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they arrived at the court, where russ and his friends were. when the bus pulled up, they noticed, and cheered when arabella and charlie walked out. 

the winger arabella flirted with was there, and he called her name out from behind the fence. "bella!"

"luke!" she grinned, and charlie and her ran up the stairs to say hi to everyone. arabella turned to luke, saying hi. 

"flirted with any more guys yet?"

arabella laughed, shaking her head. "nope, i'm gonna save it for iceland. have you flirted with anyone yet?"

"only you, babe."

she pushed his shoulder, scoffing. she was about to say something, but charlie grabbed her, pulling her in front of russ. "russ, you gotta come with us. we need a player, and you'll save us."

arabella understood what he was doing. without adam, there was an empty spot on the team. russ could fill in for adam for the game, seeing as he knew how to play. "you could show the world your knucklepuck!"

russ looked to his older brother. "i don't know if mom will let me."

luke came up and threw an arm around arabella. "i'll convince her. i love your mom."

russ's brother shook his head. "no way man, you're not hitting on my mom again."

charlie and arabella looked at each other, trying to hide a laugh. luke pretended to be sad, but russ's brother went back to russ joining the team. "i'll call mom. just tell her that you'll do more chores. i'll help convince her."

russ's brother pulled out his phone, and a minute later, they were on call with his mom. "momma? you know how we played against team u.s.a? well they want russ on the team."

russ's brother handed russ the phone, and russ looked scared. "i'll do whatever chores, this could be important."

after a few minutes of russ trying to convince his mom, she gave him. they cheered, and arabella thanked his mom. they said bye to everyone, and russ followed charlie and arabella back onto the bus, where it took them to bombay's office. 

charlie and arabella ran into his office, telling russ to wait outside of it for now. "coach, i know with banks out, we got a roster slot open."

bombay looked at him, wondering why he brought this up. charlie continued, "you know how i always told you i'd make a better coach than a player?"

bombay laughed a little. arabella turned to him, looking at charlie. "he did some scouting. and trust me, this guy is good."

she called russ in, and charlie introduced him. russ grinned at him. "hiya coach!"

"well russ, what can you do for the team?"

arabella grinned, looking at russ. russ looked offended, looking at charlie and arabella before back to bombay. "you've never heard of my knucklepuck?"

bombay looked at russ confusedly. "knucklepuck? no."

russ grinned and charlie and arabella, and they knew he was on the team. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆───

the day after, they were playing against russia, and they were up 2-1 in the third period. arabella and charlie were on the same line, with russ. 

arabella was fighting someone at the net, trying to get open so that she could get a potential rebound. she watched guy pass it to russ, who was standing towards the blue line. 

he got the puck, and the russian players stopped and watched as russ winded up. "it's knucklepuck time!"

he shot the puck as the opponents started to skate to him, and the puck went top right corner, scoring. arabella skated to him, catching him in a big hug. "nice job, russ!"

the crowd went crazy, wondering how he did that. they were up by two, and the game was practically over. when it did end, the team was cheering in the locker room. bombay left the room, but came back a minute later. 

"i told him no visitors, but he wanted to congratulate you anyway."

wayne gretzky walked into the room, shocking everyone. even though he was retired, he was an amazing player, and arabella was shocked to be in his presence. 

he shook hands and walked into the crowd of them, and charlie cheered. "guys, this is the great one!"

wayne smiled at him. "wayne's fine."

arabella watched as photographers took pictures of them, and one photographer told them to say 'hockey'. 

posing with charlie and connie next to wayne, they smiled and said 'hockey' happily. after they took the photo, wayne stayed for a little while longer, answering their questions and laughing with them.

once he left, the team was still talking about him, especially charlie. "i have three of his hockey cards! he's amazing!"

arabella laughed at him, shoving his shoulder a little. he pushed back, making her fall on fulton. 

"weedy reedy! it feels like it's been forever!" she got up and gave him a hug, and he returned it. 

"missed me?"

arabella rolled her eyes. "no way."

he gasped, then pushed her off of him. she said she was kidding, then asked for a piggy back ride. he gave her one as the team walked to the bus, then threw her onto one of the seats so she could sit down. 

the car ride to the dorms was fun, everyone's energy high due to meeting 'the great one'. arabella sat next to kenny, putting her head on his shoulder as she watched averman commentate on everything they were passing in the bus. 

"there goes a couple making out on the grass." he opened the window, then yelled out of it. "there's children watching! get a room!"

arabella laughed, and kenny smiled. he loved her laugh, and she was glad she was acknowledging him again. 

she sat up and pulled averman's head back into the bus, seeing as he was screaming at other people. "sit down, manny."

she laid her head back on kenny's shoulder, but she saw a flash coming from behind her. she turned around, and saw guy and connie, smiling over a photo. 

"what was that?"

"what was what?" connie asked, trying to deflect the conversation.

arabella looked at her, but turned back around. she heard guy and connie laughing, but then it was just connie. she then heard connie talking to luis and showing him something. arabella felt bad for guy. he was so sweet, and arabella knew something was going on. 

they reached their dorms, and arabella took a shower to wash off the sweat. after she went, julie went, and connie would go after her. arabella was in kenny's sweater, seeing as she didn't give it back after they left class, and she realized she would have to apologize to him later.

when connie was in the shower, she heard a knock on the door. it was a little late for someone to be at her door, but arabella went to open it, and that's when she saw charlie. she was glad, because she wanted to apologize to him. she knew he was the one that should probably apologize, but she wanted to as well. 

"can i talk to you?" they both said at the same time, before laughing. 

arabella nodded, and she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. she didn't know where they'd go, but she figured the hallway was an okay spot to say sorry. 

"charlie, i'm sorry."

charlie shook his head. "what are you sorry for? i was the one that told kenny. i shouldn't have, and i told him the one thing i swore i'd never tell anyone. and what's worse, i made you ignore kenny. he was sad the entire time and it was all my fault. i made us bad, and i ruined yours and kenny's relationship."

he was right, but arabella still felt guilty. "first of all, kenny and i are friends. but i was ignoring you, which was just low. i just didn't know what to do, i've never had to. the longest i've been apart from you was like, a day."

charlie laughed, and arabella did too. "i swear on my mom that i'll never tell anyone ever again, and if i do, you can shoot me. all i want to say is that i'm so, so, so, so, so sorry."

arabella let out a small laugh, then smiled at him. she gave him a hug, squeezing tightly. "i so, so, so, so, so accept your apology."

when they pulled apart, arabella and charlie heard adam call out from a few feet away. "charlie? i-, oh, sorry, continue."

arabella turned to adam. "don't worry, you can have your boyfriend back. i need to talk to someone else anyways."

charlie pushed her, then walked to adam to see what he needed. when the door closed, arabella realized she should've told him about her dad. 'another time'

walking to a door, she took a deep breath before knocking on it. she waited a minute, then heard arguing over who should open the door. she didn't know who won until she saw averman open the door. 

"hey bella, whatcha doing here? want to kiss me again?" he raised an eyebrow, putting his lips out. 

she laughed, before shoving his shoulder. "no thanks, lester. is kenny here?"

averman grinned before calling kenny's name. he closed the door, and arabella heard averman say her name. a second later, kenny opened the door, cheeks slightly red as he realized what she was wearing. 

"ara!"

he was smiling, and arabella couldn't help but smile too. "can i talk to you for a minute?"

kenny nodded, then walked out of his room and into the hallway with arabella. he looked a little confused, but arabella made sure she would explain. 

"kenny, i'm so sorry. i shouldn't have ignored you, i was just scared and mad at charlie. i shouldn't have ignored you for something charlie did."

"ara, i don't blame you. i was told something that was personal, and something that you only told people you're comfortable with."

arabella sighed. "that's the thing, kenny. i wanted to tell you, i just needed to find the right time and prepare for it. i also didn't want to just put it on you all of a sudden. i feel safe with you, and you make me happy."

"you don't have to worry about me. i want you to be okay, and i'd listen to you complain or talk about anything. i just want to help you and make sure you're okay." he smiled, and arabella felt herself wanting to cry.

'how could he be so sweet? i ignored him for a while, and he's acting like i'm the greatest person ever. he deserves better.'

arabella felt herself pause at that last thought. it wasn't exactly wrong. he was an olympic skater, and she was just some random girl from minnesota that was probably only on this team because of bombay. 

she tried to shake that thought out of her head. she turned her attention back to kenny, who was frowning in concern. she smiled at him, trying to play it off. "sorry, just thinking."

he nodded, then smiled at her again. she looked at him for a second, before hugging him tightly. he was surprised at the hug, but he gladly hugged her back just as tight. kenny felt safe holding arabella, and she felt safe being held by him. 

when they pulled apart, kenny wanted to do nothing but kiss her, but he knew it was too soon. besides, he didn't even know if she liked him or not. she was flirting with russ's friend, whatever his name was, but he didn't know if she liked him or not. 

"arabella?"

she looked at him, wondering what he was going to say. he took a breath before asking, "do you like russ's friend?"

arabella was a little confused, but figured he meant luke. "luke's nice, but i don't want to date him."

kenny nodded, acting calm. but on the inside, he was cheering. that meant he had a chance!

arabella smiled at him, before she figured she should go back to her dorm. kenny realized this too, and he walked her the few feet to her dorm. 

"bye kenny." she was smiling, and kenny couldn't help but smile too. 

"goodnight ara, sweet dreams."