The Seventh Grade Wars

CHAPTER 11: JK

Jessica said the prank was a "success." She said we'd caused so much of a commotion we were bound to have launched the War.

"The other Sides won't be able to resist," she said during lunch that day. "They'll prank us back, and boom. We'll win in no time."

Harriet frowned. "How do you know we'll win?"

"Because," she said, "Obviously A Side's the best. And you have me."

I rolled my eyes. Jessica was getting more and more narcissistic these days. Had she forgotten me, the person who'd actually come up with the prank? Or even Ryan, who'd brought the bug spray for us?

After school that day, Thomas came up to me by my locker. 

"Hey," he said. 

"Hey," I nodded back. "Wanna come play football with me and the gang?"

"The gang?" I asked. "Who?"

"Me," he said. "And Ryan. And Oscar. Some other guys. We're going to play on the football field."

"I thought we weren't allowed to play on the field after school," I said. That was one of the earliest things the gym coach had told us on the first day of school.

"We're not," he said. "But eighth grade girls' lacrosse practice starts later. Nobody around until then. So, we can sneak in through a hole in the fence and play some ball."

I shrugged. "Okay. How d'you know about the hole in the fence anyway?"

"My older brother. Donald tells me everything I need to know about the place. So, you coming or what?"

"Now?"

"Of course now! Hurry up. They're already waiting."

I ditched my books in my locker and followed Thomas up to the high school football field. He was right—nobody was there but a bunch of seventh grade boys standing by the sidelines, digging through a pile of gear. 

"Where did you get all that gear from?" I asked. 

"Sports closet," Thomas answered. "Oscar snuck in."

We snuck in through the gap in the wire mesh fence and jogged over. 

"Thomas," I said. "What's Alfonzo doing here?" Alfonzo Gonzalez, a short, stocky, mop-haired Hispanic boy was standing in the center of the group, shouting orders. Something I knew about him was that he liked to gossip like a girl. He was one of the ones who'd spread the rumors about me last year. I was pretty certain he still believed I was just plain stupid. 

"I don't know," said Thomas. He grabbed Ryan by the colorful red jersey he was wearing. "What's Alfonzo doing here?"

"I dunno, man," Ryan said, yanking away. "He just showed up and said he wanted to play. No getting rid of him now."

"He's never been here before. Wonder why he chose today," grumbled Oscar, who I knew from my classes.

"Wait. You guys have played football before?" I asked. 

"When we can," Ryan said. "Why?"

I sighed. "No reason." I wondered why I had never been invited to play before. Oh, wait. I think I knew why. 

But still, I was glad to be playing ball again. I'd hardly ever played since my dad had died, quite a few years ago. So I kept my mouth shut and did what I was told. 

I was put on Ryan's team, the reds, with a couple other boys. Thomas was blue. Unfortunately, that meant we had Alfonzo on our team. 

The game began. We didn't have many people so it was just five-on-five. 

Alfonzo got as agitating as sand beneath your fingernails after a day at the beach. He kept yelling things like, "pass it to me!" or "i'm open!" And when he finally did get the ball, he acted like a one-man show. Nobody really liked him here. 

We paused to take a break after a while. That's when Danny showed up, when we were all sprawled out on the grass, and asked if he could join. 

"It's okay, Danny," said Thomas. "We don't want you to get hurt or anything."

"Plus we already have the same number on each team," Ryan added. "We shouldn't mess that up."

To my surprise, Danny didn't act up. "Okay," he said, and went to watch from the side of the field. 

Alfonzo inched closer to us and swiped his sweaty hair away from his face. "So. You guys are on the A Side team, aren't you? For the pranking stuff?"

I frowned. "How did you know that? We didn't tell anybody."

"Oh, I was just passing by on my way to the lunch line and I overheard a couple of things." Alfonzo shrugged. "No big deal. Anyway, do you think I could be on the team?"

"What?" Thomas said. 

"You'll have to talk to Jessica about that," I said. 

"Right. Well, I did ask her. She said no."

I was starting to thing he'd overheard more than just a couple of things. 

"Then the answer's no," Thomas said. "Go away and quit bugging us, Alfonzo."