I gripped the doorknob. In a moment, we were leaving the hotel room and heading down to breakfast. Then it was off to the Showdown.
Then I was going to see him.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Diego shouted, leaping from bed to cot to bed.
Diego had been bouncing around the room from the second he got up. He woke Mega-Man and me by hitting us with a pillow. He was about to do the same to Red, but I’d stopped him just in time.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Diego bounded to Red and double-high-fived him. “It’s Showdown Saturday!”
“Oh, yeah!” Red said. “It’s Showdown Saturday.”
It was Showdown Saturday, but my stomach felt like it did Halloween night when I ate those twenty bite-size Three Musketeers.
“Move, move, get out of the way!” Diego shoved me aside and opened the door. “Yes, yes, yes!” He charged down the hall toward the elevator. “Breakfast!” he shouted. “All-you-can-eat bacon and sausage!”
Mega-Man and Red raced after him. I followed. When I reached the elevator, Diego was still trying to press the Down button by jump-kicking it. I shoulder-shoved him out of the way and pushed it.
A few seconds later the doors opened.
“Wait for us!” Maya called from the other end of the hall.
“You’d better hurry,” Diego said to the girls coming out of their room.
I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the Door Open button. “We’re holding it,” I said, shoving Diego again.
He pushed me back and knocked me into the button panel. “Bumper-vators!”
“Dag,” I said.
“Bumper-vators!” he repeated.
“Bumper what?”
“It’s a game.” Diego bobbed his head and smiled. “You’ll see.”
I wasn’t in the mood for Diego’s bumper game, whatever it was. Then again, I wasn’t in much of a mood for anything.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Ms. Yvonne said as she and the girls reached the elevator.
“The ladies have arrived!” Maya said. “Let’s get this party started!”
Ms. Yvonne looked at Red. “You okay on here, honey?”
Red stood against the back wall, looking up at the ceiling and pinky-thumb-tapping his leg. Red doesn’t like tight quarters. The other times we rode the hotel elevator, Mega-Man, Diego, and I had been the only ones with him.
Ms. Yvonne stepped around Mega-Man and Mimi and moved next to Red.
“When I was in the hospital,” Diego said as the door closed, “these kids taught me this game called bumper-vators.”
Maya made a face. “Why do I already know I’m not going to like it?”
The elevator started moving.
“You pretend you’re a bumper car at an amusement park,” Diego said. He pushed me again, harder than last time. My cheek hit the panel, and I knocked into Mega-Man.
“Dag!” I said.
With both forearms, I shoved him back. Diego stumbled into Zoe and A-Wu, who slammed into the back wall.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Diego laughed.
“Guys, I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Ms. Yvonne said.
“This is bumper-vators.” Diego shoulder-shoved Mega-Man into the wall and then charged me.
“No!” Ms. Yvonne shouted.
“No, no, no!” I blocked Diego’s hands and grabbed one of his wrists. “No, no, no!” With my basketball eyes, I pointed to Red.
He was squatting in the corner behind Mimi and Maya. He had his arms in front of his head like a boxer covering up.
“Game over!” Ms. Yvonne said firmly. “Enough.”
“No bumper-vators!” I said.
“No bumper-vators.” Diego held up his arms. “Game over.”
“Red, no more bumper-vators,” I said.
“Honey, honey, honey,” Ms. Yvonne said. She touched Red’s shoulder. “It’s okay.” She shot Diego a look. “You need to calm down!”
“Game over,” Diego said again. “Yo, my bad, Red. Game over.”
Ping.
The L on the button panel lit.
Ms. Yvonne kneeled next to Red. “Honey, it’s okay.”
Red was shaking. His arms covered his face. His fists tapped his head.
The doors opened.
“You okay, Red?” I squatted in front of him and put my hand on his shoulder as most of the others got off.
“No bumper-vators,” he said. “No bumper-vators, no bumper-vators.”
“No bumper-vators, Red,” I said. “No more bumper-vators.”
“Honey, no more bumper-vators,” Ms. Yvonne said. “I promise.”
“No bumper-vators,” Red kept saying. “No bumper-vators.”
“Yo, my bad, Red,” Diego said. “That was uncool of me. My bad.”
“That was a very poor decision.” Ms. Yvonne shook her head at Diego.
He frowned. “My bad.”
“You okay, Red?” I asked again.
Slowly, he lowered his arms.
“You boys need to calm down,” Ms. Yvonne said. “You can’t go into breakfast out of control like this.” She rubbed Red’s back. “Take your time, honey.”
“I’m okay,” he said softly.
“It’s all good, Red,” I said.
“Sorry, Red,” Diego said, grimacing.
“I’m okay, Diego Vasquez.” Red loosened his fists. “I’m okay.” He let out a long breath and dropped his shoulders.
“Take your time, honey,” Ms. Yvonne said again.
Red looked from me to Diego and slowly stood. “I’m okay.”
“Honey, here’s what we’re going to do,” Ms. Yvonne said. “You and I are going to take a little walk before we go in to breakfast. We’re going to get some fresh air, okay?”
Red nodded.
“Let me go run ahead and tell Coach Acevedo,” she said, stepping off the elevator. “I’ll be right back.”
“You’d better be,” Diego said, leaping off the elevator. “It’s all-you-can-eat sausage and bacon!”
I gave Red a double pound. “You good?”
“I’m good, Mason Irving.”
I stepped off the elevator and stopped dead in my tracks.