the only exception - kenny wu

22. campfire

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

a few minutes later, after a change was made, they skated back onto the ice. arabella was back on the ice with russ, connie, jesse, and guy. guy passed it to arabella, and she went in front of the net, skating with the puck. 

however, she passed it behind her, where goldberg was skating up. however, it wasn't goldberg. it was russ, and when he took off his helmet, everyone was shocked, guy gave him his stick so he was able to shoot. 

the iceland players tried to get to him, but it was too late. russ had shot, and the iceland team ducked out of the way so they wouldn't get hit. the goalie tried to stop it, but it was too late. the puck went in, meaning they were tied.

the clock ran out, and the ducks were cheering excitedly. the whole arena went crazy, and the team went over the boards to hug goldberg and the rest of the team. all they had to do was win a shootout, and they'd win the championship. 

arabella was nervous, she could feel her hands shaking. however, she was thrilled.

the shootout was about to begin, and jesse was the first one to shoot. arabella was silent, hoping he would score. luckily, he did, and it went behind the goalie. the team cheered,  but knew it wasn't over yet. 

one by one, the players, went. jesse scored, iceland scored, guy scored, goldberg saved, iceland saved, iceland scored. it was now fulton's turn, and he stopped before hitting the goalie in the face, scoring. arabella cheered for him, happy his shot made it in. 

iceland then scored, and it was 3-3. it was adam's turn, and with a deep breath, he skated, moving the puck around until finally, he shot and made it in the net off of the goalies pads. 

the crowd went wild. arabella cheered, and she saw the next iceland player. he had long hair, and she realized it was stahl. "gunnar, you can do it. come on."

he only nodded, and arabella watched as bombay went up to julie. after a minute, bombay swapped julie and goldberg. before julie left, arabella gave her a hug. "you got this, babe."

all julie had to do was stop this puck, and they'd win. however, arabella knew she was under a lot of pressure. she watched in silence, squeezing kenny's arm for support. arabella almost screamed when she saw the puck in julie's glove.

almost was a lie. julie tossed the puck in her glove, throwing it to the ground. arabella screamed louder than ever before, and she immediately ran onto the ice to catch julie in a hug. she tackled her to the ground, and julie laughed. "i swear, i'm about to kiss you!"

arabella didn't have her helmet on, so it wouldn't be impossible. the team huddled around julie, celebrating happily. they all hugged each other, and arabella got up after a minute. she saw stansson look angrily at stahl, but stahl looked just as angry as stansson did. 

arabella was forced to look away after fulton picked her up, making her squeal. "put me down, weedy reedy!"

"nope!"

he did eventually put her down when they went to shake hands. arabella said good game to all of them, and she watched stahl talk to charlie. maybe he wasn't as bad. 

arabella watched as adam handed charlie the flag, and as charlie ran with it on the ice, showing the crowds they had won. the team huddled with bombay, miss mackay, and jan, cheering and grinning. 

kenny pulled away from the group hug and turned to arabella, and he gave her a tight hug. she was a bit surprised, but she returned the same energy. she pulled away and smiled, and kenny wanted to kiss her. however, he didn't want to do it in front of millions of people.

instead, he pulled her into another hug. "you did amazing, ara!"

"you did too! you beat that guy up!" 

 fulton and dean pulled him away, cheering for their new little brother. arabella grinned as he cheered with them, and she turned to charlie. 

"nice job, captain spazway."

"thank you, ara," he said teasingly, taunting her with his eyes. 

arabella smacked him in the head, making charlie whine. "don't call me that."

charlie laughed, and arabella watched as charlie left to cheer with adam, and arabella immediately got tackled by fulton with a hug a second later. she screamed in shock, but then gave him a hug back. 

when they pulled apart, she noticed dean and kenny standing next to them. arabella grinned, and the four of them group hugged. "you guys definitely made it an interesting game."

they grinned proudly, then went back to cheering 'bash bros', making arabella laugh. she looked up to see everyone still cheering in the crowds, and she tried to see if the little girl was still there. she was, and she was waiting by the bench. she also noticed luke waiting near her, talking to the little girl.

while the rest of the team still cheered, arabella skated over, and she waved at the little girl. the girl introduced herself as lyla, and that she played hockey too. arabella gasped and smiled. "no way! where do you play at?"

lyla looked at her mom, and her mom answered for her. she played in anaheim, which was why she came to this game. arabella talked to lyla a little more before arabella had to leave, and she said goodbye to the little girl. once lyla walked away, she grinned at luke, who was still waiting. 

"that was a pretty sick game, bella."

arabella pretended to curtsy, then got smacked in the head by someone behind her. she turned and saw russ, who wanted to talk to his friend. "hey luke, like the game?"

he nodded, laughing at russ. "you got to do your knucklepuck, how'd that feel?"

"amazing! the look on those iceland giants faces was hilarious!"

they both agreed, and kenny skated over to tell russ and arabella that they take a picture with the team, so they had to leave. arabella turned to luke, realizing it would probably be the last time they'd see each other. "it was nice meeting you, luke. keep playing, you're a good player."

he smiled at arabella, face turning red with the compliment. "it was nice meeting you too, bella. stay cool, and keep trying to tell fulton that i'm single."

he winked at the end, and arabella laughed. kenny paused, and realized he misunderstood the whole situation. he smiled to himself, then waved bye to luke. 

russ told luke he'd be back in a minute, then left with kenny and arabella. the three of them skated back to the team, where they took a few more photos to celebrate their win against the toughest team. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆───

later that night, the team gathered around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and telling jokes, no one wanting the night to end. arabella sat with kenny, and placed her head on his shoulder. she looked up at the sky, where she could see the moon and a few stars, and she smiled.

arabella listened as averman played an acoustic guitar, strumming it lightly. he started singing 'we are the champions', which caused everyone else to break into song as well. the team swayed together, sitting on little benches. arabella grabbed kenny's hand while they were swaying, singing along softly.

she looked around, remembering the faces and smiles of all her teammates, the people she felt closest too. she watched them sing and laugh, and she looked to see kenny smiling down at her.

arabella was sad that this was her last time with the team, but she was happy with all the memories and friendships she made, and she accomplished a newfound happiness.

she knew that these memories would last.