Gongshow

"Game day!" Tristan yelled, squeezing Sam's shoulders and shaking him.

Sam smiled at him. Tristan sat down behind him. Audrey shook her head at Tristan. She sat beside him in math. She had no idea how he could come into their class this excited first thing in the morning when they had a quiz. She had studied all night, since she wasn't allowed out but she didn't feel anymore confident.

"Hey," Sam whispered to her. She looked up with a frown. "You know this shit. Don't worry."

She rolled her eyes but nodded. She didn't know anything but it was sweet that he was trying to motivate her. Their teacher came in and handed out the quizzed. Audrey took a deep breath and went for it. She was one of the last people to hand it in. She walked out of the class to see the halls near empty. She was definitely late for anthro. She took a deep breath and made her way to her locker. She waved to some of the guys she knew as she grabbed her things. She closed it and off she was to anthro.

Her teacher didn't say much. She didn't really care about students being late. Audrey sat in front of Holiday with a huff. She laid her head on her desk and listened to her teacher go on. She was tired and felt like crying and wanted to go home. She snuck a text to her mom, begging to come home. Her dad texted her. Clearly her mother had told him about the text. She rolled her eyes as she opened it. It said she was free to go home but that meant no season opener and he was hoping she'd go. She decided to stay.

The day was slow. All the guys did nothing in their classes. They all wanted to play. They were excused from their last period class. The girls were as well so everyone won. The girls drove to the arena right away. It was about a half hour away. The guys all took their own cars or rode with one of their teammates. They were all excited. They listened to music as they changed into their gear. They were allowed on the ice in fifteen minutes. Audrey was instructed to get a team list filled out for her father. She knocked on the door with the clipboard in hand.

"Decent?" She hollered.

"That you are." Nathan chimed.

She rolled her eyes and threw open the door. She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Why are you listening to a Linkin Park and Eminem remix?" She asked. The guys nodded. "What is this? Seventh grade?"

She shook her head and walked over to the phone on the dock. She scrolled through it quickly, sighing at it. Within a minute Audrey found the music sucked and she placed her phone on the speaker as the music source. Seven Nation Army blared through the speakers and she smiled. Some of the guys bopped their heads while others looked surprised at her music taste. She picked up her clip board and started walking around the room. She wrote it alphabetically.

A Rise Against song came on next and Audrey rocked as she circled the room. She'd shove the guys so she could see the numbers on their backs. Some watched her as she did it. They couldn't believe little Audrey listened to some of this music. Griffin threw a tape ball at her. She looked up and glared.

"Do you actually like this stuff?" He asked.

"Yes, this is a great song." She told him.

"I'm impressed, Brownie." He grinned.

"Brownie?" She scoffed.

"Everyone on the team has a nickname." Mark intervened. "That's yours."

She smiled and shook her head. She finished up what she needed to do. The guys finished getting ready as the playlist she made them blared. It was good. It was music that actually pumped them. As it neared the time they were allowed on the ice, Malcolm started laughing to himself. All the guys looked at him like he was a mad man. Zach shoved him to get his attention.

"I'm just thinking about Griff's attempt at picking up Audrey." Malcolm explained, wiping his eyes.

"Brownie." Morgan mocked, laughing just as hard.

"Oh, whatever. I was just being friendly. She clearly isn't comfortable here yet." Griffin rolled his eyes. "Besides, Sammy was all over that last night." He nudged his brother.

"What? She was out front when I was walking Mojo. It's not like I called on her." Sam shook his head.

"And you wished her luck on our math quiz." Tristan blabbed.

"Tris, you and I both know she was near tears." Sam growled.

Nathan listened quietly. If Sam was interested in Audrey, that was a problem because he was interested in her first. Dustin walked in just then. Everyone fell quiet. Discussing the coach's daughter was terrible game strategy. He smiled at the boys and started looking around. Phil, Jamie, Sid, Geno, Crow, and Jagr walked in behind him. They all started doing things while Dustin hunted around the room. He looked up at Nick.

"Where's my list?" He frowned.

"Daddy!" Audrey called, walking into the room with his clipboard.

"Oh, my angel child." He cooed, taking the list.

"Is he the only person you'd call 'Daddy'?" Aaron whispered to her. The guys that heard it chucked.

She smacked his chest. "Shut up." She hissed through gritted teeth.

"Oh, your brothers and sister are here." Dustin said, turning to his oldest daughter. She let out a growl. "But if you watch them, you can throw a party for the team."

All the guys started yelling at Audrey to do it. She rolled her eyes. "Only if you win." She walked out after that.

Her little sister came running at her. She picked her up and propped her up on her hip. The team started to file out and they all acknowledge Audrey and her sister. Audrey made her wave to the boys. Mack walked out and she smiled

"Mack, meet Mack." Audrey said, walking over with her little sister.

"Wow, you know what having the same name means, right?" He said, leaning down a bit to be level with Mackenzie. She shook her head. "It means we're boyfriend and girlfriend."

"You're too old!" Mackenzie argued. "You should be Audrey's boyfriend!"

Audrey laughed at her little sister. "Smart kid." Mack smirked.

Audrey shook her head. "Go play." She swatted him.

The five Brown kids sat in the stands for the game. Nathan watched Audrey as he did every drill. She was really good with her siblings, he admired a girl that was good with kids. He saw Sam waving to one of them, he waved back. Audrey was smiling. Nathan didn't like that. He skated over and iced Sam. Sam laughed and swung his stick into his leg pads as a joke. The pair skated over to where the drill line was. Nathan took a deep breath.

"Look, I don't wanna come off as that guy but Auds and I kinda have something going so of y,"

"Nate, she's yours. Cooper's just my bud from our houses being back to back. I'm not swooping in on your girl." Sam reassured him.

Sam went for his drill and Nathan smiled to himself. Nothing to worry about. Warm ups ended and it was game time. Danielle, Holiday, Taylor, Audrey, and the four younger Browns all started cheering for the team. Mark won the face off and the game started. There was a lot of back and forth. Zach was strong but so was the other team's goalie. Luckily, the Falcons were the first to get on the board. Everyone crowded around Ryan, congratulating him for his goal. They went to their bench and sent the next line on.

Falcons ended up with a 3-2 win over the home team. The change room was buzzing. Dustin gave a speech about how they could've played better. Audrey came in after to dish out details about the party her dad was making her have. Not that she was complaining.

"Can you smile or something? We won!" Jo cheered at her.

"You lost your lead half way through the first and didn't get it back until the last minute of the game." She shook her head. "You're all better than that. Someone needs to help Zach out!"

"Coach's daughter." Josh mumbled.

"She's right. We're a better team than we were last season. Let's prove it!" Nick called to his team.

Danielle walked in with a frown. "Jake just punched me in the head." She whined.

"Dani, tell everyone where I live and all the rules." Audrey sighed before walking out to deal with her brother.

"Okay so basically, no glass near the pool and you must be in proper swimming attire to swim. She lives around the block from Sam and Griffin and there will be no driving if you are drinking." Danielle instructed. "Have fun tonight, boys."

"Hey, wait, Dani!" Seth called, reaching for her arm. "You're not going?"

She shrugged. "Parties aren't really my thing." She explained.

"Dan, we won our first game in three years and you aren't gonna come to the party to celebrate? You're part of the team." Seth smiled.

She rolled her eyes but smiled. "I'll make an appearance."

Seth smiled at her as she walked out. He walked over to Michael and shook his hand as they laughed. Jacob watched the exchange in confusion. Well, he was always confused so that wasn't something new, but it gave him a weird vibe. He didn't like it.

Notes