yours | adam banks.

chapter fourteen

ava colby

I walk into the hockey arena with a spring in my step, messenger bag bouncing against my hip. It's packed with my notebook, pens and a few snacks. So, all the necessities for my first day on the job for my article.

I'm sitting in on Junior Varsity's practice. Obviously I know the team but I need to have a better understanding of how they work as a team. They're individual personalities tend to clash with each other, especially with Charlie's hotheadedness, so it'll be interesting to watch and see how they all shine through with their plays.

The satisfying sound of skates on ice fills my ears as I make my way up into the stands, taking a seat close to the boards, right where I know they'll see me. I'm not hiding this time, so it'll be fun to see their reactions to me.

Their coach blows his whistle and they all take a knee. I sidle my notebook out of my bag and place it on my knee, open at a fresh page that's just begging to be filled with ink.

"Alright, you're all warmed up now I'm sure. A member of the Eden Hall Gazette is sitting in on practice today, so play well alright?"

There's a glint in his eyes that I can just pick up from my seat. At least he has a little bit of a sense of humour, the last time I saw him he'd been pretty scary.

At the mention of me, all the Ducks look around frantically, searching the stands. Connie is the first to notice me.

"Hey, it's Ava!" Connie exclaims before skating over to me hurriedly. I set down my notebook and lean up against the boards, grinning widely.

The rest of the Ducks join Connie and all surround me in a semi-circle, all talking over each other so I can barely hear what they're saying.

"Didn't think a cheerleader like you would be so nerdy."

"Averman, you can't talk." Guy retorts, giving the boy a look. The redhead gets shoved and he hits the ground, groaning loudly.

"I was joking..."

"What's your story on? Can I be the star, you know I'll make the papers sell like crazy."

That one was from Luis, who is acting all cocky, winking at me cheekily.

"Yeah yeah Mendoza, the story's on everyone, it's a feature story on how you're all getting on at Eden Hall." I say matter of factly, glancing up at the many banners decorating the ceiling.

Goldberg pushes his way past and into the front to grab my attention.

"Do people really wanna' know more about us?"

My words falter a little before I speak with more confidence, still sounding unsure. "Well I mean it was commissioned by the Dean but I'm sure there must've been high demand for it to be be brought up?"

Goldberg just nods and backs away again. The chatter just picks up whenever their coach calls them back in and I grab my notebook, not bothering to sit back down.

They all start into drills, the first one being on basic skating. All the skaters form a line before breaking off one by one to skate along the red line, weaving in and out.

"Work on those edges, don't get sloppy on me!" Coach Orion yells out to them, keeping a watchful eye over the rink.

I jot down the little things. The feeling of unity between the players, the small interactions of the team. Like Guy tapping the top of Connie's head with his stick whilst she playfully glares at him.

Averman and Goldberg laughing at something the other has said, an ongoing joke making them both crack up. How Charlie is always in the centre of everything, trying his hardest to succeed.

I write it all down, words looking up at me in all their glory, making my eyes tired. It makes my mind drift off into other thoughts, forgetting that I'm standing at the Duck's practice, brain wandering to what I know is missing.

Adam. His absence has affected the time badly, their patchwork team missing the few integral threads that was holding them all together. Even without the sporty reasons, all of them looked a little gloomy without the blond being there. They're still enjoying themselves but from where I'm standing I can see the forlorn faces leak through, the mood dampening before it picks back up again.

I note that down too, anxiously scribbling with my pen. A purple glitter pen, with sailor moon decorating it. The show was really good, it's only been out for about a year. It might be Japanese but I really enjoy it, the art's really cool.

The team's split off into two groups now, one side of the rink working on offence whilst the other works on defence.

Offence are busy working on shooting, building up their accuracy whilst Julie and Goldberg alternate being in the net. There's definitely a rivalry there, Goldberg whispering away to Averman when Julie isn't looking.

"Catty." I mumble to myself, eyeing the pair.

I turn to peek in on defence. There's a lot of work that needs done all round, even with my limited hockey knowledge I've gathered that the Ducks operate at a more offensive stance.

Charlie, Connie, Ken and Fulton all skate around and work on clearing out the pucks that Coach Orion shoots towards them, a constant back and forth happening.

Their coach then has them all pair up to work on passing a little bit more before turning to Luis. I already know what's coming and so does Mendoza.

Orion demonstrates how to stop in his skates, the ice shredding up below him as he goes up and down a section of the ice.

"Right Luis. Twist your body either to your left or your right, depends where the puck's coming at you from. Then you bend your knees and tilt your left or right foot, like I said it depends, and this'll slow you down abruptly. Try it."

Whatever coach just said confuses me and seemingly it did so with Luis as well but he just nods and takes off, skating along fast before the wall comes up. He mimics the twist coach explained and tilts his foot.

He stopped! I jump and cheer, causing everyone to look at me curiously and then to Luis, who is giving me a boyish grin. Everyone joins in on the excitement, yelling out their words of encouragement. Even Orion cracks a smile before slipping back into his terminator mode, having everyone get back to work.

Just watching them all practice has me tired so I'm beyond glad whenever Coach Orion announces it's the end, letting the team disperse to their locker room.

"Thanks for letting me sit in today sir." I say out of politeness, smiling warmly at the man. He nods in acknowledgment and raises his hand. I take that as my cue to leave.

The Ducks are good kids and I can tell I'm going to enjoy writing this article. I mean, I've never written one before. I'm going to have to do my research. Who knows...maybe it'll be my new thing?