Free Overtime by David Skuy

will be epic if it works,” Charlie said.
    The girls said goodbye, and Charlie and Pudge climbed down. They waited to hear if the janitor was around, and then made a beeline outside.
    “I think my skateboard stuff is at your place,” Charlie said. “I forgot it last time.”
    “You forget it every time,” Pudge said, giving Charlie a push.
    “I’m waiting for you to clean it,” he joked, pushing him back.
    They headed towards Pudge’s house. When theywere about halfway up the street, Charlie held out his hand to Pudge, and they shook.
    “We pulled it off,” Charlie said. “That should take care of the leaks. Now we just have to raise a hundred and fifty thousand bucks, and we’re home free.”
    “Piece of cake,” Pudge said.
    “Speaking of cake …” Charlie rubbed his stomach. “Maybe we should stop by my mom’s café.”
    “We have some apple pie left over from dinner last night,” Pudge said.
    “Then we’ll go to the café after the Hill.”
    “The perfect plan, Major.”
    The sky had darkened, and after a sunny morning Charlie feared it might rain again. This had better work, he thought, or it would be a lonely school year. And an hour-long bus ride every day — with Jake.
    Brutal.

11
DRESS FOR SUCCESS
    Kids were heaving major sighs after school as they came down the stairs in groups of two or three and saw the rain. Charlie and his friends sighed louder than most.
    “Does it have to rain on all our ball hockey days?” Charlie grumbled.
    “Water polo would be a better bet,” Nick said.
    “We might consider building an ark,” Scott said. “I hear that worked out well for Noah and his family.”
    Matt and Pudge came bounding down the stairs.
    “Rain!” they said in unison, and their friends laughed.
    “What’re we gonna do?” Pudge said.
    “We could head over to the café and have a snackerino,” Scott said, nudging Charlie.
    “How about an air hockey tourney?” Zachary said.
    Charlie had a table in his basement. “That’s fine. We could all go to my place.”
    “Yeah. But we did that yesterday,” Scott said. “And even though I’m obviously the best, Charlie always cheats and wins. Frankly, I’m sick of it.”
    “So we’ve decided to stand here and stare at each other?” Zachary said.
    “That’s the best idea so far,” Nick said.
    Charlie noticed a crowd of students at the end of the hallway around the main bulletin board. “Holmes must have put up another announcement,” he said. “Might as well check it out.”
    “This should amuse us for eight or nine seconds,” Scott said.
    Alexandra spotted them. “Look at this. The great and mighty Rebels are finally going to sign up.”
    Julia and Rebecca were there too, and then Charlie noticed Emily and Trisha off to the side watching intently. The boys exchanged uneasy looks. Charlie and Pudge had not told the others about the conversation on the roof with the girls.
    Charlie walked up to the bulletin board. The junior team had nine girls signed up and the senior team had four girls, and neither team had any boys.
    “The girls are certainly enthusiastic,” he said.
    The girls’ silence made it clear they did not find his joke particularly amusing.
    “Seriously, though. We were just talking about it,” he said, thumbing at his friends.
    “I forgot to sign up — got busy … and forgot,” Pudge managed.
    Alexandra rolled her eyes. “They don’t want to play. I told you,” she said.
    “We have lots of time to find guys,” Julia said. “No one has to play. It’s … whatever.” She didn’t look too happy, though.
    Nick had a resigned look about him. Zachary was leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets. Scott had a huge grin. He hesitated just slightly, flicked hiseyebrows at his friends, then took a pen resting on the ledge of the bulletin board and signed his name for the junior team. One by one, each of them signed. Charlie went last.
    “Ladies. You know you can count on the crew,” Scott