the only exception - kenny wu

19. beach ball

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arabella was sad. 

it was the last practice she would have with team u.s.a., and she didn't want it to end. they hadn't played iceland yet, so it wasn't the last time she'd ever see them, but she also knew that the team was from a bunch of different states, so the chances of seeing each other again were low. 

she spent a while dwelling on this, but connie and julie told her it was time to go to practice, but to wear her regular clothes, so she got up and headed with them. when she got to the rink, she was told to just put her skates on, so she did. 

arabella was a little confused on why she didn't have to be in her dryfit uniform with all her gear on, but she wasn't complaining. 

everyone went on the ice, and huddled around bombay. arabella was next to fulton, seeing as she hadn't been with him a lot. 

luis looked at bombay, wondering what was going on. "coach, shouldn't we have our hockey gear on?"

bombay, who was also wearing regular clothes, looked at the team. "guys, this is our last team practice, which means-"

averman cut him off. "the return of captain blood!"

the team laughed as bombay declined the idea, and instead reached over the boards and grabbed a beach ball. "it means let's have some fun!"

the team skated to get the ball as he hit it away, and fulton pushed arabella to get it. she scoffed jokingly before skating towards him, stealing the ball that he had just gotten. fulton was chasing her for it, so she called kenny's name. 

"kenny! catch!" 

she threw the inflatable ball over to him, who caught it and passed it to guy. fulton kept skating at arabella, which caused her to try and escape him. 

when skating backwards to tease fulton, she noticed don holding jan's hand, trying to keep his balance. "i can skate!"

he skated for a minute away from the boards, but arabella saw him fall over the boards and scream a minute later. 

they'd been playing with the beach ball for a while now, and everyone was chasing averman to get it. he hit it away, and that's when the team noticed someone else on the ice. 

it was the iceland team, half of them in black jerseys, and the other half in white. the coach was standing in front of them, a long haired iceland player behind him. the team's trainer was next to the coach, and they all looked scary in arabella's opinion. 

"who died?" russ whispered to arabella, making her have to hide a laugh. 

"their happiness, probably," she replied, making russ have to hide his laugh as well. 

stansson picked up the ball, deflating it with his hands before throwing it to the side. arabella was mad at this. 

"not a fan of the beach? must be too hot for your cold heart," she sneered, making bombay look at her to tell her to stop talking. 

the coach and the rest of the team skated towards them. "playtime is over, we have the ice now. you and your little rink rats must leave."

arabella was about to call him a rat, but fulton put a hand over her mouth. he knew she would say something dumb. kenny laughed, and guy just watched with a grin on his face.

"we're right here coach," dean said, making bombay turn around to look at him. 

"the only thing little was your career in the pros." he seemed happy when he said that, and arabella almost laughed. she thought he was going to say something else was little. 

miss mackay tried to get the team to leave, but the iceland coach said something before they actually did. "at least i had a shot. i was there."

"you were a disgrace."

arabella turned to fulton. "that's what my mom says about me!"

bombay told the team that they were leaving, but stansson started talking again. "can you still move on the ice? play with me a little. show me the famous triple deke your daddy taught you."

arabella knew the coach would pull something, so she tried to call out to bombay, telling him no. but that's when he called jan an 'old geezer'. she was about to fight him herself, but fulton held her back again. 

somehow, stansson and bombay ended up doing three bar. arabella groaned, wondering why he couldn't just leave. 

bombay and stansson were circled around a puck, before they started skating. arabella and her team started cheering, trying to get bombay to win. the iceland team was cheering their coach on, and arabella noticed an iceland player looking over at them. 

she ignored it and moved her attention back to bombay and stansson. stansson had pushed bombay off, but this only led to bombay getting the puck. the two of them battled, skating behind the net, but stansson shoved bombay off, causing him to fall to the ground. 

stansson scored, and arabella groaned. "c'mon coach, you got this."

the iceland team cheered, and another round quickly started. bombay had the puck this time, and stansson was skating backwards. he scored, making the team cheer loudly for him. 

the third round was a lot more physical, and bombay hit the post again. he cheered before skating past stansson. "news flash, that wasn't even my triple deke."

one more post, and bombay would win. he had the puck, and was skating in front of the other coach. "by the way, you owe me a new beach ball."

after he said that, he skated away to go and score, but stansson took his stick and hit bombay's knee with it.

bombay instantly crumbled, his old knee injury coming back to him. arabella and the rest of the team immediately skated over to him, but arabella got there the fastest. "hey, bombay, c'mon, you're okay right?"

when bombay got up, stansson told them to get him off the ice, and that the iceland team had practice now. 

charlie and a few others had to hold fulton and dean back, but charlie realized he should probably be holding arabella back. 

he grabbed her, and pulled her back before she could do anything too drastic. she scoffed, before skating back to help bombay off the ice, making sure he was okay. 

the team left the rink and went back to the locker room to get their regular shoes on. arabella gave bombay her two sticks to act as crutches for the time being, and he thanked her. 

miss mackay told the team that she'd take him to the hospital, and the team got on the bus to go back to the dorms. no one talked to arabella on the bus ride there, they were afraid she'd snap at them. kenny sat next to her though, and she took his hand and traced the lines on it to try and calm herself down. it worked a little bit, but she was still mad at the iceland coach. 

she really hoped they would win tomorrow. that way, she could shove it in his face, and he couldn't do anything because of all the reporters. she only wished she could punch him in the face, but she knew too much was on the line.

connie and julie took her to their room, where arabella laid in her bed to try and calm down. it worked, and once she was a little calmer, she opened her phone. she saw a message from her dad, saying good luck on the upcoming games, so she thanked him. she turned off her phone, then put her head on her pillow. 

the last thing she remembered was thinking, 'i'm gonna fuck them up tomorrow.'