𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗢𝗻 𝗜𝗰𝗲 || Charlie Conway

ten || jv vs varsity

The team was in the locker rooms, the game about to start. Amber was planning on just wearing a jersey from her old team. She wouldn't match the ducks but it's the best she could do. She pulled out her jersey but was stopped before she could put it on. She looked up to see Charlie who had grabbed her hand.
"Charlie, what are you doing? We gotta hurry up and get ready." Amber told her friend.
"I never should have said you weren't a duck." He began saying before Amber interrupted him.
"I already told you, it's fine. I'm not mad about that and you already apologized." Amber said looking back down at her bag to grab her jersey.
"Well, I wanna give you something. You are a duck now and this will show everyone that." Amber looked back up at him with confusion in her eyes. He pulled something out from his bag which had been next to hers. A ducks jersey with her name and number. Amber's jaw dropped. She hugged Charlie with excitement. "I bet you've dreamed of this forever. You know, cause of your obsession with ducks." He teased her about the jersey.
Amber pulled away from the hug and hit his arm. "Gosh, you really ruin every good moment, don't you?"
Charlie just laughed. Amber put on her new jersey and smiled.
"You look great, Am!" Charlie said smiling which caused Amber to beam even more.
"Oh my gosh! I love it, Am." Connie said sweetly.
"Same, it's perfect!" Julie agreed.
Some other teammates complemented the girl's new jersey too. She loved the jersey. Though Charlie was annoying, he was right. She had been dreaming of having her own ducks jersey for a while. She loved hockey and she always wanted to play with them. She never thought it would really happen though.
Amber skated onto the ice with her teammates for the JV vs. varsity game. Amber skated by their goal hearing the two goalies discuss who gets to be the starter.
"Coach says I'm the starter." Julie says as Goldberg is standing in front of the goal.
"Coach? I don't see any coach." Goldberg says with a bit of an attitude.
"We'll split the shifts. I want a piece of these guys." Julie says, Goldberg agreeing. Then, Julie skates away, Amber skating next to her friend.
They start to talk before being interrupted by one of the varsity players who Amber recognized as Scooter. "Hey, can we call it even?" He asked.
Amber turned to him annoyed, "We hate ties."
"Yeah, they're like kissing your brother." Julie said with a disgusted face, before skating away to the bench.
Amber followed, laughing as she heard Averman teasing the Varsity players. "Oh ants in your mask? Ah, it looks like you're a goalie for a dart team." Then the player grabbed Averman, which scared him into skating away.
Amber's attention was then grabbed by Adam and Charlie's arguing.
"They didn't tell me until it was too late." Adam defended himself about the dinner. "Charlie, believe me."
"Yeah, right, preppy." Charlie said angrily.
"Okay, guys, concentrate now!" Rick Riley said.
"First to ten. Full check." Rick said once he was in front of Charlie, the game about to start.
"Bring it on." Charlie said.
The game started. A player which Amber thought to be Cole knocked over Connie and Guy. He skated past them and scored a goal, causing loud cheers to erupt from the varsity team.
"Get loose, Charlie." Dwayne said.
"Come on, Charlie." Amber said.
Charlie called to his teammates, "Flying V!"
"I love when they do the V!" Goldberg said. Amber watched as Charlie led the flying V.
Then, the ducks got knocked over by varsity players before being able to score. Varsity headed over to JV's goal with the puck and scored. "Damn it." Amber sighed, while varsity was cheering once again.
"Come on, defense, let's go!" Julie said.
The puck was passed between the two teams, neither scoring. Charlie skated by the bench and Julie stopped him. "Try the triple deke." She said, and with that he skated away. Amber skated after him, finally getting on the ice. Charlie shot the puck towards varsity's goal but it was stopped by the goalie and they still had no scores.
Varsity took the puck and skated to JV's goal. A varsity player pushed Goldberg away from the goal and Rick scored, saying "Quack, quack, quack, Mr. Goalie Boy."
"What was that, huh?" Charlie asked angrily, pushing Rick. All the players skated over to them.
"Let me at him, Charlie!" Amber said.
"You got a little problem?" Rick asked. "Come on, sweetie. Come on, take a shot. Come on. No? No? Huh? Maybe later, huh?"
Charlie pushed their way out of the varsity players and skated away with Amber.
"We can't win it they're gonna cheat." Amber complained.
"Don't show 'em we're hurt. Keep skating" Charlie said.
"Banks! Get him, Banks!" Rick said, to Adam who was trying to keep Charlie from scoring.
"Damn it, Banks!" Charlie yelled. Charlie tackled Adam into the goal.
Then, Adam and Charlie began fighting and arguing.
"Get off me, Charlie! Get off!" Adam yelled at the boy who used to be his best friend.
"How do you like it, Banks?" Charlie yelled in anger.
"Yeah, nice takedown. You'd be in the box." Adam yelled back.
"Go cry to your rich parents!" Charlie said.
Amber skated towards the two boys and Henry skated to his sister. He grabbed his sister's arm. "Am, don't go over there. We should just head home. Mom will get mad and-"
Amber shoved her brothers arm off of her, "Don't tell me what to do, Henry!" She yelled. "You know what mom would be mad about? You being a sucky older brother and not telling me what would really happen if I went to that dinner. You just lied instead. God, don't act like you're a good protective brother but guess what! You're not! Now get the hell away from me, Henry."
All the players were yelling and fighting. That was before the lights flickered on and Coach Orion came in blowing the whistle and yelling. "FREEZE!" He skated towards the players, "Hey! Hey! Break it up! Break it up now! Hey!" He grabbed one of the varsity players, "It's a damn good things I'm not your coach. Now, get your team out of here, now! Varsity team, out! Let's go!" He continued yelling at the varsity team to leave.
A varsity player yelled "This ain't over!"
"Get outta here!" One of the ducks yelled back.
"We're gonna destroy you guys!" Cole said, Rick pointing at the ducks.
"Shut up!" Amber yelled.
"Well, congratulations." Coach Orion said.
Oh great, here comes another lecture. Amber thought, probably like what most of her teammates were currently thinking.
"You just forfeited whatever mental edge you might have had over the varsity. Now they know they own you. This isn't the Peewees. Your little Duck tricks are not gonna work at this level. Now, for the last time, stay away from the varsity. And get those Duck jerseys off now." Then he just kept yelling about how the duck jerseys needed to come off. "The Ducks are dead." He said, looking directly at Charlie who hadn't taken off his jersey yet. He just crossed his arms and stared at the coach. Amber began to take hers off sadly. "You got two choices, Conway. Take off the jersey right now or you don't play."
"You're breaking up the best thing any of us ever had." Charlie said angrily.
"Well, it's time to grow up." Coach Orion said, still looking at Charlie and Fulton.
"Grow up? Like you, huh? A washed-up pro who has to show off to a bunch of kids. Geez, that's real grown up." Charlie said skating over to the coach, still not taking his jersey off.
"Okay, good bye, Conway." Coach Orion said. Amber looked down sadly. "Anybody else?"
Amber looked back up, looking around to see if anyone else would be leaving. That's when she saw Charlie, a sad look in his eyes, staring at her. She wanted to leave with him so badly, to stand with him and defend the team that she loved so much, that welcomed her so kindly. But she knew she couldn't. It could jeopardize her future with hockey and her education. Also, her parents would get really mad at her. She couldn't go with him. But someone did, Fulton Reed skated away with Charlie too.
"All right, Good bye, Fulton." Coach Orion said.
"No one's forcing any of you to be here. It's your lives. You decide what to make of them." Coach Orion said, making Amber want to leave even more, but she knew to resist the urge. She watched sadly as Fulton and Charlie vanished. "All right, twenty laps, then hit the showers."
The team did what their coach had said, leaving the jerseys behind. Amber was sad as she left her new jersey behind in a pile. She might never see the boy who had given it to her again and that would've been her only reminder.