LOVE TO HATE YOU | c. conway

twenty-seven

and a miracle comes straight through the door; "dean portman is awarded a full athletic and academic scholarship to the eden hall academy."

andreas head snapped up, her goon of a friend reading off a piece of paper with his signature bandana across his forehead. a huge grin spreads across her face as her hands cover her mouth in shock.

"i had this lying around the house in chicago, my attorney thought i should sign it, i agreed. it's official boys, i'm back!"

andrea loved their fricken attorney.

she shot up, running to crash into dean in a hug. his laugh boomed across the room as he ruffled her hair, the rest of the team swarming them as well.

the third period was started with high, high spirits as dean skated out with them, cheering loudly.

as dean joined andrea and fulton at the centre line, cole taunted the new edition. "look, it's the other bash brother. ooh, i'm really shaking now."

dean had an eerie calmness as he smiled in response. "so you're the big enforcer, huh? it's nice to meet you. you know, we got something in common-"

"shut up!" cole interrupted him. "let's play hockey."

dean looked shocked, before grinning wider. "ha, whatever you say, sunshine."

the puck dropped, and cole skated straight for dean, who held his ground with a sinister chuckle. as cole rammed into him, dean ducked, pushing cole over his back and straight through the glass boards.

andrea and fulton skated over to him, andrea trying to hold in her laughter as cole tried to stand only to collapse.

"now that's clearing the garbage." fulton said.

portman laughed. "hey, man, we're just getting warmed up!"

the game resumed, andrea switching off with adam. dean and fulton fell right back into their old dynamic, slamming varsity down one by one.

luis slams into the boards after a shot, andrea wincing; apparently he was falling back into his old habit, too.

dean gets called for a penalty for hooking, and he retaliates by cheering at the crowd and jumping up at the boards.

he quickly escalates, pulling his jersey and chest protector off and getting shirtless. the crowd cheers, and andrea laughs and cheers too. charlie covers her eyes as dean flexes and waves his shirt around, and andrea giggles and lets him.

they get another penalty, five on three as orion calls for a time out.

"conway, jones... and goldberg. i'm going with you." orion tells them.

the three hop out onto the ice, andrea and charlie at centre ice while goldberg holds on defence.

two minutes are left on the clock. julie slides out of the net to make a save, but varsity gets the rebound. they shoot on the empty net, but charlie dives in front of the puck like it's a bullet and makes the save.

goldberg clears the puck. a minute left, and charlie is on defence against rick. it's intense, but charlie makes him make the first move, and sends rick flying.

he gets the puck, making eye contact with andrea, who's open at the blue line. he forces himself not to get lost in her eyes, and sends the puck her way.

she cradles it on her stick, turning and pushing herself down towards varsity's end. twenty seconds on the clock.

she knows they're behind her, but she doesn't look back.

ten seconds. she dekes out their defence.

she fakes left, the goalie sliding to meet her. she shoots it through his pad to the right.

she turns, reaching for the puck with her stick.

and she taps it in with a second left, right before she's tackled to the ground.

the buzzer goes, and cheering fills her ears.

andrea screams in joy, standing and tossing her gloves and stick down. she skates into the pile of her team mates, dean and kenny hopping out from the penalty box to join them.

she pulls her helmet off as charlie drops his and skates to her, grabbing her face. "i knew you could do it."

"i love you!" she breathes, a loopy grin stretched across her face.

charlie laughs, the two leaning their foreheads together. they stay like that for a moment, before charlie pulls away.

"you know," he says, "i think we've met before like this."

she feigns being confused. "really? huh, maybe you're right."

"oh, i'm definitely right. maybe we could spark your memory, recreate-"

she doesn't waste another second pressing her lips to his, the two of them fighting their grins as their team whoops and hollers around them.

"i love you more." he whispers before kissing her again.

AUTHOR SPEAKS!

AHHDISHAVEGSIWJDB and that's it folks 😔
jk i MIGHT have one more bonus chapter coming soon for you guys😏