AAOOOSC!: Gulls' Adventures!

Following the warm-up and the pregame rituals, the puck drops and it is now game time!

The game is being played like any other hockey game. Yet one thing is out of place: Brandon himself.

In the bench, he drops his stick and shakes off his gloves. He then grabs one of his gloves and sticks his hand in there in search for something. He pulls out his hand with a sugar packet in hand. His eyes light up with excitement as he tears the top. He then begins downing the sugar.

On the ice, the story is not any different: The Gulls are skating down the ice toward the Heat’s zone with Brandon and his defence partner, Jaycob Megna, behind the pack.

Jaycob has the puck in his possession; he then takes a glance at Brandon before shouting: “I’M PASSING THE PUCK TO MONTY!”

He passes the puck to Brandon.

Brandon spots the puck gliding toward him with speed; his eyes widen at the object flying toward him. He transitions backward, moving out of the puck’s path, then twirls off away from the crowd.

Jaycob gapes at how his partner left him hanging. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

A Heat skater then picks up the abandoned puck and turns the direction of the pack around.

Brandon is back on the bench, staring ahead in a daze. He then turns to his left, where the captain, Joe Piskula is sitting. “I want muffins!” he tells him with infantile authority.

Joe turns to him with his signature grin. “Sorry, bud, but I got no muffins here!” He then pats his helmet-covered head and turns back to face the ice.

Brandon then turns to his right, where one of the newest additions to the team, Corey Tropp, is sitting. Corey is staring ahead with sharp brown eyes and thick eyebrows.

“Give me muffins!” Brandon barks at him.

Corey peers at him. He then scoffs. “I’m the one who should get muffins.” He rolls his eyes and turns back to look at the ice.

Brandon opens his mouth to argue with him but he feels a harsh tug at his sleeve. He turns to the source of the tug.

It’s Joseph, who has reached over to the captain to grab his attention. He pulls his roommate toward him to face him behind the captain’s back.

“Don’t talk to him…!” Joseph hisses at him.

“But I want--”

“I don’t care…! Just don’t talk to him!”

“But whyyy-yyy…?” Brandon sing-songs.

Joseph stares at him madly. “Look at his number.” He then shoves Brandon away from him and pulls away.

Brandon straightens back up to face the ice. He peers down at the number that is patched on the side of Corey’s jersey sleeve.

12.

Brandon gapes at it. “Heeey..., that’s Maxi’s number…!” He pokes at the patch.

Corey stares at him incredulously. “No, it’s my number.”

“Nooo! That’s-that’s--”

“Brandon!” Coach Dallas Eakins shouts from above his team. “Get on the ice!”

Brandon sticks his lip at Corey. “Hmp!” He then jumps over the ice and skates off.

Once Brandon is where the pack is in the Gulls’ zone, the puck is shot across the ice with a Heat skating after it. The puck crosses the goal line, stopping the play as an icing.

Most of the skaters on the ice then drift over to the face-off on the other side of the Gulls’ zone to get ready for the face-off.

The only skater who does not do so is Brandon: He starts skating toward the neutral zone, stick-handling with an invisible puck, playing by himself.

The referee then blows his whistle, calling Brandon to attention. Brandon perks up and rushes over to the face-off.

During the game, the starting goalie for the Gulls, Matt Hackett, gets swapped out for Anton Khudobin. As Matt begins gliding out from his crease, Brandon rushes up to him and clobbers him in a hug.

“You’ll bring me muffins!” he exclaims.

“Yes, yes, I will!” Matt tells him sweetly. “But after the game, king of the palace. Is that fine?”

Brandon pats his head. “I want muffins!”

“I’ll get you muffins then after the game!” Matt taps his head one last time before prying himself off of him.

He skates over to the tunnel, where the security guards open up the boards. Matt fist bumps Anton as they exchange places.

Matt then lumbers to the stool that is nestled between the audience and the boards and plops himself on it.

Right away, Jasmine sprints into view. Hearts are floating off from her as she gazes in awe at the goalie.

“Sooo…” She folds her arms on the railing between them. “...do you come here often?”

Matt peers up at her bashfully. “I play here.”

Her eyes light up. “Oh, that’s right!” She giggles before asking, “Why didn’t we match on that dating website?”

Matt’s eyes shift as he is appearing uncomfortable. “I think the request didn’t go through the app. It must’ve glitched.” He then jerks as his eyes widen. He shoots his hand underneath his jersey, moving it around.

Jasmine ogles at him with hearts wafting from her eyes profusely.

Matt then pulls his hand back into view with a smile. In his hand is his friend’s pet hamster, Mr. Ernie. “Are you okay there, Mr. Ernie?” he asks him gently.

Mr. Ernie replies by twitching his nose with his black, beady eyes darting around his surroundings.

Matt places the hamster on his shoulder, then grabs a Styrofoam cup of sunflower seeds sitting on the edge of the boards. He pours some into his hand and raises it up to him. “Here you go.”

Mr. Ernie plucks a sunflower seed with his tiny paws and begins nibbles on it.

Matt picks up the hamster with two hands and holds it out to the fangirl. “This is Mr. Ernie, my friend’s pet. I’m hamster-sitting him for now. His owner goes on business trips a lot.”

Jasmine frowns at it. “Oh…” She then mutters disappointedly, “That’s why we didn’t match.”

“Mr. Ernie wants to say hi to you.” He peers down at Mr. Ernie; Mr. Ernie is quivering his nose at her. “See, he’s saying hi to you.”

She forces a smile at the critter, which can be easily mistaken as a grimace. “Uh, hi…”

Mr. Ernie continues gnawing at his sunflower seed.

“You want to hold Mr. Ernie?” Matt extends his arms further so that his cupped hands can be in her reach.

Jasmine is now grimacing at the critter. “Erm, I’m good. I’ll be back.” She then spins on her heels and sprints up the stairs.

She halts at the top of the stairs, which is above the tunnel. She whips out her smartphone and puts back on her live stream.

“Guys, you’ll never believe what I found out,” she speaks to her phone’s camera with shock. “Matt Hackett has a pet hamster.”

Suddenly, she is cut off by the arena erupting in horns and sirens and cheers: The Gulls have scored!

On the ice, almost all of the Gulls’ skaters on the ice huddle against the corner of the boards in celebration.

The one Gull on the ice who does not participate is Brandon. Brandon skates down the ice happily with his hands in the air and a massive grin, celebrating on his own.

Matt gazes at the lone celebration with Mr. Ernie cupped in his hands. “Why is Monty all alone?”

“Muffins!” Brandon shouts from centre ice.

Matt knits his wide eyebrows. “Is there something off with him?”

“Muffins muffins muffins!” Brandon lunges into the air and hits his stomach against the ice.

Matt’s eyes widen. “Monty, are you okay?”

Brandon then extends his limbs out in a flight pose. “MUFFINS!”

Matt gapes at his teammate with shock. “Poor Monty!” He reverts his gaze at Mr. Ernie. “He’s gone crazy!”

Mr. Ernie responds by perking up at the glass, then returning to his half-eaten sunflower seed.

Notes

E.11 "I Am Monty Muffins!"
Part 3/5
Episode 11/20