SOMEBODY ELSE ⇢ LUIS MENDOZA [2]

six

"It turns out the whole school has come to see the once Mighty Ducks, I mean, rather, the, um, Eden Hall Warriors do battle with the Blake freshman Bears."

Everyone cheered as Hailee and her team skated into the rink. Hailee saw Adam sat down with the Varsity jocks. He awkwardly waved at her, but one of jocks hit his arm, and he immediately lowered his hand.

Hailee quickly turned away, hoping her eyes weren't too red, as Luis came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "How about we show off our 'Power Couple' move for the first time in ages?"

Despite her feelings towards him, Hailee wanted so desperately to push him away, but instead, she nodded.
Luis grinned and placed a kiss on her neck before putting his helmet on and skating away.

Hailee noticed Adam was watching and sighed. She put her helmet on and skated towards Coach Orion and joined her team.

"Gather around. Let's go. Hustle up. Come on." Once everyone had come over, he began. "Alright, think defense. Alright, hands in. Here we go."

The team began to quack, but the Coach cut them off. "Hey! The hell's that? Knock that off! Alright, 'Go, team!' on two. Here we go, one, two..."
"Go team." Hailee and her friends said, unenthusiastically.

"How original." Hailee said to Connie as they skated away.

Charlie scored within a matter of seconds. Adam jumped up and applauded, but his new group of friends pulled him down immediately.

"Alright, knock off the celebration! Act like you've scored before!" Coach Orion yelled. Hailee rolled her eyes.

The 'Warriors' were already winning 3-0 and they were still playing in the first period.

Hailee had hardly touched the puck. She still had zero energy and Luis and Adam were constantly on her mind. She didn't know what to do or say to either of them.

Luis took the puck from the Blake Bears and skated towards the goalie at his usual speed, meaning no one could catch up with him.

"He's got no brakes!" Dwayne yelled as Hailee watched with a grin on her face.

"I can't stop!" Luis yelled.
He put the puck in the net before leaping over it and crashing into the wall.

Hailee watched as some of her team members went to help him up. Although she still loved him, and she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't help but laugh.

In the end, Hailee ended up sitting on the bench for most of the game. Coach Orion switched her with Guy since she was hardly contributing to the game.

The game was almost over and the Blake Bears all of sudden were beginning to catch up. On top of that, Charlie had been put in the penalty box for snapping his hockey stick in half.

The team ended up tying with the other team, and the crowd wasn't happy. Hailee couldn't wait to see how their coach would react.

Hailee slumped onto the bench, trying to mute out her teammates, who were fighting.

Hailee was snapped out if it when the Coach walked in. "How long does it take to score a goal?"

Charlie ducked as he threw something at the wall. "Less than a second! That means no lead is safe if you can't play defense! 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 glared at Charlie.

"And you," Coach Orion spun around to look at Hailee. "what the hell was wrong with you today? I've heard great things about you and I was disappointed."
"Sorry." She grumbled.

"Practice. Tomorrow morning. 5:00am." Coach Orion announced. "Gotta get up early if you wanna hunt goose eggs."
He slammed the door shut and Charlie ripped off his pads.

"Hey, who took my clothes?" Guy questioned.

FRESHMAN STINK was written on the wall of the showers. In the middle, was the team's clothes, all but Hailee's.

She quickly got changed once everyone had left to find them. Once she was changed and found her friends, she had to stop herself from laughing. This is why I always put my clothes in a different place. She thought to herself.

"Oh, man!"
"That answers your question, doesn't it?" Averman said to Guy.

What Hailee was unaware of, however, was that The Ducks took on revenge on the jocks for soaking their clothes after the game.

***

"Hey, congrats on the Blake game." Riley said as he and his team approached The Ducks, who were all sat at a lunch table.

Hailee saw Adam behind Riley - he was staring right at her. She shuffled around uncomfortably.

"Yeah, right. We tied." Charlie remarked.
"Hey, a point's a point. We're all Warriors now. You guys proved your guts. You all set for dinner on Friday?"

"Dinner?" Hailee repeated.
"Well, it's an Eden Hall tradition. Varsity gotta treat the freshman to dinner. So, round up your posse and meet us at 6:00... at the Minnesota Club, downtown. Anybody need a ride, we can take you."

"No thank you..." Hailee grumbled.
"What was that, darlin'?"
Hailee felt Luis' grip around her tighten. She turned her head to see him glaring at Riley.
Hailee turned back to Riley. "I'll see you there." She forced a smile.

This jerk has the nerve to pretend he cares. Hailee thought, as Luis' grip then loosened.

"Y'all like steak and seafood, right?" Riley asked.
"Yeah, we do." Charlie said, as if it was a stupid question.

"Look, I don't like you pukes, alright?" Cole spoke up. "But this is a tradition. At Eden Hall, I learned to care about tradition.

Once the jocks left, Adam reassured them it would be fine, before joining them.

"If Banks says it's cool, we might as well go." Julie sighed.