Operation Do-Over by Gordon Korman

Author:Gordon Korman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

18

Twelve Years Old

OCTOBER 6

I finally have my position on the football team. I’m bench strength.

Dominic laughs in my face when he hears that. “Get a clue, Spaceman! Bench strength isn’t a real position. It means you sit on the bench because no coach in his right mind would ever put you in a game!”

I feel kind of torn about that. On the one hand, Dominic might be right. If you go by how I do in practice, it’s probably not a great idea for me to play in a real game. I’m the smallest, the weakest, the slowest, and the least athletic. I’m not good at catching the ball, and I have trouble throwing it, too, because my hand’s not big enough. I miss most of my tackles, which isn’t so bad, because when I do get hold of an opponent, they usually steamroll right over me. And I haven’t gotten much of a hit on anybody since I knocked down Dominic before the tryouts even started.

But on the other hand, I’ve been working really hard at this. I’ve been to every single practice these past weeks, and I always give it everything I’ve got. I’ve devoted more hours to football than I’ve put into working on the science-fair project with Clarisse. And I have improved—Coach himself says so—even if the improved me is still the worst player on the team. For sure, I’ve got more stamina, and I think my arm muscles might be a little bigger too.

I’ve earned a real position, and I tell the coach that.

He smiles at me. “I like you, Rolle. In all my years of coaching this team, there’s never been anybody quite like you. You set a great example.”

I know what he means by that. Anybody with as little natural talent as me who goes out for football should have his head examined. So if he ever catches one of the other players dogging it or being lazy, he points to me, bruised and covered in Band-Aids, being an example.

“Example isn’t a position either,” I point out.

“Fine. You’re a cornerback. A backup cornerback.”

I’ve won a lot of quiz bowls and science fairs, but I’m pretty amped up to be this, so I brag about it to everybody who’ll listen.

“You’re not the backup cornerback,” Johnny Camaretti protests. “I’m the backup cornerback. And Brett Ramirez backs up me.”

That’s how I become backup to the backup to the backup cornerback of the Pasco Panthers.

By the time I’ve got my position straightened out, I’m the last one into the locker room to get changed into regular clothes. That’s no problem. Ty has stopped coming to practice to wait for me. He and Ava are full steam working on their time-travel project, so he says he’s too busy. He doesn’t mention anything about being ticked off about my Ava attitude, and I think that’s because he likes having her all to himself. Whatever. All I know is it’s keeping me away from Ava, and that’s what matters.

I take a lot of ribbing from the other players.

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