CHAPTER 2
After school on Monday, Logan plodded down the hall toward the locker room. The football team had practice every day after school. Logan pushed through the locker room door and sat on the bench in front of his locker.
At least I have the football team, Logan thought as he pulled open his locker. He put on his pads for practice and found his practice jersey in the back of his locker.
He picked it up and gave it a sniff. He wrinkled up his nose at the stench. “Oops,” he said aloud.
Someone laughed as Logan turned around. It was Andrew, a wide receiver. “Forgot to bring that home to wash it, huh?” Andrew asked.
Logan smiled. “Yeah, I guess,” he said. But he couldn’t tell if Andrew was making fun of him or just being friendly. It was hard to tell. Andrew laughed again and then walked off toward his own locker.
Logan wrinkled his nose as he put on his smelly jersey. Then he grabbed his helmet and headed out to the field. Most of the team was already gathered on the sidelines, on or around the bench. The coach, Greg French, stood in front of the guys on the team.
Coach was in his blue and white Wildcats jacket, and he was wearing his blue and white Wildcats hat, like always. He also always had a whistle around his neck, and he was usually holding a clipboard.
“Okay, everyone,” the coach said. Logan found an empty spot at the very end of the bench and sat down.
Everyone was talking, and no one paid attention to the coach. Luckily, Coach French was a nice guy, who always let the players have a few minutes to hang out before practice started.
“Let’s quiet down, okay?” Coach French went on. “I need to announce some changes to the schedule for the week.”
The team got quiet.
“So, this Friday’s game,” the coach said, “has been changed. It seems that some teams were playing each other too often, or not often enough. I don’t know what happened.”
He looked down at his clipboard and flipped through the papers. “The point is,” he said, looking up at the team, “this Friday we’ll be playing River City, not Wheaton.”
Logan’s eyes shot open. He thought he might throw up.
The coach looked right at him. “That’s where you moved from, Logan. Isn’t that right?” Coach French asked.
Logan swallowed and nodded. “Right, Coach,” he said. “I played on the River City team last year, in seventh grade.”
All of the other players turned and looked at him.
“So, can we count on you to tell us all their secret plays?” the coach asked. He looked at Logan with a hard stare.
Logan stared at him. All of a sudden, he wondered if Coach French wasn’t as nice as he’d thought. “Um, well . . .” he mumbled.
Suddenly the coach burst out laughing. “I’m just kidding, Logan,” he said, smiling. “Don’t worry!”
The rest of the team started laughing too, and Logan tried to smile. But inside, he felt terrible. It seemed like his new team was making fun of him. To make matters worse, in a few days, he’d have to play football against his old teammates — his best friends!