"Alright, I believe that's enough. I think you're ready to try the new technique."

Sunny gave Omar a thumbs-up as he prepared himself. He doesn't know how long he has been practicing, but he knows that he is getting better. Even though JJ stopped most of his shots, he managed to get a few past the experienced goalie.

"Remember, toe to heel to toe."

Sunny nodded and Omar prepared to pass him a puck, but someone called out to him before he could.

"Omar, fancy seeing you here."

All three of them on the ice saw a chubby middle-aged man standing at the rink's entrance. Nothing stood out about his appearance except for a lousy comb-over and a colorful Hawaiian shirt.

"Hey, Doug, what brings you here?"

"Just in the area."

Sunny had a confused look on his face as JJ skated up to him.

"That's Mr. Bonefat, his son and I play on the same team."

Sunny knowingly nodded but he still didn't have a clue who the man was. He doesn't remember seeing a man who looked like him around Faraway, but maybe it's because he lived close to the hospital.

"So, you gonna coach the team again this year?"

"If they'll let me."

"Good, because you were so close to winning it all last year. And I bet that boy of yours is gonna be tending the goals again."

"He sure is, and you'll be glad to know he has taken some great strides in his game over these past couple of months."

"Awesome!" Doug then peered over Omar's shoulder and saw Sunny. "And what about him?"

"That's Sunny. He's never played hockey before so I'm teaching him the basics, but I must add he's a great skater for his age."

"Well, he's got a great teacher. Here's hoping we'll see him on the team."

Omar nodded and the two men parted ways. Omar skated back to the two boys with a suggestive smile.

"We ran out of time for today. JJ, get ready to leave. Sunny, I wanna talk to you for a second."

JJ nodded and skated over to the bench while Omar pulled Sunny aside. He was worried that he was going to get scolded for messing up earlier, but the smile on the older man's face calmed his nerves a little.

"You did great out there today. A few mistakes but that's something we can iron out over time." Sunny nodded along to what he was saying, but he knew that Omar had more to say. "But I wanted to ask you something. I coach JJ's hockey team and our season is about to start and I wanted to know if you wanted to sign up. Tryouts are next Friday."

Sunny thought about it. He did have fun practicing, but he was only doing it to get away from Mari and her perfectionism. He also didn't have any equipment or the money to buy it. He also wasn't very good at the sport, so he wouldn't even make the team if he tried out.

Sunny handed Omar his stick, signaling his answer, but the older man was persistent.

"Are you worried that you won't be as good as the other kids?" Sunny nodded and Omar gave a supportive pat on the back. "Don't worry about that. With enough practice, you'll catch up to them in no time."

"B-But when will I-I get th-the chance t-to p-p-practice?"

Omar hummed to himself before snapping his fingers with an idea in his mind.

"Do you go to school around here?" Sunny nodded and Omar let out a small celebratory laugh. "Then how about this, every day after school you come here and I'll teach you all the basics so you'll be ready when tryouts start."

"B-But I-I don't have any e-equipment."

"I'm sure JJ will be fine with you using his old equipment." Sunny still seemed apprehensive about the whole thing, so Omar gave him another pat on the back. "Just think it over. I'll bring the equipment here tomorrow and if you want to do this then you'll know where to find us."

Omar skated over to his son while Sunny quickly got off the ice.

He got his stuff from his locker and returned his skates before leaving the building. When he got outside he saw that the sun was closer to setting than it was when he arrived. Mari is probably extremely worried about him right now so he quickly took off for his home.

As he ran, Sunny thought about Omar's offer. He seemed adamant about wanting to teach him and he was willing to give him the equipment he needed to play. He just needed to show up and Omar will try to put him in the best position for him to have a chance. What's stopping him from at least trying?

Sunny knew the answer to his question, it was Mari.

Their recital was at the end of the month and he didn't have time to slack off. He still needed to perfect his part and he could tell that the stress of the whole thing was getting to his big sister. He owed it to her for him to perfect his part after everything she's done for him.

But the way she's been treating him lately was making it harder to decide.

He wanted to make her proud and show off all the hard work they put into their performance, but he wanted to do that for the old Mari, not the new Mari. He didn't want to help the new Mari in any way, not with the way that she treats him.

Sunny shook his head. He decided that it would be best to sleep on it and think it over tomorrow.

Sunny reached his house in record time, he believed because the sun didn't move as much from its position when he left the center.

He made his way to his house's front step and slowly crept open the door to reveal an angry, but also worried Mari.

"Where have you been!? Do you know how worried I was!? I asked Hero to help me look all around town to find you and I was so close to calling the police!"

Sunny put his head down in shame. He knew he shouldn't have barged out of the house but he wanted to get away from home fast.

He felt Mari grab his wrist and drag him to the music room.

"You'll stay in here and practice until dad gets home!"

Sunny heard Mari slam the door and he crawled into a ball as he cried on the floor.

Sunny held ice packs in his aching hands as he stared at the dark tv screen in his living room. He practiced for hours on end and not only did his blisters start to bleed again but both of his hands started cramping up. Things only got worse when his dad came home.

Mari told him what happened and he screamed at him. He told him how he was ruining things for his sister and that he and his mom were wasting so much money on lessons. Sunny tried to argue with his dad but that caused him to yell at him some more. His father ended up grounding him for a week with no tv and him needing to be in bed by 9.

Sunny sighed as he slouched into the couch.

He wished his mom was home but she was away on a business trip and wouldn't be back for another week. Whenever his dad yelled at him or was being unreasonable, she would always come to his defense. She loved him and Mari equally and wouldn't pick favorites, unlike his dad. Without her, he feels outnumbered.

Mewo hopped onto the couch and brushed her head on his arm. Sunny smiled lightly and scratched behind the small cat's ears.

"It's good to know you're still on my side."

"SUNNY! BED, NOW!"

Sunny jumped from his dad's booming voice and bolted to his room.

He saw Mari working away on their computer. She didn't acknowledge him which meant she was still upset with him. He tried apologizing to her countless times but she always brushed them off.

Sunny crawled into bed and waited for his sleepiness to take him over and hoped tomorrow will be better.

The loud ringing of the bell broke Sunny out of his daydream. His teacher was finishing up their lecture as everyone was preparing for their next lesson. Sunny wasn't a huge fan of school but he wasn't a horrible student by any means, he usually placed in the top half of most of his classes and always did his best to help out his teachers. He just gets bored during class and would rather daydream about himself and his friends going on adventures.

Sunny packed up his stuff and headed over to his next-period class, Science. It was his least favorite subject, not because he was bad at science but because it was one of the classes that had none of his friends. He had math with Basil and Kel, gym with Kel and Aubrey, writing with Basil, history with Aubrey, and luckily he had lunch with all three of them.

He reached his class with minutes to spare and he took one of the seats in the back. He planned to do what he did in his last class and wait until the bell rang until he heard someone call out his name.

"Yo, Sunny!" Sunny turned away from the window and saw JJ taking the seat next to him. "I didn't know you were in this class."

"Y-Yeah."

"I just wanted to tell you my dad has everything ready for you."

"C-Cool."

Sunny quickly looked back at the window. He still hasn't made a decision about what he wanted to do yet. He didn't want to disappoint the older man after hearing he went out of his way to get him some equipment. It also didn't help that he shared a class with JJ and he didn't want to make things awkward or have him hate him.

"When do you have lunch?"

"N-Next p-p-period."

"Awesome! There's some people I would like you to meet."

Sunny started to panic. Was JJ going to introduce him to people who'll beat him up if he doesn't show up to the center?

Sunny couldn't settle down. No amount of daydreaming was able to calm him down and he even paid attention to the teacher but his mind kept thinking about what was waiting for him at lunch. He knew that Aubrey and Kel would come and defend him if anything happened but he doesn't know how quickly they'll react to what was happening.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period and Sunny thought about running away, but JJ had his stuff packed away and was already on his feet.

"You ready to go?"

Sunny hesitantly nodded, realizing he was trapped. JJ smiled and helped Sunny pack up his remaining stuff. Soon, the two boys were out in the hallway heading to the cafeteria. Sunny considered running away again, but JJ had his arm wrapped around him preventing him from going through with the idea.

The two reached the cafeteria and JJ led Sunny to a table off to the side of the room. Sunny looked over to the table that he and his friends usually sat at and saw Basil was already there. He could see a confused look on the boy's face and Sunny shot him a pleading look, but he doubted that his best friend was able to see it.

JJ sat him down at the table and took a seat next to him.

Soon a boy took a seat across from Sunny. He was tall, had short brown hair, and wore glasses.

"Hey, JJ, who's the new guy?"

"This is Sunny. He's been practicing with me and my dad for the past two days and he might try out for the team next Friday."

"That's cool. My name's Rudy."

Rudy stuck out his hand and Sunny hesitantly shook it.

"Rudy is one of our top defensemen and was an alternate captain last year."

"I'm gonna make sure I'm the best defenseman this year."

"With how you played last season, no doubt!"

Everyone turned to where the voice came from and saw a boy who had blonde hair that went down to his neck, was slightly taller than Sunny, and had a red streak in his hair.

"Alec!"

The now-identified Alec took a seat next to Rudy as he did a strange-looking handshake with both the tall boy and JJ. Alec then shifted his gaze to Sunny and finally addressed his presence.

"Hey there, I'm Alec, and you must be Sunny."

Sunny started to panic a little. He never met this person before yet he knew his name.

Alec saw him panicking and quickly tried to calm him down.

"My father mentioned seeing you yesterday when he saw coach B. I hope you take him up on his offer, he made me the player that I am today."

Rudy nodded in agreement and JJ leaned in close to Sunny.

"Alec was our captain last year and our first-line center. He always looks out for all of us and tries to make everyone better."

Sunny started to ease up. None of these guys were scary, in fact, the complete opposite, but he still felt uncomfortable around them. He would much rather be sitting with his friends who are probably confused about him not sitting with them.

Sunny looked over at his usual table and saw all of his friends giving him different looks. Kel was giving him a big smile, while Basil still looked as confused as earlier. Aubrey on the other hand looked hurt, making him feel horrible.

She didn't have enough money to buy lunch so he would always share half of his, but since he wasn't sitting with her she wouldn't be able to eat. He'll have to apologize to her later and save her some food.

Sunny turned back to the others and saw another boy at the table. He had black hair that was covering his left eye and was giving him a cold stare that was making him uncomfortable.

Turns out no one else saw the boy sit at the table because they all jumped when they noticed him.

"Woah, Victor, when did you get here?" Rudy asked and Victor let out a long drawn sigh. "Still upset about what happened last year? We told you it's fine."

"No, it's not! I had a wide-open shot and I missed it! If I aimed a little more to the left then we would've won the whole thing last year!"

The four boys jumped at Victor's outburst, though Sunny didn't know what he was talking about.

"Don't blame yourself for that. I let in some easy shots."

"And I gave them open lanes to the net."

"Plus, I had some bad turnovers at the wrong time."

The boys were quick to try and make their friend feel better but Victor wasn't listening to any of it.

"None of that would've mattered if I made the shot, and don't tell me what coach told us after the game! None of you were in my position so don't tell me you know how I feel!" Victor then shot up and stormed off.

The three boys sighed and disapprovingly shook their heads.

"I hate that he's still beating himself up over what happened. We all made terrible mistakes and that's why we lost, not because he missed."

"He just needs a little more time and hopefully when tryouts start up he'll be over it," Alec said, to comfort Rudy.

"I hope you're right."

It took a few seconds before the boys regained their composure and returned their attention to Sunny.

"So, what position are you thinking of playing, Sunny?"

Sunny began to squirm. He didn't even know if he would try out, let alone what position he would play. He didn't even know what positions there were in hockey.

"My dad is training him how to shoot so I don't think he'll be a goalie."

"Ok, so that widdles down his options to either being a forward or defenseman," Alec hummed before turning to Rudy. "What do you think?"

Rudy hummed as he scanned Sunny.

"Could you stand up for a second?" Sunny did what he was told as he watched Rudy look him over. After a few quick seconds, Rudy shook his head. "He's too small, just slightly taller than Victor. I think he'll be better suited as a forward."

"We're down to two options then, winger or center. Which do you wanna play, Sunny?"

Sunny sunk down into his seat. He was feeling overwhelmed by all this new information. He didn't know what those positions were or what they did and they were expecting him to pick one. It was just too much and he didn't know how to answer.

Lucky for him, JJ saw the state he was in and swooped in to help him out.

"Hey guys, let's drop it for now. He still hasn't decided if he's gonna play or not so let's just change the subject."

"You're right, but let me know when he makes his decision and I'll go down to the center and help him out," Alec offered and Rudy nodded in agreement.

The rest of the period went well with no problems as the boys, sans Sunny, talked about what they were interested in at the time or stressed about school work.

The bell rang and Sunny got ready for his final period, history. He was excited because it was the last period of the day but he was also dreading it because Aubrey would be waiting for him. She's probably still upset about him inadvertently ditching her and their friends during lunch. He hoped the cookie and apple he managed to sneak out would be enough for her to forgive him.

He reached his classroom and sure enough, in the back of the class was his upset girlfriend. He slowly made his way to her and sheepishly slid over the food before taking his seat. She still looked upset but she took the peace offering.

"Why didn't you sit with us during lunch?"

Sunny thought about lying to her because if he declined Omar's offer then he would never have to talk with those guys again, but he knew it would come back to bite him if he did.

"I-I was a-asked to train f-for a h-hockey tryout n-next F-Friday and those g-guys that I-I sat with w-wanted t-t-to help m-me."

"Really? Why would they want you to join the team?"

"B-Because th-these past two d-days I've been g-going to the Ice and S-Swim Center close by and a m-man asked me to h-help t-train his s-son. Then o-one thing led t-to a-another and th-they asked m-me if I w-wanted to t-try out f-for the t-team."

"That's cool! Are you gonna do it?"

"I-I don't know. If I-I want t-to do it then a-all I have t-to do is g-go to the c-center after s-school."

Aubrey hummed as she ate her cookie, clearly thinking of something.

"I think you should do it."

"Huh?!"

"When you were talking about it, it didn't sound like you hated it."

Sunny paused for a second and looked back on the previous 24 hours. Whenever he thought about hockey it was never about him hating it, it was always something else. He was worried about other people being better than him or him not fully knowing, never once did he hate the game.

What's stopping him from at least trying?

"B-But what about M-Mari? W-We still need to p-practice for the r-r-recital."

"Forget about Mari! What do you want to do?"

He wanted to have fun and not be criticized or punished for every little mistake. He wanted to be praised for doing a good job and feel wanted.

He wanted to play hockey.

"I-I guess it w-wouldn't h-hurt to a-at l-least try."

"Awesome, and if it'll make you feel better I can come with you."

"Please."

Even though he had a newfound sense of confidence, Sunny was still nervous and was extremely grateful to have someone he knew be there for him.