The Seventh Grade Wars

CHAPTER 29: JK

With October came the time all the boys in the school had been waiting for: football season. More so the seventh graders, though, because it was their first year when we'd get to try out for the team. In elementary school, we could only play flag football, which takes the whole point out of the game. 

"They just posted the date of the tryouts for football," said Thomas. "It's a week from today, On Wednesday. I'm going to audition for the football team."

"You mean the junior high team," corrected Yvonne. "There are two teams. One for seventh and eighth grade, and another for the high school."

"Yvonne, we know," complained Ryan.

"I'm gonna try out, too," I said. "Hey, wouldn't it be great if the entire team was made of A Siders?"

"Well, of course," said Jessica. "We could do that—"

"No, we can't," said Ryan. "B Side had some pretty great players when we had a match against them last month. At least one of them will make the cut, probably."

Jessica got that sneaky smile on her face again. She turned to Danny. "Remember how I told you that you're going to have to do some hacking?"

He gulped. "But—it's—hacking—it's not allowed!" he stammered. 

"And do you think covering the whole school in bug spray is allowed?" she said. "We're basically all rebels anyway."

"Stop scaring the kid," I interjected. "What do you need, Jessica?"

"I need you to hack into the school webpage," she said, "and change the date of the tryouts to one day before."

"That's going to be hard," said Danny. 

"I'm sorry! Didn't you say you were a computer genius?"

"I don't think I ever said that..."

"Well, apparently you are. So you're going to do it. Okay? Great."

Danny nodded. "When should I do this?" he asked. 

"As soon as possible. Preferably by tomorrow, so nobody else will see the notice."

"Yes, Jessica."

"And you're not going to try out," she added. "Don't embarrass A Side." Jessica turned to the rest of us. "And all of you better practice your football. Round up enough boys to try out. How many people on a football team, Thomas?"

"Eleven," he promptly answered. 

"Make sure you have eleven boys," she said. "But not Alfonzo Gonzalez. He's a loser."

That day, I was walking home from school when I came across Danny. He was sitting on The Wall, his feet barely touching the ground. The Wall is a, well, it's a wall. It's made of stone and is covered in dried gum and french fries wedged in between the rocks. Sometimes we go and sit there for lunch, if the seniors haven't claimed it first. Today, it was deserted. Most people had gone home already, and Danny looked even smaller than usual perched on it. He was typing away on a laptop, looking slightly frustrated. 

I went over. "Hey, Danny," I said. "What're you doing here?"

He looked up. "Hi, JK. I'm just working on my assignment. Hacking into the school website."

I looked at his screen. It was covered in a series of green numbers and letters that didn't seem to spell anything.

"Do you know how?" I asked. "To hack, I mean."

"No," he said. "I've actually never done it before. But I've got to figure it out, or Jessica's going to kill me."

"You don't have to do everything Jessica says," I told him.

His big green eyes looked at me questioningly. "But...you do what Jessica tells you to," he said.

"Well, you've got a point there," I said. 

He was quiet for a while, then finally muttered, "I think I've got it."

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh." I watched as he came across the notice on the website: 'Tryouts for the Emerson High School JUNIOR football team will take place WEDNESDAY at the football field, from 3:15 - 4:00.' Danny replaced the word 'Wednesday' with 'Tuesday,' made a few adjustments, and closed his laptop. 

"It's done," he said. 

"Wow," I said. "You're pretty smart for a kid."

"Thank you," said Danny. "Well, see you later, JK."

He hopped off The Wall, stuck his laptop in his backpack, and gave me a smile before starting to walk away. 

It was only then when I realized how small and helpless he looked.