Free Emergency Quarterback by Rich Wallace Page B

home.”
    “Okay if I go out instead? Me and Anthony and some others were gonna get tacos or something.”
    “As long as you don’t stay out too late,” said his mom. She was also an athlete—a tennis player and runner. “Here’s your jacket.”
    “I’m not cold, Mom. And I’m not even hungry. I just need to talk to the guys. Figure out what to do about the quarterback situation.”
    Mrs. Fiorelli laughed. “I think the coaches will figure that one out. Besides, Wade was the starter a year ago. He’ll be fine.”
    Jason rolled his eyes. “They won two games last season. Wade’s terrible.”
    “He’s the best you’ve got,” Mrs. Fiorelli said.
    “That’s not saying much.”
    Anthony and Miguel had walked over. “Ready for some fine dining?” asked Anthony, a powerful lineman with a round, brown face and a wide smile.
    “Very ready,” Jason replied. “Let’s go.”
    They walked up to El Torito, a small Mexican restaurant on the Boulevard that was run by Miguel’s uncle. They took a booth by the front window and snacked on salsa and chips while they waited for their tacos to arrive.
    “Still can’t believe it,” Miguel said, wiping spicy sauce from the corner of his mouth with his thumb. He had intense, dark eyes and the slightest beginnings of a mustache sprouting above his lip. “Biggest game of the year is next week and we’re stuck with Wade again.”
    Wade was an eighth-grader, a year ahead of Jason and his friends. He’d been the starting quarterback for the seventh-and-eighth-grade team the year before, when Vinnie DiMarco was leading the fifth-and-sixth-graders.
    Vinnie had consistently outplayed Wade during summer training camp this year, so it was no surprise to anyone but Wade when Coach Podesta named Vinnie as the starter a few days before the first game. Vinnie had proven that the coach made the right decision by leading the team to five straight wins. But now his season was over.
    Jason stared glumly out the window. Anthony gave him a light smack on the arm. “Hey!” he said. “We won. You look like we got clobbered.”
    Jason just nodded. Words usually poured out of his mouth in an energetic, joking stream. But not tonight.
    “Show me the hand,” Anthony said firmly.
    “What?”
    “The hand. The one that made that famous, one-handed, game-winning grab.”
    Jason fought back a smile. He spread out the fingers of his left hand and held it over the table.
    “That’s the one!” Anthony said. “Oooooh. That’s something.”
    Jason laughed now and pulled back his hand.
    “No,” Anthony said. “Hold it up. Let everybody see.”
    A waitress walked by carrying a tray of food. She glanced at the boys.
    “Look at this hand!” Anthony said to her, grabbing Jason by the wrist and holding it up. “He’s got glue on his fingers or something. Or else it really is his birthday. The boy can catch anything. Throw that tray of food over here. He won’t spill a drop.”
    The waitress smiled and shook her head.
    “Throw him a fork, at least. He’ll catch it.”
    Jason pulled his hand out of Anthony’s grasp and turned to face his friend head-on. “Shut up,” he said playfully. “And it ain’t my birthday.”
    Anthony poked Jason in the chest with a finger. “We’re undefeated. We can win without Vinnie.”
    “I know.”
    “Vinnie wasn’t in there for the game-winning play.”
    “I know.”
    “Wade was.”
    “I know.... But Wade threw the lamest pass of the year. It wasn’t anywhere near me.”
    “You got to it.”
    “I know.”
    “Repeat after me,” Anthony said, reciting one of the cheerleaders’ most common riffs. “‘T-E-A-M. Yaaay team.’ We lost one guy. We’re too good to let that stop us.”
    Anthony said he needed to use the restroom. When he came back, he was obviously trying to suppress a laugh.
    “What?” Jason asked.
    “Nothing.” But it soon become clear what he was laughing about. The sounds of “Happy Birthday” came over from the jukebox,