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Chapter 4: Teamwork

(A/N, PLEASE READ: If you have been waiting for an update then I highly suggest rereading the whole story because a lot of things were changed.)

 DJ found herself tied up with all of her new teammates.  Their coach watched amusedly as they struggled to give themselves space.  DJ shot daggers at him and fought the urge to wriggle out of the huddle and leave.  All she wanted to do was ice her bruised arm and take a nap.  But here she was, in her bulky hockey uniform surrounded by other sweaty teenagers breathing down her neck.  And since she's one of the shortest players on the team, she felt like she was suffocating.  She was smushed between Connie, Averman, and Goldberg.  She could feel Connie's elbow digging into her stomach and Averman's disgusting breath on her neck and hair.  She was close to snapping at both of them.  And just as she started to open her mouth, an awful stench hit her.

"Ew! What's that smell?" The blonde girl gagged.

The rest of the team sniffed the air and then grimaced.  The new kids were confused but the Ducks knew exactly who to blame.

"GOLDBERG!" The Ducks groaned.

"Did you fart on me? You pig!"  DJ yelled at the Philadelphian boy.

"It wasn't me!" Goldberg deflected.  "I swear!"

Portman interjected, "No, It was me!" He stated proudly.

DJ angled her head up at him and glared at him in pure disdain.  Portman just smirked at her at first but as she held eye contact with him, he gulped and looked away.  Coach Bombay decided to diffuse the tension.

"I don't know how to make this any clearer: You are a team.  And to win this thing, you have to work as one," He preached.  "Now as one, skate."

Everybody moved in different directions, which caused them all to collapse.  DJ landed on top of both Julie and Goldberg, the two goalies had unintentionally broken her fall.  She looked up at Coach with an unimpressed look on her face.

The man sighed at the group of teens, "Everyone goes their own way, everyone falls down.  Now get up and try it again."

"Alright, all of you move to your right, now!" Dean ordered.  DJ scoffed at his pathetic display of dominance, and apparently, Fulton wasn't too impressed either.

"Who made you boss?" He challenged the Chicago native.  "Everyone to the left!"

"As if I'd listen to either of you meatheads," DJ chuckled dryly while she tried to avoid the people coming her way.  Despite her efforts, she was propelled into the ice because everyone was trying to move in opposite directions.  Instead of one of her teammates breaking her fall like last time, she faceplanted harshly into the ice.  She felt blood pour out of her nostrils and coat the lower half of her face and her vision went fuzzy from her head smacking on the ground.  As everybody was getting up again, Coach noticed the lack of movement from the usually spunky girl.  And then he noticed the small stream of blood on the ice underneath her face. 

"DJ!" He pushed the other kids out of his way and kneeled next to her body.  The others caught on to what was happening and moved over to them.  "Shit!" 

He gently turned her over.  Her nose was bleeding and her forehead had a bruise forming in the center.  Coach Bombay picked her up and rushed her to the players' bench.  She squinted at the bright white lights and picked up her hand to attempt to stop the flow of blood coming out of her nose.  Coach didn't know what to do.  None of his players have been hurt this badly during practice.  In games, there is always a medic team on standby but not during practices.

"Charlie, can you watch over her while I call the hospital?" At Charlie's nod, Coach turned to the rest and instructed, "Luis and Adam, find Mr. Tibbles and Miss Mckay and tell them what happened.  Julie, find some damp rags and a first aid kit.  Everyone else... uh, head to the locker rooms, I guess."  He huffed and mumbled under his breath, "I'm so getting fired for this..."

When everyone went to do their respective tasks, Charlie sat on the bench and placed DJ's head on his lap to keep her head elevated.  The girl in his lap squinted up at him while he opened his mouth to talk.

"Uh, how are you?" He asked awkwardly.

"Fantastic," she deadpanned.

"Yeah, that was a stupid question," Charlie sighed.  "I meant, uh... like, on a scale from one to ten how bad is the pain?"

"6... and a half," DJ grumbled.  "But trust me, I've had worse."

"You keep saying that but I have no clue what you mean," he pushed.

"I do mix martial arts and occasionally street fighting.  Some bruises and a nosebleed are nothing compared to the shit that I get in a fight."

Charlie heard Tibbles mention that she did MMA in her introduction, but he never imagined for her to be into street fighting.  "Damn..." He mumbled with wide eyes.  The blonde just chuckled at his reaction.

Just as DJ was about to open her mouth, Julie came rushing in with a first aid kit.  And by the time the goalie reached the two, Luis and Adam emerged from the doors with Tibbles and Miss Mckay trailing hurriedly behind.