The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons

Author:Isaac Fitzsimons [Fitzsimons, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2021-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

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The only positive of the whole situation was spending more time with Riley, who usually ate lunch backstage with the other theater kids but had offered to sit with Spencer in the cafeteria after seeing him go into the library by himself several lunch periods in a row.

Riley was happy to scribble costume sketches while Spencer stewed, and they didn’t mind that Spencer only answered in monosyllables, but even they noticed when Justice shot a dirty glare at their table while throwing away his trash.

It was wild hair day for homecoming week. Not feeling the homecoming spirit, Spencer had ignored the themed days, but Justice’s normally neat hair was styled up in a Mohawk. Spencer had watched one of the soccer girls do it before school. He wondered whether Justice was going to take her to homecoming instead of him now that Spencer was grounded and Justice hated him.

“What did you do to anger soccer Jesus?” asked Riley.

“What?” Spencer tore his eyes away from the soccer table where Justice was now officiating an intense thumb war between Micah and Cory.

Riley blushed. “That’s what I call Justice. You used to be all buddy-buddy, but now he’s acting like you killed his cat.”

Spencer explained what happened with the soccer team and his parents. Riley was an attentive listener, nodding sympathetically at the right moments and raising their eyebrows when Spencer reenacted the blow-up at his parents.

“Wow, you said that to them?”

“I’ve been out almost three years and sometimes they act like they just found out. I want them to stop holding me back.”

“Did you tell that to them?” asked Riley pointedly.

“No, why?”

Riley pushed a strand of hair back. “I don’t know your parents, but it sounds like they’re trying to protect you in their own way.”

“I guess.”

“But maybe if you explain that by taking you off the team to protect you, they’re actually hurting you, they’ll understand.”

Spencer considered that for a moment while Riley continued.

“Like, take homecoming. My parents wanted me to wear really gendered clothing because they think that if I show up in something too out there, I’ll be a target.”

Riley caught Spencer staring at their ratty hoodie. “I don’t wear this for fashion. It’s more like armor. I already know I’ll be a target if I show up in what I really want to wear. But at homecoming everybody else will be looking their best, and I’m not going to waste it squeezed into some uncomfortable outfit because of cisnormativity.”

“So what do you think I should do?”

“Show your parents what you’re missing out on by not being on the team, then maybe they’ll understand and let you rejoin.”

“I doubt the team will want me back.”

Riley flipped to a new page in their sketchbook. “Well, did you apologize for missing the game? You did sort of leave them out to dry.”

Riley took Spencer’s silence as a no. “There’s your answer. Apologize to the team and show them why they need you back.”

Doubt crept into Spencer’s head. Did the team need him? They’d already won without him.

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