𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 / 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨

"yes the castle"

( if you're reading this book for the first time, please keep reading i promise it gets better. i wrote the first few chapters when i was 13 and they're *very* cringe )

"So you ready for the game tonight Ella?"

I turned around to come face to face with Adam Banks. "Pu-lease. I could beat these guys with my eyes closed and one arm tied behind my back." I snorted, slamming my locker shut and grabbing my hockey bag.

"Oh cocky today I see." He smirked and shook his head in a 'tsk tsk' sort of way.

Today was the first game of the hockey season. We were playing District 5. An easy win as always. Then again we had won the state championship for like years in a row. I was a Hawk and proud of it.

"Well I mean we are like best team in the state so..." I started to walk out with him on my heels.

"Damn right we are!" McGill popped his head up from zipping up his bag and ran over to Adam and me. "I hope I knock someone out again."

I punched him in the arm. "Violence isn't always the answer douchebag."

McGill now rubbing his arm looked at me with a gaping mouth. "But- you just... you-"

"Cat got your tongue?" Adam and I laughed high fiving each other.

Soon we had split off from McGill and Adam and I got into his dad's car. We lived right next to each other so car pools were common.

"Hey guys how was practice?"

We both responded with good and fine. The rest of the ride was pretty quiet with the exception of Adam and his dad exchanging a few words.

Right before I walked into my house Adam called out to me.

"Yes?"

"See you tonight!"

_

I watched District 5 warm up which mostly consisted of tripping over each other and losing the puck. No one seemed to know what to do.

Adam skated over next to me. "So how does the competition look this game? Think we can beat 'em?"

I elbowed him and he just smirked. My gaze was quickly switched to a puck coming our way from District 5's side. Adam stopped it. "Watch this."

He shot the puck as hard as he could towards their net. The goalie swiftly jumped out of the way and it went in.

"Hey what's the big idea?" A small player skated over to us followed by two others.

"Who are you?" I asked dully, not interested in getting into drama with these people.

"I'm Jesse. This is Terry and Guy." They both gave Adam and me cold stares.

"Okay then." Adam chuckled and we both skated towards the sound of Coach Reilly calling us over.

"Alright Hawks! I wanna see us racking up points every play got it? No way should these pansies even get one point okay?"

We all nodded and looked at each other with our tough faces on.

"Ella you got the face off."

I smiled and we started our cheer. "WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN!"

I heard District 5 lamely chanting the same thing and laughed to myself.

Once we skated out I took my position in the middle to start off. That kid, Jesse I believe, was the one I was facing off against.

"Fancy meeting you here." He said smartly and I rolled my eyes, determined not to lose focus. The ref dropped the puck and I immediately passed it to a teammate. He passed it to Adam who hit it right into the goal. We all cheered as I watched the goalie get up from where he had dropped to the ground. His coach was scolding the team but it didn't seem like they cared much.

Most of the game was like that. They fell down or we knocked them down, we scored, their coach yelled and we cheered. At one point I got kind of irritated with Adam and McGill for being so aggressive.

"Guys quit acting like little kids. They're not even going for the puck. Why do you have to knock them down?"

They both looked at each other before McGill answered. "It's good practice for when we play real competition."

He skated away and Adam shrugged and followed. I rolled my eyes and skated to my position. When was this game over? I looked up at the score board. 2 minutes. Thank the lord.

_

Buzz!!!!

The game was over. We won of course. I untied my skates and pulled them off. I could tell someone was staring at me. I snapped my head up to reveal Adam and his blue eyes looking into mine.

"What do you want?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Well you are my ride home. And I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

"Well yeah you seemed pretty upset earlier."

I sighed. "I wasn't mad it's just I feel kinda bad for them. As much as I hate them imagine being on that team."

Adam shuddered. "I don't want to."

I laughed. "You know what I mean Banks."

"Sure I do Silverton." He paused. "Are you almost ready? Your mom seemed kind of irritated when I last saw her... 10 minutes ago.

I groaned. "Oh boy."

We walked through the locker room together. Once we stepped outside I got an idea. Before Adam could do anything I jumped on his back. He stumbled but grabbed onto me. "Onward to the castle my noble stead!"

He rolled his eyes. "You mean your mom's car?"

I nodded. "Yes the castle."

He stepped in the direction of mom's dark green van. When she looked up from the book she was reading her eyes widened. "Adam be careful with my daughter!" She yelled out the now open window.

"Tell her that." I heard him mumble. "She jumped on me!" He yelled this time.

"I did no such thing!" I acted shocked as Adam set me down by the car.

My mom smiled and unlocked the car. We both got in, throwing our things into the back seat.

"So how many goals did you each score?"

"Eh about 10 each. Don't you think so Ella?" Adam looked at me expectantly.

"Something like that." I rolled my eyes with a grin.

_
Ahh I love Adam and Ella's friendship! I promise the Ducks will have a much bigger part in the upcoming chapters. PLEASE don't forget to vote and comment because I love posting way more often when people like it:)