Free Game Changers by Mike Lupica

feel like a hug even from across the room. “It’s the kind of thing that happens to parents all the time when they become too parental. Sometimes we want to be great parents so much we end up acting like idiots, and if you tell your mom I said that, no dessert.”
    â€œWhat is dessert, by the way? She wouldn’t tell me.”
    â€œBanana cream pie.”
    â€œI won’t talk.” Ben sat up. “Dad, I gotta find a way to prop him up. I’m just not sure I know what’s the best way.”
    The whole truth there, nothing but.
    â€œMaybe you can convince him that he can help the team more by wanting it a little less,” Ben’s dad said. “Does that makes sense to you ?”
    Ben nodded, smiling back at him, because it did.
    â€œMom says Lily’s the genius,” he said. “Actually it’s you.”
    â€œNow that you can tell your mother,” his dad said.

He wasn’t going to lie to his buds, he was just going to leave some stuff out, basically. He didn’t think Shawn’s secret — about not wanting to play quarterback — should be that big a secret. But it was. Because it was Shawn’s secret.
    And Ben had promised.
    His mom would tell him sometimes when she was going over one of his English papers, it wasn’t what you put that made your writing better, it was what you left out.
    And Coop talked all the time about what he called the “Bro Code,” what guys were allowed to do and say and what they weren’t, Ben and Sam just rolling their eyes when he did, knowing he was just making up rules as he went along.
    One time Ben pressed Coop on what he thought was the single most important part of the Bro Code and Coop thought about that for a minute and said, “Having each other’s backs, no matter what.”
    Sam and Coop both knew Ben would have their backs, no matter what the situation. But this situation was different: For now, Ben had to have Shawn’s back, too. He was alreadyhoping that when Shawn started to see how much he could trust the Core Four, he’d tell the others that he was only playing quarterback to please his dad.
    Ben knew that no matter how much he could justify what he was doing, he and Sam and Coop had always told one another everything. If they got their feelings hurt later because Ben had been holding back on them, Ben would have to deal with that. Maybe that was the real Bro Code.
    For now, though, he needed to keep it simple: Shawn was too tight, they had to find a way to loosen him up.
    When he explained that to Sam and Coop in his basement, Coop said, “And this is our job … why?”
    They had decided not to watch a movie after the Packers game, had been playing Madden on the big screen instead. When Lily found out there was no movie, she called and informed them her idea of fun wasn’t watching them lose their minds over a video game, but she might wander by later if there was time before supper.
    â€œIt’s not our job ,” Ben said. “He’s our teammate, and he asked for our help. So it’s like when you help a teammate up after he gets knocked down in a game.”
    He looked over at Sam, down at the other end of the long couch. Waiting for some backup. Only this time it wasn’t coming.
    â€œCount me out,” he said.
    â€œYou’re kidding, right?”
    Sam said, “You’re the one that must be kidding. If I’m gonna do some extra work, it’s not gonna be with him. Or for him.”
    â€œSame,” Coop said. “It might be your idea of the Code to prop this guy up. Not mine. You heard the way he called me out yesterday?”
    â€œEverybody says stuff they don’t mean,” Ben said. “You’ve done it plenty of times.”
    â€œDude,” Coop said. “Trust me. He meant it.”
    â€œThe only guy on the team who doesn’t think Shawn is a jerk is you,” Sam said.
    â€œHe’s