the only exception - kenny wu

2. dizzy

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arabella got out of the car with charlie, saying goodbye to his mom. even though her mom agreed to let arabella play on team u.s.a., she told arabella that she wanted no part of it. she also told her that charlie's mom would take her places that she needed to go, and bombay would take her the rest of the way. it wasn't unusual for this to happen, in fact, she had been in charlie's mom's car more than her own. 

as arabella followed her teammates out onto the ice after changing into their gear, she saw coach bombay standing next to some guy. they were talking about something, but her attention was torn away from them when one of the rink doors opened, and a bunch of other players walked out. 

one of the first things she noticed was that there was a girl, and she shared an excited look with connie. she mouthed 'finally', and connie laughed and nodded. 

the first guy stepped up, and arabella thought he was cute. the two of them locked eyes, and he smiled at her. it wasn't long before the man standing next to bombay started to introduce him. "that's luis mendoza, he's from miami. a real speedster, incredible. i clocked him at 1.9 seconds blue line to blue line."

luis started to skate around the faceoff circles, showing off his skills. arabella had to admit, he was a good skater. and according to connie, that wasn't the only good thing about him. "good looking skater."

averman was standing behind her, and he agreed. "very good looking. what do you think, guy?"

guy, who was obviously annoyed by connie's comment, told averman to shut up before elbowing him in the chest. this led to averman falling, and arabella had to stifle a laugh. 

she understood why guy reacted like this though. connie called another guy attractive while standing right next to her boyfriend. it was kind of low on connie's part, arabella thought. 

before anything could else happen, the man standing next to bombay started to talk about luis again. "there's one minor problem."

before anyone could ask what he was talking about, luis fell into the boards, letting out a small scream. the man explained, "has a little trouble stopping."

"you think?" arabella mumbled to herself, but fulton, who was standing next to her, heard her and laughed. charlie did the same, seeing as he was on the other side. 

the new teammates skated over to him and helped him up, and luis took his helmet off. "i almost had it that time."

arabella knew that he did not almost have it, but she decided to keep her comments to herself. she didn't want to seem rude, especially since it's her first time meeting these people. 

the second person to show off their skills was a boy wearing a cowboy hat, and he had a wide grin on his face. arabella looked over to fulton, who was staring at her with the same confused but amused expression on his face that was on hers. 

"yeehaw! how's everyone? y'all ready to play some puck?"

arabella smiled, he seemed really energetic and fun. maybe too country-ish for her liking, but he seemed like he had a kind heart. jesse made a comment, but the man, (arabella really needed to learn his name), introduced him. "that's dwayne robertson from austin. best puck-handler i've ever seen."

coach looked over, then corrected him. "you mean for his age."

"no, i don't."

arabella watched as dwayne started to play with the puck, moving it around. he made a few country-related comments, such as, "this is easier than roping hogs!"