Playing the Cards You're Dealt by Varian Johnson

Author:Varian Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

By the time Ant got to class, most of the other students had partnered up for another of Mr. Reese’s early morning game-without-a-prize activities. Terrence and Shirley were already in a corner, looking at something that Mr. Reese had posted to the wall. Ant felt a little pang of jealousy but quickly stuffed it down.

He ended up working with Dwayne. Halfway through the activity, Rochelle nudged him and asked, “You and Shirley are playing in the tournament together?”

“Um … yeah,” Ant said. “Maybe.”

Five minutes later, Marco asked the same thing. Only this time, the question came with a sneer.

By the end of the activity, news about Shirley and Ant playing in the tournament had spread throughout the class like brown gravy over a mound of mashed potatoes. And by the time recess came around, it had spilled over to other classes.

The worst taunts came during recess, from RJ, who had only been given one day of ISS since, technically, he hadn’t been the one to start the fight. But with the way he kept trying to bait Ant, it seemed he hadn’t really learned his lesson. Ant was starting to understand why Jamal had gotten angry enough to throw the first punch. RJ did not know when to back off.

“Dude, I can’t believe you’re gonna play with Shirley,” RJ said. “You must really be hard up for a partner.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Ant asked.

“Nothing, I guess,” said RJ. “But, I mean, you’re never gonna win. Girls can’t even play spades. Everyone knows that.” A slow grin spread across RJ’s face. “You just want her to be your girlfriend, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t!” Ant said. Which, of course, made things worse.

Now, Ant knew that he wasn’t supposed to be talking trash. He did not want to go back to Mrs. Booker’s office anytime soon—and especially the week before the tournament. Plus, let’s be honest, he wasn’t exactly the best trash talker in the world. Not by a long shot.

But he was smart.

Ant cleared his throat. “Man, you’re just mad because you and Cordell are going to lose. Again.” He looked around at the kids who were starting to listen in. “Yo mama is so … um …”

Ant tried to look like he was thinking up an insult. But the truth was, he didn’t have to actually say anything. RJ was more than ready to jump in.

“That all you got?” RJ shot back. “Yo mama’s so stupid, she thought a quarterback was a refund.”

RJ’s comeback was feeble, but it got a few laughs, especially from the boys.

“What are you laughing at?” Ant said to Dwayne. “Didn’t you hear what RJ said about yo mama?”

Dwayne frowned. “Well, RJ’s mama’s so skinny, her elbows touch!”

“Nah, man,” spat RJ. “Yo mama’s so dumb, she tried to give cheese to her computer mouse. Yo mama’s so ugly, people dress up like her for Halloween. Yo mama’s sooooo stupid …”

As RJ kept piling on Dwayne, Ant slowly backed himself up out of the group.

Ant may not have

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