Riley Reynolds Rocks the Park by Jay Albee

Author:Jay Albee [Albee, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure fiction; allies; gender; nonbinary; nontraditional gender norms; overcoming challenges; own voices; social and emotional learning; LGBTQ+; genderqueer
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2022-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

SIX KIDS, FOUR SQUARES

The soccer ball rolled across the blacktop, headed right for the kids playing four square. Riley held their breath, Lea squealed, and Cricket gasped.

The biggest kid, the one who had been yelling before, stopped Lea’s ball with his foot. He picked it up, held it high, and shouted, “Hey! Is this yours?”

Lea squealed again. By the time Riley and Cricket climbed off the swings, the big kid had walked over and was handing the ball back to Lea. “I saw you kicking around before. You’re pretty good.”

“Uh,” Lea stammered. “Uh, thanks.”

“Sure,” said the older kid. “Leon has to go home and three square is boring. You wanna play? I’m Luca.”

“Uh, I’m Lea. This is Riley and Cricket,” Lea said. She looked at Riley and Cricket, eyes wide, asking silently what she should do. Riley linked an arm through Lea’s and smiled wide at Luca.

“Sure, Luca. That sounds fun.”

On the chalked-up four square grid, Luca introduced two other kids—Xavvy and Juana.

Xavvy’s face lit up. “Oh, hey! You were the knight and dragon group costume on dress-up day at school, right?”

“Right!” said Riley.

Xavvy held up a hand for a high five. “That costume was epic.” When Lea got her high five from Xavvy, her face split into a grin.

“I was the knight,” said Lea.

“Right on,” Xavvy replied.

“What did you go as?” asked Riley.

Xavvy rolled his eyes. “One of a million Captain Underpantses. I gotta step it up next year.”

“Have you played four square before?” asked Luca, bouncing the ball. The three friends all shook their heads. “It’s easy enough to learn.”

“Easy to learn,” added Juana, grinning, “but hard to master.”

“Those are the best kind of games,” said Lea.

“For sure they are!” agreed Riley.

In no time, Lea, Cricket, and Riley got the rules of the game. They learned about house rules with names like Black Captain, Cherry Bomb, Bus Stop, and Passback. They learned that you could make up rules as you go along—the sillier the better. They learned that when Luca had been yelling before, it was because there was a rule called Tyrant Ball that basically just meant he had to shout at everyone the whole time. He wasn’t actually mad. Then they learned that the squares were called Peasant, Duke, Prince, and King.

“We can do better than that, right?” asked Riley. They quickly settled on Acorn, Sapling, Tree, and Forest. And the game began.

Luca was good at the game, and no one could topple him from the Forest square. Except Lea. Riley never got past Acorn, but they didn’t mind. It was as much fun to watch as it was to play— cheering along, chasing down the ball when it went out of bounds, and trying to distract Luca so he’d miss a shot. And making up new rules, of course.

Riley and Cricket were really good at making up rules. Alphabetical Fruit, No Such Thing as Out of Bounds, Two Square Sudden Death, Cutest French Bulldog on the Block, and more. Lea, Xavvy, Juana, and Luca

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