Sunny massaged his still-aching hand after the nonstop practice that Mari put him through yesterday. Thankfully, she believed the lie about him taking extra lessons with the orchestra teacher, but that only made things worse for him. Since she believes that he's receiving extra lessons she now expects more out of him and is now a lot more harsher with her words whenever he messes up. Maybe he should've told her that he was tutoring some kids at school at least then she wouldn't expect him to be instantly perfect whenever he picked up his violin.

But he can't go back and change his story now, it was a new day. He stood at the end of the street with Kel and waited for the bus to pick them up. Kel would always complain about waiting for the bus, saying he could run to school before the bus even reached their bus stop, but his mom wouldn't let him. She told him that until she could trust that he would actually go to school if he ran he would have to ride the bus, but she did allow him to run home because she knew he wouldn't skip out on his brother's cooking.

"This is so dumb! I would've been at school by now if Mom would let me run!" Kel whined like he usually did every morning. Sunny doesn't know why Kel hated taking the bus, it was a free ride that allowed you to talk with your friends and extra time for you to do any homework you forgot about the night prior. Speaking of, he still needed to do his because he barely did any of it last night because of the practices and early curfew.

The bus arrived and the two boys took one of the few remaining empty seats. After sitting down, Sunny decided to do his math homework first. Since Kel was in his math class you would expect him to ask his friend for the answers, but there were two reasons why he won't. Reason one, Kel wasn't the smartest kid in school, physically gifted yes but he was always lacking in the brain department.

The second reason…

"Oh shoot, we had math homework last night!? Thanks for reminding me, Sunny."

That. Kel would always forget to do his homework most nights, so you were always better off winging it than asking him for help.

The bus stopped and on came Aubrey and Basil. She was carrying his hockey bag and Basil had a puzzled look about what was in it. They took the empty seat that was in front of Kel and Sunny, and Kel took this opportunity to stop doing his work and talk.

"What's with the bag, Aubrey?"

Sunny froze after he said that. He never told Aubrey to keep his hockey playing a secret. He didn't want to risk Mari finding out and making him quit. He discretely signaled Aubrey not to tell him and prayed that she understood what he was telling her.

"It doesn't concern you, Kel!"

Sunny silently sighed as he got back to his work. When he gets the chance he'll thank Aubrey and they can talk about how to keep his secret.

"Oh, come on, Aubrey! Is it something bad? You can tell me!" Kel continued to pry as Aubrey groaned and tried to suppress the urge to headbutt Kel.

"It's nothing, Kel. Just leave it alone."

"If this is how you're acting then it has to be something."

"I said drop it, Kel!"

"Maybe you should listen. If she doesn't want to tell us then she doesn't have to," Basil softly spoke up. Kel sighed as he sulked into his seat.

"Fine. Can you give me the answers to the math homework though?"

Basil nodded and handed over his math homework which Kel graciously took. As he scribbled down the answers, Sunny put away his math homework and took out his writing homework. Basil saw this and was about to offer his work but Sunny shook his head.

"Ok then, but can I ask you a question, Sunny?" Basil asked and Sunny nodded without taking his attention away from his work. "Why didn't you sit with us yesterday?"

"Yeah, did you find a new group of friends to replace us with?" Kel jokingly added.

Sunny froze and gave Aubrey a pleading look. He completely forgot to come up with an excuse for Basil and Kel and hoped Aubrey had one.

"Uh, Sunny told me that he was tutoring them. I think it's awesome that he's breaking out of his shell to help people," Aubrey lied and it appeared that Kel and Basil believed it, well Kel at least.

"That's great! You always help me with my homework when I ask so I know they're getting some great help!" Kel praised his friend. Sunny let out a sigh of relief, glad that one of his friends believed Aubrey's lie. He saw that Basil looked doubtful, but he knew his best friend wasn't gonna look into it unless he thought someone was getting hurt.

After a few more stops, the bus made it to school. Kel bolted off the bus when the doors opened while everyone else took their time. When they got off the bus, Sunny and Aubrey broke away from Basil to have a private conversation.

"T-Thanks for l-lying b-back there."

"It didn't look like you wanted me to tell them."

"I-I just d-don't want to r-risk M-Mari finding o-out."

"I understand, but are you sure you don't want Kel or Basil to know? I think they could keep a secret," Aubrey asked and Sunny nodded his head.

"Kel might a-accidentally tell H-Hero and h-he'll tell Mari, and you a-already know t-that if you p-pressure Basil enough he'll t-tell you anything," Sunny responded. It wasn't that Basil was bad at keeping secrets, he kept the secret of his crush on Aubrey, but he was always the one to crack under pressure. He spoiled a lot of Christmas and Birthday presents because he, Kel, and Aubrey kept asking him that both Mari and Hero made it a rule that you couldn't ask Basil about presents or else you won't be getting yours.

"I guess you're right," Aubrey said while grabbing his hand. "It'll just be another one of our secrets that we're hiding from the group."

Sunny's ears burned as she squeezed his hand. After they started dating they both decided to keep it a secret to avoid Mari's unrelenting teases and Kel's constant whining about how girls are gross and have cooties. There have been a few close calls, but they believe they've done a good job hiding it.

The school bell rang and the two broke apart. Aubrey handed him his hockey bag before running off.

"W-Where do I p-put this? I-It's too b-big for my l-locker."

"Just ask your homeroom teacher to keep it in their classroom for the day. It's what I did for my softball gear," Aubrey told him.

Sunny gave her a thumbs-up before she disappeared from his sight. He picked up his bag before slowly making his way to homeroom.

"We ended yesterday's practice with a little bit of stick handling. I want to spend the first few minutes of today's practice working on it so you're more proficient at it for the tryouts," Omar said as he skated over to some cones. "Work on switching between the forehand and backhand by going back and forth between these cones."

Sunny nodded and started doing what Omar told him. As he was doing that, Omar made his way over to where Aubrey was doing her homework.

"Are you sure you want to be here? A girl your age would probably like to be anywhere else."

"I'm fine. I'm here to support Sunny and it gives me time to do my homework."

"Well, let me know if you get bored. I'm sure I can find something for you to do," Omar said as he skated back to Sunny. He saw the young boy had gotten the hang of stick handling, though he still made a few mistakes he excused them because the young boy was still starting out.

"Good, Sunny! It looks like you've gotten better at this," Omar praised him and Sunny gave him a light nod. Omar then guided Sunny over to the net, got a bucket of pucks, and dumped it at Sunny's feet. "Next up is power. It doesn't matter how good your technique is, if you don't have power to your shot the goalie will easily be able to stop any of your shots."

Omar passed Sunny a puck before getting one for himself.

"I noticed whenever you were doing your wrist shots you were standing sideways. As you already know you can't skate sideways," Omar took his puck and was facing toward the goal. He took a few strides before shooting and watched as the puck bounced off the back of the net. "Whenever you're shooting you should always be facing toward the goal and your toes should always be aimed toward your target. You do that and you'll add 5-6 MPH to your shot."

Sunny nodded and got ready. He took a few strides to the net and was ready to shoot before Omar stopped him.

"Hold it! Before you shoot I want to fix something," Sunny hesitantly nodded before skating back over to Omar. Omar grabbed another puck and signaled Sunny to watch him. "There are four positions I want to teach you before you continue to practice your wrist shot. First is the setup where you have the puck on the backhand before transitioning to the second position where you bring the puck back into the windup position. In position three you lean on your dominant leg and transfer your weight to your other leg that's coming forward. Position four, point at your target as you follow through with your shot."

Omar then slowly showed Sunny what he explained. He saw him lean on his right leg and his left toe pointing at the net as he was transferring his weight. He then saw the puck rocket into the net as Omar had his stick pointing at his target.

"I want you to get into position first. Puck's on the backhand, arms off the body, slide your hand down the stick, get wide, and get low. Windup, lean on your dominant leg. When leaning, bring your other leg forward and finish off your shot by pointing at the net," Sunny did as instructed and Omar smiled. "Good. Now, go practice that while I go find out what's keeping up JJ."

Sunny nodded as Omar skated off the ice. He grabbed one of the pucks and did his best to mimic what Omar taught him. He sailed a few shots over the net and bounced some off the post. He only got a couple to go into the net, which felt good but the way that Aubrey was cheering for him would make you think he nailed all his shots.

"You're doing amazing, Sunny! You look so cool while shooting!"

Sunny blushed as he got another puck. He completely missed the net on this shot, but with Aubrey's constant support, he didn't get frustrated.

This went on for a few more minutes and Sunny continued to miss most of his shots. He wasn't as frustrated as he would've been if Aubrey wasn't there showering him with support. He didn't know what he was doing wrong, and since Omar wasn't around he couldn't ask anyone for help.

"You're aiming too big."

Sunny turned around to see Alec skating toward him.

"There's nothing wrong with your technique, it's your accuracy. There's nothing wrong with aiming at the entire net, it's a big target, but your target shouldn't be the entire net," Alec told him before leading Sunny to the net. He grabbed the net and showed Sunny all the holes that were in it. "These should be your target. When you're shooting your target should be one of the thousand holes in the net. Aim small miss small."

Alec then led Sunny back over to the pucks and grabbed a puck for himself. He then did the four positions Omar had shown him earlier and shot the puck into the goal. He then turned to Sunny and smiled.

"Just aim for one of the small ones and I promise more of your shots will go in."

Sunny took in what Alec told him and took a deep breath. He then did the four positions but as he was doing them he aimed at one of the little holes in the net. He shot the puck and it flew into the goal.

"Nice shot! Keep doing that and you'll become a goal-scoring machine!" Alec praised him. After he did that he took half of the puck pile and started practicing as well. Sunny followed his example and started shooting the pucks from his pile as well.

This went on for a few minutes as both boys continued to shoot pucks into the net. Alec made all but one of his shots while Sunny still missed but he made a lot more than he did before Alec gave him the advice. After they cleared out their piles JJ skated onto the ice with Omar in tow.

"Woah, Alec, when did you get here?" Omar asked in a shocked tone. He wasn't expecting the team captain to be here but he wasn't going to complain.

"When JJ told me that Sunny was interested in trying out for the team I decided to come and help. I wouldn't be a good captain if I didn't help my teammates whether they're on the team or not," Alec explained. "I also tried to get Rudy and Victor to come but Rudy had a party he had to be at and Victor is still sulking about losing in the championship game."

"Are you serious? I told him that he shouldn't blame himself for it and that we lost as a team."

"That's what we keep telling him but he doesn't seem to listen," JJ spoke up and Omar sighed.

"You know what, it's fine. He'll come into the season motivated and after he gets his first goal I'm sure he'll calm down," Omar reasoned. He then instructed JJ to go over to the goal as he skated around to get some pucks. "Alright, I want Sunny to try the four positions with JJ in net and since Alec is here we'll do some one-timers and end off today's practice with some faceoffs."

Sunny was breathing heavily after he finished doing the four positions and one-timers. Everyone was saying he did a good job, but he didn't believe it. Doing the four positions with JJ in the net was like going up against a brick wall. He barely got any pucks on the net and the only time the puck went into the net was when Alec was shooting or he got a lucky bounce.

He was grateful that Alec told him the trick to having better aim because he knew that without it, pucks would be flying all over the place.

Alec skated over to him, handed him a bottle of water, and gave him a supportive pat on the back.

"I see that you're upset about JJ stopping your shots, but don't be. He's a great goalie and he stops almost every shot in practice and in the games. I remember one time he stopped all but one shot in practice."

"W-Was it y-yours?" Sunny asked and Alec chuckled while shaking his head.

"No, it was Victor's. He sniped one past him," Alec reminisced before he gave Sunny another pat on the back. "So don't worry about making a pretty shot or getting lucky because we don't care how it goes in just as long as it goes in."

Sunny nodded as he downed his water. The two stayed there until Sunny regained his breath before moving over to the face-off circle Omar was waiting at.

"Ok, Sunny, what you wanna do is before you even go up for a faceoff is to let your teammates know what you're gonna do whether you're gonna pass it back, to the side, or your gonna tie up your opponent, or tap the puck forward," Omar instructed as both he and Alec stood face to face in the circle. "Next, you wanna get as close to the dot as possible without stepping over these lines. Then, you wanna get low so you're close to the ice and in a sturdy stance so you're not overpowered by your opponent."

Omar then got low to the ice and shifted his body to where he was leaning more to his right.

"If you're gonna try to win on the backhand or forehand make sure your skate isn't in the way when you make your backward pass."

Omar then skated out of the circle and instructed Sunny to take his place. He did the exact same stance that Omar was in but backed away from the dot a little when he felt Alec crowding him.

"Hey, don't back up. Be aggressive. You're trying to win possession for your team so you can't be playing scared," Alec told him before smirking. "And don't worry about us bumping heads. We're both wearing helmets and I've been told I have a thick skull."

Sunny listened to Alec and slowly crept his way closer to the dot. His head bumped against Alec's but the boy didn't mind.

"One last thing," Omar spoke up. "Watch the ref's hand and wait until you see it move before cutting into the dot. If the ref holds the puck up high then watch their elbow."

The two boys nodded as they watched Omar's hand. Sunny got in position as if he were going to try and win with the backhand while Alec appeared as if he was going to win with the forehand. Omar dropped the puck and before it hit the ice Alec knocked Sunny's stick out of the way before passing it behind him.

Sunny shook it off and got ready again. He set up like he was going to win with the forehand while Alec got ready to win with the backhand. Omar dropped the puck and Alec did the same thing again.

Sunny felt his frustration bubble and he could even hear Aubrey complain over on the bleachers. He took a deep breath to calm down and got ready again, choosing to try the forehand position again. He saw that Alec was also holding his stick with his forehands but he was also in a weird stance. Omar dropped the puck and Alec spun into the faceoff dot, blocked Sunny, and kicked the puck away.

Sunny heard Aubrey groan while Alec laughed.

"Ok, ok, I'm done messing with you. I was just showing you a few tricks that you can use during a game. No harm intended," he said while calming down. He then got in position for another faceoff. "Alright, let's do this for real."

Sunny nodded as he got ready. He got in the backhand stance while Alec got in the forehand stance. Omar dropped the puck and the two boys started to scrape for it. Alec won because he was quicker, but Sunny felt like he had a shot at winning it.

"Let's do this a few more times before we call it a day," Omar said as the two boys got ready.