have before the final period. Fulton passes me some water as we figure out a plan.

"You're playing hard. I'm proud of you guys." Coach pats Russ' shoulder.

"They're cheap-shotting us to death, Coach" Luis leans forward.

"I know they are. I know they are."

"It's gonna take a miracle for us to hold on." Averman sighs.

I hate to admit it, but Averman is right. As if by magic, our miracle bursts the through the door.

"Dean Portman is awarded a full athletic and academic scholarship to the Eden Hall Academy." I jolt up and grab Fulton's arm. "I had this lying around the house in Chicago. My attorney thought I should sign it. I agreed. It's official, boys, I'm back!"

Fulton and I rush towards him to be the first people there. They lock hands and cheer as I jump on Dean's back. As everyone backs off, I get off his back and hug him.

"I missed you, Portman."

"I missed you too." Pulling away from hug, I slap him across the face. "Ow!"

"That's for making us wait so long." I say as people start to filter out of the room. "He's been pretty miserable without you, you know?" I whisper so Fulton doesn't hear as he walks out.

"That bad, huh?"

"Varsity asshole brought you up a few times to get to him. And me. We always defend you."

As we get to the ice, we're ready. We have Portman now - how could we lose. As Dean skates onto the ice, the crowd goes wild. It's good to be back. Now in position, I turn to see Dean talking to Cole, who laughs in his face.

"Look, it's the other Bash Brother. Ooh, I'm really shakin' now."

"So you're the big enforcer, huh? It's nice to meet ya. You know, we go something in common -" Cole cuts him off.

"Shut up! Let's play hockey."

"Whatever you say, sunshine."

"Don't waste your breath, Dean. He doesn't know how to have an intelligent conversation!" I call to him.

Surrounding Ducks laugh as Dean takes his position. This will be fun. The whistle blows and the final period begins. After separating, Cole yells:

"Let's see what you got, Bash Brother."

As Cole skates towards him, Portman just smiles and bends over. He sends Cole flying through the glass. It shatters as he lands in the crowd. Benched Ducks crowd the glass closest to them and the incident. I can hear Connie's gasp from the other side of the ice. Fulton and I look at each other before quickly skating over. When we get there, Cole struggles to get up as Dean laughs at him. I put a hand on both of their shoulders.

"Now that's clearing the garbage." Fulton is obviously impressed.

"Hey, man, we're just getting warmed up."

"God, I missed this!"

We all laugh as we skate away. Orion benches me but keeps them on. Seeing them together again makes me so happy. I haven't been this happy for a long time. Even Goldberg is being a Bash Brother. The game continues for a while and with 2 minutes left I'm on the bench again. Dean and Fulton head out as I help Dwayne onto the bench. Next thing I know, the whistle gets blown.

"Get up, man. Get up. I didn't do anything."

"21 white, 2 minutes, hooking." The ref announces.

"Give me a break! I didn't do anything! That's a dive!" 

Orion makes me his replacement. He didn't even do anything. I skate over to them as they head to the box and join Portman's protest. The crowd is pissed too

"Are you kidding, ref? He took a dive! It wasn't hooking! What kind of call was that?"

As we get to the box, I skate back to the bench and wait for play to resume. Dean angrily says:

"Alright then, you want to see a penalty? I'll show you a real penalty!"

He throws his things in the corner of the box before jumping on the bench and banging on the glass to rile up the crowd. Didn't expect this though. Almost immediately, he starts stripping as the band plays 'Born To Be Wild'. My mind is blown as I turn to the team laughing my head off. This feels like a fever dream - what is happening?

"Shake it all up, baby!" Goldberg shouts.

"Hubba, hubba, hubba!" Averman dances.

"Charlie, don't give up, man! They ain't that tough!" Dean screams as Charlie skates past, still removing gear.

"Yeah! Take it off, baby!" I holler, still laughing as he takes off a final layer and does a stupid dance.

This is the highlight of my life. Eventually, the game continues and Orion changes the roster again. However, Kenny and I accidentally jump of the ice too early. I guess we're joining Portman in the box.

"Too many men, ref! Too many men!" Coach Wilson screams.

As a ref comes to the bench Coach Orion shouts for Luis to come back and for me and Ken to go to the box. We fucked up at the worst moment.

"5 on 2. We're never gonna make it." Ken huffs as we get in the box.

"It's cool, little Bash Brother. We can hold 'em, man. Don't give up. Let's go." Portman assures as we sit down.

"I dunno, Dean. With our timing, we practically gave them the win." I doubt - now sitting on Dean's lap due to lack of space.

We know we're all gonna be in the box for the rest of the game. Dean wraps his arms around me as the game continues. It's almost unbearable to watch. I'm only half paying attention when I see Charlie pass to Goldie at the last second.

"Oh my god." I mutter as I stand up to witness it. I join the whole team in shouting, "shoot, Goldberg!"

The siren blares as we all celebrate. We did it! I can't believe it. Dean and Ken jump up and cheer. They stop for a second and question it.

"Goldberg? Goldberg!"

We jump out of the box and rush towards Charlie and Goldberg with the rest of the team. Goldie's already crowded when we get there so I latch onto whoever I can get to. I realise it's Julie and Luis. My head rests on their shoulders and we laugh and celebrate. Barely a second later, I get crushed between Dean and Fulton and Julie and Luis. This is one of the best feelings ever.

"Look what Bombay did!" Dwayne calls out.

I move away, finally able to breathe. Dean moves me in front of him so I can see what Bombay did. Eden Hall Ducks? Oh, he's good. Out of everything, I'm happier about him bringing Dean Portman back to the Ducks than anything else.



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