The whistle blows, starting the scrimmage between the newbies and the Ducks.

Dwayne goes for the faceoff with the dark-skinned boy who was yelling at me earlier. "Great day for hockey, ain't it?" Dwayne asks, a permanent smile residing on his face.

"Sure is, Cowboy," responds the kid, imitating Dwayne's accent. Quite rude, if I do say so myself. Dwayne wins the puck, hitting it between the kid's legs, causing him to fall.

"Yeehaw!" Dwayne cries as he starts down the ice with the puck. Luis takes it right as Dwayne gets crushed by a Duck, and he flies across the ice. I shove some Ducks away as I follow from behind.

The goalie starts blubbering as Coach yells, "Goldberg! Look out!" Luis gets closer to the goal, but can't stop, taking Goldberg down with him as he falls, pushing the goal backwards.

Luis gets up, and the Ducks have the puck. Dean leans forward and takes out the kid, his jersey said "Banks" on the back, causing him to lose the puck. I race towards the Duck that gets it, but he takes a shot at Julie. Julie expertly catches it, throwing it back down onto the ice.

The puck gets stuck against the wall, and Coach is yelling for them to take it out. Once it's cleared out, Coach is whispering to one of the Ducks, a disapproving look on his face.

The Banks kid has it again, and he brings it to the goal, scoring as Julie dives to try to stop it. "Good shot, Adam!" Coach yells. Adam, I guess that's his name. "Way to go!"

Dean makes some sort of shouting noise as he crushes the biggest Duck into the wall, laughing while doing so. "Tough guy," Dean snickers, still laughing. Two Ducks come at him, and he shoves them both down, one with each arm.

The biggest Duck, I think his jersey says "Reed" has the puck, coming towards our defense, which is me, Dean, and Julie at the moment. I hear Mr. Tibble talking to someone nearby, but I focus on the huge guy coming towards us.

Reed stops and has the puck in front of him. "Look out!" Coach yells desperately. Oh, no this can't be good.

"Look out it's Fulton!" someone cries as people start diving out of his way.

"What a bunch of wusses," Dean says, squinting at their retreating forms.

"Dean, I don't think they're kidding," I respond, moving quickly out of the way. I am not damaging my face on the first day. Fulton takes his shot, a hard one as it comes flying towards Dean, who finally jumps out of the way.

It hits the top pole and ricochets off, sending it spinning towards Mr. Tibbles and some lady. The lady ducks, but Mr. Tibbles gets hit square in the forehead.

We crowd over the passed out form of Mr. Tibbles as the lady tries to wake him up. "Mr. Tibbles. Mr. Tibbles. Mr. Tibbles, can you hear me?" Coach hold something under his nose, and his face scrunches up. "Mr. Tibbles, wake up. Oh, Mr. Tibbles, are you alright?" she asks as he opens his eyes.

"Oh, I'll have cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake, please," he nods as we laugh.

The lady smiles and looks at Coach. "I think he'll be okay," she tells him, laughing along. "We'll keep an eye on him. Oh! I'm sorry! He didn't have a chance to introduce us. I'm Michelle McKay, their tutor," she explains, shaking Coach's hand.

"Hi, I'm Coach Bombay, their coach," Coach responds, trying to be funny. I don't think it's working very well.

"Who said we need a tutor?" Adam calls out to her, a disgusted look on his face. Same, Adam. Same. We all sound our agreements. School sucks, and I thought I was getting to escape it by coming here.

"I don't need no school," Dean adds on, making it sound like the opposite. He actually does need school. Idiot.

Goldberg throws his arm around the tutor. "Ah, Miss McKay, we're America's team here. Shouldn't we just be concentrating on hockey? May I suggest optional attendance?" Everyone nods with Goldberg's statement.

"Well, that's not a bad idea-," she pauses.

"Call me Goldberg," the goalie replies.

"Goldberg. Yes, school will be optional," she tells us. I like her. "However, however, should you not attend, you will not be eligible to play." Damn, she' good.

"Can she do that?" someone asks as we break away into separate groups. Coach chuckles at Miss McKay and our responses.

A kid wearing glasses, I think his name was Averman, follows my brother. "Hey, is that a tattoo?" he asks. Ugh, yes. My brother got a flipping tattoo since he looks old enough. I hate it, despite that it's cool-looking. "Is it real?"

"Get away from me," my brother snaps at the kid, an annoyed look apparent on his face.

"Yes, Sir," Averman replies. My brother growls at him, causing him to rush away.

I smack Dean, hoping he'll get my point. He narrows his eyes, obviously not enjoying being wordlessly told off by his younger sister. We head into the locker room, where we take a water break and remove our jerseys, leaving us in our long-sleeved undershirts.

A smashing sound makes everyone rush out of the room, seeing Jesse, Fulton, and Guy (I learned everyone's names by asking the only girl Duck, Connie) sitting on a Zamboni that crashed through the wall.

***********************************************************************

A few minutes later, half of us were wearing red jerseys, and the other half, blue. We're all grumbling because Coach tied us up together. I'm next to Dwayne and Dean, with Jesse in front of me and Adam behind me.

"This is more crowded than a truckload of goats," Dwayne says, shifting uncomfortably next to me. I hold back a laugh at his extremely country statement.

"Somebody better watch their hands," Julie mutters, moving forward slightly.

Averman wipes furiously at his neck while people complain about his shuffling around, "Ugh, someone licked me!"

Jesse moves his arms back, hitting me for the third time. "Jesse," I hiss, grabbing his attention. "If you elbow me in the gut one more time, you're losing an arm." His face flashes with fear as he nods. I feel Adam and Dwayne staring at me, so I turn to Dwayne. I give him a small smile, and he cracks a grin at me.

"Oh, I smell something," someone says, before everyone turns and shouts, "Goldberg!"

He shrugs in defense. "It wasn't me!" He must get blamed for things like this a lot. But, I know it wasn't him.

"No, it was me," Dean throws his hands up in a victorious way. I roll my eyes, begging to fall over and die. Everyone groans as I bury my face in my hands.

Coach blows his whistle at us. "Now, I don't know how to make this any clearer. You are a team. And to win this thing, you have to work as one. Now as one, skate." We begin to move, but we topple over. I land on top of Dwayne, and he looks up at me. I send him an apologetic glance as we begin to stand up. "Everyone goes their own way, everyone falls down. Now get up and try it again."

"Alright, everyone move to your right, now," Dean orders, moving in that direction to convince others to do the same.

Fulton, however, has different plans. "Who made you boss? Everyone to the left." He changes directions, pulling people that way. Some of us move left, while others go right, and we all fall to the ice again.

"You guys can argue all you want," Coach says with his arms crossed. "But, I'm not untying you until you move as one." We stand up and start moving in one direction. Pretty soon, we are skating a few feet forward. "Now you're learning! Communication! That's it! Good together, move together! Charge! Alright!" Coach encourages. "Turn!" We begin to turn right, and, thankfully, we are able to do it. "Alright, that's it, that's it. Alright!"

Coach unties us, and we all take a knee on the ice as he picks up the rope. "You guys are starting to look like hockey players. I'm proud of you, team. You worked hard today. But, hockey should also be fun. Rancher Dwayne?" Coach calls out to the Texan boy.

"Yes, Sir?" Dwayne responds, turning to look at Coach straight in the eyes. He looks a bit uncertain, like he doesn't know what Coach is going to ask him.

"Round me up some stray cattle there." Coach holds out the rope to him.

Dwayne takes the rope as he breaks into a smile. "My pleasure!" He answers as we all stand up and start skating away from him. I follow Julie and Connie, since we decide to stay together. A girls group.

Dwayne starts lassoing our teammates, starting with Averman. Charlie, the team captain, is caught next, despite his unsuccessful attempt at escaping. Dwayne comes towards our group, and we go in separate directions, causing Julie to get roped. She sends us a playful glare as Connie and I laugh at her. Guy, Connie's boyfriend dodges Dwayne, and Luis does the same.

Dwayne goes on a roping rampage, and soon, there's only me and Luis left on the ice.

Dwayne skates after me, getting his rope ready. "I'm gonna get ya, city slicker," he says smiling, while I move backwards. He throws his rope, but I manage to dive from it.

Coach calls the end of our game, basically saying that Luis and I won. "Maybe next time, Cowboy," I tell him with a laugh as he tosses the rope over the wall.

Dwayne starts showing us a country dance on the ice, and it's surprisingly fun, despite that I can't dance to save my life. But, I'm better than Coach, who failed miserably when he attempted it.

After we finish goofing around, Coach calls the end of practice. We head into the locker room, ready to leave the rink. I sit down and pull of my pads and hockey gear when Dean taps me on the shoulder.

"I'm going to stay with Fulton instead of that motel since he has an extra room," he says. I stare at him, mouth hanging open.

"What!? You're just leaving me by myself?!" I exclaim. Everyone's left the locker room already, so I can have my outburst without anyone knowing.

"Meg, what's the big deal?" Dean responds, frustrated. "It's not like I'm leaving you for good. God, you act like I'm replacing you!" His face drops as soon as he says that. He knows he messed up. "Meg, I-,"

"You know what, Dean. Go ahead. I don't care. It's your choice, really," I answer as I pull off the red jersey I had on over my long-sleeved shirt. "I mean, who actually would want to babysit their little sister all the time?"

I turn away from him, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I hear Dean walk out of the room, obviously not knowing how to fix his mistake. I pick up my bags, and my luggage since I hadn't been to the motel yet, and I walk towards the door. Instead of being able to exit, I run into a body, someone who was also trying to leave.

I didn't fall luckily, but my head flies up to see Dwayne standing in front of me, a frown in replace of his usual smile. Oh, my God! No! He heard mine and Dean's conversation. This is awkward.

"Um, sorry. I, uh, wasn't paying attention," I say, shifting the bags on my shoulders. "Which is kind of bad considering I play hockey," I try to lighten the mood, and he cracks a smile.

"It's okay, Meg. I wasn't looking either. I'm bat-eyed sometimes," he answers. I laugh at his way of saying "oblivious". Thankfully, he doesn't mention the conversation he overheard. "Uh, I'm heading to the motel, do ya wanna come?"

I nod and follow him out of the locker room and onto the streets outside. We take slow steps towards the motel in a somewhat awkward, somewhat comfortable, silence. The walk doesn't take more than ten minutes, and we enter the motel.

Checking in at the lobby, and receiving our room keys, we head down the hallway, since our rooms are on the first floor. Dwayne's room is right across from mine, so we place our stuff on the ground as we unlock our rooms. I push my bags inside, while Dwayne does the same.

I'm about to shut the door, when Dwayne calls out, "Hey Meg," his head is poking out from his door. I nod in response as I lean against the doorframe. "You should laugh more. It's nice when you do." He pulls his head in and closes his door, leaving me in shock as I stare across the hall with my mouth hanging open.