The New Kid. Temple Mathews

up and down.

      “Kick their butts, Will!”

      Will had had it with these punks and was just about to go into time-bending mode when a stentorian voice rang through the hallway: “That’s enough!”

      It was Coach Kellog, a towering bulky man who you could tell was once in fantastic shape but had hoovered way too many Whoppers since and had gone mostly to flab, straining his Sansabelt slacks. Still, on the football field and in the hallways he was the law, and the skirmish subsided as swiftly as it had begun.

      “So, you like to hit, huh?” he asked Will.

      “Not especially. But if somebody hits me, I hit back.”

      Will noticed the coach wore a Patek Philippe Calatrava watch that ran around twenty grand. He made it a point to be able to spot expensive jewelry because sometimes it tipped him off. Demons were often too proud and too stupid to hide the fact that they were suckers for expensive jewelry. But then, so were a lot of so-called normal people.

      Coach Kellog’s eyes narrowed. He grabbed Will’s arm by the bicep and was pleasantly surprised at how strong the kid was.

      “Nice attitude. Let’s see you bring it to the field after school. You got a problem with that, Duncan?”

      The coach turned to Duncan and his boys. Duncan hung his head.

      “No, Coach,” he said, and then stomped off.

      “Well then, it’s all settled, we’ll see you after school, New Kid.”

      Will watched Coach Kellog cut a swath as he swaggered down the hallway.

      Rudy sidled up next to Will and grinned. “Looks like somebody’s trying out for the team after all.”

      Then he went into his goofy primate dance and in a singsong voice talked about the one girl in school that he’d thought about every single day ever since third grade.

      “Sharon Mitchell. Oh, man, I can’t stand it! Sharon Mitchell!”

      The rest of the school day passed without incident and as he trudged toward the football field after the final bell rang Will wished he’d never antagonized Duncan. He should have just backed down and hidden behind a cloak of bogus cowardice, something he’d done many times before in order to get the job done. But not this time, this time he’d put himself out there in the thick of it and he wondered if he’d made a mistake. But then he answered his own question. Of course he was doing the right thing. Just how bad were these bad boys? He had to find out. It wasn’t the first time finding out the truth would mean enduring some pain.

      Rudy, who was making it a habit of being ubiquitous, appeared beside Will crunching a bag of chips. “’Sup?”

      “Not much. I’m just going out to get my head pounded by a bunch of pubescent gorillas.”

      “You don’t know how lucky you are, having a chance to make the team.”

      “It’s not that big a deal,” said Will.

      Rudy shook his head back and forth in disagreement. “Spoken like someone who’s never had a problem being on a team, or being popular, or being a chick magnet. Me, I’m the opposite. I’ve never been on a team in my life. I’m an only kid, I don’t even have brothers or sisters.”

      “I’m an only child, too,” said Will.

      That made Rudy feel a little better, but he still ached over the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he just never quite felt like he belonged anywhere.

      They reached the field and Will watched as Duncan and the other football players jogged onto the new turf and began stretching. Will returned his attention to Rudy. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but he wanted little Rudy to be happy.

      “Every school I’ve been to has tons of clubs you can join if you want to. How about the chess club or something?”

      “You figure just because I look like a pencil-necked geek I’m a brainiac nerd, right? Well, I suck at chess. I’m also no good in science, I hate math, and I’m totally hopeless at every sport known to man, even darts.”

      “You must be good at something,” said Will.

      “Well, I’m pretty darned good at making Sharon Mitchell look like she wants to toss her cookies every time she lays eyes on me.” Rudy sighed. “The stone cold truth is I’m pretty much terrible at everything except eating, sleeping, and wishing I was someone else.”

      “That’s a sucky way to think.”

      “How would you think if you’d never been any good at anything? I tried Cub Scouts but I couldn’t even earn the penmanship badge. Believe me, I’ve thought about this a lot and I finally came to a conclusion.”

      Will glanced out at the field and saw Coach Kellog motioning for him to join them. “I gotta go. What’s your conclusion?” he asked Rudy.

      “That I’m a one-hundred-percent certified, official-with-a-capital ‘L’ Loser!”

      Will couldn’t help but offer Rudy a smile and a pat on the shoulder. “You’re not a loser, you’re my friend. And you’ll find your place. Everyone does sooner or later.”

      Rudy stood in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had referred to him as a “friend,” and now he was friends with the coolest guy in school! He danced around in a circle and watched as Will jogged over to Coach Kellog, who pointed to the locker room.

      A few minutes later Will was suited up in pads and cleats and on the field thinking, Okay, guys, go ahead and lay down the gauntlet. The other players all looked at him and their eyes said they wanted to punish him, make him pay for thinking he could just walk onto their turf and take over. They did wind sprints and Will not only kept up with the group but pulled ahead, just a little, stopping himself before the extent of his abilities became obvious. Then came the jumping jacks, the squats, the pushups, all in the hot sun, all with full pads on, under the watchful eyes of Coach Kellog, who paced back and forth flipping a football and had his gaze locked in on Will as though he was expecting something. Will wasn’t even particularly winded or anything but he had to play the part and he pretended to struggle. He knew he could wax these suckers anytime he wanted but that would be stupid. He wouldn’t find out anything that way. He had to bide his time.

      “Okay gimme two more sets of twenties!” yelled Kellog as the players groaned and did more wind sprints to the twenty-yard line and back. Coach cocked his arm and tried to blindside Will with the football but Will instinctively spun quick as a cat and caught it.