Disclaimer: I wish I owned more, but sadly only the wonderful Claire belongs to me.
Chapter 7
Almost as soon as my mom and I got home from the airport, I crashed on the couch, completely jet lagged from the flight. I was awoken a few hours later by a knock on the door. Mom went to answer it, and from what she said I could tell exactly who it was.
"Please just go away," she said softly through the crack between the slightly opened door and the door frame. "Charlie and Claire don't want to be on the team anymore, and neither they nor I have anything to say to you." I thought back to the conversation we (okay, more like mom and Charlie with me sitting there, occasionally nodding along) had had just before I crashed, when Charlie and I decided we didn't want to play for Bombay anymore. I was brought out of my musings by mom calling for Charlie and Bombay entering the apartment. I glared at him, waiting for Charlie to come into the room before taking any further actions. Charlie ran, swung around the corner, and abruptly stopped, giving Bombay the same glare I was.
"Hey Charlie, Claire, how ya' doin'?" He asked. Charlie averted his gaze, and I lessened my glare, waiting for any reaction from Charlie. "I was just, uh, walkin' around thinkin and, uh," Bombay paused and turned to mom. "Can you give us a minute?" He asked her. "Thank you," he said as she walked out of the oom. Charlie rolled his eyes, walked into the room and sat next to me stiffly on the couch as Bombay gingerly sat in the seat across from us.
"Listen," Bombay started. "It was very wrong of me to ask you and the other guys to cheat. I was angry, I was frustrated. And it took a lot of guts for you to do what you knew was right. And," here he turned toward me, "for you to stick up for your brother like that, especially when it's clear you deviate from using your voice. And I admire that." We all knew that the last part was aimed toward both of us. I felt a small smile creep onto my face, but I quickly pushed it away. "And, ah,I just wanted you to hear that, uh, that I'm…" Bombay trailed off. "Oh, boy this is difficult," he muttered under his breath. I suppressed a snigger and avoided Charlie's glance, knowing fully well that if I looked at my brother we'd both burst out laughing at the degree of awkwardness emanating from our coach - a grown man! "I'm," he started again.
"You're sorry," mom cut in from around the corner.
"I'm sorry," Coach finally got out. "I'm sorry, alright?" He said louder, looking intensely at the corner around which mom was standing. "Tell your mom that hopefully it'll be a lot more fun this time around. What d'you say?" Charlie and I shared a look, and we knew we were both thinking the same thing: we liked his new coach, and we wanted to get to know him more.
"Do you wanna stay for dinner?" Charlie blurted out. I smiled, almost giggling at my brother's "genius" moment.
"What?" Bombay's reaction was pretty predictable, as was mom's.
"Charlie!" She exclaimed softly, coming around the corner.
"Ah, no, I, I, I can't," Coach stuttered lamely, obviously not on board with staying if it made mom uncomfortable. But our wonderful mother just nodded and smiled at him. Bombay looked back at the two of us on the couch. "Well, what're you having?" He asked, trying to be casual. Mom just smiled at him. Charlie and I ran into the kitchen to finish making dinner, which gave mom a chance to relax. With Coach. Charlie and I shared a devious look, each of us with a sly smile on our face, as soon as we were alone in the kitchen. We high fived.
"Operation Get Mom and Coach Together is a go!" Charlie whispered devilishly. I nodded back, and we mentally devised a plan a we prepared the food.
The next weekend, the team was creating a tornado of chaos and excitement in Hans' Skate Shop. Coach had gotten his law firm to fund the team, and we were going to pick out our equipment. Charlie managed to knock over all of the sticks, and tried to play it off. I rolled my eyes, shoving him slightly, and went to look at skates. I tried a few pairs on until I found one that I liked and put them back into the box, adding them to the growing pile of equipment on the counter. I rejoined Charlie just as Fulton was pulling a stick out of a block of ice for him, and before he left Fulton grabbed me one too. I smiled up at him in thanks, and he let the smallest of smiles grace his face before turning back around and leaving.
As soon as we had all gotten everything we needed, Bombay paid for the gear and we left the shop, going down to the rink for our first official practice. Coach decided to talk Tammy and Tommy Duncan into playing with us, and by the time we had all gotten changed the three of them were there waiting for us. Bombay started with taking us back to the basics and had us skate between cones. We all knew we needed it, especially when Charlie fell and knocked over all of the cones, but I couldn't help feeling like he was babying us. We then progressed to passing, where Coach had us pass an egg back and forth with a partner. I shared a look with Connie, the two of us silently agreeing to work together, and we had the pleasure of watching Charlie break one, the contents splattering all over Coach. Eventually all of us got the hang of it, and Goldberg asked when coach was going to work with him in the goal.
"My mother would not approve of this, Coach." Goldberg said after we had tied him to the posts. "She'd like me to live to be Bar Mitzvahed."
"This is your Bar Mitzvah, Goldberg. Today you will become a man!" Coach said to him before skating back to all of us, who were lined up between the goal and the blue line.
"Coach, I think you got the ceremonies mixed up. It's more like a circumcision," Goldberg called as Bombay kept skating. Goldberg kept complaining, as per usual, and wanted to be untied.
"District Five, ready!" Coach called, ignoring the cowardly goalie. We all slammed our sticks gently on the ice next to our individual piles of pucks, getting ready to shoot. "Aim!" Coach called over Goldberg's blubbering. We all lined up our first pucks, completely prepared for the next command. "FIRE!" And with that the entire team, Bombay included, fired shot after shot, puck after puck, in the general direction of the goal. Many shots missed, but the experience was enough to make Goldberg tough enough to stay in the goal when shots were being fired. By the end of practice, Goldberg had really gotten comfortable in the net, and we all chanted his name whilst beating our sticks on the ice.
"I am Goldberg. THE GOALIE!" Goldberg yelled, growling toward the end. Bombay had us try the skating drill one last time, and no cones were knocked over. AS we skated off the ice, all of us completely worn out, Bombay was yelling questions to us. All were answered with a loud "YEAH!". And I almost felt bad about leaving Goldie tied to the goal - almost. After we got off the ice, Charlie, Connie and I walked back to the locker room in a content, peaceful silence, ready for whatever the world decided to throw at us next.
A/N: So it seems that every time I start to write, another essay or project is assigned. So, I used the three days I had off of school to write this for you guys! Another chapter that would have been two chapters. I'm going to be trying to write more after my essay and projects are due, but if I don't get as much done as I would like to in the upcoming two or so weeks, rest assured that I will be writing during my winter break. ALSO! I added a link to Claire and Adam's dance at the bottom of the last chapter, if you wanna watch that video. That's all I've got for now!
