zero filter ,, the mighty ducks three ?

vi. stick and puck

Why, she had no idea. Why is she having this reaction? Why should she care? Why should that matter to her at all? It shouldn't, it doesn't. Right?

The boy, however, was not enjoying the exchange with the girl as much as one would think. The boys told him that they all wait together in the same area for the junior varsity games, and he followed them, because why wouldn't he? What they failed to mention was that there were freshman girls that lives revolve around getting a boyfriend on a varsity team.

The girl sitting next to him, Melinda? Marissa? Melanie? He honestly couldn't catch it from how fast she was talking, and how little he was paying attention. He watched his friends warm up on the ice, having much rather preferred that over listening to the brunette endlessly talk. He didn't mean to act like a dick, but he's just never been the type of boy to date. Hell, he might not have even had a crush before high school, sure he thought girls were cute, but he'd always been so focused on hockey that he's never been able to really understand how to talk to girls.

But then he found her in the crowded arena.

She was biting the inside of her lower lip, a habit he had learned about over their study sessions. She was also holding his jacket he had given her on their way to the library the other night.

She was also looking right at him.

Standing up, Adam sidestepped his way through the teenagers sitting, also ignoring the words that Melinda was saying. Poor Melinda. He also ignored the confused stares and "Adam"s that followed him by his team. Both of the teens shared the same smile, tight lipped and raised eyebrows.

"I, um, brought you your jacket, I forgot to give it to you after the library." She basically threw the thing in his arms.

"Oh, thanks," He took it. "Do you wanna sit with me?" He pointed towards the seat that he just came from.

"I think I'll pass on the one brain-celled conversations, and I also always sit with Jenny and Shelly, but maybe another time."

"Yeah, yeah definitely."

"But, uh, you have fun with that," Octavia gestured with her chin in the direction of an angry Melinda.

"What," Adam smirks, "are you jealous?"

Jealous?

"And why would I be jealous?" Octavia folded her arms and challenged him.

"I don't know, you tell me," he took a step forward, limiting the distance between them. A distance that was so full of energy in the small space, that it started to make Octavia blush.

And she does not blush.

And Adam didn't know where this newfound confidence came from. He had never been like this with people before. It was like being on varsity gave him this self-assuredness that he never had before. 

"Well I-uh-I'm not, so have fun, and good luck," She turned around and made her way towards the seats that they typically sit in during games, leaving Adam to stand there, watching as she goes. She had to turn around as quickly as she could, so he wouldn't see the red creeping up on her face. Octavia wasn't jealous, she doesn't get jealous. And there was nothing for her to be jealous about. They were just friends.

Octavia found Jenny sitting in the middle of two open seats, the one to her left is where her jacket was, and the one to her right is where her feet were. She was hugging her knees and resting her chin with a bored expression on her face. She lit up though when Octavia approached and took the place where Jenny's shoes originally were.

"Quite the turnout for a junior varsity team, don't you think?" Jenny asked Octavia. They would always come and support the junior varsity team last year, and the turnouts were nothing even close to this.

"Yeah, it's crazy."

About ten minutes later, Shelly finally joined them after apologizing to everyone she either stepped on or wacked in the face. Then soon enough the game started, and right off the bat, the previously known Ducks, scored.

Octavia had never seen a hockey game like this before, hell, it didn't even seem like a hockey game. There were so many things that she had never seen happen in games before. It was clear that the teenagers had some pretty unique strategies.

And Luis Mendoza jumps over the goalie and the net?

Russ' slap shot is killer.

Damn Dwayne can handle a puck.

There was one thing for sure, the new junior varsity team is really good, and they can win, with being so far ahead after the second period.

Scratch that.

Third periods did not seem to be their thing, because right off the bat, they weren't playing too hot anymore. It was as if their cockiness finally overpowered them. Even from coming so far behind, the opposing team was able to come back and tie the game. Octavia could see what kind of team they were now, an offensive one, because their defensive plays sucked. They were never able to get it out of the zone, and when they finally did, they would get too caught up in scoring and getting ahead again, they would miss the whole point of getting it out— to get it away from the goalie, or in other words, Julie. And because she spent two-thirds of the game with no shots on her, she had not been able to block as many shots as she should've been able to— something that was also because of the defense.

The game had finally ended... in a tie.

The group of players were sulking as they left the ice and into their locker room. Octavia was tempted to go and tell Julie and Connie that they had a good game, but that probably wasn't something that they wanted to hear at the moment, especially Julie. But what she did do was stay in her spot and attempt to catch the eyes of a certain blue eyed, blond haired boy. He looked up and made contact with her, Octavia giving him a good luck smile, and him giving her a grateful one.

She then looked out for her brother, who stood by the net next to Scooter. Lucas was a defense, so he spent a lot of time with Scooter and was always the first to congratulate him on a save or pick him up after letting in a goal.

When he looked up and saw her trying to get his attention, he caught the small wave she sent him. Although Lucas gets on her nerves nearly everyday, he is still her brother and she wants him to succeed. She always wants him to play his best during a game and wants nothing to throw him off of it. And so, before every game, she gives him some sort of signal for good luck. It's really just a thing to let him know that she's there for him and was always cheering for him. He returned her gesture with a nod and skated off to do whatever warm up Rick was having them do.

After a few minutes of sitting and talking, the group of three decided to go to the concessions to get some drinks. On their way, they passed by the hallway that held the locker rooms, and saw Julie and Connie looking outside of it.

"Hey, Octavia!" Connie yelled from where her head was sticking out of the room. "Come here."

Shelly, Jenny, and Octavia went over, all three confused. "What's up Connie?" Octavia asked. "And why are you guys still in your uniforms?"

Connie and Julie looked at each other, contemplating whether or not to tell the girl that her brother was the reason they were still in gross and wet gear. "Well, uh," Julie stuttered. "The varsity team kind of drenched our clothes and now we don't have any."

Octavia ducked her head and smacked it with the palm of her hand. "Of-fucking-course they did." She looked to her right where her two best friends stood. "How about me and Shelly go get our gym clothes while you stay here?" She directed the question at Jenny, who nodded and gave the two hockey players a sympathetic smile.

When Octavia and Shelly turned away, the former muttered to herself. "These boys are getting on my last nerves."