SOMEONE TO YOU, adam banks

³⁵to be determined

「 chapter 35 」
❝ no kissing in the locker rooms „

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

AMELIA FELT EXTREMELY AWKWARD just sitting in the locker room while waiting for her teammates to finish getting into their hockey gear. She was still sitting out of practice, but she didn't want to go out into the ice rink by herself because that would probably be even more awkward.

So, instead, she was awkwardly sitting on the bench, playing with the sleeves of the oversized Eden Hall sweater she was wearing (via Adam), and trying not to look like a creep.

"First Varsity practice," Connie said. "How do you think it's gonna go?"

"Hopefully better than our first practice last year," Julie said. "Considering we kind of actually practiced, I think it will, but there's definitely more people."

"Yeah, we've never played with them before. Hopefully we don't have to do trust exercises or anything," Connie said. "Not that I don't want to get to know them, but maybe we should develop trust and stuff through actually playing."

"Orion doesn't seem like a trust exercise kind of guy," Amelia said.

"True," Julie said. "But you never know."

They finished putting on their gear and headed out with some of the others. The familiar cool blast of air hit them as they walked into the ice rink and they were all glad to be back.

The team skated out onto the ice where Coach Orion was waiting whereas Amelia made her way to the players' bench through the entrance through the stands.

"Welcome back, Ducks," Coach Orion said as the players lined up in front of them. "There are obviously more of you, so this practice will be about getting to know each other. It doesn't matter who won what games, it doesn't matter how good you play by yourselves, if you can't play well with others, you aren't fit for a team sport.

"Now, I understand this will sort of be a new team, but for the first few weeks, you should be learning to communicate and understand each other out on the ice, as well as learning about your teammates' strengths and weaknesses. We must have a cohesive team that can work well together because we have a reputation to uphold.

"We have eleven consecutive state championships right now," he said, pointing up to the banners hanging above them. "If we don't get a twelfth one this year, the school board and alumni association are going to regret making you guys Varsity. You think you deserve this spot on Varsity?"

There were nods and some verbal responses from the new Varsity players.

"Don't just tell me, show me," said Coach Orion. "Not only do you have to prove to me and the school board that you deserve this, you have to prove it to yourselves. Have you guys grown past being just peewee players? Or was last year just a fluke?"

Amelia could see there was a clear distinction between who was Varsity and who was a Duck. They weren't intentionally segregating themselves, but there was a pretty distinct line between them. She kind of knew the Varsity players (and their strengths and weaknesses) and she also knew the Ducks very well, and she was sure they could work together.