FINAL GO | adam banks [4]

back to square one

"volleyball meeting outside the rink?" scarlett mumbled, staring at the paper taped onto her locker. scarlett was confused considering she was the one who made the meetings unless the coaches had something important to say. she wasn't even informed about this one beforehand.

she walked up to the rink with her backpack, having to get ready for cheer practice considering the game was tomorrow. she furrowed her eyebrows when she saw aspen there.

"hey, what're you doing?" aspen asked as the two walked closer to each other.

"i'm here for volleyball. scarlett responded like it was obvious. "what are you doing?" she furrowed her eyebrows as the two walked down the hallway, closer to the rink doors.

"i'm here for basketball." aspen said and they both stopped walking. they stared at each other with furrowed eyebrows and parted mouths. "what-"

the two turned around when they saw all of their old teammates walking towards them. everyone was asking questions and was clearly confused. they all went silent when the doors to the rink opened.

and out came orion. of course.

"seriously?"

"funny joke, man."

"waste of time."

"welcome back, ducks. get your gear on." orion stood, clipboard in hand, in all his glory. "we've gotta get out onto the ice." he said making some people's eyes widen. most of them haven't even stepped foot out onto the ice since the beginning on sophomore year.

"you can't pressure a bunch of kids into joining your hockey team." scarlett crossed her arms, leaning against the wall.

"yeah."

"she is right.."

"yes, miss. anderson, you are very correct. that's why i went to the dean myself. we made deal,
you see. all of you are excused from after school work until the season is over." he said.

"well.."

"no homework?"

"that sounds like a deal to me!"

"so, what'd you say? give it a shot, yeah?" orion raised his eyebrows, opening the rink doors.

"i have practice." scarlett mumbled, turning around. this wasn't happening. it's going to be a repeat of the last three years. like a cycle. she can't get these people back just to loose them again.

"not so fast, anderson. you're excused from practice today." orion said, making scarlett stop and turn around.

"but i'm the captain, i need to be there."

"that's why i had the dean call it off."

"but there's a game coming up, we need the practice!"

"and so does this team, so get your gear on and get on the ice..now!" he glared around at everyone. "all of you, let's go!"

scarlett huffed, pushing past everyone to get into the rink. she hasn't been in here since the last couple practices they had before everything went downhill. she heard the new j.v coach was a volunteer with no coaching experience. she also heard half of the new team were all hawks during pee wees.

her and everyone else quickly got their gear on. they had moved to the varsity locker rooms, each of them having a locker labeled for them. new gear was sitting out at each locker. these locker
rooms were much better than the j.v ones. they looked like a basement that's been rotting for years.

no one said a word to each other from the time in the locker room to when they were doing warm ups on the ice.

"let me see your skills. let's see who stayed in shape, ducks." orion smiled victoriously as everyone sighed.