At school on Monday, Ricky felt even more like a loser. His lack of interest in school caught up with him.
As usual, Ricky did not pay attention to anything his history teacher said. Ricky focused more on the ticking black hands of the clock. To Ricky, it seemed like he had been in first period for three hours.
Ricky tapped his broken pencil tip against his desk waiting for the bell to ring. Finally, the harsh metallic clang signaled the end of class. The bell rattled awake two students in the back of the room. Other students tried to leave the room before Mr. Trout remembered to assign homework. Mr. Trout walked past a student with her hand raised. He called to Ricky. "Wait. I need to speak to you, please," he said. Ricky secretly kicked himself for not leaving fast enough. Stupid crutches, he thought.
"Yes, Mr. Trout?"
"What do you think your grade is right now?" Mr. Trout rested his index finger on his chin waiting for Ricky's answer.
"Um. I don't know. Why?" Ricky had been in the same position many times in previous school years. He expected Mr. Trout to yell at him.
"You are failing," he said. He walked a few steps toward Ricky. Ricky knew the yelling was going to start. Mr. Trout walked over to a wooden desk, which was attached to a blue chair. The chair's metal legs squeaked against the tile floor as he moved it closer to Ricky. "How can I help you?"
Ricky was confused. "What do you mean?" he said.
He looked Ricky in the eyes. "I know you can be a better student. How can we get you to where you want to be?" he said.
Ricky broke eye contact with Mr. Trout. "I'm where I want to be," he said.
Mr. Trout shook his head. "No way, Ricky. I do not believe that for a second. I have seen the competitor in you on the football field. I know you are a fighter."
Ricky disagreed with his teacher. "I like playing football. I don't like school. There's a big difference," he said.
Mr. Trout nodded. "I understand why you think that, but I am talking about effort. I am talking about how hard you try at something."
Ricky chuckled. "Why would I want to try at school? It's boring."
"We are only three weeks into school. This is a clean slate. A new chance for you to be successful at school. Look, you are in a cast. You are done playing football this year. Now, you can bring that same effort to school every day," Mr. Trout said.
"I promise that you can. I am here to help you do it. If you want to play football at a good college, you need to get your grades up," he said.
Ricky stared blankly at Mr. Trout. "I do? I thought I could get a football scholarship," he said.
"Football talent is part of it. You also have to have a certain grade point average to get accepted."
Ricky did not fully believe Mr. Trout. He was skeptical.
"Let's do this: Get all of your missing work today. Then, we will meet here after school. We will work on getting you caught up."
"Really? You want to help me?" he said, raising his right eyebrow.
"I am positive. I want to help all of my students succeed. Ricky, I know you are smart enough to do this. We just need to get you to believe in yourself."
Ricky was an interesting young man. On the football field he thought he was the best. In the classroom, he thought he was the worst.