Found Family [1] || G. Germaine

1「changes」

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

Willow was doing what she did every Thursday night. Hockey. Every day before practice she tried convincing herself it wasn't that bad, and every practice, it was that bad. Excruciating drills with little to no breaks, watching her teammates have fun and mess around during those rare breaks, as she silently sat alone. When Adam would notice it was a particularly hard day for Willow, he would accompany her, help her with skating tricks or run through plays together. Willow would prefer he didn't because she knew if any of the guys asked, Adam would just say he felt bad for her. She didn't want any of the guys to think she was soaking up Adams pity points any chance she got.

Willow was content with being on her own, though, you pretty much learn to be as an only child with busy parents. Not having the guys distract her let Willow work on her skills; that's why she was one of the best stick handlers on the Hawks, even better than Adam (although no one but her parents would agree with her).

The team was in the middle of practicing the new plays Coach had given them -- which were good but overly simplified in Willow's opinion -- when the Coach of District 5 and another taller man stepped into one of the benches.

She didn't notice them, too wrapped up in making sure her teammate, Jason, would catch the pass, at least that was true until her last name was called.

"Banks and Pearson!" Willow turned towards her Coach, then to Adam, he shrugged at began skating off to the bench, Willow not far behind.

When they had both arrived to the bench, Coach Reilly looked to Adam, then Willow, then to some paper he was holding. Adam's father had seemed to make his way down from the stands to see what the commotion was. None of Willow's parents could make it, as usual, not that she minded since it was just practice. It wasn't necessarily her parent's fault, either; her family simply wasn't as rich as the Banks were, couldn't afford the extra time off.

"Is there a problem, Coach Reilly?" Adam's father asked.

"No, no, it's just a mistake, Mr. Banks." Coach said, handing back the paper to the tall man standing next to Coach Bombay.

"Are you the father of these one of these two, uh, address 450 North Hennepin Avenue or 455 North Hennepin Avenue?" The taller man asked Mr. Banks.

"I'm the boy's father, the first address" Mr. Banks answered. Willow was confused, were they in trouble? She certainly did nothing, but perhaps Adam had? Though she doubted that, he wasn't one to step out of line.

"Well then," The tall man sighed, "I'm afraid there is no mistake. These two kids are playing for the wrong team."

"What?"

"I don't understand."

The two young Hawks players said at the same time.

"According to league rules, Adam Banks and Willow Pearson should be playing for District 5." Willow's eyes widened

District 5? Am I dreaming?

"My son is a Hawk, not a Duck." Mr. Banks had spat the word Ducks as if they were a lesser life form. Willow was honestly revealing in the torture this situation already seemed to be putting him through.

Coach Reilly turned too Bombay, "ls this your doing, Gordon?"

"I'll expect to see him at our next game." Willow was thrown off with that statement. She hadn't thought they were going to change teams so far into the season; the championship games weren't even that far away.

"We'll have a uniform waiting for you." Bombay nodded to the both of them.

"No way." Willow quickly turned to look at Adam, somewhat scrutinizing him with her gaze. He looked confused, but also -- or at least what she believes to have seen -- disgust. Whatever he was feeling quickly turned to panic at his father's next words.

"My son would rather not play, than play for your team."

Willow had quickly nudged his shoulder, affirming him that everything would work out before he could dive too deep into a rabbit hole. It didn't appear to help a whole lot. Coach Reilly had sent them off to practice plays before he made his way after Bombay. Willow didn't pay much attention to the rest of practice thought, too busy stuck in her head while simultaneously trying to keep Adam from getting stuck in his.

One factor that did help the time go fast, was knowing that this was her last ever practice with the Hawks. She was finally getting off this goddamn team.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

"This blows" Adam complained as he threw down his gear.

Mr. Bank had decided to call Adam off the ice early, inviting he needed to solve this problem as soon as possible. The Banks were Willows ride, so she happily skated off the ice early.

"You're blowing this out of proportion," Willow pulled off a skate and reached for her skate guard.

Adam stopped at gave her a deadly look, one she bet he learned from his father no doubt, "You wouldn't understand."

Willow scrunched up her face, "The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"You do this for fun; for you, it doesn't matter what team you're on or how good they are." Adam grumbles, "It's different for me. The scouts aren't going to take me seriously on some team like District 5."

"You think I do this for fun?" Willow scoffed. "Yeah, sure, I put up with a bunch of snobbish boys who think they're better than me just because I'm a girl. I push myself to the max for a coach who doesn't even like me, just so I can have fun. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."

"You know that's not what I meant." Willow looked to Adam, sighing as she saw his crestfallen face.

"I know." Willow zipped up her bag and moved to stand from the locker room bench, "We're only in the sixth grade, Adam. You don't need to worry about that yet."

Adam grumbled something along the lines of "tell that to my dad" as Willow made her way to the door.