CHAPTER 2

GO SCRUBS!

The next Monday Willy and Rufus and Dan showed up at the first practice in new football gear. It was a windy day. The football field was on the top of a hill. From there Willy could see the mountains all around. It was the right kind of day for an adventure. Willy was nervous, but he was excited, too.

“You guys are going out for football?” asked a kid named Biff. Biff was in the grade ahead of them, but he was no bigger than Willy. “I hope you’re not a bunch of scrubs.”

“What’s a scrub?” asked Dan.

“A scrub is a lousy benchwarmer,” said Biff. “Scrubs never get to play. And you look like scrubs to me.”

“We’ll scrub you, little man!” said Rufus.

But it turned out that Biff was a fast runner and a star player from last year. And Rufus was slow—much too slow to catch Biff.

At least Rufus was big and slow. Willy was small and slow. So was Dan.

“Come on, guys!” Coach Stone shouted at them during practice. “Use your ball skills! Use your quickness! Play hard!”

Willy used all the ball skills he had. He used all his quickness. He played as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, his “all” wasn’t enough.

“What’s the matter with you guys?” yelled the coach. “Biff ran right past you!”

“I told you,” said Biff. “You guys are scrubs. Why don’t you just quit?”

“He’s right,” said Rufus. “We should quit. I don’t think we’re cut out to be jocks.”

“No!” said Dan. “We can’t quit!”

“Why not?” asked Willy.

“Yeah, why not?” repeated Rufus.

“Because if we stick with it,” said Dan, “and we work hard, at the end of the season, we’ll win the big game and we’ll be heroes. That’s the way it works in the movies. Anything you can dream, you can do! Remember, a diamond is a lump of coal that stuck with it!”

“What?” asked Willy.

“A diamond is—oh, man,” said Rufus. “You’ve been watching too many corny movies. What do you say, Willy? Do you want to quit?”

Willy thought about it. But it wasn’t just that he wanted to be one of the “in” group. He loved sports. He wanted to play football. Willy loved going to football games with his dad. He loved going to basketball games with his mom. And he loved playing every kind of sport in the yard with his little brother Joey. He wished he were a little better at playing sports. Maybe Dan was right. Maybe he would get better.

“No,” said Willy. “This scrub will stick with it.”

“Go, scrubs!” said Dan.

So they hung in through the whole season. They went to every practice. They tried hard. They stuck with it.

But they didn’t turn into diamonds.