LOVE TO HATE YOU | c. conway

twenty-seven

andrea stood at the bench with fulton and charlie, staring out at her opponents. the chatter of the crowd loud in her ears, though she wasn't really listening.

"this is for hans." charlie said.

andrea gave him a sad smile. "for hans, for bombay, and for us." she said. "for the ducks."

after a pep talk on the bench, and their signature quack (which caught on with the crowd), andrea joined the rest of the starting lineup at centre ice.

andrea stood across from rick in the middle, the two taking their stances.

"you're gonna wish like hell you stuck with us." rick taunted.

"save the trash talk." she spat.

the puck dropped, and rick slammed her to the ground. she didn't let that stop her; charlie hesitated looking at her, and she yelled out, "go!" as she stood and chased after them.

varsity took a shot, which julie easily deflected. but like orion said, they always got the second shot; which goldberg, their newfound defensemen, kicked aside. julie covered it with her glove, the whistle blowing for a face off.

rick and charlie faced down. "why'd you come back?" rick asked.

"unfinished business." charlie retorted.

"we'll finish it for you." rick threatened.

the puck dropped, and charlie went straight for rick, shoving him flat on his ass. whether it was the trash talk, or the way rick had shoved his girl, it felt good to push him down.

andrea sweeped up the puck, ducking as cole tried to slam her into the boards. fulton was quick to jump on him, the group falling to the ground as varsity stole back the puck.

with another save by julie, charlie took the puck behind the net, rick body checking him

plenty of shoves later, charlie manages to ice the puck, and as the whistle blows, the ducks crowd around julie.

"way to hang in there." charlie tells the goalie.

guy comes to a stop next to them. "these guys keep charging. what are we gonna do here?"

"we gotta stand up to them." andrea says. "play a little defence."

charlie pats her shoulder. "atta girl. let's go!"

the ducks get their first shot, but the varsity goalie saves it. andrea rushes to the bench, switching off with russ who hops onto the ice.

she watches as a million shots are taken and a million hits are given out, but the ducks hold their own.

but varsity picks up the violence when they realize they aren't scoring. they even have to carry a loopy averman off the ice at one point.

guy takes a hard hit, and andrea is seeing red. the second period ends and still, nobody has scored. the ducks retreat to the locker room for the intermission before the final period.

"you're playing hard. i'm proud of you guys." orion tells them as andrea pulls her helmet off and chugs her water.

"it's gonna take a miracle for us to hold on." averman says.