Riptide Academy

Trials

We finished then left the canteen to get ready for the day, as Charli and Jamie wanted to see how good I could skate. After making it to the rink Charli helped me find a pair of skates that fitted and now, I was about to do my fist lap on the ice. I skated around the oval as fast but also as comfortable as I could. As I was sure I wasn't going to fall. I really hated falling on ice.

" 'Not bad'? Mate! Your super good. I get you're a bit scared at going fast but you'll have pads on to protect you! I'd like to work on some skating techniques before we chuck some pads on you if that's okay?" Charli shouted from the bench; quoting what I had said about me skating earlier.

She had me doing back and forth sprints and practicing going backwards and C cuts. I felt like a noob most of the time but when we finally got some of the padding on, I was flying down the ice towards Jaimie. Jasmine was our right-wing attacker and apparently our second highest scorer. After an arse whooping from Jaimie, Charli finally had me put on the goalkeeper pads. I felt even more of an idiot in these as I was used to field hockey pads, but Charli was keen I looked hard to beat.

"As you're a field hockey goalie I have a feeling that your gona be somewhat used to the feeling of being shot at and saving goals, this time though, your left hand is a baseball glove and not a glove that the puck can bounce off okay. So, try to remember to catch it in that hand." she said before ripping one right along the ground towards the net.

On instinct alone I moved my leg towards it and on cue the puck ricocheted off.  I had watched some YouTube videos about ice hockey as I was somewhat intrigued by it, so I tried to remember what those goalies had done and applied it to what I was doing now. Shot after shot came and went. Some went in and some bounced my pads.

After the last puck from the pile was shoot Charli called it quits, "I think your pretty good for a first timer and no previous experience. The question is though. Will you be able to juggle another load of games and practice?".

"I'm only taking one course, so I'll be fine. All my lessons as mainly Tuesday and Wednesday. Though I do unfortunately have one on Monday at 9am and Thursday at 1pm." I explained to her.

We got out of our stinky and sweaty gear, leaving the rink behind and heading for our dorm to see if Em's cousin had shown up yet. On the way back we talked about how I could get better and also why we came to this Uni. Upon arriving at our dorm, we bumped into Elijah Sterling. Em's cousin.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in!" Ember joked as she spread her arms wide to hug her cousin.

"Hey Ember! Alex, you're here too! Aw man, what did I miss?" he laughed.

The guy may have had to bend down to hug me, but he was just as goofy and stupid as the rest of us. We helped him move into his room and gave him his key as well as his timetable.

Eli was studying writing as well like me. Which meant the whole course we were talking was how we could improve ourselves at writing and our creativity for stories. The rest of the day we just chilled around the campus, checking out other sports complex's for ideas for weekends and walking the beach. Once the sun started to set again, we headed back to our dorms.

"Hey Eli, you want to sit with us for dinner?" Charli questioned Elijah as we walked through the canteen doors.

He tugged on his colourful shirt with colours exploding everywhere; he had originally worn the white shirt to a colour run and afterwards he decided to keep it cause of the cool look it had. The summer sweat was making all of our shirt's cling to our backs but the refreshing air-conditioning in the canteen was a pleasant feeling as we walked closer to the food.

"Yeah sure. I mean, where else would I sit?" He laughed.

After a while one by one we came back with our plates of food and Charli; Jaimie sat the opposite side of my while Em and Eli sat either side of me. On Jaimies' plate was a steaming pile of mashed pumpkin, some peas and corn with pineapple rings and a huge piece of steak. Charli had a chicken parmi and Ember and I had chicken schnitzels. Looking over at Eli's plate I had a hard time trying not to ogle at the mountain of chicken and steak along with a salad that brimmed his plate.

"Dude! You really gona eat all that?" I asked even though he was already halfway through his steak.

With his mouth full he just nodded and after rolling my eyes I went back to the buffet to add some chicken wings and crumbed fish fillets to my plate before dessert. Upon my arrival Eli balked at my new food as if he hadn't noticed it beforehand and with his mostly empty plate ran to get some.

"That boys gona be so full he's going to miss dessert!" Jaime scoffed.

"Is he always like this?" Charli asked stabbing a piece of her chicken with the three points of her fork.

Ember nodded, replying, "Whenever we meet and go out for lunch or whatever to places, he always eats till he's full".

Knowing full well this would be him totally throughout the whole year we shared laughs as Eli returned, looking confused.

"Heeeeyyyy. You better not be laughing at how much I eat!" he guessed.

"Oh no! Of course not!" I joked, sarcasm all throughout my voice.

That only prompted us to laugh again, and this time Elijah joined in.