chapter 10

SHAKE, SCRUB

But Dan never reached the ground. Before he could get his feet down, some kids from school grabbed his legs and held him up on their shoulders.

“Way to be!” “Dan the man!” “Yee-haw!” they were saying.

At the back of the crowd, his father was clapping and smiling.

It felt good to finally be number one at something, though not quite as good as he’d thought it would feel. Something was still bothering him.

Rufus, Willy, and Clara were waving at him from one side. Lisa was standing beside them, looking upset. Just then Biff came up to her.

“So, Ms. TV Star from Colorado,” Biff said loudly. “You can’t keep up with our guy. You’re not a star any longer. You’re just a loser now!”

“Let me down,” Dan said to the kids holding him. They lowered him, and Dan unclipped from the rope. He could hear Lisa saying to Clara, “This is the only thing I’ve ever been good at. I can’t stand—”

“Boo hoo,” Biff interrupted.

“Hey, Biff,” said Dan, going over to them. “Leave her alone. Being mean doesn’t make you cool, you know.”

Dan turned to Lisa. “Don’t listen to Biff,” he said. “It was just a race. I barely won. Besides, you shouldn’t worry about this stuff. This was just fooling around, right? You’ll have to come climbing with us sometime. We’ll have some fun, okay?”

“Stop being such a goody-goody, Dan,” said Biff. “Let the loser cry. You’re one of the guys now! You’re one of us! You don’t have to be nice to losers. You’re not a Scrub anymore.”

“Maybe I want to be a Scrub,” said Dan. “Once a Scrub, always a Scrub.”

“Yeah,” said Clara. “Scrubs are allowed to win. As long as they’re nice about it.”

Dan turned to Lisa. “I’m sorry I was a jerk before. Shake, fellow Scrub?”

Lisa held out her hand. As they shook, she even managed to smile.