Isaiah Dunn Saves the Day by Kelly J. Baptist

Author:Kelly J. Baptist [Baptist, Kelly J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2022-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

October 18

SMACK!

Angel’s pink notebook hits the floor by my feet, and since I’m so used to it now, I don’t even flinch.

“Hey,” I say.

“ ’Bout time you came to your senses,” Angel says before shaking her head and sitting next to me.

We have a mentors-only meeting today, and I’m actually excited about it. This will also give me a chance to talk to Angel about our business.

“What’s all that?” Angel asks, nodding at my stuffed backpack.

“Books,” I say. “For Kobe.”

I went to the library yesterday, and Mr. Shephard gave me a bunch of recommendations for Kobe. He said a lot of kids don’t like reading because they haven’t found a book that they connect to. I guess he’s kinda right. I was only reading Daddy’s notebooks before Mr. S showed me some other books that were kinda cool. There’s gotta be something in this stack that Kobe will like.

“Ummm, okay,” she says. “You think he gonna like that?”

“I don’t know. I hope so,” I tell her.

“If he’s anything like my little brothers, he won’t.”

“Dang, why you so negative?” I ask.

“I’m not negative, just statin’ facts,” Angel says with a shrug. “If he ain’t into reading, he ain’t gonna read those.”

Some of the excitement I felt slips away, and I wonder if Angel’s right. Well, even if she is, I’m still gonna try!

“It’s a bunch of books that a librarian gave me, so I think he’ll like at least one of them.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Angel says. She doesn’t sound too convinced.

“How old is your brother?” I ask. “The one who plays football.”

“Which one? They all do,” Angel says.

“The little one?”

“My little brothers are six and eight,” Angel says. “You were playing catch with C.J. He’s six, always tagging along with my dad to practices.”

Ms. Marlee picks that second to clap her hands to get our attention and lead us on our normal chant, where she says, “Rockets Fly High!” and we yell, “Rockets Reach Back!”

“Rockets Fly High!”

“Rockets Reach Back!”

“Rockets Reach Where?”

“ROCKETS REACH BACK!”

It’s kinda corny, but we always get hyped and clap and cheer after the chant. It’s even louder today, with twelve mentors instead of seven.

“Let’s start with our breathing and stretches,” Ms. Marlee says. We all know what she’s gonna say next, so we say it with her:

“Cuz you don’t live if you don’t breathe, and you don’t grow if you don’t stretch!”

After we do some deep breathing and stretch our arms as high up as we can, Ms. Marlee has us put our chairs in a circle and asks for a volunteer to stand in the middle.

“Isaiah wants to!” Angel says loudly. I give her a look and elbow her, but Ms. Marlee is already waving me up to the middle.

“C’mon, Isaiah; consider this your welcome-back activity,” she says with a smile.

I stand up in the middle of everybody and glare at Angel.

“Alright, Isaiah, I want you to slowly spin around so you can see everyone,” Ms. Marlee says. I stay in the middle but do a 360 like I’m in Rock’s barber chair.

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