Kyle’s classmates chattered with excitement as Mrs. Fitch shook up the slips in the helmet.
“As you may have guessed, we can’t do all of the Summer Olympic events,” Mrs. Fitch told the class. “Those of you hoping for sailing or equestrian will be disappointed.”
Ryan leaned over to Kyle. “What’s equestrian?” he asked.
“Horse stuff,” Kyle replied. His older sister Rachel was crazy about horses.
“You’ll come up one by one and choose a slip of paper,” Mrs. Fitch instructed. “Once you’ve picked an event, please read it out loud, and I’ll record it.”
Starting with the first row, the kids in the class went to Mrs. Fitch and pulled their slips out of the helmet.
Alexa was first. “Badminton,” she said loud enough for everyone to hear. Mrs. Fitch wrote down Alexa’s choice on her list.
“Badminton is in the Olympics?” Kyle mumbled to Ryan.
“I guess so,” Ryan replied.
As the list of students and events grew, Kyle realized something. He would be the last one to pick.
I chose the wrong day to pick a seat in the last row, he thought.
Ryan got up to pick his slip. “Fencing,” he said. He looked at Mrs. Fitch. “Is that like swords and stuff?” he asked.
Mrs. Fitch laughed. “Yes, something like that,” she replied.
“That’s awesome,” Kyle said as Ryan came back to his seat.
Kyle stood up. Then he walked to the front of the room to pick the last event for Olympic Fest.
Mrs. Fitch was smiling as Kyle reached into the helmet and pulled out the last slip. The words TRACK AND FIELD were written on it.
“Oh, no,” Kyle groaned. “Is this hurdles and stuff?”
“Look on the back,” Mrs. Fitch said.
Kyle flipped the paper over. The word THROWING was written on the back.
“You have the track-and-field throwing events,” Mrs. Fitch explained. “Discus, javelin, shot-put, and hammer throw.”
“Oh, cool,” Kyle said.
“No fair,” Ryan said when Kyle returned to his seat. “The throwing events are the coolest. Much better than fencing.”
“Swords are pretty cool, too,” Kyle said.
“They’re called foils,” Ryan said. “According to Mrs. Fitch.”
“Whatever,” Kyle replied.
Maybe this Olympic Fest thing will be cool after all, Kyle thought.