the only exception - kenny wu

17. arson

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the game went by surprisingly fast, and they won. after the game, bombay took the team outside, where there was a bench for them and a cardboard cutout of bombay.

"hey, coach, can i have that for my room?" arabella asked, looking at the cardboard cutout.

he looked at her weirdly and shook his head. "no."

bombay then turned to the team, picking up the cardboard version of himself. "i've had a lot of big distractions since i've been here in l.a. this is a distraction."

the team laughed, and teased him about it. bombay handed the cardboard cutout to jan, hans's brother. arabella wondered how he got here, but she gave him a hug earlier. bombay then lit a match, throwing it into the barrel.

"arson isn't trendy anymore, bombay. that was 2020."

fulton shoved her shoulder, laughing. bombay turned to the team, grabbing the cutout. "this is a fire in a barrel."

he folded the cutout before putting it into the fire. "this is a distraction in a barrel. any questions?"

arabella rose her hand, but bombay didn't acknowledge it. the team started cheering for him, clapping as the cardboard folded into the flames. 

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they didn't have a game the day after, but the team was still picked up by the bus and taken to the rink. it wasn't the main rink they played at, but a practice rink in the same area. 

the team took the rest of the day prior to nap and study iceland, their biggest competition. they had beaten the canadian team, and iceland lost to russia, so they were tied. they had to play russia, and if they won, they'd play iceland.

now, they were on the ice, and they watched as jan set up a bunch of cans for luis. "luis, your speed is a great weapon. now you must learn to harness it."

luis skated in a circle before skating towards the cans. he tried to stop, but he fell, knocking over all the cans. 

arabella watched as jan regretted his decision, but bombay got the team to do some drills that were pretty funny. they were climbing on the ice, and bombay watched as he was talking. 

then, he took them to the workout room, where they were running on treadmills. arabella loved treadmills, they were fun to run on. she and charlie were trying to see who could run the fastest, and arabella won easily. she laughed as coach joined the treadmill with goldberg, asking how he was feeling. 

"lean and mean, coach!" 

after that, the team went back onto the ice, working on their shooting as goldberg stood in the net. 

arabella took a break from shooting and laughed. "hey coach! remember when you tied goldberg to the post?"

bombay laughed, and goldberg did too. "very funny, bella. you guys left me!"

after a few minutes of that, the team went to the locker room to get out of their gear, and bombay took them to get drinks from the snack station. they walked through the locker room to leave, and dean called out to adam. the rest of the team left, adam saying he'd be there in a minute.