DISCLAIMER: I've probably said it enough times by now, but I own NOTHING except for Claire

Chapter 11

The next weekend we were playing the Flames and hoping for our first win. We were all excited and waiting for coach while slowly getting changed. Everyone except for Peter and Jesse, who had shown up a bit later than the rest of us anyway. Eventually Bombay came into the locker room, and the first thing he noticed was that the two boys weren't dressed.

"Hey, why aren't you guys in uniform?" He asked them. "We've got warm-ups in half an hour." He then turned to the rest of us. "Alright everyone, listen up. I've got some good news. We're gettin' a new player. Adam Banks." At this announcement, everyone started up the cries of outrage. So many people said 'What!' that there were too many to count. Charlie just rolled his eyes, and although I tried to mask it, I knew a small smile had crept onto my face.

"He's a Hawk," Karp said, stating the obvious.

"He's a good player," Coach replied. At this, Karp made some sort of half-retching, gagging sound that caused me to wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Everybody hates him," Jesse mumbled from between his brother and Peter.

"Yeah, we don't need him," Connie added.

"Look, I'm the coach, and I say we do need him. If we make it to the playoffs, he could be a big help."

"If?" Karp interjected. "All of a sudden you don't think we're good enough?"

"No, he thinks we're losers," Peter finally spoke up. "That's what he told Reilly."

"What?" Coach half-mumbled.

"C'mon, we heard what you said. You said we were losers! We didn't deserve to live." Peter continued.

"That's not what I meant," Coach defended himself.

"I saw that picture of you," Peter stood up while he spoke, slowly moving toward Coach, "missing that goal. You were a Hawk, weren't you." Here he sighed. "I guess you guys stick together 'til the end. Y'know what, I don't need your stinkin' equipment." Peter threw his jersey to the locker room floor. "See you around," he said angrily, looking at Coach. And with that, he exited the room.

"Peter, come back here," Coach said in vain. "I'm talking to you son!"

"Forget it, cake-eater." Jesse spoke up. "If you wanna play, play with yourself." He turned behind him to Terry and lightly hit his brother's chest. "C'mon, Terry." And with those words ,the Hall brothers stood and exited the locker room as well,Terry taking off his shoulder pads as they passed Coach and throwing them on the ground with Peter's jersey.

"Where are you guys goin'?" Coach asked, trying again to stop his players from leaving. He turned back to the rest of us. "I don't believe this," he muttered under his breath. He sighed, ad then spoke up again. "Alright. I'm going up to the bench, 'cause that's where I'm supposed to be. Anyone who wants to join me can join me. Anyone who doesn't, well…" he trailed off, turning around and exiting the locker room to go up to the bench.

Slowly but surely nearly everyone undressed and left the locker room. Everyone but myself, Charlie, and Fulton. The boys tried their hardest to talk the others into staying, and Averman nearly did - but in the end, it was just the three of us who skated onto the ice ten minutes before game time. I heard Coach tell the ref we forfeit, and when the referee announced that the Flames won, we simply skated off and undressed like the rest of our teammates. Mom drove Charlie and I home, and we sulked around for the rest of the day.

A/N: I said this in the note at the end of my last chapter: I've been updating sporadically. But lately, I haven't been updating at all. I became really unsure about this story, you could say. I also got really busy, and during the free time I had I just wasn't thinking about this. Yesterday I logged into my account for the first time in a long time and noticed how many people still look at and read this story. And I saw something that made my day a lot brighter as well. So this chapter is for the Guest who reviewed on the twenty-fifth of last month (even though it's only the first of August).

Reviewers:

norissa910: I'm sorry I never got to respond to your review! Fulton is one of my favorite characters, as in the movies you get to see a few different angles of him, and he is always an interesting characters in fanfictions. I didn't have his and Claire's friendship planned from the start, but I tend to make everything up as I go anyway. As for the dance aspect of it, I don't even remember what I was thinking. It'll be challenging for me to write in though, that's for sure. Thanks for the review and praise, and support during the school year.

Guest: I'm glad you like it! It was very nice to see the appreciation and thank you for the compliment on my writing. I'm the kind of person who hates most things they create so it's really nice to hear praise about it. As for me not having to update it just for you, I felt like I needed to upon reading the review. And also I like to do thing just to spite people. So this one's for you.

ALSO! I have another chapter typed and ready to upload! I'm going to try to stay at least one chapter ahead from here on out, so as soon as I type another one or two that one will be uploaded.