Set in the years after middle school for Arnold and co. Arnold plays hockey for his team. Then one day, he meets his match: a player on the opposite team.
A/n: I claim the magic of author's right and have given Arnold a last name.
Disclaimer: I obviously am not talented enough to come up with a story good enough to be a television show. The plot however is based off of the many hockey games containing my brother that I have watched in my lifetime. Though, I don't think that the goalie would be allowed to do many of things I have written the goalie doing in this chapter, so again, I claim author's right. Enjoy.
The team gathers around my coach.
"This team is tough." He says. "But we can beat them, if we work together. You guys know what to do. Now get out there and win!"
We cheer and clomp over to the door. When they call our team's name, we skate out into the rink. We skate in a circle. This is our ice. We have never lost a home game. We plan to keep the record that way. This team is one we haven't played before. Suddenly, I hear Gerald pounding his stick on the ice. THWAK, THWAK, THWAK. So, I join in. THWAK, THWAK, THWAK. It goes faster and faster. Our team and the crowd join in. Then, it ends in cheers and the whole team holding our sticks in the air. We shorten our circle to half the ice and begin to practice shooting on our goalie, Colin. Not much gets by him, thankfully. But a few of my shots not part of that afore mentioned 'not much'.
After my shot, I turn to watch the other team skate on. Whenever a team comes on to the ice, I watch their goalie. He is my target, my enemy. He is the only thing in the way of my team's victory today. This goalie doesn't look too tough. He's skinny, TINY! His padding is the only reason why he's the same size as his teammates. I grin. He won't be a problem. This'll be like taking candy from a baby. I watch as the goalie checks his gear. His helmet is dark blue with a black metal mask on the front. On either side of his helmet is a silver star with a lilac tail. A shooting star! What do you know? Not only is he small, he's a sissy too! This goalie is a joke. The goalie puts his water bottle on the net, and then joins his teammates for a skate around the half of the ice that is theirs for the first half of the game. They then proceed to skate from one side of the rink to the other, each time, hitting the boards with their sticks. They are in sync. I must admit in spite of myself, it's pretty cool. When they finish this little escapade, they all skate over to center ice and skate in a small tight circle. They begin softly at first but it eventually gets louder as they yell their team's name. I don't quite make it out, but it doesn't matter much any way, right? Finally the referee blows his whistle. We line up to one side and wait for the other team. When they have lined up, we shake hands. I grin when I come to the goalie, who is the last player in line. I shake his hand and say to him
"Good luck. You'll need it."
From behind his mask, the goalie grins in almost a wolfish way and mutters to me
"Don't hold your breath."
I glare at him as he turns away. As he slowly skates back to the net, I take note of his name: G. Green. How odd, that his last name and my own, Brown, should both be colors. I watch as another member of this kid's team skates up to him. This new boy slaps the goalie's helmet, and the goalie does the same to him. I note when this new guy turns, that he and the goalie have the same last name. The only difference is the 'J' that precedes this player's name. The new guy skates around the goal and up to me for the face off. I smirk at him and ask him under my breath
"You and the goalie related?"
When he nods slightly, I ask
"Twins or cousins?"
The guy looks at me sharply, and then stands up. He turns and makes a gesture with his hand to his cousin or brother or whatever, the goalie, who then responds with a wave of his stick. I am about to ask what that means when the ref skates over with the puck. He looks at me, and then the other guy. Then he leans over. Then it hits me, that breathless slowing of time when I watch in slow motion as the puck falls from the ref's hand. I don't have time to react, I just move. I'm fast, but the guy across from me is faster. He gets the puck and passes it to his teammate on his right, who takes it down the ice. I turn and race after the guy with the puck. He sees me coming and passes it back to Mr. J. Green, who then proceeds to pass it to another guy farther down the ice, who beats the goalie and scores. As the crowd cheers, I look up at the scoreboard. Only about fifteen seconds into the game! Damn, these guys ARE good! Well, coach didn't say this would be a picnic. I skate up to Colin and say
"Don't worry, we'll pay them back with ten of our own."
Colin nods and says
"Whatever you say, Arnold.
Then, he waves me away. I skate back to center ice for the face off. The puck drops and this time, I'm the faster one. I take the puck around Mr. J. and skate down the ice towards his brother/cousin. Suddenly, the other team's defense is there. I see Gerald out of the corner of my eye, so I pass it to him. He's on the outside, so he beats the defense and takes it to the goal. He shoots with his famous slap shot and I watch, satisfied as it soars towards then net and…
…Into the goalie's glove? Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen, it was supposed to go in! How did the goalie stop it? Gerald looks at me with surprise. I shrug at him and skate over.
"Let's try again okay?"
So we do just that. Over the next three periods, we manage to score a few times, but the other team scores just as many as we do. I wish I could have been on the ice the whole game, but fair is fair, and everyone gets a shot on my coach's team. I'm not even the proud owner of one of those shots. But that doesn't matter to me right now, as it's about to change. What DOES matter is that there are only five minutes left in this final period. We only need one more goal to win it. That should be easy. I glance over at the goalie as I skate on. He's tired and you can tell. He pulls his water bottle off of the net and tilts hits head back to drink. He squirts the water right through the cage of his mask and into his mouth. When he has had his fill, he closes the bottle and returns it to the top of the net. Then, he turns back to face the ice. We have long since switched sides, but the goalie is still just as good as he was in the beginning. I note with satisfaction that J. Green is out on the ice right no as well. Perfect. I skate up to center ice and grin at J. when he comes up. He looks at my face and then looks down at the end of his stick. The ref skates over and drops the puck. I take the puck and skate down the ice. It's a break away! I get close to the goalie and shoot. It goes in! Yes!
Unfortunately, J. comes back a minute later with a goal of his own, damn him. We spend the next three minutes fighting over the puck but not scoring. Finally, the clock stops at a minute thirty seconds for a penalty to them on one of their defensemen for sticking. Great! Now we have the advantage. We'll score and win! Suddenly, I hear chanting. I listen for a moment and then I hear it clearly. The crowd is chanting
"Shooting Star, Shooting Star!"
I glance back at the goalie, who isn't paying attention to the chanting. Instead, he is watching his coach closely. Finally the coach looks at the scoreboard and turns to the goalie. He salutes the goalie, who waves and then turns back to the game. The goalie lets out a loud ear-piercing whistle. All of his teammates on the ice turn and imitate the coach's salute to the goalie. I meet J. again at the face off. I can't be sure, but I think he lets me win the face off. I take the puck down the ice. But none of the defensemen are trying to stop me! Oh well, their loss, right? I skate down the ice with the puck. The goalie is crouched down, watching my every move. When I near the coal, I shoot. The goalie deflects the puck and passes it to J. then to my amazement, another person on the team skates up and switches sticks with the goalie! The goalie takes the offered stick and goes out of the goal, leaving the other player behind in the net. J. passes him the puck, and he takes off down the ice. I snap myself out of my stupor and tear off after the goalie. Damn, he's fast. What does this guy eat for breakfast? I know I'll never catch up to him, so as I attempt it anyway, I watch helplessly as the goalie takes the puck and scores. Now it's tied with thirty seconds left in the game. We're going to have a shootout. Crap, and I was going to the movies with Lila after this too. She'll kill me. I go to center ice to meet J. Green for the last time. But to my amazement, the goalie comes up to center ice. He's still got all of his goalie equipment on. He grins at me, and then looks over to the ref. the ref shakes his head, and drops the puck. To my amazement, G. is actually a very good forward. I win the face off, but he steals the puck from me. I watch in slow motion as at the last second, G. scores a goal and wins the game for his team. The whole team pours onto the ice and lifts G on their shoulders and skate him around the ice. My team skates off the ice dejectedly and into the locker room.
As Gerald are walking out later, I spy a girl sitting on the floor next to a hockey bag. I glance at Gerald and nod over to the girl. She is actually kind of cute, with grey blue eyes and long blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. She looks like she just took a hat off of her head actually. But whatever. I walk over, dragging my hockey bag behind me. I stop in front of her and when she looks up, I ask
"Is your brother on that team?" I ask her pointing to the bag sitting next to her.
When she nods cautiously, I ask
"Does he know the goalie?"
She looks at me like I'm crazy. Then, to my surprise, she starts to laugh. She stands up and looks me right in the eye and asks
"Yeah he knows the goalie. Who's asking?"
"Name's Arnold."
"Brown?"
"Yeah. Did you watch the game?"
"I was there."
Suddenly, a voice calls out from behind us
"Hey Gee-gee! Are these guys bothering you?"
The girls looks over my shoulder and says
"No Jake, they aren't. they're asking me if I know the goalie."
I turn to see a few guys with hockey bags like the one the girl is sitting next to. This Jake guy is carrying his jersey over one arm, but I see the name printed on it.
"Hey, you're the forward." I say.
"Yup." Jake says.
He walks over to the girl and helps her stand up. The girl walks over to a stick leaning against the wall near the bag and hands it to one of the boys standing next to Jake. She grins at him and says
"Thanks for the loan Matt."
The boy smiles at her and hands her the goalie stick in his hand.
"Anytime Grace." He says.
The girl smiles at him and takes the stick. Then she turns to the hockey bag and picks it up. As she slings it over one shoulder, the helmet falls out. It rolls to my feet, and I pick it up. I stare at the silver star for a moment, and then look up at the girl who is watching me.
"Can I have my helmet back?" She asks.
"You-you're the goalie?" I ask, stunned.
"Yeah. What's your point?" She says as I hand the helmet back
"You're a girl!"
At this, she looks down at herself. She turns around once. She looks up at me and gasps.
"I am? When did that happen?" She says.
She turns to Jake and says
"Hey Jake! I'm a girl!"
Jake laughs and says
"Yeah, I've known that since we adopted you Geeg. What took you so long?"
It isn't until everyone around me laughs that I realize that this explains the two 'Greens' on the team. It also explains the goalie's smallness. I also realize that she must get this a lot, because that conversation he just had with her brother sounded very rehearsed. Gerald, who hasn't said a thing throughout the whole of this encounter now speaks up
"You look familiar. Do I know you?"
The girl considers him for a moment and then says with a smile
"Jeez tall hair, I know I've changed my name and I surely look different, but do I looks different that even YOU don't recognize me?"
We both stare at this girl. Now that I think about it, she does look really familiar. She looks like an older, prettier, less mean and without the one eyebrow version of-
"Helga!" I say.
Helga grins and says
"So you haven't lost all of your smarts. Congrats football head."
She turns to her brother and says
"Let's get out of here, Jake. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry." Jake says.
Helga laughs. She zips her hockey bag shut and then follows her brother out but now before she turns and says to me
"See you guys around."
We stare, dumbly, as the door swings shut behind her. Suddenly, something she said rings home. I turn to Gerald, whose mouth is handing open and ask
"When was she adopted?"
A possible one shot. Should I write more? Review and tell me!
bookworym
This be my story. what thinkest thou?
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