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made eye contact and I could see that he was breathing almost as hard as I was.
    “Okay, next up is the bench,” Dad said, blowing his whistle again.
    “Cool!” Kenny said, between gasps for air. “I’ll get my skates.”
    “Not that bench,” Dad said.
    Nuts!
    He pointed to the giant step where fans sat behind the goal. “That one.”
    He lined us up on top of the step, then explained that we were supposed to drop down to ground level, then jump back onto the step, with both feet.
    “I can’t jump anymore,” Kenny whispered to me.
    “It’ll be fine,” I told him, but I wasn’t so sure. My legs were still shaking from round one.
    “What does this have to do with hockey?” Jeff asked, in something dangerously close to a whine.
    “Everything,” Bosko said, quietly.
    Most of the grumbling stopped. And so did the fun, as a matter of fact. Especially when the jump rope action started.
    For the next forty-five minutes, the Cutter Bay Cougars did everything
but
play hockey.
    And for the first time ever, I couldn’t wait for practice to end.

Chapter Six
    The last couple of days of the school week felt like two whole centuries.
    Sure, we played floor hockey in gym, which was awesome, and yes, my oral report for English class went so well Mrs. Foster had tears in her eyes (or maybe an eyelash was stuck in there), but everything else was a drag.
    We were still stuck on a Geography segment in Socials, and Math was seriously starting to hurt my brain.
    “I think you’re making this stuff seem harder than it is,” Bosko said, as we sat down for our Friday afternoon tutoring session at my house.
    He grabbed one of Mum’s brownies from the heaping plate she’d left for us and took a big bite.
    She didn’t usually let me have more than a couple of treats, but when Bosko came over, she was all about the snacks.
    I loved it.
    “Why would I do that?” I asked, licking the warm icing off of mine.
    Bosko stared at me. “That’s what I’m asking you.”
    “Look, it
is
hard. All I want to do is pass. You already know that.”
    He shook his head as he chewed. “You should want to do more than just pass. You know you can do better.”
    “Not with statistics in the mix,” I sighed.
    “Okay, that’s what I’m talking about,” he said, through a mouthful of brownie. “You’re psyching yourself out.”
    I picked up another brownie and ate it in three bites.
    Bosko ate his in two.
    I grabbed another one and shoved it into my mouth whole.
    Only one bite! Take that!
    Unfortunately, I practically choked on the brownie and was in the middle of a huge gulp of milk just as Wendy walked into the room.
    Great
.
    Bosko stopped chewing and his mouth hung open, like he needed air.
    Like a flounder.
    “What are you doing here?” I asked.
    Ever since Bosko fell in love with her and all that junk, we’d been scheduling our tutoring sessions at the library on the days she was home. That way, he wouldn’t get distracted.
    And I wouldn’t puke.
    “I live here, twerp,” Wendy said, reaching for one of the brownies.
    Bosko practically fell out of his chair trying to hand her a napkin.
    This was the gorilla who slammed kids into the boards and took no prisoners?
    I just shook my head.
    Why couldn’t he fall in love with Carrie Tanaka instead?
    Or better yet, why couldn’t he see that girls were a waste of time, like the rest of us?
    “How are things going with Shane?” Bosko asked, trying to act like he didn’t care that she was dating his brother.
    “Good.”
    He closed his eyes for a second like he was in pain.
    It was my turn to shake my head.
    “I’m coming over to your place tonight,” Wendy said. “We’re watching a movie.”
    Bosko swallowed hard. “At my house?”
    You’d think he’d just won a million dollars, not a night with a snotty teenager.
    “Yeah. Shane asked me to give you a ride home when I go.”
    “You and me?” Bosko asked.
    I thought the guy’s heart might burst through his chest if he got