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arabella got out of the car with charlie, saying goodbye to his mom. even though her mom agreed to let arabella play on team u.s.a., she told arabella that she wanted no part of it. she also told her that charlie's mom would take her places that she needed to go, and bombay would take her the rest of the way. it wasn't unusual for this to happen, in fact, she had been in charlie's mom's car more than her own. 

as arabella followed her teammates out onto the ice after changing into their gear, she saw coach bombay standing next to some guy. they were talking about something, but her attention was torn away from them when one of the rink doors opened, and a bunch of other players walked out. 

one of the first things she noticed was that there was a girl, and she shared an excited look with connie. she mouthed 'finally', and connie laughed and nodded. 

the first guy stepped up, and arabella thought he was cute. the two of them locked eyes, and he smiled at her. it wasn't long before the man standing next to bombay started to introduce him. "that's luis mendoza, he's from miami. a real speedster, incredible. i clocked him at 1.9 seconds blue line to blue line."

luis started to skate around the faceoff circles, showing off his skills. arabella had to admit, he was a good skater. and according to connie, that wasn't the only good thing about him. "good looking skater."

averman was standing behind her, and he agreed. "very good looking. what do you think, guy?"

guy, who was obviously annoyed by connie's comment, told averman to shut up before elbowing him in the chest. this led to averman falling, and arabella had to stifle a laugh. 

she understood why guy reacted like this though. connie called another guy attractive while standing right next to her boyfriend. it was kind of low on connie's part, arabella thought. 

before anything could else happen, the man standing next to bombay started to talk about luis again. "there's one minor problem."

before anyone could ask what he was talking about, luis fell into the boards, letting out a small scream. the man explained, "has a little trouble stopping."

"you think?" arabella mumbled to herself, but fulton, who was standing next to her, heard her and laughed. charlie did the same, seeing as he was on the other side. 

the new teammates skated over to him and helped him up, and luis took his helmet off. "i almost had it that time."

arabella knew that he did not almost have it, but she decided to keep her comments to herself. she didn't want to seem rude, especially since it's her first time meeting these people. 

the second person to show off their skills was a boy wearing a cowboy hat, and he had a wide grin on his face. arabella looked over to fulton, who was staring at her with the same confused but amused expression on his face that was on hers. 

"yeehaw! how's everyone? y'all ready to play some puck?"

arabella smiled, he seemed really energetic and fun. maybe too country-ish for her liking, but he seemed like he had a kind heart. jesse made a comment, but the man, (arabella really needed to learn his name), introduced him. "that's dwayne robertson from austin. best puck-handler i've ever seen."

coach looked over, then corrected him. "you mean for his age."

"no, i don't."

arabella watched as dwayne started to play with the puck, moving it around. he made a few country-related comments, such as, "this is easier than roping hogs!"

the man did say how he was a bit off a 'showboat', but all coach said was 'wow'. it was obvious he was impressed. 

over by the net, the girl that connie and arabella shared a look with put her goalie helmet on as she was being talked about. "that's julie 'the cat' gaffney. she won the state championship in maine three years in a row."

coach didn't give her a chance before bringing up goldberg. "we have a goalie, goldberg."

arabella looked over to see goldberg in the other net, shaking around, saying he was ready for it, saying how he was the man. his confidence was put on pause as he fell, and arabella laughed. it looked like he was doing the splits.

she loves goldberg, but she was almost 100% sure that julie was probably better. arabella was proved right as she stopped every puck that was shot at her as if it were easy. connie and arabella shared another look, and they both grinned. they finally had another girl player, and she was good. 

coach didn't seem too excited to have her on the team. he wanted to stick with goldberg. "well, we could use a backup."

arabella looked at him in confusion. "does this guy want us to lose every game or what?"

charlie shrugged. "i don't know. i love goldberg, but 3 time state winner? damn."

she didn't continue talking, because a guy with a white and red jersey skated up, doing a small spin. she thought he was cute, and fulton noticed the look on her face and gave her a teasing shove to the shoulder. 

"you don't even know his name."

"shut the fuck up, weedy reedy."

charlie heard their conversation, and he joined in. "no way do you have a crush on him. get your priorites checked!"

she glared at him, and the two boys just laughed.

coach looked a little confused. "isn't that the kid from the olympics? the figure skater?"

the guy nodded. "yup, ken wu. what can i say? i convinced him that hockey had more of a future. we put a stick in his hands, and nobody's been able to touch him."

arabella watched in shock and amazement as ken spun around in a million circles, and she wondered how he did that. wasn't he dizzy?

fulton leaned over to tease arabella, noticing her starstruck look. "maybe he can teach you how to do that on your first date."

she gasped in embarrassment before shoving his arm, which didn't really do that much. fulton was much bigger than her, so he only moved an inch. 

when arabella looked over, she saw a guy who looked a little older, and his jersey sleeves were cut off. he had headphones on, and she wondered what he was listening to. 

"he's probably listening to ice spice," arabella joked to fulton, who laughed. 

charlie rolled his eyes jokingly. "no, no, no. you got it wrong. he's obviously listening to baby shark."

arabella laughed and looked over again as he started skating and singing to some random song that definitely wasn't ice spice or baby shark, but arabella kept joking about it anyway. "no see, he's literally singing 'she shake it like deli'."

bombay looked skeptic to have him on the team, saying he was a whole teenager. to further his dislike, the boy, who's name was dean, arabella learned, pushed down one of the original ducks team members, but arabella wasn't paying attention to who it was. 

the guy standing next to bombay just shrugged. "hormones."

that was the stupidest answer arabella heard, so all she did was laugh. but dean pushing the duck guy caused trouble. he was pushing everyone down, and when he told dwayne to sing, he looked like he was about to cry. 

arabella frowned when he put ken on top of the net and pushed his helmet. fulton obviously had a distaste towards him. "who does this guy think he is?"

arabella shrugged as she skated towards the net, seeing if ken was okay. when he sat up, he saw a girl with dark brown hair and tannish skin standing in front of him, and his eyes widened. 

'damn, she's pretty.'

"hey, are you okay?"

'say something idiot!'

"yeah, i'm fine. nothing really happened." he smiled to try and reassure her. "but thanks. i'm ken, but mainly everyone calls me kenny."

"of course. and i'm arabella." she smiled back. 

and in kenny's opinion, she had the prettiest smile ever.