Just Kidding

by Annie Bryant

  The gym erupted into cheers. The Spirit Trophy was something that everyone could be proud of! And getting free T-shirts was like the cherry on the sundae!

  Pete Wexler was team captain for Ms. R’s class. He looked down at the scrap of paper in his hand and announced the starting lineup. “Here are the starters,” he called. “Chase, Kevin, Dillon, Pete, and…” He squinted at the paper. Avery had stretched out and was ready to run out on the court. After all, she was one of the best basketball players in school, out of the girls and the boys! She knew she should be in the starting lineup; the team needed her skills to win the game.

  Instead, Pete called out, “…and Riley. First team, out on the court! Let’s win this one, men!”

  Avery sat down, shock showing clearly in her face. “This is outrageous,” she fumed to Julie Faber, another one of the best basketball players in the school. Pete’s starting lineup was all boys. She watched them run out, high-fiving each other and bumping chests like teams did on TV. This game wasn’t about spirit—it was about girls versus boys.

  Ms. R’s team was matched against Ms. Ciara’s homeroom in the first round of basketball. Avery surveyed the scene and noticed that the lineup for Ms. Ciara’s team had two girls on it. Their players were all wearing black T-shirts and green armbands, and they actually looked like a real team.

  Avery, Chelsea, Katani, Isabel, Betsy, Anna, Joline, and the others sat on the bench watching and waiting for their chance. Pete was moving players in and out of the lineup strategically, watching the clock and calling for new people…but the boys just kept rotating in and out. They were getting tired, and some of them didn’t have any of Avery or Julie’s skills on the court. As the clock ticked on, the other girls looked over at Avery, who was now so furious she looked like she was going to explode. The color of her cheeks was rapidly coming close to the color of her purple war paint!

  On the court, Pete was calling plays and seemed to be totally focused on the game. “Number one!” he shouted as he caught a pass from Riley and started dribbling down the court. As Pete dribbled in place and paused for someone to get open, Nick shouted over to him, “Hey, Pete, how about putting Avery in? We could really use her. She hasn’t played at all yet. Come on, dude.”

  “Later, man,” Pete replied. “Get your head back in the game!”

  Nick shrugged in Avery’s direction as if to say “I tried,” before he pivoted and caught a pass from Pete. Nick passed to Riley, who went in for a lay-up. The next time they paused for subs, Pete waved a hand at the bench and yelled, “Yurt, in!”

  The Yurtmeister looked uncomfortable, which didn’t happen very often to the class clown. “Come on, Pete,” he said. “Put one of the girls in instead of me. Avery and Julie and Anna deserve a chance. They’re some of the best players here.”

  The girls on the bench heard Henry and echoed him with a chorus of “Yeah, come on!” and “Let ’em play, Pete!” The boys on the court looked at Pete to see what he was going to do.

  Pete looked back at “his boys.” Avery called from the bench, “Come on, Pete, you have to give the girls a chance! We’re supposed to be a team!”

  Chase, who was reluctantly sitting on the bench after having played a full ten minutes, started laughing obnoxiously. “You’re here to play? Oh, yeah? Girls don’t know a thing about sports. Hey, Katani, who plays second base for the Red Sox?”

  Katani, who was aware of Avery’s frustration at sitting on the bench when she should have been on the court getting the job done, was sick of how the boys were treating her friend. She rolled her eyes at Chase. “What does that have to do with anything, Chase? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re playing basketball today.”

  It was a good point, but Avery also knew she could have answered Chase’s question in her sleep. Anybody who was a Red Sox fan knew that second base was Dwight Molina territory. But Avery became even more infuriated when Chase began to taunt Katani for not answering his question. “You see why you’re all sitting on the bench?” he said with a smirk. “What do girls know about sports? Zip, zero, nada. You better leave it to us, girls. We’re gonna win this game!”

  “Where are you from—dinosaurville?” retorted an affronted Katani. Chase actually blushed.

  Good, thought Avery. This boy-girl thing is getting way out of hand. She high-fived Katani as she moved back to the bench.

  When the buzzer sounded for the start of the second half, Pete gathered around him his “top” players, the original starting lineup. Avery, who hadn’t sat out for an entire first half of any sports game since she had sprained her ankle earlier that year, was still on the bench…watching. Her jaw was clenched and she was trying to stare down Chase as he ran around the court.

  With six seconds left in the second half, a foul was called on Charlie Meeker from Ms. Ciara’s team. Ms. R’s team was down by one point, so Pete had to make both foul shots in order to put his team ahead. The first shot went in cleanly with a swish. The second shot bounced from one side of the rim to the other and finally in the basket. When Ms. Ciara’s team got the ball back, Charlie Meeker dribbled a few steps and then lobbed the ball down the court as the buzzer sounded, but the ball went nowhere near the net. Ms. R’s team had won!

  But no one on the bench felt in the least like celebrating. Chelsea, Avery, and the other girls just stared as the boys cavorted around the court, high-fiving each other and shouting at the top of their lungs. They were all pouring sweat from their exertions because most of them had played for at least half the game.

  The girls who had waited on the bench the whole time still looked as fresh as though they’d just come out of the locker room.

  Chelsea leaned over to Avery as the rest of the gym exploded in excitement. “Avery, no way is this what Spirit Week is supposed to be about.”

  “I so totally agree with you,” Avery whispered back. “Anything would be better than this clown show!”

  Ms. R was clapping enthusiastically for her winning team, along with other members of the class who were there to watch. She congratulated all the players, but Avery had had enough. She was not going to let the second game go the same way, that was for sure!

  Avery jumped up and marched over to Ms. R, who was standing by the bleachers. She told Ms. R how she and the other girls had been shut out of the game entirely, even though they were ready and eager to play. “It’s not fair, Ms. R. I know Pete’s the captain, but he’s not playing by the rules of Spirit Week. Everyone is supposed to be able to play if they want to, and we all want a chance.”

  Ms. R looked at Avery’s unhappy face and sighed. “I’m sorry this happened, Avery. I noticed that none of the girls were playing but I didn’t realize it had gotten so out of hand. You’ll get to play the next game, and so will anyone else who wants to. Leave it to me.”

  As the boys were stretching and resting up for the second game and Pete was writing the new lineup busily on his slip of paper, Ms. R strolled over to him. “Pete, why don’t you just sit down? I’ll put together the lineup for the next game. You’ve done enough work on this today.”

  Pete looked like she’d clobbered him with a goal post. “What? I’m the team captain, Ms. R; I’m the one who’s supposed to decide on the lineups.”

  “Well, Pete, your lineup hasn’t been quite fair. A lot of people are being left out, and that’s going to change in this next game. Now please give the team list to me and I’ll take over.”

  Pete had no choice but to hand over his paper to Ms. R. He looked over at the girls sitting on the bench and groaned. “We’ll never win now. Ms. O’Reilly’s class will dominate us. You let everyone play and it’s good-bye, Spirit Trophy!”

  “Sit down, Pete.” Ms. R used her iciest tone. She meant business. “I don’t want to have to ask you again. If you don’t let everyone play, then it’s good-bye spirit. You think about that. If you can’t play fair, then I’m sure Mrs. Fields can think of something for you to do for her in the principal’s office.”

  Pete turned
scarlet and slumped down on the bench. Ms. R glanced at his lineup sheet and then called, “All right, starting lineup for the second game: Avery, Isabel, Chase, Kevin, and Betsy.”

  Avery heard the groan from the boys as she, Isabel, and Betsy joined the group on the floor. She had never had a teammate be so negative about her in her whole life. She felt like crying right there. It was great that she would finally get to play, but what about the guys she’d always played with? Were they going to treat her differently now? Would they ever want to play with her again? Was Dillon even her friend anymore? Before, it had always been about who wanted to play and who had the skills. Now it was some stupid boys vs. girls thing that was ruining everything, and during Spirit Week, to top it off.

  But it’ll be better when we get out there, Avery told herself hopefully. These guys know how I play. Once they’re on the court with me, it’ll be lots better.

  But it wasn’t. To Avery’s horror, as soon as the referee blew the whistle, Chase grabbed the ball from Betsy, who had gotten it on the jump ball, and passed to Kevin, who ran down court and aimed at the basket. Score two points for Ms. R’s team.

  From that point on, Chase and Kevin dominated the entire game. Not only would they not pass to the girls, but they wouldn’t even look at them. It was as though they were playing all by themselves against Ms. O’Reilly’s team!

  Finally, Avery, frustrated that she and the other girls were being completely ignored, grabbed the ball while Chase was dribbling and started downcourt herself. She made a sweet basket, to thunderous applause from everyone on the bench. When Alexis Medley dribbled down the court, Avery stole the ball and dribbled back toward the basket, only to have the ball ripped away from her. Chase had stolen the ball, faked a jump shot, and passed the ball to Kevin. Avery, Betsy, and Isabel stood in shock. The boys were actually playing against them—their own teammates! Ms. O’Reilly’s team glanced uneasily at each other and shrugged their shoulders as they chased the boys down the court.

  After the game turned into five on two, Ms. O’Reilly’s class gained a steady lead. Even though Ms. R tried to keep the playing time fair, the boys continued to ignore the girls on the court. Nick, Riley, and Yurt tried to keep it more balanced, but Pete, Dillon, Kevin, and Chase hogged the ball every time. When the game was over, the final score was Ms. O’Reilly’s team 38, Ms. Rodriguez’s team 27. Avery and the other girls sat back on the bench, bewildered and angry at how unfair everything had been, and the boys were sullen because they’d lost, despite their macho efforts.

  By the time the tug-of-war started, Ms. Rodriguez’s class had absolutely no team spirit whatsoever.

  “All right, everyone, line up!” called Ms. R as the class sauntered over to the area where the tug-of-war rope was being positioned.

  Isabel hung back with a group of girls, including Avery. They all watched as the boys huddled together, talking about tug-of-war strategy. Except for Chase, most didn’t look too happy with themselves or each other.

  Now Isabel wondered if she should ask Kevin to talk to some of the other guys and get them to stop acting so selfish. She’d had such a nice talk with Kevin in the art room, before all the weirdness started, and she thought that when he was away from people like Chase, he could be a genuinely interesting and nice guy. Kevin was popular, too, and if he encouraged the boys to act a certain way, a lot of them would probably follow him.

  She walked toward him as the class began to drift toward the tug-of-war rope. “Uh, Kevin?” she said tentatively. She didn’t want to cause a scene or start the gossip chain all over again, but Kevin obviously wasn’t paying attention. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

  Uh-oh. Disaster movie in the making! Chase saw her.

  “Oh, man, look at that!” he called loudly enough for everyone in the gym to hear. “Just what ole Kev needs, huh—a bird girl hanging on his shoulder!”

  Isabel flushed an angry red, but Kevin never even turned around. He simply walked away from her, back toward Chase and the other boys. Isabel was furious. If that was how he was going to behave, then fine! It’s not my job to fix this whole Spirit Week disaster! she thought as she whipped around and walked over to Avery and Katani.

  By now it was obvious to everyone that the girls were fired up and channeling their anger to win the tug-of-war. Everyone, even the Queens of Mean, tied on the blue bandanas Avery had brought, and the purple paint on their faces made them look fierce and determined and almost like real warriors.

  “Come on, everybody, let’s win this thing!” Avery called. There was no way they could win the Spirit Trophy at this point; Ms. O’Reilly’s homeroom had clinched it with two wins. But maybe they could still pull out some kind of class victory to save the sports competition from being a total bust.

  Avery grabbed for the front of the rope nearest the center, but before her hands could lock securely on it, Chase jumped into the place ahead of her. “I should be up front,” he announced loudly. “I’m stronger, so I should take the front spot to make sure we get the ‘W,’ and the other guys should be at the back to anchor it. Get out of the way, Avery. You saw what happened when the girls got into the basketball game. Can anybody spell losers?”

  Ms. R was in his face before he finished the sentence. “What did you say, Chase?” she said quietly.

  “Hey, c’mon, Ms. R, I’m just kidding!” he said, trying for a goofy grin. Avery wanted to knock that goofy grin off his face—if anything made them lose the second basketball game, it was Chase’s pigheadedness and unwillingness to pass the ball to anyone other than his own buddies!

  “The word loser is not allowed in my classroom, or anywhere in this school. Do you understand, Mr. Finley?” Ms. Rodriguez looked very stern. “I’ll speak to you later. But now, the team should figure out what will be the best setup for tug-of-war, and I expect to see some girls in that lineup.”

  Most of the boys clustered in the front, with Henry Yurt flexing his not-too-impressive muscles at the end of the rope. “Okay, everyone get ready!” Ms. R announced, raising her arm in the air. “Let the tug-of-war…begin!” Ms. R lowered her arm to signal the start of the competition. Avery planted her feet and tugged the rope with all her might. Chelsea and Katani were in the back with Yurt, acting as anchors. Everyone strained to pull the rope, beads of sweat pouring down their faces. Since they’d all been arguing, they hadn’t had time to set themselves up properly, and eventually the ropes slipped past the marker and the other team erupted into a cheer of victory.

  When everyone poured back into Ms. R’s classroom after the contest, Ms. R observed them for a few moments, pacing back and forth in front of the rows of seats. “It seems to me that many of you missed the entire point of Spirit Week,” Ms. R finally said. “This week isn’t about winning or losing as much as it’s about being proud of your school and each other, and being part of a team.” She gave Chase a pointed look. “Being a team player starts with respecting everyone on your team, female or male, and always thinking about how you can help them to be better and to have fun. There’s no room for putting people down, and you can’t use anyone else as an excuse for not winning. Everyone is in this together.”

  Chase looked down at his sneakers. He wasn’t about to argue with Ms. R and get detention. But to Avery, it was obvious by the sour look on his face that he wasn’t buying Ms. R’s lesson.

  Avery was listening intently to Ms. R, trying to overcome her own disappointment over Sports Day. What was there to look forward to now? Tomorrow was set aside for class skits honoring Spirit Week, and she didn’t think her class stood a chance of pulling off a skit together.

  But as she glanced around at the defeated-looking students, an idea popped into her head. Avery wasn’t usually all that interested in skits and drama; that kind of stuff was Maeve’s department. But a funny skit could be just the thing to help them get back the spirit they had lost.

  Avery turned around to where Maeve, Charlotte, Isabel, and Katani were sitting. All four looked disillusione
d. Just wait until they hear my plan, Avery thought. It’ll put smiles on their faces in no time.

  When the bell rang, Avery jumped up. “Maeve, I have a cool idea for the skits tomorrow.” She grabbed Maeve’s arm. “I think it could really help get our class spirit up again. But I need the help of a real pro, and you’re the only one who can do it. Are you in?”

  Maeve grinned. “Well, when you put it that way, how can I resist? A chance to practice my acting skills and help our team? Sounds like the best plan I’ve heard all day!”

  “Yeah, we could sure use something to perk everyone up,” Katani said, surveying the class as they packed up their bags. The room was unusually quiet, except for Chase, of course, who was talking loudly to Dillon about a new video game he had just gotten.

  Katani wondered whether anything like this had happened in other years at Abigail Adams. There was one person she was certain would know the answer—and she made a mental note to ask her sister Candice that night.

  CHAPTER 17

  This Bird’s a Quack

  The next morning a very fidgety seventh grade sat in the auditorium. The buzz was upbeat despite the negative energy from yesterday’s boys-versus-girls basketball fiasco. Everyone was waiting to watch the high school cheerleaders start Skits Day with a pep rally. The rally was a fun Spirit Week tradition, and the appearance of the high school champion cheerleaders was a big treat. “Who’s got the pep? Who’s got the spirit? Abigail Adams, so everybody cheer it! A-B-I-G-A-I-L! That’s your name—uh-huh—so everybody yell! Gooooo, Abigail Adams! Gooooo, Abigail Adams! Whooo-hoooo!” The cheerleaders rocked the auditorium with their flips and amazing pyramids.