❝ this time we're in it to stay ❞

•••

Sophie stood in front of Adam as she checked over his wrist. She knew the boy had said that it felt fine and only his padding was hit but he had told them before it was fine and that wasn’t the case.

“Soph I promise I’m fine,” Adam assured her with a laugh. “If it hurts, could I do this with a smile?”

The boy began to wave his wrist around quickly with a smile causing Sophie to roll her eyes. Sighing, the girl dismissed her worry for the boy and turned towards the door as it opened as Coach Bombay and Miss McKay walked in.

“Did you all enjoy that?”

The team cheered at their coach’s question, Sophie laughing as some of the boys began to jump around.

“Okay, well so did they,” Bombay continued with a straight face. “Because they’re still three points up and we’re one period away from defeat.”

The mood dropped so quickly Sophie thought she would get whiplash. Majority of the team began to sit down, the brunette leaning against Adam who was closest to her.

“If we can’t beat them, we might as well keep our pride.”

The team began to agree with Jesse as Bombay sighed in defeat. Sophie watched as he shook his head before turning back to the boy.

“Jesse, that’s not pride. Sure, when Dwayne roped that big oaf, part of me cheered.”

“I know I did,” Sophie smiled, causing some of her teammates to laugh.

Bombay cracked a smile for a split second before putting a serious face back on. This wasn’t the time to joke.

“Guys, I’ve been there. I know how you feel. I wanted to cream that jerk that busted my knee when I played in the minors. And I really, really wanted to go after Stanson for that cheap shot.”

Sophie opened her mouth to make a remark, but she stopped when Bombay gave her a warning look. She looked over to Adam who was shaking his head as to tell her not to but when did Sophie ever listen to what guys tell her to do.

“You should have let me go after him. Maybe then his team wouldn’t be so misogynistic.”

Julie and Connie both tried to hold back laughs as Bombay stared at the other girl. Kenny shook his head in amusement at his best friend as she shrugged her shoulders. Bombay gave a soft sigh before continuing on with his pep talk.

“But you know what? My knee will heal. And if I become someone I’m not, if I sink to their level, well then, I lost more than my knee. You understand?”

The team looked around at each other as they began to murmur in agreement with their coach. They were getting what their coach meant and knew they needed to let some things go.

“We’re not goons. We’re not bullies,” Bombay started.

“Well,” Sophie trailed off when she saw the look the entire team, even Miss McKay, was giving her.

“No matter what people say or do, we have to be ourselves,” their coach spoke before turning to Dean. “You. Who are you?”

“Dean Portman.”

“From where?”

“Chicago, Illinois.”

Bombay turned to Sophie asking the same questions,

“Sophie Reed,” the brunette spoke, turning to look at her brother. “From Stillwater, Minnesota.”

Fulton whistled at the mention of their hometown before Bombay began going to other members of their team as they continued on. The teens began to get more and more excited as each person shared who they were and where they were from with the team. Sophie cheered when Fulton stood up and she moved to stand with her brother.

Coach Bombay finished off their little moment with himself. Sophie smiled around at her team as they all cheered in a circle. This is what she imagined when she signed up to join Team USA. This is what she imagined a true team would look and feel like. She looked over at Kenny and smiled as she bounced on his toes in excitement.

“We’re Team USA, gathered from all across America and we’re gonna stick together. You know why?” Bombay spoke as the team started to settle slightly.

“Because we’re ducks,” Jan spoke up as he entered the room with a box. “And ducks fly together.”

Sophie’s smile grew as she watched her coach hype the team up once again.

“And just when you think they’re about to break apart, ducks fly together!”

Miss McKay took over, flashing a bright smile as she said, “And when the wind blows hard and the sky is black, ducks fly together!”

“When the roosters are crowing and the cows are spinning circles in the pasture,” Dwayne added with a bright smile.

Sophie turned to look at her team, some about to start laughing. She quickly raised her eyebrow at Averman, Luis, and Guy who were about to make fun of the boy causing them to stop snickering.

“Ducks fly together!” Sophie led the team in saying once again.

She smiled as she saw Dwayne brighten up even more before turning to listen to Bombay again.

“And when everyone says it can’t be done, ducks fly together.”

Sophie looked down at Kenny, the two scrunching their noses as they smiled brightly. Their pinkies gripped onto each other as they anticipated the teams next move before heading back onto the ice. Jan stepped forward as he began speaking to the team.

“Now new ducks and old ducks must unite under a new banner and I thought perhaps something like this,” he said before pulling out new Ducks jerseys for the entire team.

Sophie jumped up and down as she turned to her brother.

“We have matching Duck jerseys now!”

“This is totally awesome,” Fulton yelled as he pulled his sister into a hug.

It took a few minutes to get the jerseys passed out to everyone and get them all on. Fulton almost took Sophie’s before Dean realized Fulton had the wrong number which caused them to laugh for a moment.

“Alright guys,” Sophie started as they stood in front of the closed locker room door. “This is it. Are we ready?”

She was met with cheers and she took that as the okay to open the door and walk out. The team made their way down the hallways and back to the rink, the crowd cheering as they spotted the team returning.

Sophie followed Luis onto the ice and skated a lap before looking around the cheering crowd. She spotted the four boys she was looking for and skated to the other side of the rink.

Upon seeing Sophie stop in front of their section, the boys of Sunset Curve held up signs for Team USA and Sophie. She laughed as she watched Luke realize his sign was upside down and smacked Bobby with it before flipping it the right way around. She held up her hands in the shape of a heart at the four before skating back towards Kenny and Fulton.

“We got this, right?” Kenny asked the girl as the three stood huddled together.

“Of course, we do,” Sophie reassured him as she grabbed his pinky in hers.

“Yeah man. We’ve got you, Sophie and Banks on one team,” Fulton smiled. “We got this in the bag.”

Kenny smiled up at Fulton as the three were called to the bench with the rest of the team. As the group began to quack instead of saying their usual pregame saying, Sophie couldn’t help but feel like she belonged here. These people were her family.

“Go…Ducks!”