[ O C E A N E Y E S ]

❛ cake eater vs. ducks ❜

I RUSH INTO OUR LOCKER ROOM TO BEGIN preparing for our next game. Chatter whiffed through the doors as it kept swinging. Everyone was already ready in their uniform. I quickly threw everything on so I could look decent for our new member. The room was filled with running around and yelling between one another, yet I was super calm about everything and seemed to be the only content one. I was pacing around back and forth, practicing some turns so I don't crash into the other players. My eyes wander to the newly laid out jersey.

The door creaks open and reveals Adam Banks ready for hockey. The room becomes silence as he walks in. Adam stands there, that's when Bombay walks in "Hey, wasn't sure if you'd show up."

"Yeah, whatever. I just wanna play hockey," Adam scoffs.

"Good. Ducks, you all know Adam Banks," Bombay introduces.

"On behalf of the Ducks, I'd like to say welcom-" Charlie walks forward but is cut off by Terry saying the infamous nickname for Adam.

"Cake eater," Jesse scoffs.

"Ooh, the Jess man dissin' the new guy. The Jesster-" Averman begins but is quickly shut up by Jesse and me.

"Shut up, Averman!" Jesse and I exclaim.

"It's just a joke," Averman sighs.

Jesse begins walking towards Adam, acting all tough "Puttin' on a Ducks jersey doesn't mean you're a real Duck," Jesse says and then walks out. Everyone begins to follow the leader with disappointed faces.

"They're a good group once ya get to know 'em," I say before walking out with my gear. Soon enough, Bombay trails behind the rest of us.

The games began and everyone on the team was currently against Banks ever being on this team. The team was yelling orders and demands on the ice as I sat on the bench watching carefully.

"Right here! I'm open!" Banks mentions. Instead, Peter passes it onto Charlie. Banks kept yelling at them to acknowledge him.

"Pass it to Banks!" Bombay yells.

"Come on, do somethin' with it!" Adam calls out still running back and forth. Finally, Charlie passes it to Adam and he scores perfectly. The crowd and the team go wild.

We were tied with 16 seconds left on the clock. The team was coming up with a gameplan to put on the ice "Goldberg, you're gonna sit this one out," Bombay says.

"What?" everyone gasps.

"You're pulling the goalie when we're tied?" Karp questions. Chatter increase creating more chaos.

"Listen. Listen. Listen!" Bombay exclaims calming down the team "A tie isn't gonna help us. We need the win. Okay, Fulton, you're our extra man. Everybody, get the puck to Fulton. That's your job."

"We pulling the Statue of Liberty play?" Fulton asks.

"Yeah," Connie and I sigh.

"No. Take your shot. You may only get one, so it's gotta be good," Bombay instructs.

"But, coach, one outta one," Fulton reminds.

"Soft hands, Fulton. Concentration, not strength," Guy winks to Connie. I nudge her a little as she dreamily smiles.

"That's right! Okay, let's get the Huskies! Let's go! Come on," Bombay cheers. The team and I got onto the ice.

"All right, let's make it a fair one here. Let's go!" the ref says as he sets the puck down. Adam shoots it towards Fulton. A Huskies team member flies onto the ice as the puck slides with him. Everyone is on their toes as Fulton chases after the puck. Fulton manages to get back the puck along with pushing down the member. I look back at the clock 8 seconds left. Yelling from every side of the room echoes through the room.

"Shoot, Fulton! Shoot!" Bombay yells. The Huskies gather around to protect their net but as soon as Fulton hit the puck, it went flying and right through the goal. Literally. Time runs out and we won! The crowd goes wild. Everyone on the ice runs to Fulton as best as the can and joins him in a group hug. I couldn't believe that this win meant going to the playoffs.

"We made the playoffs! We did it!" Bombay exclaims from the benches.

—

[ T H E N E X T D A Y ]

My eyes wander in awe at the sight of the huge arena that we, the Ducks were currently in. Bombay said he had a surprise for us, wonder what it could be. All our gear was with us so I thought it would just be another practice, which was going to be a pain. "Man, this is cool," Goldberg gasps.

"You guys, look. It's the Northstars," Connie comments on the team that was skating around.

"Wait a second," Jesse sighs.

"That's Mike Modano," someone yells. We stopped the moment we hit the entrance to the ice. Everyone looked around surprised we could even be this close to the arena. The entire team was making comments about how unbelievable it felt, it sure felt like a dream. I was stood behind Charlie when he asked Bombay "What are we doing here?"

"It's a little playoffs present," Bombay whispers. Soon the players of the Northstars walked off the ice.

The legends soon approached us "Hey, Gordo. Gordon Bombay, right?"

"You remember me?" Bombay asks.

"Sure, from Pee Wees. This guy used to rule in Pee Wees," Mike says.

"Oh yeah. I heard you're a farmer," Basil claims.

"Actually, I became a lawyer, but I'm coaching Pee Wee now, and this is my team, the Ducks," Bombay introduces "Ducks, this is Basil McRae and Mike Modan."

Everyone shared their sarcastic remarks as if we didn't know them "Hey, ducks, listen to this guy. He knows what he's talking about. If you ever want a shot, let me know. I'll get ya a tryout in the minor league clubs," Mike offers Bombay.

"Thanks," Bombay says extending his hand.

"No problem," Mike says shaking Bombay's hand "Hey, nice seeing ya."

"Take it easy," Basil nods before both walked away with high heads.

After they passed us Bombay begins his little speech. I slump my head to the side hoping it wasn't those long ones "All right... let's have some fun!" Everyone ran off to the ice. Connie and I were skating together but then Guy stole her from me, which I was totally fine within the end. I took myself to the little corner and had some fun of my own. My body moved like back when I did figure skating. I manage to do a lot of twists and turns and other things before Charlie pulled me to join the group for some even more fun. We did things from running around the ice to teaching Lewis how to skate and such.

"Hey," a voice too familiar calls out. The body skates in front of me which I didn't expect so my body went flying into theirs. I look up from my stance and see those blue eyes I can't seem to get over.

"Hi," I say getting up and leaving him on the floor in which he just huffed loudly.

Before I knew it, we were all in our seats for the game. I was sat in between Bombay and Charlie, enjoying the game with the shared popcorn we had gotten. As we were enjoying the game, the screen pops up and it read 'Welcome Gordon Bombay & The Ducks' everyone cheered loudly. It all felt like a dream come true but at the same time, something felt missing in the dream. The Northstars kept scoring which made the crowd go even wilder. The entire arena was stood on their feet as the Northstars won the game. It was a night to remember. Definitely.

—

[ A U T H O R ' S N O T E ]
Sorry for the really slow updates on this book. I've been so busy with preparing extra chapters for my other books and this one. And life has been a drag too, so I'm really sorry. Hope you understand. Don't forget to vote!