Chapter 26

Scooter

I get it. Jeff was furious. And he had good reasons.

Because here’s the thing about thunder and lightning.

You only see the lightning.

Fans don’t pay attention to the four-yard run, even if it set up the forty-yard run.

That next week Coach tried to explain to the local reporters how well Jeff had played. But they didn’t want to hear about it.

All my life I’ve been shy, but that week I forced myself to speak up. “The real hero of the game was Jeff,” I said. “When you’re done talking to me, you should talk to Jeff.”

Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. He’s all I talked about.

All they heard, though, was a kid trying to say all the right things.

We all like it when the star player says the right things. But we find it boring too. We give them credit for spouting clichés. But we also treat their words as a waste of time.

By mid-week, I’d given up and gone quiet again.

Honestly, I felt bad for Jeff, but what’s the point of speaking up if no one’s listening?