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the game went by surprisingly fast, and they won. after the game, bombay took the team outside, where there was a bench for them and a cardboard cutout of bombay.

"hey, coach, can i have that for my room?" arabella asked, looking at the cardboard cutout.

he looked at her weirdly and shook his head. "no."

bombay then turned to the team, picking up the cardboard version of himself. "i've had a lot of big distractions since i've been here in l.a. this is a distraction."

the team laughed, and teased him about it. bombay handed the cardboard cutout to jan, hans's brother. arabella wondered how he got here, but she gave him a hug earlier. bombay then lit a match, throwing it into the barrel.

"arson isn't trendy anymore, bombay. that was 2020."

fulton shoved her shoulder, laughing. bombay turned to the team, grabbing the cutout. "this is a fire in a barrel."

he folded the cutout before putting it into the fire. "this is a distraction in a barrel. any questions?"

arabella rose her hand, but bombay didn't acknowledge it. the team started cheering for him, clapping as the cardboard folded into the flames. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆───

they didn't have a game the day after, but the team was still picked up by the bus and taken to the rink. it wasn't the main rink they played at, but a practice rink in the same area. 

the team took the rest of the day prior to nap and study iceland, their biggest competition. they had beaten the canadian team, and iceland lost to russia, so they were tied. they had to play russia, and if they won, they'd play iceland.

now, they were on the ice, and they watched as jan set up a bunch of cans for luis. "luis, your speed is a great weapon. now you must learn to harness it."

luis skated in a circle before skating towards the cans. he tried to stop, but he fell, knocking over all the cans. 

arabella watched as jan regretted his decision, but bombay got the team to do some drills that were pretty funny. they were climbing on the ice, and bombay watched as he was talking. 

then, he took them to the workout room, where they were running on treadmills. arabella loved treadmills, they were fun to run on. she and charlie were trying to see who could run the fastest, and arabella won easily. she laughed as coach joined the treadmill with goldberg, asking how he was feeling. 

"lean and mean, coach!" 

after that, the team went back onto the ice, working on their shooting as goldberg stood in the net. 

arabella took a break from shooting and laughed. "hey coach! remember when you tied goldberg to the post?"

bombay laughed, and goldberg did too. "very funny, bella. you guys left me!"

after a few minutes of that, the team went to the locker room to get out of their gear, and bombay took them to get drinks from the snack station. they walked through the locker room to leave, and dean called out to adam. the rest of the team left, adam saying he'd be there in a minute. 

arabella realized that adam never got his wrist checked out. she stayed behind a second, telling kenny she'd be back in a second. she watched as adam wrapped his wrist, and she decided to announce her presence. 

"you need to get that checked out, cake eater."

adam jumped, but realized it was just her. "you can't be talking, you probably got a concussion and never said anything about it."

arabella laughed. her head throbbed every once in a while, but she ignored it. "a broken wrist is probably worse than a concussion, especially if you're playing hockey."

adam gave her a look as to say 'i don't believe you', then laughed. she helped him wrap his wrist, but then bombay walked in the room, scaring them both. 

"now think of how good you'd play with two good wrists."

they turned to look at him. adam looked at his wrist, and then to coach. "it's just a little sore, i'm okay."

"i should've spotted it sooner. i'm sorry man, i wasn't doing my job."

arabella laughed. "we know."

he turned to arabella, then smiled at her. "should've taken you to see if you got a concussion or not, too."

"i'm all good, just a few headaches. nothing i'm not used to."

adam stood up to put the tape back in his bag. "coach, i can play. i'm fine, i swear."

arabella didn't believe that, but she didn't want to say anything. coach picked up a stick, and handed it to adam. "let's find out."

adam went to grab it with his good hand, but coach didn't let him. adam then grabbed it with his hurt one, and bombay told him to try rotating it. 

arabella knew he wouldn't be able to. she watched as adam looked at the stick, but dropped it. he had tears in his eyes, and arabella felt bad for him. "i have to bench you."

"no! you can't do that!"

coach tried reasoning, saying he could be permanently injured, but adam wasn't listening. 

"all the scouts are here watching me, this is my shot."

coach told him he'd have a lot of shots in life, but adam didn't believe him. "my dad's counting on me."

arabella felt her heart break, and got up to leave the room. she didn't want to be intrusive. but bombay told her to stay, so she sat awkwardly.

bombay started to talk about his dad, and how he wanted to impress his dad as well. then he told adam that his dads happiest times was when he skated on a pond, and he was proud of him doing his best. 

adam thanked bombay, then coach got up. "come on you two, we're getting you x-rayed."

arabella shook her head. "no, i'm fine. you go with adam, i'll see you at practice later."

bombay nodded, knowing arabella was too stubborn. he took adam and left, probably to go to the hospital. arabella left the locker room, then realized the bus had already picked the rest of the team up, so she had no way to get to the dorms. she ran back to find bombay and adam, who were getting in his car. 

"bombay! hold up!" 

he turned around and saw arabella running, and he realized she had to come with them. he let her in the car, and she sat in the backseat with adam. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆───

arabella and bombay were waiting in a room for adam and the doctor to come back, and arabella was bored. she was on her phone for a while, but it was starting to get boring. 

until kenny sent her 8 ball. she was still mad, but she couldn't help but play. she rolled her eyes and smiled, then went to fulton's contact. she texted him 'fuck you', then went back to play 8 ball with kenny. she had the first shot, and she made one in, so she tried again. she had the perfect angle, but right when she was about to shoot, bombay nudged her, making the angle messed up and shoot the ball so it didn't make anything in. 

she gasped and looked over to him, where he was looking around innocently. "what was that for?"

he grinned, then shrugged. "i don't know what you're talking about."

it was now kenny's turn, but she saw him text 'fulton said you were bad, but i didn't know you were that bad'. she glared at bombay, who read the text and smiled. "oops."

she continued playing the game with kenny, but it was obvious that he was going to win. right when he shot the 8 ball into a pocket and won the game, adam walked out with the doctor. 

"coach! he said i can play!" he had a sling on, and his arm was wrapped with bandage wrap, so arabella looked at the doctor in confusion. the doctor shook his head, and adam sighed. "worth a shot."

"his wrist isn't broken, he just needs to take a little break. if it feels better and is able to move, then you can play."

coach nodded and thanked the doctor, and after signing the papers, the three of them left. they had a practice in a little bit, so bombay took them to the rink, where the rest of the team was getting ready. adam sat next to charlie, only putting his skates on. 

arabella sat next to guy, who was near a corner. arabella liked sitting in corners, which was why she was sitting next to guy this time. 

"hey bella, how're you feeling today?"

she smiled at guy. they hadn't talked that much recently, even though he was dating connie. the team got bigger, and more things have been happening. "i'm doing okay, how are you?"

he nodded before agreeing with her, then they went back to getting ready. they eventually went out onto the ice, where the team was pulling each other with their sticks. 

before kenny could ask arabella if she wanted to be his partner, charlie skated up and grabbed arabella, which made kenny partner with dwayne. 

arabella wanted to go with kenny, but charlie pulled her away first. it was probably because adam was skating with coach, watching the whole thing happen. she was pulling charlie first, which caused her to complain. 

"you're heavy."

charlie gasped dramatically, and arabella stuck her tongue out at him. when they switched, he pulled her around everywhere, taking sharp turns to try to make her fall. 

they did a few more drills before the practice was over, then went to the locker rooms to change, but arabella noticed charlie looking lost in thought. 

she didn't say anything, but sat next to him on the bus to the dorms. when they got there, charlie stayed seated as everyone else left, making arabella confused. 

"c'mon spazway, what're you doing?"

he got up, then moved to the front of the bus. she was about to leave, but he told her to stay. she didn't have a choice, and even though she was still mad, she stayed. then, he turned to the bus driver. 

"is there any chance you could take us to the place we played street hockey?"