𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬-𝗢𝗡𝗘

❝ they don’t much matter if you ain’t with me ❞

•••

Sophie sat on the bench, watching as Jesse took face off. Shoving the Iceland player to the ice, the boy passed the puck to Averman who managed to get a good distance from the center line before he had another player crushing him into the wall. He had managed to pass the puck to Connie, the Ducks staying in possession of the puck.

Sophie watched anxiously as the Iceland players swarmed her teammates on the ice. Connie passed the puck to Kenny who passed it to Guy within seconds, successfully faking out the Iceland boys. Connie got the puck from Guy before scoring.

Sophie jumps around the bench area, Dean sweeping her up in a hug. It was now four to two but the Ducks were making a comeback. Dean set Sophie back on her feet after a moment, the two cheering for Connie again.

As Goldberg saves a shot, Sophie jumps up with the rest of the kids on the bench. She turned around to sneeze and when she turned back towards the game, Iceland had scored, making it five to two.

“Okay, how the hell did that happen in the span of me sneezing?” The girl asked Adam who stood on the other side of her.

“I have no idea,” Adam admitted. “However, your face when you turned back around was priceless.”

“Watch yourself, Banks,” Sophie joked before turning towards Charlie who was gathering everyone around for a game plan.

They all looked down at the little board that the boy held, confused on his idea. Sophie was beginning to understand as she nodded her head slowly.

“Charlie, what’re you trying to do here,” Averman asked. “This isn’t the NBA.”

“But it’s the perfect teamwork play,” Charlie defended, looking towards Sophie. “You in?”

“Hell yeah, I am!”

Dean, Dwayne, Sophie and Adam all switched out with whoever was on the ice, ready for probably the weirdest play they would ever use. Dean took the puck behind the Duck’s goal before sending it to Sophie who within seconds passed it to Adam. He got the puck to the center line before sending it to Dwayne who was right in front of him.

“Now Cowboy!” Charlie calls out from the bench.

Dwayne manages to hit the puck up into the air, calling out, “Alley-oop boys!”

The puck flies through the air, everyone in the stadium including both teams stopping to watch it. Sophie skates backwards slowly, keeping her eyes on the object as it moves closer to Iceland's goal. Her and Adam quickly skate to the goal, in case the puck needs assistance into the goal. Adam gets tripped, sliding into the goalie while the puck slides past the Iceland player’s legs.

The entire stadium erupts in cheers as the Ducks celebrate their goal. Sophie pulls Adam up from the ice, spinning them around as they yell in each other’s faces about how cool their play was. Dean skates up to them, Sophie pulling her face shield up to kiss him.

The boys of Sunset Curve were screaming as they all jumped on each other in excitement. Bobby looked like he could faint any moment as he shook Luke.

“Holy shit we are so cool,” Sophie told the two boys as they skated towards the center line.

The next couple minutes are extremely rough. The Ducks were being thrown around like rag dolls as the Iceland players took any chance they could to check them into the walls or simply shove them over.

“Talk about animal cruelty,” Sophie muttered as she swiftly helped Dwayne up from the ice.

Sophie was knocked down onto the ice not even thirty seconds after. Her head hit the ice harshly, earning a groan from the girl as she pulled herself up. She was more annoyed than hurt.

Luis managed to get the puck from an Iceland player and he was speeding down the ice. He was moving faster than anyone else on the ice, determined to get to the goal. He turned his feet to stop, spraying ice all over the Iceland goalie.

Sophie stopped and stared, shocked and proud that the boy could now successfully stop.

“I stopped!” Luis said as he looked down at his feet.

“Put it in, Luis!” Bombay called from the bench, prompting the boy to do so.

The buzzer went off as the puck shot between the goalie’s legs, the boy falling to his knees. Luis turned around towards his team, all the ones on the ice rushing to meet him.

“Holy shit! We’re so proud of you, Luis!” Sophie told the boy as they all embraced him in a hug. “And now we’re only one down with two minutes left. Guys! We could actually win this.”

The group on the ice cheered before breaking apart heading to their designated spots. Sophie turned towards the bench to see Russ coming on, switching with someone else. The girl knew this was risky but if anyone could get a shot in two minutes, it was Russ Tyler.

Within seconds of having the puck, Russ had three Iceland players on him and pinning him to the board. Fulton and Sophie noticed more players heading the boy’s way and decided to take it into their hands. Fulton managed to tackle one of the boys while Sophie had kneed the back of one the Iceland’s players knees.

One of the refs finally blew their whistle, pulling the three boys off of Russ. Once Russ was free from the boys, Coach Bombay called for a time out.

“Guys, come in. Come on! Goldberg! Huddle up! Listen up!”

All the players surrounded Bombay, ready for whatever it was he had to say. Sophie grabbed Kenny’s pinky from over the board, the two watching their coach carefully.

“Listen up,” Bombay said. “This is what I want to do.”

The man went on to explain what they would do. Sophie moved to the outside of the circle, pushing Russ and Goldberg closer to the center of it as their coach helped them with the last little details of their newest play.

“This is a great idea,” Sophie told the team as they turned to her. “I just heard Coach JerkFace over there say that they need to have three of them on fifty-six at all times.”

The Ducks smiled at each other knowing that not only Iceland but also the entire stadium was in for a wild ride. They kept the puck on their side of the ice, not moving towards the center at all. They passed it back and forth, waiting for the perfect moment.

After a few more passes, Coach Bombay was heard.

“Alright, Guy now!”

Guy sent the puck to Luis who went behind their net before dropping it back to the goalie. However, it wasn’t Goldberg. No. It was Russ Tyler. Sophie heard the boy’s brother yell out that it was Russ causing her to smile.

Averman handed his stick to Russ who thanked him before setting up for his knuckle puck. The Iceland players rush to try and stop him but they are too slow. The boy had already slammed the stick into the puck and it was whizzing past their faces.

The Iceland goalie made a failed attempt to catch it but it went straight into the goal. Sophie cheered as she skated as quickly as she could to the Tyler boy. She jumped on him in a hug, knocking the pair to the floor.

“Holy shit! I know I keep saying that today but holy shit!” Sophie laughed as they sat up. “Russ, you are the coolest person ever.”

“Soph shut up you’re literally best friends with a band,” the boy laughed as the rest of the Ducks on the ice rushed to them.

Sophie pointed towards Russ’ brother who was shouting “that’s my boy” as he pointed to his little brother. Russ wore the widest smile the girl had seen on him as he waved at his brother.

Kenny rushed up to Sophie and jumped on her, knocking her back onto the ice. The two were yelling in each other’s faces about tying up the score. The entire team gathered in a group hug as they celebrated their achievement.

“I hate to break up this charming moment,” Sophie said from the middle of the group. “But we all smell really bad.”

Everyone broke out into laughter, beginning to separate. They all moved towards their bench, anxious to see who would be participating in the shootout. Sophie always hated them. There was so much anxiety and pressure.

“Alright guys, listen up!” Bombay said getting the team’s attention. “We need five shooters. Sophie, kid, you ready?”

All eyes turned to her and hers widened.

“Respectfully coach, I would rather die than do a shootout,” Sophie said as she shook her head. “Like seriously.”

The man stared at her for a second before muttering a “yeah okay” and turning to the rest of the team. The girl and Kenny looked at each other, stifling their laughter as they tried to pay attention to their coach.

First up in the shootout was Jesse. Sophie grabbed onto Kenny’s pinky, as her other hand squeezed her brother’s. Dean stood behind her, hands resting on her shoulders as they all watched the boy take the ice.

Jesse was able to shoot the puck between the goalie’s legs, scoring. The entire Duck’s bench broke out into cheers as Jesse smiled and cheered as well. He came back to the bench, the whole team congratulating him.

The Iceland player managed to score as well, earning cheers from their team. Guy was the next Duck to go up and he managed to lore the goalie out of the goal and shot the puck from the side, scoring. The crowd and Ducks erupted in cheers for the boy. They once again cheered when Goldberg caught the next Iceland player’s shot.

Dwayne was up next but unfortunately the goalie caught the puck. Sophie patted his back as he sat back on the bench, disappointed in himself.

“Hey Dwayne, it’s okay. I’m proud of you,” Sophie smiled, ignoring the Iceland player who was on the ice.

“Even though I messed up?” Dwayne asked as he looked up at her.

“I’m proud of you because you tried your best.” Sophie smiled. “It was one mistake, Dwayne. Who’s the one who scored with the alley-oop without an assist?”

Dwayne smiled despite the cheering for Iceland that was occurring around them. Sophie had reminded him that he deserved to be here and on this team. He was a vital part of their family and they wouldn’t have come this far without him.

“Fulton you got this,” Sophie assured her brother as he was about to step on the ice.

Fulton gave her a nervous smile before making his way to the center of the ice. He took his time skating forward before stopping. He shot the puck at the goal, hitting the goalie in the face. He fell to the ice, the puck going in the goal right after him.

Sophie cheered for her brother, jumping on him when he was back on the bench. The two squeezed each other, more than proud of the other.

“You’re my favorite brother,” Sophie smiled as they pulled away from each other.

“Soph,” Fulton looked at her. “I’m your only brother.”

“Oh, crap that’s right.”

The two laughed before groaning at the sound of the buzzer. Iceland had managed to score again. Adam was up as the last shooter for the Ducks. Sophie felt like she could be sick any second and wondered if she felt this nervous, how nervous was Adam?

When the blonde boy looked over to the bench from the ice, Sophie sent him the most encouraging smile she could muster along with two thumbs up. After looking at the entire team, especially Charlie and Coach Bombay, Adam began moving towards the goal.

Sophie couldn’t decide whether it felt like hours or seconds but whatever it was, it made her nervous. She watched as Adam shot the puck at the goalie’s leg, making it bounce into the goal.

“Oh my god!”

“He did it!”

Sophie wasn’t even mad at herself for crying. She was too proud of her team to care. They had come so far in their time together.

Adam made his way back to his team, Sophie hugging him as he rushed to her.

“Soph, you’re crying!” Adam laughed as wiped her face.

“Shut up blondie,” she muttered before pulling him back into another hug.

The team stopped cheering when Gunnar Stahl stood up on the Iceland bench. Bombay rushed over to Julie, wanting to switch her and Goldberg out.

“You got the fast glove. I know this kid’s move,” Bombay said as he looked at the girl. “Triple deke, glove side. Anticipate it and you got him.”

“What if he goes stick side?”

“He’s fancy,” Bombay assured her. “He’ll go glove. Don’t hesitate. Let’s go.”

Sophie cheered as Julie took her place on the ice, switching with Goldberg who assured her she had it. As Gunnar Stahl skated towards the goal, the stadium was silent.

Sophie sucked in a breath when the boy shot the puck, waiting for the reveal of whether or not Julie caught it. The blonde girl looked at her glove before moving her gaze to Stahl. She stood up and dropped the puck on the ground.

“Holy shit! Oh my god!” Sophie screamed as she grabbed the person closest to her which happened to be Averman. “She did it!”

Sophie had never heard cheering this loud before. She was the first to jump over the bench, not even using the door, and skated to Julie, tackling her to the ice.

“I’m so proud of you!” Sophie yelled, tears streaming down her face again. “Julie, you are so amazing!”

It was chaos. The entire team was beyond excited, screaming and skating around like idiots.

Fulton grabbed Sophie in a hug, the two falling to the ice as their teammates jumped on them. The crowd was insane as they cheered for the Ducks. As Sophie got up from the ice, Dean pulled her into a hug, spinning as they held onto each other. Dean grabbed the girl’s face and kissed her as the team turned to look at them, cheering even more.

“You did a great job out there today,” Kenny smiled up at Fulton as they watched their friends continue to celebrate.

“Thanks,” Fulton smiled. “You did too.”

The Iceland players came onto the ice to shake the Ducks’ hands. The two teams went down the line, congratulating each other on a good game. Sophie and Dean saw the boys of Sunset Curve standing by the entrance to the rink and rushed up to them.

“You guys were amazing!” Bobby cheered as Sophie hugged them over the railing.

“Thank you,” Sophie said as she smiled at them all. “It means so much that you all came to see us play.”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Luke said.

Connie and Julie came up on either side of Sophie and Dean, smiling at the band. They informed the four and the couple about the party they were having after the game to celebrate their win, inviting the four boys.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked. “We don’t want to intrude on a team thing.”

“Alex, we're the ones who planned it,” Julie assured. “We’d love for you all to be there.”

“We’ll be there,” Reggie said. “Now get back to your team.”

•••

The team sat on the beach with the boys of Sunset Curve, celebrating their win and their last day in Los Angeles. It was dark and they sat around a fire, roasting marshmallows. Sophie sat on a log with Dean and her brother, Alex sitting in the sand and leaning against her legs. They all watched, laughing, as Goldberg accidentally set his marshmallow on fire, the flames becoming larger by the second.

“What’re you doing? You’re not supposed to light it on fire!” Charlie said as he helped the other boy put out the marshmallow.

Dwayne began strumming his guitar, Luke grabbing his as well when he heard the Texan beginning to play “We Are the Champions”. Sophie laughed as Averman began singing the song, overexaggerating the first line.

Reggie joined in on the boy’s singing, making the others smile. Sophie leaned her head on Dean’s shoulder, his arm wrapping around her as they watched Averman and Reggie sing together.

The two encouraged the others to join in and eventually they were all singing together. Dean let go of Sophie, him and Fulton jumping down onto the sand with Goldberg and Charlie. Alex moved onto the log with Sophie, the pair watching the four boys embrace each other and swing side to side dramatically.

Sophie pulled Alex up from the log, Bobby joining them as they began to sway with each other back and forth, just like everyone else. She decided at that moment that family was not determined by blood or who you grew up with. Family was who you chose and she chose these people right here as her family.

Sure, it was dysfunctional. Very dysfunctional. But they were her family. Her pride and joy. They gave her something to believe in.