Team BFF--Race to the Finish! #2 by Stacia Deutsch & Reshma Saujani

Author:Stacia Deutsch & Reshma Saujani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2017-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“Easy does it,” I said to myself, sliding the needle into the black circle with a hole in the middle of it—the valve. Then I turned on the air pump and inflated the football. I’d done this so many times, I could do it in my sleep. Not that Tyson and I enjoyed filling the footballs with air—we had to reset the pump after almost every football was filled, since it was so old and decrepit.

“Yo, don’t overinflate it, Soph,” he shouted over at me.

I rolled my eyes. He had said that to me after literally every single ball I’d filled this afternoon. Ignoring him, I quickly removed the needle. At least filling footballs took my mind off the hackathon and how I was going to let my team down. I hadn’t seen my friends for the rest of the afternoon, so I’d have to tell them tonight during our group chat. Every time I thought about it, my hands got clammy.

I tossed the newly inflated football into the football bin, half listening to Coach’s pep talk a few feet away. “A player is nothing without his team,” he told the players. “You’ve gotta watch out for one another. What good is a quarterback if he doesn’t have his team backing him up?” They had a game tomorrow, and Coach always gave speeches like that the night before big games.

The guys all put their hands on top of one another’s and yelled, “Rise as ONE!”

Football could be so sappy sometimes, but I loved it. No matter what happened in practice, the guys gave it their all at games, and it was true—they always had their teammates’ backs. Plus, I loved the structure and order of it all. There were no surprises or changes of rules at the last minute—not like at home.

Tyson was on the bench nearby, cleaning visors and helmets. When he was done, he came over to help me with the footballs. He was tall and skinny, with short hair, and ears that stuck out from his head. He didn’t seem like the type to get nervous around people—I had a feeling he had no problems in the romance department, and was pretty sure he’d have advice for me about Sammy. Plus, since he was in high school, he wouldn’t even know who I was talking about. It was perfect.

“Hey, Tyson,” I said, trying to sound casual. “If you wanted to ask someone to a dance, how would you do it?”

“Um, I’d just ask them,” he said, resetting the machine, which had conked out again. “Why?”

“No reason.”

He made a face. “You think I’m going to believe that? Come clean, Sophia. Why’d you ask?”

I shrugged, looking down at my sneakers. I didn’t like feeling so unsure of myself, but when I was around Sammy, that was exactly how I felt. “It’s just, there’s this guy, and the winter dance is coming up, and he, um, asked me about the theme, and I was wondering . . .”

“Did he ask you to go with him?”

“No.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.