The next day at practice, Ms. Conway had dropped us off before going to her shift at the diner. I sat down in the benches doing my homework I hadn't completed on Friday before the game.

Coach was teaching the team on how to fake an injury, which I found insulting to the hockey culture, and not the proper way to play. My dad always used to say that if you can play hockey in your head and in your heart then you can play on the ice. Dad always used to play with his heart more than his head. He used to tell me that saying when I was little and trying to learn how to skate, but I would always fall down and throw a fit. He said that it was because I was trying too hard with my head and someday my heart will eventually allow me to skate.

I looked up from doing my geography homework to see the team hitting each other in the ankles, and pushing each other with the sticks, some even fell down. Coach was even encouraging this cheating.

Then everyone got into two lines while Coach walked down the middle, "Say it again!"

"Take the fall! Act hurt! Get indicted." Everyone chanted.

"Once more!" Coach yelled.

"Take the fall! Act hurt! Get indicted." Everyone chanted again.

"Good, your ready." Coach then dismissed the team.

"Seriously?" I threw my hands in the air as everyone flocked my way. "That was literally only 30 minutes Coach!" I looked at my watch to make sure I was right.

"I know." Coach rolled his eyes.

Gathering my belongings, I stood up. "Um, we have a game tomorrow, let me remind you!"

"You don't have to remind me, Victoria!" He said sarcastically and walked away. When Charlie got out of the locker room, we walked home together. Charlie started his homework since he had procrastinated all weekend, while I finished up the last bit of my homework, I had gotten up from my bed and put on my coat.

"Where ya going?" Charlie perked his head up.

"Going out, I'll be back in an hour or two." I put my hat on my head and left the apartment. I walked down the city sidewalks over to the District 6 rink. I was going into the lion's den. Going into Hawks territory. The Hawks had a game against the Cardinals tonight and I was going to see it.

When I walked inside the rink, shivers went up my spine. Being in Hawks territory just disgusted me down to the bone. When I was in line for getting into the main part of the rink, I was tapped on the shoulder, when I turned around I smiled widely, "Fulton!"

"Hey what are ya doing in Hawks territory?" He smiled.

"Collecting information and experience." I nodded. "For the team," I added.

"Ah, I see." He nodded. Fulton and I walked shoulder to shoulder up in the stands.

"Where's a good spot?" I asked Fulton who was behind me going up the stairs.

"Over there is a really good spot." He pointed to the corner of the rink. "You can see everything from the corners." We walked over to the corner spots and sat down near the glass. When the Hawks came out from the locker room, everyone stood and cheered, except for the two of us. The players held up they're sticks and looked around, three specific Hawks noticed our presence in the crowd watching them.

"Great," I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"What? What's wrong?" Fulton asked looking at me.

"The Three Stooges" just spotted us."

"Who?" Fulton's faced crinkled in confusion.

"The three Hawks from the alley. Numbers 33, 7," I then almost didn't say the last number. "And 9." I scowled and watched Banks skated across the ice.

As Fulton and I watched the game, one of the three would look at us, shoot us a dirty glare, or a wink, or a smirk. The Hawks were crushing the Cardinals. 10-1 was the score in the last period.

"You said collecting info and experience," Fulton turned to me while watching the last parts of the game. I turned my attention to him in confusion. "What did you mean by that?"

"I'm collecting info for the team. They're playing style and behavior, so we can have a better chance next time we play."

Fulton chuckled, "Ya sound like a scientist. What are ya, a hockey scientist?"

"I'm just a hockey fanatic." I rolled my eyes playfully. "Besides, they're planning on faking injuries next game."

"No!" Fulton now said in shock.

"Yeah, Coach is bringing them down low. To the scum of cheating to win." Nodding my head, my voice was sarcastic.

"That's not right." Fulton sat back, crossed his arms, and shook his head in disappointment.

"Thank you." I also leaned back in my seat.

The buzzer went off and the whole crowd went nuts for the Hawks as they gathered in the center of the ice lifting Banks in the air as the threw his helmet off his head and on to the ice. The crowd chanted his name, then Banks turned and his eyes landed on mine. I didn't scowl, I just stared at him

"Come on Vic," Fulton stood up. "Let's go." He extended his hand out to me to take. I looked away and took his hand as he helped me up from the bench. Fulton then walked me home since it was getting a bit dark out and he didn't find it smart to walk home alone.

When we arrived back at the apartment, Charlie must have been looking out his window to see us coming because he ran outside to greet us, " Hey! There ya are!" Charlie smiled at me, then he backed up slowly because Fulton was with me.

"Charlie," I spoke softly and leaned forward with my arms crossed. "It's ok. Fulton walked me home." Turning my head, we made eye contact and smiled at each other before turning back to Charlie.

"Well, thanks Fulton," Charlie held out his hand. "I appreciate it." The two boys shook hands.

"It's not a problem, Conway." Fulton half smiled, then my mom drove up and got out of her car, coming from work.

"Hey Vicki," She smiled, carrying her briefcase in one hand, walking up to us on the sidewalk. "Who's your friend?" She asked, turning to Fulton.

"Oh, mom, this is Fulton Reed," I introduced Fulton to my mom. "He walked me home." I finished.

"Well thanks for walking Vicki home, Fulton." She smiled.

"No problem." He gave a curt nod.

"I'll see you later, k?" I looked up at Fulton.

"K. See ya." He smiled and walked down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets.

"Come on kids, let's go inside." My mom placed her hands on our shoulders and led us back inside. Ms. Conway had left for her shift, she wasn't in the apartment, so the three of us started making dinner.

When Ms. Conway got home from her shift at the diner, we had already got dinner done and on the table waiting for her, "Hey mom!" He went up to his mom and kissed her cheek.

"We all helped out and made dinner." I smiled and placed the casserole on the hot pad in the center of the table.

"Aw, thank you, guys." Ms. Conway walked over and sat down at the table in her usual spot.

After dinner, Charlie and I were getting ready for bed, "Where did ya go tonight?" Charlie asked while brushing his teeth.

"Out exploring." I lied while brushing my hair on my bed.

"Oh, did ya at least have fun?" Charlie finished brushing and sat next to me on my bed.

Finishing brushing my hair, setting my brush down on my nightstand, I turned to face Charlie, "Ya, I was happy that someone I knew walked me home."

"I'm just surprised Fulton Reed walked you home. He's normally pretty quiet and shy." Charlie half laughed.

I giggled at Charlie's comment, "I know," Then smiled. "He's such a gentle giant."

"I guess," Charlie laughed then hopped over to his own bed. "Well, see you tomorrow. Gotta game to win." Charlie got under the covers and turned off his lamp on the nightstand.

"Yup! I have a good feeling about this one." I lied again, then rolled over on my side.

The next day, school went by faster than usual and the teachers didn't give out as much homework as they normally would and the school day went by faster than usual. The team was hyped up all through the day, while I on the other hand wasn't as excited. The team was going to cheat to win, which didn't fly too well with me, all because Coach wanted to "WIN", "WIN", "WIN"!

Ms. Conway couldn't pick us up from school, so Charlie and I walked home and got ready for hockey, then we walked to our game.

Within my first minutes of getting to the rink, I started getting a headache. When the game started, things were already going poorly.

Goldberg had tried to fake a fall and tried to convince the ref but it didn't work, "Open your eyes! Did you see what he did to me!?" He yelled at the ref.

I deeply exhaled, "Just give it up, Goldberg!" Yelling out to Goldberg, he threw his hands in the air as he skated up to us.

"Goldberg," Coach whined. "Your supposed to take the fall while they're shooting at you."

"Oh well you didn't explain that very well, did ya?" He snapped and stepped inside the box to sit down.

Standing next to Coach, I saw a ref skating towards us, "Cut the acting, one more fall, you forfeit to the Jets." The ref pointed at Coach then skated away.

"I'm insulted by that!" Coach threw his arms in the air.

In the next play, Charlie had the puck and got pinned against the glass by huge Jets players as they played footsie to get the puck away from Charlie, then he fell down finally.

The ref blew the whistle, "Faceoff, let's go!" He yelled.

As Charlie got up, Coach called him over, "Charlie!" Charlie looked over then skated towards us, taking his helmet off. "Next time you get cornered like that, I want you to pretend like you cut your eye, and drop to the floor." He banged his hand on the wall. Then the ref called Charlie over to begin the face-off.

I looked between Charlie and Coach, "Are you serious right now!?" I spat.

"Serious about what?" He scoffed and shrugged his shoulders.

"Cheating. Your that low to make us cheat!"

"Look its none of your business, Victoria!" He turned and pointed at me, his face beat red. "This is my team! Not yours!" He then turned back to the ice and crossed his arms.

"Pathetic." I lowly spat and crossed my arms, also looking back towards the ice.

When the ref blew the whistle, the Jets player passed it to another, "Hey over here!" Connie shouted then faked her fall. Charlie skated around and snatched the puck, taking it around the goal. He got pinned to the glass again.

Karp and Terry were saying "Come on" while Coach yelled his name. Charlie stared at me and gave me a curt nod and I gave him one back. Charlie passed it to Jesse.

"Damn it!" Coach banged the wall with his hand and turning away in anger.

We lost to the Jets, 11-0. All the District 5 members gathered in the locker room to get undressed, "Stupid Cake-Eater tricks!" Terry threw his helmet on the floor in frustration.

"We can't even win when we cheat!" Jesse added.

"That was so embarrassing." Connie rolled her eyes as Coach stormed into the locker room.

"Charlie!" Coach stormed over to him as Charlie turned around, looking down in embarrassment. "What the hell was that! When I tell you to do something, you do it!"

"Coach stop," I mumbled from behind Charlie.

"Look at me!" He commanded, Charlie looked up at Coach. "You got it?" He said lowly.

Charlie clenched his jaw, "You can't make me cheat." He pushed past him in anger, throwing his equipment down.

"Charlie, wait!" I yelled, going to run after him but Coach grabbed my arm.

"And what the hell do you think your doing!? Telling my team what to do!? You don't even skate let alone play hockey!"

"Just shut up!" I snapped.

"No, you shut up! If you wanna be in on benches with us you keep your mouth closed!" He yelled as tears streamed down my face.

"Just shut up!" Ripping my arm from his grasp, I ran after Charlie crying. Tonight was officially the worst night ever, next to my dad's death-day.

A/N: Hello my Quackalites! I hope you enjoyed today's chapter!! Remember to like, comment, and add my book to your library! Don't forget to check out the photo and gif album after EVERY chapter to unlock a new gif or pic! 🤪😌💕

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