Disclaimer: I only own Claire.

Chapter 5

To top off a week filled with taunts and jeers from all of the Hawks at my school, our hockey game that Saturday morning was probably one of our worst games of the season. The rest of the team was taking falls left, right and center, and the refs could tell that they weren't real; I had yet to take a single fall, and although Bombay was pretty pissed about it, I didn't plan on taking one at all. Even Goldberg was taking falls, which just gave the other team, the Jets, more opportunities to score. Eventually, the ref skated over after Bombay reprimanded Goldberg for taking falls while they were shooting at him.

"District 5, cut the acting class. One more dive, I forfeit to the Jets." He said, mostly to Bombay. And of course, Bombay got (you guessed it) indignant. I was just glad that the refs couldn't hear him.

Not much later, a big guy on the opposite team caught Charlie in the corner. The two of them ended up on the ice and the ref blew the whistle, calling for a face off. Bombay called Charlie over to the bench, and I was afraid to hear what he would say next.

"That guy is twice your size, so the next time he gets you in the corner like that I want you to grab your eye Like it's cut, and then," here he paused and hit the top of the boards, "hit the ice. Got it?" And with that "tip", Charlie skated away and back into the ame. I just sighed and shook my head. This coach was only making the season worse.

Sure enough, on the next play, Charlie got caught in the corner again. I could hear Terry and Karp next to me, coaxing Charlie to do what Bombay said, even though he couldn't hear them. Charlie looked at Bombay, and then let his gaze wander to me. I looked him in the eye and, with a miniscule shake of my head, he looked back at Bombay. Ignoring Bombay's yell to him, he nudged the puck out o the corner to Gee with his foot. Needless to say, Coach was not happy with the Conways after that game.

We filed into the locker room after the game and sat down, awaiting a lecture. What ended up happening was far from what anyone expected.

"Charlie!" Coach yelled as soon as he walked into the locker room. Charlie, who hadn't sat down yet, turned around; I, on the other hand, stood right back up after having sat for all of five seconds. "What the hell is the matter with you. When I tell you to do something you do it. You got it?" Charlie didn't respond, and this upset Bombay further. "Look at me." Charlie finally looked up, albeit reluctantly. "You got it?" Bombay said in a low tone. My brother just shook his head.

"You can't make me cheat," he said scornfully as he pushed past Bombay. I knew my brother was hurting, and I saw red. I mentally debated with myself, mind over heart, but ultimately my heart won the debate. I didn't care that Mr. Hall had entered the room. My heart was determined to set my voice free, at least for the moment. I walked right up to Bombay and nearly got in his face.

"I don't know what you were thinking. None of us wanted to cheat. You shouldn't have wanted us to cheat. But I don't care about that. What the hell do you think gives you the right to talk to him like that? 'Coach' and 'Father' are two different things. And right now, I really wish that I didn't have to refer to you as my coach." I said angrily, nearly yelling. The entire room was filled with shock;to them, me speaking normally has about the same amount of effect as any other person yelling. I stormed out of the room after my brother with tears that were normally carefully concealed in my eyes. I found Charlie sitting on a bench not far from the locker room and I sat next to him, letting the tears roll down my face, wondering if I had made the right decision. We sat in a comfortable silence until Connie came to tell us that Bombay was gone. We went into the locker room, pulled our skates and makeshift pads off, grabbed our bags and walked out to Mom's car. I couldn't wait to go home and hide in the safety of my bed.

A/N: So I'm back! I guess when I was faced with the end of summer, I was focused on enjoying it and not on writing? I really don't know what happened... That and I had summer assignments that I had to get done for school. Which brings me to my next point: I want to try to update more often, but school may get in the way of that. So there's a heads up.

So we finally get to hear (not really, but you know what I mean) Claire's voice. Will she regret her decision? Or will her choice put her onto a new path, one that contains more speaking?

Reviewers:

Guest: Thank you so very much for reminding me that people are actually waiting for this story to be updated! It felt kind of like people were reading but didn't really care where the story went. I'm so glad to hear that you're enjoying it so far! I'm enjoying writing it, so let's see where this ends up going, shall we?

(Also I did end up reading Cursed Child that day... I finished it in a few hours.)