"Hey, guys!" Charlie waved back to the group of other kids in they're mismatched tattered "hockey gear".

"Is that the District 5 team?" I whispered to Charlie while he walked over to a bench to sit down.

"Yup! Not much," Charlie threw his bag down in the snow, sat on the wooden bench, and unzipped his bag. I sat down next to him with the shaft of the hockey stick in the snow. "But! We are a team!" Charlie smiled before pulling out his 2nd layer of clothes to put on.

Charlie was putting on his other sweatshirt, then he popped his head through the neck hole, "So, I don't mean to talk about your dad, but you said he played hockey," My head perked up at his question. "But why didn't you get into hockey?" Charlie slipped his arms through the sleeves before putting on his other sweat pants.

"Oh, well," I paused to process the question. "I guess it was another thing to remind me of him." My mouth let out a deep exhale.

"Oh." He sat back down on the bench to untie the knot in the skate laces.

"Besides," I started. I was really nervous about telling Charlie my big secret which embarrassed me ever since I was little. "Between you and me, Charlie," I whispered. Charlie leaned in to hear my confession. "I can't skate."

"Shut up!" Charlie smiled widely.

I threw my hands in the air, "Well it's true!" Charlie let out a laugh.

"Like at all?"

"Yeah, at all. Can't ice skate, roller skate, or rollerblade." I said in a quieter voice than my usual voice.

"Wow," Charlie flopped back on the bench. "I would have never known." He half-smiled.

"Yeah," My cheeks turned red from the embarrassment. "I get really embarrassed about it. When my dad tried to teach me I would always fall down, or trip, or land on my face. It didn't matter if it was with or without someone else's help. I will always fall." I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand.

"Well, maybe I'll have to teach ya," Charlie smirked at me. He tried to untie the knot in his laces but they were only getting worse.

"Gimme." I snatched his skates and started to untie the laces with ease before giving them back to Charlie who chuckled.

"Thanks."

"No problem." I nodded and watched the District 5 team members talk and occasionally look my way. Charlie then put on his makeshift knee pads and his helmet before standing. My arm extended outwards, Charlie took his stick and skated off towards everyone.

Meanwhile, I sat back down on the bench and watched everyone.

"Hey Victoria!" Averman smiled and waved at me from on the ice. His ginger hair was getting sweaty and messed up from under his helmet and the glass in his glasses were getting fogged. I kindly smiled and waved back to him.

All the District 5 players started skating around on the ice. A goalie and one of the players was shooting pucks at him, the goalie was doing a miserable job at keeping the pucks out of the net and some of the pucks didn't even go in the goal. All the goalie was doing was complaining when Charlie skated over to the two.

"Goldberg," Charlie whined and took his helmet off. "You're the goalie, it's supposed to hit you."

"Does anyone think that sounds stupid?" The goalie named Goldberg threw his hands in the air before everyone gathered around in the center of the pond.

As I was watching all the District 5 team members in the middle of the pond, I heard a car approaching us. When I turned my head, I saw a limo approaching the pond.

"What the heck is this idiot doing?" I muttered to myself. Then the limo started driving on the ice. "Ok, this guy is seriously nuts." I stood up and followed the limo on to the ice. I carefully made my way over to Charlie who was in the back of the crowd.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"I dunno." Charlie shook his head as we all watched the limo stop and a man get out. A very pissed off looking man, in a suit.

"Yo dude. You obviously in the wrong hood." One of the colored boys spoke up. "This is my dominion. A drug-free zone. We ain't buyin' nothin', you hear?" We all quietly said 'yeah!' in the background. "Now, I'm feelin' generous today. Now you get your sorry vanilla booty outta here before I turn your eyeballs into hockey pucks." We all laughed at the kids' remark.

"That's Jesse. He has a twin named Terry." He whispered to me and gestured to the two-colored twins.

"Jesse seems funny." I chuckled quietly.

"You have no clue," Charlie replied, elbowing my arm lightly.

"Thanks, bro." The man in the suit mocked Jesse. "But I'm not going home until I take care of business." The man reached into his coat pocket.

"Shit he has a gun," I whispered to Charlie as everyone gasped and backed away quickly, only to find out he pulled out a small piece of paper. Everyone let out an exhale of relief.

"District 5 PeWee hockey league, I'm Gordon Bombay. The new coach." The District 5 team laughed, all but me.

"You've got to be joking." Jesse scoffed.

"I'm afraid so, dude." Mr. Bombay emphasized. "I got the roster right here." He held up the piece of paper. "Averman, Dave. Conway, Charlie. Hall, Terry. Now! The long of the short of it. I hate hockey and I hate kids."

"What was that? A pep talk?" Peter scoffed. Everyone laughed.

"Look, I'm sure we'll all have a real bonding experience. And maybe! One of you will even write a book about it in jail."

"Ya, know we have names right?" I spoke up.

Gordon shot me another glare, "Yes and I'm sure they're all very nice ones too."

"Yeesh, what's this guy deal?" I said lowly to Charlie. Gordon shot me a quick glare before continuing.

"Is there a goalie?" He asked, looking around.

"Yeah but not for long. I'm moving back to Philly." The boy named Goldberg spoke up.

Then he turned his head, noticing me, "Hey, I'm Greg Goldberg." He whispered and shook hands with each other.

"Nice to meet you too Goldberg. I'm Victoria." I whispered back.

"Ok, everyone! Get out on the ice and let's see what you can do." Everyone started breaking away.

Averman spoke up and stepped forward, "Ya know, you really suck."

"Averman!" I scolded him.

"I'll decide who sucks around here," Gordon spoke before I stood next to him. Everyone started hitting each other in the ankles with the hockey stick.

Gordon rolled his eyes before scoffing, "They really do suck." He said lowly. In my mind, I agreed that they do suck and they play terribly.

Averman skated for a bit before stopping, "Oooh, the big man! Mister Rebel Rouser, passing the puck over to Jesse-Rooney," Averman basically announced everything like a sports announcer again. Then Terry fell on the ice and Peter jumped over him. "Ouch, that hurt!" I almost died laughing about how much they suck and how Averman was talking. "Oh, it's the Connie Mister!" Averman announced.

A girl in a purple coat and blue hat came over to us, but she knocked Averman down while skating over, "Ooh, the velvet hammer!" Averman said while lying on the ice.

She smiled brightly at Gordon who still looks displeased, "Hi Coach, I'm Connie. Do you play?" She asked cheerfully, only to be shot down by Gordon.

"No." He said coldly, which made me wince at his response. "So what's the record?" He asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"0 and 9. We almost won once. We lost by 5 points." Connie picked up her bubbly attitude when talking to Gordon. Then everyone started flocking over again.

"So what do we do now, Coach?" Jesse emphasized.

"Well, what did your old coach have you do?" Gordon asked.

"He just yelled a lot," Charlie said.

"Yeah, that's how he hurt his arm." Terry half-smiled.

"He hurt his arm?" Gordon asked in is usual stuck up tone.

"Yeah, one minute he's yelling at us," Peter then switched voices to mimic the old coach. "You little bastards, you play. You suck. You don't play you little-uH!" Peter then smashed his arm to his chest and fell backward dramatically. I nearly half died right when Peter fell.

"Heart attack. Great." He shook his head. "Ok, I have to make a phone call so keep scrimmaging. So uh," He looked around at us. "You, you, you, and you." He pointed at random people.

"Uh, hello? Again we have names, Gordon." I responded.

"Yes, again, I'm sure they're all very nice ones. So if you need me," He opened the limo door. "Fax me." He stepped inside chuckling with a smirk.

Terry rolled his eyes, "Jeez, what a jerk." Everyone all skated away except Connie.

"I'm sorry, my name is Connie." She smiled and held her hand out.

"Hi Connie, I'm Vic-"

I was cut off by Connie, "Yeah, I know." She smiled. "Karp, Peter, and Averman were talking about you earlier." I shook her hand politely.

"Is that something I should be worried about?" I nervously chuckled.

"Oh no! Not at all!" Connie reassured me with a smile. "All good things." She nodded.

"Phew! That's a relief." I wiped my forehead with the back of my one hand.

"So, Karp told me you were a cheerleader."

"Yeah, I was." I sighed.

"Have you ever thought about playing hockey?" She asked in a curious tone.

"I did. Once." I paused and looked at everyone on the ice skating. "When I was very little." Then I turned to face Connie.

"Oh, so you're just here to watch practice?"

"Yup and Ms. Conway is my ride home since me and Charlie live together."

Connie raised her brow in excitement, "Oh?"

"Yeah, I moved here with my mom from Grand Rapids. She got laid off from her work. She went in today for another job interview as an accountant." I explained to Connie my situation, gesturing with my hands.

"Sounds interesting." She smiled.

"It sure is." I nodded. Connie and I stood in silence as we watched everyone play hockey. "So when is the first game?"

Turning my head to look at Connie, she responded quickly, "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yep! Tomorrow." She turned to look at me nodding her head.

"Alrighty then." I also nodded in agreement.

The boys all swarmed over to the limo, dropping they're gear.

"Come on! Let's climb on top of the car!" Karp laughed

as all the kids climbed on the car, blowing on the window and shaking it, except me and Connie who were dying laughing.

Then me and Connie decided to join in on the fun by banging on the car and laughing. The driver in the front seat look startled and Gordon looked like he was having a fun time. Then someone finally opened the door as we all crammed into the limo like a clown car.

"Hey! Hey! Watch the upholstery." Gordon yelled as some of the fabric ripped due to someone's skates.

I sat next to Goldberg when Connie started chanting, "We wanna ride!" Pumping her fists up and down. Then we all joined in.

The driver said something but all I heard was Gordon saying, "Not yet Luis. Take'em for a ride. Anything!" He said in a bugged mood. Then we all cheered as the car started moving.

"I feel like Madonna," Connie said while smiling and fixing her coat.

Peter scoffed from in the front seat, "Yeah, you wish!"

We then all started taking the fancy glasses and looking at them when we all smelled something stinky, "GOLDBERG!" We all exclaimed and fanned the air with our hands.

Goldberg looks really offended as he pleaded, "I swear it wasn't me! I swear!"

"Open a window!" I said with my nose plugged.

Charlie moved to the middle of the walkway so he could see out the windshield "Aw man, it's my mom."

I turned my head to see Ms. Conway frantically waving and carefully stepping on the ice, "She looks pissed." I added.

The car then stopped and Ms. Conway opened the door, "Alright everyone out of the car." Everyone whined as we stepped out.

When Gordon stepped out she gripped his black coat and dragged him away, "What were you thinking about putting that car on the ice! My son and my friend's daughter was in that car!"

"Lady, lady, relax." Gordon tried to calm her down but it didn't work.

"One crack in the ice. One crack!" She gestured to the ice. "Who the hell do you think you are?" She put her hands on her hips.

"This not gonna end well, I can already tell," Charlie said while still looking at his mom and Gordon arguing.

"I'm Gordon Bombay, the new hockey coach-"

"They send you over here to train the team but instead you endanger their lives!"

"Lady! I grew up on the ice so I know when it's safe to drive on." Gordon tried to defend himself.

"How do you know?" She fired back.

"Because I just know!"

"Well, Mister Zen Master of the Ice Universe, when it comes to my kid and my friend's daughter, I know just doesn't cut it!" She snapped then looked at the two of us. "Charlie, Victoria, let's go." She adjusted her purse before storming off to her car.

"But mom," Charlie said in a pleading voice. All while I looked over to see the driver holding Peter upside down and demanding that he give his candy back.

"Well, I guess practice is over," Gordon emphasized.

Charlie turned to the team, "Sorry my mom ruined it, guys." Everyone nodded and forgave Charlie. "Coach, you gonna be at the game tomorrow?"

"By order of the State of Minnesota," He exhaled deeply. "Yeah."

Charlie then walked off, going to grab all his things, I stepped forward to ask him a question, "Hey Gordon? Is it ok if I am in the box with you and the team tomorrow?"

"Fine," He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. And don't call me Gordon." He pointed at me. "It's Coach or Coach Bombay." He scolded me.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"Vic! Come on!" Charlie frantically waved his hand in the air, signaling me to hurry up. I rushed over to Charlie and then helped him carry his "equipment".

"We're probably gonna get a lecture." Charlie scoffed.

"Probably."

When Charlie and I were walking to Ms. Conway's car, he nudged my arm, "What we're ya asking Coach?"

"I asked Coach if I could be with you and the team down in the box tomorrow."

"Really?" Charlie's voice hitched from excitement. "And?"

"He said yes!" I smiled.

"Alright! This first game is gonna be a blast!" Charlie pumped his fist in the air.

A/N: Hey guys! I love and appreciate comments! They make me smile and laugh so DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT AND LIKE! Also, don't forget to check out the gif and photo album after every chapter to see all the pictures and events from my book/movie novelization!! 😋❤️😘