𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗩𝗘

❝ this ain't for fun and this ain't for show ❞

•••

When Bombay walked into the locker room the next morning his entire demeanor was different than normal. Not only was he dressed different but his attitude felt very not Bombay to Sophie. His little date with the Iceland trainer the night before seemed to have affected him causing him to change himself. Sophie hated it.

Dean nudged her and Fulton and the two siblings followed the boy to their coach who was standing at the table in the locker room.

"Good night last night Coach?" Fulton spoke up first with the question.

Bombay gave a response saying it was fine. He had his back turned toward Sophie so she looked to Dean and gave a melodramatic eye roll. The boy bit his laugh to keep himself from laughing before asking the man what he had done.

"Oh I just watched some TV, got to bed early," Bombay responded, barely sparing a glance at the boy.

"But not without a little dessert first," Sophie spoke from behind her coach in a sarcastic tone. "Right?"

Sophie grabbed Dean's hand and pulled away back towards their lockers leaving Bombay and her brother. Dean looked down at their hands and slightly smiled at the sight, thinking to himself that he could get used to the feeling of his hand and hers intertwined. But before he could ponder on it too long, Kenny walked up to them with his anxiety written across his face. Sophie immediately wrapped her pinky around the shorter boy's and began to reassure him that if any Iceland player even looked at him in the wrong way, she would take care of them.

•••

To say that Iceland was killing Team USA was the understatement of the century. To say that Sophie was furious with Bombay was the second understatement of the century. To say that Iceland was killing Sophie was the third understatement of the century.

Bombay seemed to have no faith in the two new girls on the team at all. He wasn't letting Julie play nor was he letting Sophie play. Well she got to play for about a minute. As soon as an Iceland player knocked her into the wall, he took her out of the game. He had made a comment to her about how she was supposed to be a good player but he didn't see it. She rolled her eyes as soon as he looked away and resorted to mumbling threats under her breath to keep herself from yelling at the adult.

She wished Dean was out on the bench with her but sadly he had gotten kicked out in the first five seconds. When he had been walking off the ice, Sophie had jokingly whispered "that's hot" to Kenny who was sitting next to her. The boy just groaned in response.

"Hey Goldberg! If that puck was a cheeseburger, you'd stop it," some kid in the stands shouted causing Sophie to turn towards him.

"Why don't you shut the fuck up douche bag!"

Kenny stared at the girl in shock as she not only cussed, but cussed during a game. A televised game at that. A ref came over to give Sophie a warning, saying that if she had to be talked to her language again or if she got any other type of penalty she'd be joining Portman in the locker room. The girl nodded to the ref but as soon as he turned his back she rolled her eyes.

When Bombay finally put Kenny on the ice, he sent Sophie in as well. He assumed they'd work well together. And they do. Well unless anyone touches Kenny.

When two of the Iceland players teamed up and smooshed Kenny between themselves, Sophie got angry. She made her way over to the pair and used her shoulder to attempt to knock one of them down. She just didn't see the third player coming up behind her.

As the girl was right behind Gunner Stahl, Sophie went to bump into him until the third player behind her used his hands to shove her to the ground. The ref blew his whistle calling the penalty on Sophie saying she was "going against number nine unprovoked" even though she was the one shoved to the ground. And just like that she got her second penalty and was sent out of the game.

As the brunette walked back to the locker room, her hands and legs were shaking but not out of anger like her team assumed. She was terrified. She was scared that not only her but also Dean were going to be kicked off the team. She didn't know what she'd do if she had to return home with the fact that she was kicked off the national junior team because she cursed at someone and someone else shoved her. She didn't want that embarrassment following her for the rest of her career. What if this ruined her career.

When she entered the locker room she saw an angry Dean who stood watching the television that was playing their game. He turned to look at her when she walked in and shook his head patting the seat next to him.

"I can't believe they kicked you out because some jerk shoved you. These refs are blind assholes," Dean spoke as he looked back to the screen.

The two continued watching as Sophie began cracking her knuckles against the side of her thigh, attempting to calm her mind consuming thoughts. She didn't seem to notice Dean cringe at the sound until his shoulders tense up. She looked over at him confused before he spoke up.

"Sorry I hate the sound of knuckles cracking," the boy muttered as he rubbed his hands against his thighs.

"Oh shit sorry I didn't know," Sophie immediately spewed out an apology, trying to find something else to calm her mind.

Dean mumbled out that it was fine before pulling her hand into his own just as she had done when she had pulled him away from Bombay earlier in the day.

•••

Some time during the game, Julie had also been kicked out which didn't shock Sophie. She knew Julie was the type to defend herself and these refs were obviously biased. It also didn't shock her that by the time the game ended, her team had lost. She was proud of Adam for scoring during the game however she was worried about his wrist. He had told her that it was fine but she knew better than that. She left it alone though, not wanting to bug him about it again today. Tomorrow would be a different story though and they both knew that.

When Bombay came into the locker room he began reprimanding the team for losing. He began to call them pathetic and it took Fulton, Dean and Kenny holding onto the girl's arms to stop Sophie from yelling at the man. Well Sophie didn't really think Bombay was a man at this point. What kind of man yells at teenagers for something that wasn't their fault. The team began firing back at Bombay as he stood there, staring at them.

"Or hanging with the Iceland lady. We saw you two Saturday night," Fulton piped up.

The entire team with the exception of Fulton, Dean and Sophie snapped their heads in the direction of the Reed boy.

"Eating ice cream with the enemy, huh Coach?" Dean spoke up this time, staring at Bombay.

The coach began spewing out some nonsense about who he spent his time with didn't matter to the team. Sophie scoffed and the three boys around her knew there was no stopping her now. Bombay looked at her and asked if she had anything to say.

"Who you spend time with does matter to us if they're with Iceland," Sophie began.

"I think you need to learn how to shut your mouth Reed," Bombay spat as he took a threatening step towards her.

"Oh really? I guess you're just too damn blind to see that Stanson's just using her to either get into your head or get you to talk about our strategies to her. We're obviously their biggest competition. Ever wonder why she knew so much about you? It's because they do research on their competition and try to find out everything they can instead of walking into a competition having no idea who they're going against. They know everything about us and it doesn't look good for you that the night before our game against them you were getting cosy with their trainer. Some coach you are."

The entire room was silent as Sophie and Bombay stared each other down. Neither one of them looked like they were going to be breaking that eye contact soon which added to the tension in the room. Goldberg made a move to take off his jersey causing Bombay to speak, still holding eye contact with Sophie.

"Everyone stay in your gear. We have practice."