The next morning, Miss McKay woke everyone up to go to our lesson. Miss McKay knocked on the door first before opening it, "Rise and shine girls!" Julie and Connie groaned while I threw a pillow over my face.
Miss McKay then walked over to my bed and ripped the sheets off me, then I spoke. My voice just squeaked and cracked. I sounded like a small whimpering dog. From shock, I clutched my throat and tried to speak again, my voice let out a croak. Reaching over to my nightstand and sitting up, swinging my feet over the side of my bed grabbing my water, I took a guzzle before trying to attempt to speak again.
Miss McKay just looked down at me in confusion, "Vicki, are you ok?" She bent down as I croaked out. I continued to make loud dog whimpering sounds while tears poured down my face.
"Vicki? Vicki are you ok?" Julie and Connie shot up from out of their beds, coming to sit next to me on my bed. I scratched at my throat with my fingers and pointed to my throat, waving my hands in front of it.
"Julie go find a doctor," Miss McKay started. "Quickly!" I then started wheezing and gasping for air while making dog sounds. Julie shot up and ran out of the room to find a doctor.
"It's gonna be ok Vic!" Connie rubbed my back in circles to try and comfort me.
"Ok! Who brought the damn wake up dog?!" Dean yelled from in the hallway, before yawning, rubbing his eyes, and stepping inside with the rest of the team behind him.
I still pointed at my throat while wheezing and making more dog sounds, I was trying to say I couldn't speak and that I lost my voice.
Fulton had wide eyes and immediately ran over to sit down next to me on the bed, "What's wrong with her?!" He croaked.
I have never seen Fulton this choked up before in my entire life. Everyone then surrounded me, Charlie and Adam kneeled in front of me with Miss McKay. Guy plopped down next to Connie and rubbed her knee.
"I really couldn't say for sure, but I think she lost her voice."
"Well someone needs to go get a doctor!" Charlie said, shooting up, but Miss McKay stopped him before he left.
"Julie's already doing that, I just sent her." Charlie then kneeled back down in front of me.
I wasn't my best looking for everyone, my hair was a poofy fuzzy knot, my breath smelled, I was in my pajamas, and my face as all red and puffy. After a little while, I started hyperventilating and shaking, still pointing at my throat.
"It's ok Vicki, you need to calm down," Adam grasped my hand and rubbed his thumb on the top of my hand. "Take some deep breaths." I then listened to him as he told me to inhale and exhale.
When Julie came back with the doctor, she also came back with Tibbles, "Hey, hey! What's going on?" He walked over to me with the doctor at his side.
The doctor then bent down to my level, kneeling next to Miss McKay, "Your name is Victoria, right?" I nodded my head which made the doctor smile and takes out a stethoscope. "Now just take deep breaths for me Victoria," He placed the one piece over my chest to listen to my heartbeat as I inhaled and exhaled deeply as told. Then he moved the piece to my upper back. "Ok now I'm going to place my thumbs over your vocal cords, you just say the ABC's, ok?" I nodded my head in agreement. The doctor gently placed his thumbs over my vocal cords. The sound of the letter A barely could come out and be recognized. Then I tried to say B, but my voice sounded like a dog again.
"She's a bit dehydrated," The doctor concluded, taking his thumbs off my vocal cords. "Has she been yelling a lot lately?" He then stood up, Miss McKay did the same.
"She's our Assistant Coach, she's always yelling and cheering us on," Goldberg said with sarcasm in his voice.
"She's like our cheerleader." Dean frowned from in the back of the group.
"She's the best cheerleader and coach we could ever ask for," Charlie added, looking up at the doctor with a worried look on his face before looking back at me.
"Ok, well she's dehydrated and she needs to rest her voice and let it recover from all the yelling and screaming she's been doing." The doctor listed off, counting on his fingers.
"Thank you, doctor." Miss McKay smiled.
"Thank you, doctor." The team said in unison before the doctor left.
Miss McKay frowned, "Ok everyone, get dressed for your lesson today. We still have to do lessons today, no matter what happens."
Everyone groaned before rubbing their eyes, slumping back to their rooms to get changed. I got changed into a cheerleader sweater, white with a green stripe going down the neck and meeting the other, making a triangle, and some light wash jean shorts. Before I left, I had filled up my water bottle so I could keep my voice hydrated during the lesson.
Miss McKay was talking about the French colonists when people started dozing off. Julie stretched her face and blinked her eyes a couple of times. Luis was completely passed out on his desk in front of me, while I was slumped back in my chair, turning so hard not to drift off.
Miss McKay then walked over to Luis, shaking him a bit, "Luis," He then lifted his head up slightly and apologized to Miss McKay who accepted his apology. "Alright, go back to your rooms and get some rest for tonight. Practice is canceled." Miss McKay started.
We all picked ourselves back up and carried each other to our rooms, with our belongings in our hands. Julie busted the door open and dropped her things at the door before sluggishly flopping herself on her bed, face-first into her pillow. Connie almost tripped over Julie's things when coming in, she dropped her things near her nightstand and started stripping her clothes off, getting into her pj's. I closed the door to our dorm and jumped on my bed.
"Vicki, just get some rest so ya can get your voice back." Julie groaned from her pillow.
Nodding my head, I put everything on the ground except my bottle which I put on my nightstand and I got myself back into my pj's. I curled myself into a ball and wrapped the messy covers over my body and attempted to fall asleep.
Later That Day...
Coach Bombay stormed into the team locker room, expecting his team to be inside, but the locker room was dead silent.
"Team? Hello?" Coach Bombay looked around, then went to the showers to see if there was anyone in there. "Hello?" He poked his head through the doors to the showers.
"I canceled their practice for today." Miss McKay spoke, making Coach Bombay turn his head to see her with her head held high, arms crossed over her chest.
Coach Bombay scoffed, "What're ya talkin' about?" He walked over to Miss McKay. "Where are they?"
"They needed a day off, especially Vicki. Trust me." She slightly clenched her jaw.
"I need'em here to practice!"
"Well, they need to rest!" Miss McKay argued. You've been running those children ragged! They can barely stay awake in class! They're calling you Captain Blood and your Junior Assistant Coach lost her voice!"
"I am preparing these kids for battle. Can you understand that?" Coach Bombay stepped forward. "We win the gold, we go on to bigger things!"
"Bigger things?!" Miss McKay questioned him.
"That's right!"
"Please! Gordon, it's a game!" Miss McKay pleaded. "You said it yourself, games should be fun. Remember?" She reminded him of his words.
"I remember my own words!" Coach Bombay snapped.
"Well if you did remember your own words, you wouldn't be so hard on the team and especially Vicki-"
"I wasn't hard on her, she didn't want to accept the truth! Time for her to grow up and learn the truth cause it bite ya in the ass sometimes!"
Miss McKay rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips, scoffing, "Time for her to grow up?! Coming from the greatest coach ever and The Minnesota Miracle Man, I'm very disappointed." Miss McKay then stormed out of the room. The wind from her was so strong, it blew over the cardboard cutout of Coach Bombay saying "It's me for Hendrix!" while leaning on a Christian stick.
Also That Same Day...
After I woke up, I checked my clock to see if the team could get some practice in. Our normal practice is supposed to be 4 to 5 hours but since it was 3 we would probably be interrupting Germany's practice. Getting out of bed, I then took a drink of water before trying to speak.
I waited for a minute before opening my mouth, "A, B, C, D." My voice cracked at first but then got to normal but in a quieter state because I didn't want to wake Connie and Julie. I then got dressed again into a Team USA t-shirt with the American flag on the front and the Hendrix logo on top of it with the same light wash jean shorts and I paired it with my black Lacoste shoes, putting my hair in a messy bun. I then went around, waking up everyone to go to conditioning. People were really surprised at my voice, it was almost normal but still raspy and rough like a pubescent boy going into a teenager.
Everyone got dressed and grabbed everything they needed to go to conditioning. We all went to the coliseum field to condition.
"Ok, hold!" Everyone had their legs spread apart, holding on one side. "One, two, three!" I chanted as everyone stretched.
"If Coach isn't here then why should we?" Dean questioned me.
"We have a game tonight. We have to work out." I said while rolling my body to the other side to stretch.
"I say mutiny, who's with me?" Goldberg said while huffing, standing back up in a straight position.
"Goldberg, I'm too tired to mutiny." Dwayne raised his hand, also standing in an upright straight position.
"Come on, guys, it's not like we couldn't use the conditioning." I groaned, standing in an upright position, trying to motivate everyone.
"Speak for yourself," Dean started, standing up, "Babe."
"Her name is Vicki, not "babe"!" Adam stood upright and snapped at Dean, storming towards him.
"Hey! Don't tell me how to talk," Dean charged for Adam, pointing at Adam. "Rich boy!" Dean shoved Adam, the two were then about to get in a fight.
"Hey, Portman, chill!" Fulton tried to separate the two, everyone then gathered around, trying to separate the fight.
"Hey, you want a piece of this?!" Adam tried throwing a punch at Dean but I grabbed his arm.
"Adam! Stop it!" I pleaded. "Guys! Please stop!"
"Yo, Team U.S.A.!" A voice called out, which made all of our heads snap towards the gate where the colored boy who kept taunting us stood in his street puck gear. "What are you gonna do today, a million jumping jacks?"
"This kid's crazier than me. Forget about him. Look, Fulton!" Dean tried to go back at Fulton for trying to calm him down.
"Hey, chill!" Fulton pushed him away before I pushed through the team.
"Hey, man, I'm gettin' sick of you!" I snapped.
"I'm gettin' sick of seeing the U.S.A. represented by a bunch of whining babies!" The kid retorted, skating towards us.
"Too bad you can't back up that mouth!" Jesse added, standing next to me with his arms crossed.
"Me and my boys can take you anytime, anywhere." The kid pointed at us.
"I don't see no "boys"." Jesse scrunched his face.
"Where are they, in your pocket?" I chuckled before Jesse turned to give me a high five.
"I got 'em waitin'. Grab your gear and let's go play some schoolyard puck," He then paused. "Or maybe you forgot what it's like to play for real pride."
I rolled my eyes, "Come on, it's not too far, you little wimps!" Then two security guards came to drag him away. "What are you doin'? Get off! You comin' or not?" He snapped as he was being dragged away.
Letting out a huff of anger, "Let's go, guys. Grab your gear." I said lowly.
The team all ran back to the dorms to get their gear before meeting up with the boy. We all boarded a bus with the boy going to South Central Los Angeles. When we got there, I felt kinda unsafe because we were in the ghetto. Graffiti spray-painted on walls, houses, street signs, people looking at us, like scary looking people. I just wrapped my arm around the closest person, which was Dean.
He looked down at me smirking while carrying all his gear, "What's this?" He raised his brow.
I examined my surroundings, my head on a swivel, "Just have my back, Dean." I said without looking at him.
Then team all climbed a flight of stairs to a basketball court where the boy walked over to his boys he said we're waiting for us. Ours faces dropped, Dean then threw his stuff down,m everyone did the same and stood their ground.
"My little brother Russ here has been telling me that you have been chokin' big time." One of the colored boys spoke, the kid named Russ, stood next to him.
"Well, your brother's got a big mouth." Jesse retorted, making me scold him from across the group.
There was an intense silence between everyone, "Uh-oh." Goldberg was getting nervous.
The brother of Russ smirked before looking down at him, "He does, doesn't he?" Russ also smiled before shaking his head.
"Thank God." I let out a quiet huff before wiping my forehead.
"We thought we'd call you all to see what you got." Russ's older brother continued.
"We know you can talk to the press and sign autographs-" Russ started.
"We can do more than that." Luis interrupted.
Russ raised his brow, "Yeah? Well, we can teach you to play like the real Team U.S.A."
"What would you know about it?" Dean scoffed.
Russ and his brother exchanged smirks before they skated away meaning that we were gonna start playing. The team broke away started getting their gear on over their workout clothes.
I went and I sat down next to Charlie who was wrapping his stick with his helmet and pads on. His rollerblades were laying next to his feet which weren't inside his shoes.
Smiling, I reached down and started untying the laces, "Haven't done this in a while."
I heard Charlie let out a chuckle, but I kept my eyes on the laces, "Ya, it's been a minute since you untied my skates," My lips curled at his comment, then I gave him one of his skates before going to the next one. When Charlie finished wrapping his stick, I just caught a glimpse of the butt which said: "My Sister" in permanents marker. Reaching out, I caught the butt so I could look at it more. Charlie looked at me before looking at the butt, "Ya know, everyone on the team has your name on their sticks."
"Even the new kids?" I rubbed my thumb over the writing.
"Yup, Dwayne has "Cowgirl" on his, Dean has "Mom and Vic", Kenny has "Coach Vicki", Luis has "Cheerleader", and Julie has "Sister and Best Friend"." My heart melted at all the names that represented me as a person.
"What about Banksie?" I gestured to Adam who was at the opposite end of the group.
"Oh, umm," Charlie stuttered with hides words. "I dunno." He lied and shoved his foot into the skate before I gave him the other.
The team then all got up from the bench and went out on to the court. I stood up and clapped my hands together, cheering for them.
Then Russ' brother skated towards me a little before stopping a few feet in front of me, "Where are your skates, cheerleader?"
I rolled my eyes playfully, "I'm a coach, I don't skate." Crossing my arms over my chest, Russ' brother nodded before everyone started playing schoolyard puck.
Right away Dean got rammed into the chain-link fence, which made me wince, "Ya gotta earn every inch!" Russ's brother said in his ear before getting off of Dean. The team was getting shoved and scored on all over the place, "Hey, ain't no whistles out here either. You keep diggin' until you score that goal!" Russ's brother encouraged the team.
Russ then scored another goal and his brother threw him his water bottle, "And then you take a few breaths, slug some water and get out there and do it again!" Russ threw Charlie his water bottle, Charlie squirted some water in his mouth, throwing it to me, then skating on to the court.
Luis snagged the puck and put it in the trash can then running into the fence, "NOT AGAIN!" One of Russ's friends came up to Luis and helped him up.
"Hey, hey, hey, use the breaks, baby." He said before skating off.
"Luis! Luis!" I shouted, making him turn his head. "You ok?"
"Ya, I'm good, thanks!" He smiled before skating off again.
Fulton slapped the puck towards the trash can, it never went it but it hit the side and sailing over the fence,m cracking a window and a car alarm going off. Is shot up from the bench and ran over to Charlie and Russ' brother.
"Nah, man it happens all the time." He'd waved his hand at us, reassuring the two of us.
A colored man with sunglasses was walking towards his car when the puck hit the window, "Excuse me, could you throw it back please?" Charlie asked politely.
"Here ya go kid, alley-oop!" He chucked it over the fence and the two boys skated off.
"Thank you!" I waved and smiled at the man who threw the puck back.
Charlie snagged the puck and he scored a point for us. Then Russ stopped in the middle of the court, pushing the puck on the other side and slapping it into the goal making it go flying.
My mouth hung agape as I walked over to Fulton and Russ, "What kinda crack shot was that?"
Russ chuckled before wiping the dust off the bottom of his sticks, "Ahh, ya like that huh? That's my knuckle-puck, its hard to be accurate but it drives goalies crazy." Russ smiled at Fulton.
"Did ya invent it?"
"Yup, been doing it since I was 6 years old." Russ patted my shoulder before skating off leaving me and Fulton speechless.
Kenny was being cornered at the one side of the court with the puck. One kid dived but he jumped right over and ducked under two guys who were going to ram into him. Kenny passed the puck to Dean who was waiting by the goal.
I saw Russ' brothers watching Kenny and Dean as they celebrated, "Sweet move, kid," He'd smirked before coming up to small Kenny. "Come here, junior. I'm gonna get' ya, Come here, junior! You really messed up now! He said in an aggressive voice, throwing his stick down. "Come here, junior! Come here!" Kenny backed up. "Hey, hey, I'm just messin' with ya," He smiled, pointing at him. "Listen, when a guy comes at you like I just did, you do this," He threw down his stick. "Stick, gloves," Then he took off his gloves and threw them down too before grabbing the back of Kenny's shirt and pulling it up. "And shirt. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay. My turn," Kenny boded, standing up straight. "Stick, gloves, shirt. All right?" Kenny did the same thing Russ' brother did.
"All right." He smiled before playfully slapping his head.
The team chuckled before I cleared my throat, "Got any wise 10 cent advice for me?" I playfully chuckled.
"Ya," He gave me a toothy grin, showing the space in between his two front teeth. "You don't take shit from no one, you hear?
"She already doesn't take shit from anyone." Fulton teased before messing my hair up which made everyone smile.
"K guys lets pack it up!" I raised my arm in the air, spinning my finger in a circle.
When everyone got packed up, we all went down to the bus stop nearby the court. The bus pulled up and we all said our last goodbyes to our new friends and allies. Half of the team split and went into separate doors of the bus.
I was the last to get on the bus through the back door, Thanks, guys!" I waved to the guys who were looking down at made through the chain-link fence.
"Play hard! Go, U.S.A. Go get 'em!" They all smiled and waved before I boarded the bus back to our dorms.