Bobby hated it when they picked teams for soccer in PE. A few kids looked excited, but even more looked distressed, just like he did.

“Since there are twenty-eight of you, we’re going to have four teams. That’ll make the competition more interesting,” Mr. Rainerhaus announced. “Who would like to be a team captain?”

Jillian Zarr’s and St. James’s hands shot into the air. Another girl and Jackson raised their hands too. “All right, you four. Jillian, you start.”

Bobby could tell Holly was disappointed when Jillian Zarr didn’t pick her. He felt the same way when neither St. James nor Jackson picked him. As the group of kids who hadn’t been picked grew smaller, Bobby shifted from one foot to the other. When he heard Jackson say, “I’ll take Bobby!” his heart lifted.

“Okay, Robert, you’re on Jackson’s team,” Mr. Rainerhaus noted.

Bobby said good-bye to Chess and joined the kids on the other side. When the last kid was picked, he noticed that St. James and Jackson had picked all boys. Jillian Zarr and the other girl picked all girls. This happened every time.

It was Jackson’s team against Jillian Zarr’s. This made Bobby shudder. The girls were always out to win. The boys got ahead with an early goal, but they didn’t hold the lead for long. When one of the girls yelled, “Look, there’s a dinosaur!” St. James took his eye off the ball and the girls scored a goal. Then they scored another goal when one of them shouted, “Look, there’s a dollar on the ground!”

When the girls won, Bobby couldn’t believe how loud and obnoxious they were. Only Holly said to the boys, “Good game.” But then Holly was like that. She was the student council representative for Room 15, so it was like her job to be nice to everyone. Bobby was the alternate student council rep, so he didn’t have to be quite as nice as Holly, which was a relief because having to be nice all the time would be exhausting.

Still, if his team had won the soccer game, Bobby knew he wouldn’t be boastful and rude, like Jillian Zarr. He’d be proud and humble, because though he wasn’t good at sports, he knew it was important to be a good sport. His dad always said that.

 

“Why don’t we ever play chess for PE? It’s a sport,” Chess asked as kids flew past him. Bobby and his buddies were at the new Troy Eagle Skate Park and Rec Center. The great Troy Eagle himself had come to the grand opening, and Bobby had stood in line for two hours to get an autographed poster of the skateboarding superstar.

“I dunno,” Bobby answered. He pulled up his kneepads, which had slipped again. Annie always made fun of him for being too skinny. “They ought to have skating in PE. It’s a sport. It’s part of the X Games. Plus everyone knows Troy Eagle is the best athlete ever.”

Over on the far side of the park, two kids had collided and were both on the ground. Jackson was whooping it up while skating backward. “Look at my fakie!” he yelled. “Look at me!” Chess was a silent skater. He always looked like he was going in slow motion, even when he fell down, which was often. Then there was St. James, who was a daredevil with or without a skateboard. “Everyone, watch me,” he yelled seconds before a spectacular crash.

Bobby was a good, solid skater. Not showy, but not a wimp either. He’d study the bigger kids and then start off slow, working his way up to the trick, whether it was as simple as a nosegrind or as hard as an aerial. Though he still had trouble grabbing his board while flying though the air, he was getting better.

One of the things Bobby liked best about skating with his buddies was that no matter what happened, no matter who wiped out, no one was ever made fun of.

Just as he nailed a 360-degree turn, he heard someone yell, “Bobby Bobby Bobby, time to go home!”

Across the skate park, standing outside the fence under the giant Troy Eagle billboard, were Casey and Mr. Ellis-Chan. Both were waving. How long had they been there? He hoped his father had seen his 360.

Bobby nodded to them and glided down the ramp. When he reached the bottom, he slammed the back of his board with his heel so it shot up, then grabbed it midflight and headed toward the gate.

“Quite impressive,” Mr. Ellis-Chan said.

Bobby grinned as his dad mussed up his hair.

“We watched you,” Casey added. “You’re good, Bobby Bobby Bobby! You twirled in the air like a ballerina!”

“That’s called a 360,” Bobby said. He hoped no one had heard her compare him to a ballerina. “But thanks.”