Athazagoraphobia | Adam Banks (3)

You weren't involved?

Lexi walked into the locker room with the rest of her team, the tension was clear in the room and most of it seemed to be because of Charlie Conway. The girl stood still not caring about anyone's anger, she was tired.

"The guy hooked me, all right ?" Charlie told them angrily, the girl reassuringly grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze letting him know it was okay, he looked down at her and smiled, seeming to calm down slightly and walk towards his seat, that was until Ken interrupted.

"We didn't need any more goals" the boy spoke causing Lexi to roll her eyes, the game was done, they lost they didn't need to talk about it they just needed to work on improving. 

" Hey, listen, I was trying to win it !" The boy yelled back as he released his sister's hand and walked back over to the group. Lexi gave up and took a step back just watching the drama unfold.

" Well, mission unaccomplished, Charlie." Averman spat as Charlie got in the smaller boys face. Lexi wasn't sure what had gotten into the boy but whatever it was she didn't like.

"We let down, simple as that" Guy said trying to prevent any arguments, Lexi was grateful that someone else had their head screwed on straight.

Connie walked past shoving the boy in anger "Hey, you let down. I played hard" she informed her boyfriend.

"Yeah, man, no heart," Luis told the boy,  Lexi was getting fed up, she felt like everyone was targeting Charlie, yes he stuffed up but they needed to let it go. She said nothing though, just stayed seated drinking her water.

"Well, what are we playing for anyway? Some stupid school, the alumni? I mean, Warriors,  what the hell are we now ?" Charlie said as he angrily looked at his team.

"Look, man, We're on scholarship. I'm staying." Russ said. Lexi could understand that most of the team weren't like her or Adam, they didn't have much money, a full scholarship to an academically excellent private school probably meant a lot.

"Fine, sell-out," Fulton responded.

That was all it took for the boys on the team to start pushing and shoving each other, Lexi's eyes widened and she sprung to her feet wedging herself in the middle as the two sides were split. 

"Stop it now!" she yelled in a tone that caused the team to freeze, the girl was never angry and she never yelled but her tone showed she wasn't playing around. She watched as Charlie released Dwayne and the boys all took a step back, standing on opposite sides of the room

Orion suddenly threw the door open as the group still stayed separated on the two sides of the room. Lexi stayed in the middle, not bothering to move back to her locker. 

"How long does it take to score a goal ?" Orion spat out throwing the puck towards the wall. Lexi was in the middle and in the firing line but before she could react Charlie had quickly reached out and grabbed her,  pulling her into his arms moving her out of the way as she collided face first with his chest. 

He held her tightly in a hug as he looked down at her with concern. The girl looked up him and sent him a smile before releasing him, standing between him and Guy, the latter shooting her a concerned look before turning to her coach.

"Less than a second! That means no lead is safe if you can't play defence. Now get this straight, I don't give a damn how many goals you score. I want one number on your mind: zero, as in shutout. You got that ?" He yelled as the team quickly nodded their heads.

"Practice, tomorrow morning, 5 am Got to get up early if you want to hunt goose eggs," the coach quickly turned to Lexi "Sorry Lexi, didn't realise it would get so close to you," he said before slamming the door shut.