Zoe, Diego, and I sat on the polka-dotted beanbag chairs facing Red, Mehdi, and Speedy, who were on the denim couch. The rest of Clifton United sat on the floor around the pizza boxes.
We’d dragged the furniture out of Room 208 and down the hall when Coach Acevedo said the kids could leave the meeting. That was right after the pizza arrived, which was right after we learned our hotel room assignments.
I was rooming with Red, Diego, and Elbows. The three other boys—Hudson, Mehdi, and Super-Size—were in the connecting room with Coach Acevedo. The five girls and Ms. Yvonne were sharing connecting rooms, too. The third chaperone was staying in a separate room, which seemed kind of odd.
“Yo, you two better not fart in your sleep,” Diego said, pointing his pizza crust at Red and me.
Red squinched his face. “I don’t fart in my sleep, Diego Vasquez.”
“I do!” Super-Size raised his water bottle. “Juicy farts! Loud, juicy—”
“Do you mind?” Maya said. “I’m eating.”
“My dog farts in his sleep,” Hudson said.
Everyone laughed.
“He does.” Hudson nodded. “He’s a puny little pug, but I swear, his farts can clear a room.”
Everyone laughed again.
I checked Red. He was eating his pizza the way he always ate pizza. Peeling the toppings off the crust. Eating the toppings. Eating the cheese. Licking off the sauce. Not eating the crust. Red never ate the crust. He always gave the crust to me.
I eat everything.
“Do any of you girls toot in your sleep?” Diego asked.
“Gross!” Zoe shook her hands by her face.
“I’m just asking,” Diego said, grinning. “Don’t you want to know if your roommates toot in their sleep? I wonder if Ms. Yvonne toots in—”
A piece of pepperoni hit his cheek and fell onto his shirt.
“Oh!” a bunch of us said.
“There’s more where that came from,” Maya said, pointing to her slice.
Diego flicked off the pepperoni. “Yo, that’s exactly why I didn’t wear my hoodie,” he said.
Most of us had worn our hoodies. It looked pretty cool seeing everyone wearing them. We were going to look hot walking into the Showdown dressed in Clifton United swag.
“I still need to thank your dad for the sweatshirts,” A-Wu said to Mehdi.
“Me too,” said Hudson.
“It wasn’t just my dad,” Mehdi said. “It was my mom, too. Mostly my mom. My dad came up with the idea. My mom designed and ordered them.”
“So what’s the deal with Elbows?” Mimi asked.
“That’s what I want to know,” Speedy said.
I wanted to know, too. Elbows didn’t come tonight, and tonight was mandatory. When Coach Acevedo said something was mandatory, he meant it.
“Yo, it’s messed up he isn’t here,” Diego said.
“Was he in school?” Speedy asked Super-Size.
“Yeah,” Super-Size said, “but he didn’t say anything about not coming. He’d better come to the Showdown.”
“You’re telling me.” I rolled off the beanbag chair to the pizza and grabbed another slice. “A little better than RJE cafeteria pizza, right?” I said to Diego.
“Yo, that pizza box tastes better than our school pizza.”
“Our school pizza is ballin’,” Maya disagreed. “It’s better than pizzeria pizza.”
Coach Acevedo popped his head into the hall. “About ten more minutes,” he said, holding up his hands. “Everyone’s good down here?”
“We’re good,” Super-Size said.
We all laughed. For no reason. We just did. Fifth graders do that sometimes.
“Make sure you save me a couple slices,” Coach Acevedo added. Then he ducked back into the room.
“I wish we had a couch and beanbag chairs in our classroom,” Zoe said. “All we have are desks and chairs.”
“We have to sit in rows,” Hudson said. “Assigned seats.”
“We sit wherever we want, Hudson Moss,” Red said. “I mean … not wherever we want.” He put down what was left of his pizza and shook his fingers by his face. “We can’t move around, but we … we choose where we want to sit. This month, I’m sitting with Trinity Webster, Attie Silverman, and Mason Irving.”
“Dag, I almost forgot.” I popped to my feet. “Back in a sec.”
I ran down the hall to Room 208. When I reached the door, I stopped dead in my tracks. It looked so weird seeing all the grown-ups sitting in our seats. Suzanne and Mom were at my table.
“Hey, everyone,” I said, waving.
“What can I do for you?” Coach Acevedo asked.
I pointed to the book bin on the windowsill. “Need True Believer,” I said.
I quick-walked across the room, love-tapped Mom on the shoulder, and grabbed the book.
“Nothing to see here, everyone,” I said, heading back to the door. “Nothing at all.”
A few parents laughed.
I scooted out and sprinted down the hallway. “That’s my seat,” I said to A-Wu, who’d snagged my beanbag chair.
“You didn’t call fives,” she said.
“I’ll remember that.” I sat down on the floor and held up the book. “Coach Acevedo got me a copy of True Believer from the middle school library.”
“What’s True Believer?” Zoe asked.
I tapped the cover. “This is where our team mantra comes from.”
“We will rise to the occasion, which is life,” Diego said. He stood on the beanbag chair and jumped in circles. “We will rise to the occasion! We will rise to the occasion!”
I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him down. “The character that says it is one of the teachers,” I said, opening to the page with the blue stickie. “Her name is Dr. Rose.”
“Are you going to read to us, Ripster?” Diego said, baby-talking.
That’s exactly what I was planning on doing. I was going to read the passage from the book. But now, all of a sudden, that idea seemed mad corny.
“We will rise to the occasion, which is life,” Red said, standing up. “We will rise to the occasion, which is life.”
I smiled. Sometimes Red did the coolest things in the world without even realizing he was doing the coolest things in the world.
I stood up. “We will rise to the occasion, which is life,” I said.
Then everyone else stood. “We will rise to the occasion, which is life!”