Free The New Kid by Temple Mathews Page B

that no matter how hard he tried, he just never quite felt like he belonged anywhere.
    They reached the field and Will watched as Duncan and the other football players jogged onto the new turf and began stretching.
Will returned his attention to Rudy. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but he wanted little Rudy to be happy.
    “Every school I’ve been to has tons of clubs you can join if you want to. How about the chess club or something?”
    “You figure just because I look like a pencil-necked geek I’m a brainiac nerd, right? Well, I suck at chess. I’m also no good in science, I hate math, and I’m totally hopeless at every sport known to man, even darts.”
    “You must be good at something,” said Will.
    “Well, I’m pretty darned good at making Sharon Mitchell look like she wants to toss her cookies every time she lays eyes on me.” Rudy sighed. “The stone cold truth is I’m pretty much terrible at everything except eating, sleeping, and wishing I was someone else.”
    “That’s a sucky way to think.”
    “How would you think if you’d never been any good at anything? I tried Cub Scouts but I couldn’t even earn the penmanship badge. Believe me, I’ve thought about this a lot and I finally came to a conclusion.”
    Will glanced out at the field and saw Coach Kellog motioning for him to join them. “I gotta go. What’s your conclusion?” he asked Rudy.
    “That I’m a one-hundred-percent certified, official-with-a-capital ‘L’ Loser!”
    Will couldn’t help but offer Rudy a smile and a pat on the shoulder. “You’re not a loser, you’re my friend. And you’ll find your place. Everyone does sooner or later.”
    Rudy stood in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had referred to him as a “friend,” and now he was friends with the coolest guy in school! He danced around in a circle and watched as Will jogged over to Coach Kellog, who pointed to the locker room.
    A few minutes later Will was suited up in pads and cleats and on the field thinking, Okay, guys, go ahead and lay down the gauntlet . The other players all looked at him and their eyes said they wanted to
punish him, make him pay for thinking he could just walk onto their turf and take over. They did wind sprints and Will not only kept up with the group but pulled ahead, just a little, stopping himself before the extent of his abilities became obvious. Then came the jumping jacks, the squats, the pushups, all in the hot sun, all with full pads on, under the watchful eyes of Coach Kellog, who paced back and forth flipping a football and had his gaze locked in on Will as though he was expecting something. Will wasn’t even particularly winded or anything but he had to play the part and he pretended to struggle. He knew he could wax these suckers anytime he wanted but that would be stupid. He wouldn’t find out anything that way. He had to bide his time.
    “Okay gimme two more sets of twenties!” yelled Kellog as the players groaned and did more wind sprints to the twenty-yard line and back. Coach cocked his arm and tried to blindside Will with the football but Will instinctively spun quick as a cat and caught it.
    “Nice catch,” said Kellog. “Now let’s see if you can run. Listen up! We’re doing end-around 88 double B!” Two squads formed quickly, and the ball was snapped and handed off to Will. He didn’t know the exact play but he knew what an end-around was. He also knew he had to hold back and was tackled for a loss, hard. There were a couple of late hits, too, but Will jumped up afterward like a good sport and patted his adversaries on the helmets.
    “Nice hit. Good footwork,” he said.
    “Come on, Hunter, don’t sandbag! I’ve seen your wheels, now give me some heat!” growled Kellog. “Slant left!”
    They lined up for another play and this time when Will got the ball he feinted inside like he was going to slant but shifted his footing and sprinted outside the tackle, and when the tight end laid down