Garry gasped. The cry had come from the direction of the river! He leaped from the boulder and ran toward the sound. Branches lashed against his face. A thick root grabbed his sneakers and — “Ooof!” — he stumbled and sprawled face-first in the dirt. A long blaze of dirt streaked his sweatshirt but he barely noticed. He was up and crashing through a thicket and onto the riverbank.
“Is there someone out there?” he yelled.
“Over here!”
Garry turned in the direction of the voice — and sucked in his breath. Clinging to a jagged rock in the middle of the churning rapids was Scottie!
“Oh, my gosh! Hold on! I’m coming!” Garry started to step onto a rock in the river.
“No! Stay back! That’s how I fell — !” A foaming wave engulfed the boy’s head, cutting off his cry.
“Okay, okay!” Garry looked around desperately. Rocks, leaves, bushes — they were no help! Then he spotted a long tree branch stuck in the mud farther up the bank.
“I’ve got it!” he cried. He raced up the river edge, yanked until the branch pulled free, and dragged it back. Then he sat down on the muddy bank, braced his feet against two big rocks so he wouldn’t slip forward, and yelled, “Here it comes!”
He swooped the tree limb over the rushing water, praying that it would reach Scottie. It did.
“Got it?” he yelled. Scottie didn’t answer, and for one heart-stopping moment Garry thought he’d struck him on the head or swept him from the rock with the leafy limb.
Then the branch vibrated in his hands and he guessed that Scottie had grabbed it.
“Okay, I’m going to pull you in now, so hold on tight!”
He took a deep breath and then, hand over hand, slowly pulled the branch and the boy toward him. His backside sank deep into the cold mud, his palms were scraped by the rough bark, and his arms and legs ached from fighting the current and pulling the branch. But at last, he dragged Scottie to safety.
“Th-thanks!” Scottie sputtered. “I thought I was a g-g-goner!” A cool breeze had set the wet boy’s teeth chattering. Garry took off his sweatshirt and gave it to him.
Scottie put it on, pulled his knees to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. After a moment, he stopped shivering. Then he gave Garry a puzzled look. “How did you get to me so quickly?”
Garry blinked at the question. “I ran when I heard you yell. Scottie, what are you doing out here?”
Scottie hugged his knees closer. “I was looking for you!”
“Why?”
Scottie didn’t answer right away. Then he said, “I wanted to make sure you were okay. See, I’ve been in your position before. I was bullied by a big jerk last year, kind of like Donofrio’s bullying you.”
“Michael’s not bullying me!” Garry protested. “I mean, sure, he calls me names, makes fun of me when I mess up on the field, slams me to the ground on purpose, trips me …” His voice trailed away.
Scottie gave a small shrug. “That sure sounds like bullying to me.”
Garry picked up a rock and threw it into the river. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. But don’t worry about me, I can handle Michael. I have before, anyway.”
“You have?” Scottie looked at him with interest. “How?”
Garry told him what had happened between Michael and Todd and how he had dealt with it.
Scottie whistled in admiration. “You kept him from being top scorer? Cool.”
“Yeah, well, he’s paying me back now. So what’s your story? Why were you being bullied?”
Scottie held up his arms. The sleeves of Garry’s sweatshirt covered his hands. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not a big guy.”
“So?”
“So even though I’m small, I’ve got great reflexes and can read the action on the field better than anyone else on my team.”
Scottie laughed. “I know it sounds like I’m bragging, but really, it’s the truth.”
Garry smiled. “Yeah, I know. I watched you during practice earlier.”
“Anyway,” Scottie continued, “last year, another kid, someone bigger and older than me, wanted to be starting goalkeeper. But I got the position instead of him. He, um, didn’t like that too much. To say the least.”
“What’d he do to you?”
Scottie didn’t answer right away. Instead, he took off his wet sneakers and dug his toes into the slick mud. “Oh, the usual stuff,” he said finally. “Teasing, throwing my hat around on the school bus, getting other kids to call me Snottie. I shouldn’t have let it get to me, but it did, you know?”
Garry nodded. He knew.
“Anyway, life is much better now,” Scottie said.
“Because you stood up to him?”
Scottie flashed a mischievous grin. “Because he moved up a division this year so we’re not on the same team anymore!”
Garry grinned too. Then he stood up and twisted around to look at his muddy backside. “I gotta change. Want to get going?”
Scottie ran his fingers through his wet hair. “Good idea. My head’s freezing.” He put his shoes back on and stood too. Then he reached behind his neck for something. “Hey,” he said when he came up empty-handed, “how come your sweatshirt doesn’t have a hood?”
“My brother and I kept getting our sweatshirts mixed up, so I cut the hood off mine. I never liked the way it felt, anyway.”
They walked along the trail out of the woods in silence for a few minutes. Then Scottie remarked, “You know they give out the top scorer award after this tournament, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I’m sure good of Michael will be trying for it.”
Scottie waggled his eyebrows. “Well, he won’t get any help from me, I can tell you that!” Then he laughed. “You know what would be really great? If you won it instead of him!”
Garry smiled. “It’d be a real kick in his ego, that’s for sure!”
The sun was going down when they reached the edge of the woods. Scottie started to take off the sweatshirt but Garry waved him off. “Keep it for now. You need it more than I do.”
The two boys parted company and Garry hurried back to his cabin. He was changing out of his muddy shorts when Todd and Jeff came in.
Todd flopped onto his bunk. “What happened to you?”
Jeff eyed Garry’s filthy shorts and sneakers. “Mud wrestling, from the looks of it!” he said with a laugh.
“Ha-ha,” Garry said.
“Seriously, we’ve been looking all over for you,” Todd said. “So where —”
Todd was cut off by the crackle of the loudspeaker. “Attention, attention!” came an urgent voice. “There is a fire in the woods behind the Boulders section of camp! The fire department is on the way but we still need everyone to report immediately to the lake for the bucket brigade!”