Football Fraud by Jake Maddox

Author:Jake Maddox [Maddox, Jake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ages 9-12; books about football; character education; fiction books about sports; honesty; Jake Maddox; kid sports; sports fiction; sports stories
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2020-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

LYING AND FLYING

DeSean was surprised to see Alejandro sitting in his truck in the parking lot. He had figured he’d have to take the late bus home.

It was normal for Alejandro to stay late after school. He stayed late every day. While DeSean was practicing, Alejandro met with his teachers and worked on his homework.

It was also normal for Alejandro to give him a ride home. Since they usually finished up at the same time, it was no trouble for Alejandro to give DeSean a lift.

But today DeSean was later than usual. Coach Drummer had kept him after practice to ask him over and over again if he was okay. He’d suggested they call the doctor and tell her what happened.

“Just in case you damaged the knee any further,” Coach had said. When DeSean had said he was fine for the twentieth time, Coach finally let up.

“Promise me you’ll tell your parents all about what happened—okay, Mitchell?” he said. DeSean had nodded his head. At this point, lying was becoming natural to him.

Lastly, Coach had told him he’d decided to change his policy. “You don’t need to come to practice anymore, Mitchell. Season’s almost over. Your health is more important than being with your team for a few days.”

Finally, some good news. If he didn’t have to go to practice, he wouldn’t. The farther he could get from the gridiron, the easier it’d be to distract himself from his gridiron guilt.

And now some more good news. Alejandro had waited for him. He knew his best friend was disappointed in him, but he’d still waited.

DeSean had only been pretending to need crutches for one day, but he was already sick of it. His armpits hurt. And he hated having Alejandro watch him hop across the parking lot.

It was late. The parking lot was mostly empty. Maybe he could stop using the crutches and just walk across the lot. Even better, maybe he could sprint. He had forgotten how much he loved to run. Getting to run was why he loved football. It was why he was on the track team in the spring.

Legs and arms pumping, flying from one place to another. It was an amazing feeling.

DeSean stopped. He looked at Alejandro. He smiled. He tucked the crutches under his arms like they were long footballs. Alejandro’s truck was still a good forty yards away. And DeSean was going to sprint every yard of it.

SCREECH!

A white Lexus pulled up next to him.

“Hey, DeSean,” a kid’s voice said.

DeSean looked at the driver. She was an adult. And she had her window up.

“Hey,” the voice said.

DeSean turned to where he realized the voice was coming from—the back seat. “Oh. Hey, Royce. Do you have a driver? Like, someone who drives you around?”

Royce had been smiling, but now he frowned, confused. “You mean my mom?”

His answer made sense. Except … “Why aren’t you in the front seat?” DeSean asked. “You sit in the back when it’s just the two of you?”

“I don’t know, man.

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