Callie
"Callie! Wake up! We have a game today!" Charlie yelled while pushing me back and forth to wake me up.
"Oh man yeah!" I said as I got up from bed. I took a quick shower, got dressed and got all my stuff.
"Kids let's go!" Mom called. Charlie and I ran out and we were off.
When we got to the rink there was another team who looked tougher than us. They had jerseys for crying out loud! It took me a while to clearly see their team name on their jerseys. Hawks. We were playing the Hawks today.
"How are we supposed to beat this team?" I whispered to Charlie.
"We're not." He whispered.
"We're gonna get creamed." I sighed as we walked on.
When we got to the benches with our friends, the Hawks were doing their warm-ups. "They're doing warm-ups, Charlie." I whispered.
"I can see that, Callie. They're Hawks what do you expect?" He whispered back.
"Red alert! They're coming!" I whisper-yelled at Charlie.
"Act normal." He said.
Two Hawks skated over to our area. "Hi girls!" One teased. Terry got mad and almost hit the kid, but we held him back. They skated away and laughed. My blood boiled in anger. Those Hawks really don't know how to play a good game.
"Those kids need to be taught some respect." I said through gritted teeth.
"Why're you so mad, Conway?" Jesse asked.
"Issues." Charlie laughed. I snarled at him and he put his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry!" Charlie said.
"I hate that Banks kid over there." I seethed.
"Calm down, Conway!" Averman said.
"Callie, stop." Charlie said in a very serious tone knowing what I was about to do, but grabbed my wrist a little too late. I jumped over and skated towards Adam Banks.
"Hey Banks, you're going down!" I yelled at him. I pushed him and he fell back but he got up again.
"Pssh. You wish." He said and pushed me. I almost lost my balance.
Our teams stood behind us. "You're always going to be a cheater and a suck-up! You'll always be a mean ugly booger!" I yelled at him. I tackled him to the ground and we were fighting and yelling at each other.
Someone pulled me back and I saw that it was Charlie. "Charlie let go!" I yelled.
"Stop Callie! Stop!" Charlie yelled. I squirmed to get loose as more of them held me back. Some kid held Banks back too and we were both squirming to fight each other.
"Hey Conway! Learn to control your pain-in-the-butt sister!" Larson said.
"Yeah? Well maybe you should teach your potty-mouth teammate to shut up!" Charlie shot back.
Our teams skated in opposite directions and Charlie sat me down at the bench. "The heck was that, Conway?!" He yelled at me.
"I'm sorry, I just got mad." I said, not making eye contact.
"Mad?! You could've gotten us disqualified or you could've gotten hurt!" Charlie yelled.
"I'm sorry, Charlie." I whispered.
"Just don't do that again, Cal." He sighed.
"From now on, we're keeping the Callie away from Banks." Guy said.
Coach Bombay came back and gathered us together. The Hawks were together and cheering 'win'. Pretty lame if you ask me. Where's the originality in that?
"Alright guys! Gather around! Come on! Come on!" Coach called.
He started chanting 'win' too. Some of us were chanting too but most were not. What the hell was he up to? He gonna make us some lame team too? Coach slowed down and stopped.
"Yeah, we're fired up." Coach said. I looked over to Banks and he smiled and sent me a salute. I just sent him a death glare.
The game started and the Hawks were hitting the knee pads of their goalie. Banks did so last. We did too and Goldberg got hurt. What a wimp. Charlie hit his knee pad and Goldberg fell. And then boom! They started arguing.
"Conway! Play hockey!" I yelled.
The game started and all of us were trying to catch the puck. Too late! Banks scored. The Hawks were winning and it was impossible for us to catch up. Coach called for a change-up and Connie was in the game now. Attacked by the Hawks... again. They kept scoring, especially Banks.
"How lazy can you be?!" Coach yelled. "They're killing us out there! How many times do I have to tell you? Get those rebounds! Get your heads up! Get those loose pucks! Get, just, ugh! Just get the hell out of here."
The game went on. I was on the bench and Charlie had the puck. "Go Charlie!" I yelled. "Alright!" Coach said as he stood up.
"Spazway! He'll screw up!" Karp said.
"Don't jinx it!" I said as I nudged him.
"Go Charlie!" I yelled. But he fell as he was about to score.
He hit the wall and his helmet fell off. "Charlie!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. He stood up and Banks checked him hard into the wall.
"Charlie!" I yelled louder. I was about to go to Charlie and hit Banks when Coach pulled me back.
"Nope nope! You're not going anywhere, Conway." Coach said and I responded with an angry sigh. Charlie skated over and I patted him on the back.
"Nice playing, Charlie! Keep swinging. Maybe you'll give him a cold." Coach sarcastically said.
"I'm killing Banks." I said.
"Of course you are." Charlie sighed tiredly.
The game continued and I was back. I kept trying to steal the puck but the Hawks were too fast. And Banks scored again. And again. And again. I looked up at the score board as the game ended. 17-0, great. All of us were already arguing and I was stopping Charlie from hitting anyone.
"I told you to catch the puck!" Charlie yelled at Jesse.
"The Hawk was too fast!" Jesse yelled back.
"Why didn't you just pass it?" Terry yelled at me.
"You were crowded! D'you think I would've passed?" I yelled back.
"Hey shut up!" Coach Bombay yelled. "You guys stink. I thought we came here to play hockey."
"You know, I knew we forgot something." Peter joked.
"You think it's funny? You think losing is funny?" Coach asked.
"Not at first, but when you get a hang of it." Averman answered.
"We're the ones out there getting our butts kicked." Jesse shot.
"Yeah, it's not like you coach us or anything. At least we try!" Terry said.
"You didn't listen to a word I said! I said keep your heads up, you put your heads down. I said hustle, you went slower. That's the sloppiest playing I've ever seen! Why the hell won't you just listen to me?!" Coach yelled.
Jesse stood up. "Why the hell should we?" He asked and left.
"You wanna lose? Fine. You're the ones who'll look like idiots out there." Coach said and left.
"You still think our team will change, Callie?" Charlie asked me.
"Yes, Charlie! I think so! Now if you guys won't listen to the new coach, if y'all want to have your pride too high and take orders from yourselves then count me out!" I yelled and skated away.
I changed and put a band-aid on all my cuts and bruises from the game. Charlie sat beside me. No one said a word. "I can't believe what's happening to you, Callie." Charlie said and left.
"I can't too." I whispered.
After the game, I went over to Connie's place. We had a good chat about our new coach and Adam Banks. "What do you think about Coach Bombay?" Connie asked me. I sighed.
"I actually think he'll be a good help to us, y'know. Make us actual hockey players or something?"
"I agree. I mean, he can be a bit pushy and mean but yeah, I agree." Connie smiled.
"Charlie doesn't like him one bit." I said.
"Neither do the other guys. They're just so hard-headed." Connie laughed. I laughed too.
"Boys..." We said in unison.
"But I do understand why they don't like Coach Bombay." I added. Connie agreed.
"What about that Banks kid? What's up with you and him?" She asked.
"Ugh! Him! Charlie, him and I were all in the same class in kindergarten and he was just mean!" I sighed angrily.
"Oh yeah? How?" Connie asked, interested to know.
"We had this 'best student' of the day type of thing and Adam always got it." I narrated.
"Just sounds like you're jealous." Connie laughed.
"Maybe. But Adam always sucked up to the teachers! He'd be bullying me one minute and then he'd be all kind and sweet once the teacher arrives." I snorted.
"Ugh! Sounds terrible!" Connie agreed.
"Exactly!" I beamed.
"No wonder you hate him." She laughed.
We continued to talk about our team and school as we waited for time to pass. But it also wasn't too long before Charlie picked me up and we walked home.