A Tough Call
Elementary: Grades 3–4
Story
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A Tough Call
"So what do you think, Danny?" My best friend, Terence, was looking at me intently. We were on our way home from our Little League game. We'd won by three runs. I was still pumped. Baseball was everything to me.
I shrugged. "I don't know, Terence. It sounds pretty good, but—"
"But what? Coach Thomas is a jerk! Why should we keep making him look good? The guy treats us like show dogs when everybody's watching and like mutts once we're off the field."
Terence was getting riled up, but I couldn't blame him. Everyone knew Coach Thomas was the meanest coach in the division.
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"We could get back at Hawk at the same time," Terence added. He had a point. Hawk was Coach Thomas's son, a big bully who liked scaring kids. He was one of our better players, but having him on our team didn't make anybody happy. Except his dad, of course. Coach Thomas gave Hawk special treatment and didn't try to hide it. The two of them walked around like king and crown prince.
"Come on," Terence urged. "We get a couple of other guys in on it, and we just throw a few games against Bill's team."
Bill Moss was the one who had suggested the idea to Terence. Bill, a fifth grader too, played for our biggest rival team. Now our two teams were set to face off in the division championship. Bill's team was driven to win, Terence said, because their coach had promised them plenty of good stuff if they did.
"Just let them win it, huh?" That was the deal, as Terence had explained it. In return, we'd get to see Coach humiliated. Plus, Bill was rich. If we threw the championship, we'd each get fifty bucks. Not to mention, we were invited to spend two weeks at his parents' big, fancy lake house.
Summer was still on its way. But Chicago was baking already. Getting out of the blistering heat and living it up at some lakeside mansion for a while sounded pretty good to me. Plus, we'd become better friends with Bill. Maybe even switch to his team. It would serve Coach right if we could pull that off.
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