"𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧, 𝙘𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧." // 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴

20 | a lesson taught

coach bombay blew the whistle for the millionth time as team usa sighed while they finished their third set of twenty sprints.

charlie took his helmet off to face coach bombay, "this isn't very much fun, coach." he gasped for air. "who said it was supposed to be fun?"

"you did." charlie replied almost instantly. "when you coached the ducks." coach bombay looked around, "well i don't see any ducks here, charlie. all i see is team usa, one loss away from elimination."

he turned around back to the rest of the team as liv prayed he was going to say practice was over, although she knew that was the opposite words he was about to say.

"twenty more sprints, let's go!" coach bombay blew his whistle as the team lined back up and started all over.

~

"you see, the nucleus adds to the..." liv was dozed out of the science lesson, struggling to stay awake. coach bombay kept them out until one in the morning last night, and liv's not the kind to fall asleep easy.

she fiddled with her fingers as a yawn slipped out of her mouth, trying her hardest to keep from sleeping in class.

after the class was finally over, liv stood up lazily, along with everyone else, except for luis. he had fallen asleep. miss mckay went to wake him up, her voice soft.

liv watched and waited for him so he wouldn't have to walk alone. he lifted his head up and stood up, grabbing his bag and meeting liv at the doorway.

~

the team was walking home as miss mckay came up behind them, "hello, kids!" she happily said, holding her clipboard in both hands.

"hey, miss mckay," julie replied, "what are you doing here?" she asked. "oh, i just wanted to tell you that tonight's practice is canceled."

liv let out a sigh of relief as everyone else's faces lit up aswell. "thank the lord, i need sleep after last night." averman said joyfully.

~

"one, two, three, four-" dean counted as the team stretched in the heat, bending down to touch their right foot. "if coach isn't here, why do we have to be?" connie asked as she switched to the other foot.

"we've gotta game tonight! we have to work out." dean explained. goldberg suddenly stood up, "i say mutiny, who's with me?"

dwayne raised his hand, "goldberg, i'm to tired for mutiny."

"come on, guys." liv started, "it's not like we couldn't use the conditioning." she found it quite stupid that they were acting like we were being forced to run a marathon when it was just stretching.

"speak for yourself, babe." dean grinned as he turned around to face her. adam stood up and took a few steps, "her name's olivia, not babe."

dean pointed a finger at him, "don't tell me how to talk, rich boy!" he shoved adam. "hey, portman, chill!" fulton yelled as everyone started fighting.

"hey, guys!" they turned around. "team usa! what are you gonna do today, a million jumpin' jacks?"

"this kid's crazier than me, forget about him" dean said before he went back to fighting with fulton. jesse and liv pushed through them, "hey, man, i'm getting sick of you!"

"and i'm sick of seeing the usa being represented by a bunch of whining babies!" the boy spat back. "well to bad you can't back up that mouth!" liv hissed.

"man, me and my boys could take you down anytime, anywhere."

"i don't see no 'boys'." jesse looked around.

"i got 'em waitin'. grab your gear and let's go play some school yard puck!"

liv immediately took up the challenge and went to grab her water and gear. she wasn't gonna throw away a time to kick some butt, or play hockey.

~

team usa and the other 'team' stood infront of each other, glaring daggers. "my little brother, russ here, has been telling me that y'all been choking, big time." an older version of the boy from earlier said.

"well your brother's got a big mouth!" jesse spat back. everything was silent and quite frankly, liv was scared.

"he does, doesn't he." the older brother grinned, "anyways, we thought we'd call y'all to see what you got."

"yea, and we already know you can talk to the press and sign autographs." russ said. "we can do more than that." luis told him. "well let's find out."

the game started by someone extra throwing the puck down and dean got thrown against the fence, the older brother of russ saying something snarky to him.

"come on! get him!"

more teammates of team usa got pinned to the fence and thrown around multiple times. "hey, ain't no whistles out here either! you keep diggin' until you score that goal!"

russ scored for his team, them celebrating happily while the ducks were trying to get air in their lungs. he got handed a water bottle, "and then you take a few breaths, slug some water, and get out there and do it again!" russ threw the bottle to charlie, which he drank some out of and threw it behind him, skating back onto the area.

"don't just stand there, come and get it!" james shouted as luis skated up behind him, "don't mind if i do!"

luis got the puck and raced full speed towards the goal, that was being used as a empty garbage can. he got the score, but then ran into the fence, falling to the concrete.

one of the other players came by him and helped him up, "hey hey hey, use the breaks baby!" he said with a smirk and sarcasm.

fulton then got the puck, shooting it toward the goal. although it bounced off the can and over the tall fence, landing on someone's car.

"eh, don't sweat it, happens all the time." james told charlie after seeing the look on his face. "excuse me! can you throw it back please?" charlie asked politely to the person they assumed owned the car.

"here, kid," the man said, "alley-oop!" he exclaimed while chucking it back over the fence for the teens to continue playing.

charlie made a score, liv making one right after. russ had the puck and flipped it on its side and hit it with full force.

it flipped through the air, landing in the goal. fulton skated up to him in amazement, "how'd you do that?!"

"that's my knucklepuck. it's hard to be accurate but it drives goalies crazy." russ answered proudly, giving him a high five.

ken had the puck now, leaping over people and dodging sticks. he then passed it to connie, who swiftly pushed it into the goal.

"alright!" ken triumphed, throwing his hockey stick in the air. "aw, you done messed up now kid! come here, i'm gonna get you!" james started skating up towards ken, who backed away from him quickly.

"nah, i'm just messin' with you, kid." he dropped the mad tone, "but listen, when a guy comes at you like i just did, do this. stick. gloves. shirt." he said, dropping his stick, taking off his gloves, and pulling the back of ken's shirt behind his head, revealing his back.

he fixed his shirt while squinting because of the sun, "okay. my turn." ken followed the exact instructions that were given, getting a fist bump at the end before they all huddled in celebration of making a lot more friends today.

as they were entering the bus, the hockey team they had just played was cheering at the top of the building, where they'd just played. "alright guys, go get 'em!"

"play hard!"

"you've got this!"

"good job today!"

the bus drove away as waves and smiled were shared through the window until their faces were no longer visible through the back of the bus.

"go usa."

<3.