It was Monday, and that meant that the list of who made the team went up today. Charley was nervous as she sat on the bus on the way to school. She had her ear buds stuck in her eyes and her eyes trained out the window. Noah gave her a small nudge.

"Hey, you nervous?" he asks.

"Hell yea."

"You'll get a spot for sure, you showed up their best player."

"Except for the fact that I am a girl and they know that." Noah shrugs, not really sure what to say back. He returns to silence as they pull up at the school. As soon as the driver puts the bus in park, Noah and Charley bolt out of the bus and towards the activities office.

Outside the door where the bulletin board is, a crowd of boys already stands. Noah and Charley fight their way to the front to look at the list. Charley's eyes skim the page. Her eyes land on Noah's name, under the varsity headline. So was Kyle, and this other kid that she had briefly met, Jake, who was also a freshman along with Kyle.

Her heart sinks when she realizes her name isn't on the list. She scans the list again and again but her name never popped up. Tears threaten to spill out her eyes and she quickly moves away from the bulletin board. Jonathan Toews emerges from the crowd with a satisfied smirk on his lips. He walks up to Charley.

"I see your name wasn't on the list. Maybe next year but probably not." he taunts. The two boys behind him shoot Charley sympathetic looks. Noah exits the crowd and motions for Jonathan to get lost. Him and his two friends leave without any trouble.

"I didn't make it, Noah, I didn't make it. How did I not make the team? The coach said that I had secured myself a spot on the varsity team. Why didn't I get on?" Charley asks, tears start spilling down her cheeks.

"I don't know Charley. I'm so sorry. You did amazing at tryouts, I don't understand how you couldn't have made it." Noah pulls her into a hug while Charley tries to calm herself down.

"Comment pourrais-je pas fait?*"

"Calm down Charley, just calm down. It's going to be fine." Charley pulls away from Noah's embrace and takes in a big breath. She wipes the tears out her face and straightens out her shirt.

"Are you okay now?" Noah asks.

"Oui." Kyle and Jake approach them and give Charley a hug.

"You should have made it Charley." Jake says.

"Totally. You play better than Toews. Coach is a dumbass for not putting you on the team."

"Can we not talk about this anymore." Charley asks. The boys not and shift conversation to some band they all like. The door to the activities office opens and Coach Walsh sticks his head out the door.

"Ah, Charley, just the girl I wanted to see. Come into my office please." Charley shoots Noah a confused look and he returns it with a shrug. Jake and Kyle mouth 'good luck' to her. She enters Coach W's office and takes a seat in the chair across from his desk.

"So, Charley, I assume you've noticed that your name isn't on the list on the bulletin board."

"Yes I have." she restrains herself from snapping at him about how unfair it was to tell her that she had secured a spot and then not given her one. But she can't help but give him a harsh glare.

"I guess you're wondering why that is, aren't you?" Coach W leans back in his chair and crosses his arms.

"Shoot, this isn't about the fight, is it? I'm so sorry about that, I didn't mean for it to happen. I really didn't."

"No, no," Coach Walsh chuckles. "That's not it at all. I found it amusing that you almost beat up Jonathan Toews."

"Then what is it?" Charley asks, getting nervous.

"Your name wasn't on the list because I wanted to ask you if you'd consider being a captain first." Charley's eyes widen and almost chokes.

"Wait what?"

"I want you to be one of the captains for this team. You have immense skill and dedication to hockey and I'd love to have you share that with the rest of the team. And I need someone who can balance out Toews's cockiness and keep him in line. So will you do it?"

"Uh, sure." Charley replies, slightly stunned.

"Great, practice starts at six tonight and goes until eight, see you there." Charley stands up and moves to the door but then stops and turns back to Coach Walsh.

"Thanks, Coach."

"No problem kid."

She exits the activities office to find Noah, Jake and Kyle still standing outside. Immediately they ask her questions about what happened. Charley felt like she was in an interrogation.

"Guys, calm down."

"What happened?" Noah cries.

"Well, for starters, I made the team." Charley squeals, finally letting it sink in. The boys cheer and give her pats on the back.

"But there's more." Charley says, trying to hold back a smile.

"What?" Jake questions, grabbing Charley's shoulders lightly.

"I'm your new captain boys!" Charley shouts, just loud enough for Toews to hear. As Charley, Kyle, Noah and Jake are celebrating Jonathan turns to them. He pushes the boys away and steps towards Charley. They are only inches apart and he towers over her.

"What did you say?" he asks. Charley looks at his face. It's serious and expressionless. His eyes are dark and swirling with potential anger.

"I'm your new captain." She says with a smirk. "Looks like we'll be leading this team together this year." The look on Jon's face almost kills Charley. She loves how much it pisses him off that she's captain.

"Are you fucking kidding me." He pushes Charley into the wall and whips the door of the office open, almost hitting Charley in the face and storms into Coach W's office. The door slams behind him. Charley and the boys burst out laughing.

"Toews is going to be pissed tonight at practice." Kyle laughs.

"Well boys, I'll see you at practice tonight. I have to go to class." Charley says, pulling her schedule out of her bag.

"What do you have first hour?" Jake asks, snatching her schedule. He runs his hands through his short, dirty blonde hair. Charley watches as his chocolate brown eyes scan her schedule.

"We have AP Physics together first hour, and pre-calc third hour. And gym and Spanish fifth and sixth hour." Jake tells her. Kyle snatches the paper from her. His curly blonde hair bounces and his blue eyes are deep in concentration as he reads the paper.

"We have Honors English second hour. And we have Spanish together and gym." Kyle says. Noah snatches the paper next. Most people wouldn't think that Noah and Charley were related. Noah was about two inches taller than her and had short blonde hair that was spiked at the front and their mother's green eyes. He was pale, like their mother. He was quite a womanizer too. He liked to flirt along, but once he got a girlfriend, he was very loyal.

Charley on the other hand was tan and had a feminine figure. Curves in the right places and a decent sized chest. Her long wavy brown hair with natural blonde highlights hung at shoulder length. Her eyes were brown with flecks of green and a ring of gold around her pupil. Charley got many boys interested in her, but she could be quite intimidating and scare them away. And being so busy with hockey and school didn't give her much time for boyfriends.

"Looks like we all have Spanish and Gym together. Charley, we're in pre-calc and AP Human Geo together."

"Sick, see you guys then. Come on Jake, shall we go to Physics."

"Sure." Jake follows her off down the hallways towards the science classrooms.

~~~

*How could I not make it?

Notes

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