Read Online Shutout by Brendan Halpin - Free Book Online

the name-calling. You dehumanize people when you call them names.”
    â€œYeah, well, they have to be human in the first place for that to work,” I said, and Mom gave me the Look of Death and I shut up.
    â€œNow, Dominic, you didn’t tell us the part about jumping on Amanda’s stomach while she was asleep. How do you think that made her feel?”
    I rolled my eyes and walked away before Mom could extract an insincere apology from the little twerp and before I’d be called on to give an insincere apology of my own.
    But then, forty-five minutes later, as I was running out the door, Dominic came up to me without Mom shoving him in my direction and, looking at the floor, he mumbled, “I’m sorry I jumped on your stomach.”
    And now I saw that he was a goofy kid and not some demon from hell sent to make my miserable life more miserable,so I just kind of tousled his hair and said, “I’m sorry I called you a freak.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” he said.
    â€œAll right then, buddy,” I said. “You gonna come to my game today?”
    â€œYeah!” he yelled, his face bright. I have to say this: the kid was my number one fan.
    â€œI’ll see you then,” I said. I called goodbye to everybody else but Conrad, who was still in the shower because he was obviously planning on being late, and left for school.
    On my walk, I couldn’t help thinking that if yesterday sucked and it didn’t start with somebody slamming sixty pounds into my stomach, how horrible was today going to be?
    As it turned out, less horrible than I feared. Maybe it was because, like Dad said, I was tired and felt kind of dazed all day. So classes came and went and I didn’t even really notice. At lunch, Lena didn’t have time for me again, but at least this time she kept turning back to me and going, “What do you think, Amanda?” Which was still not enough to get Duncan to pull his eyes away from her, but that was okay because I was too tired at that point to charm him with my sparkling wit anyway.
    Maybe this was my big opportunity to get in with this group, but I was too tired to make interesting conversation.
    And, anyway, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get in with this group. At least not as Lena’s sidekick, which was all I would ever be to them. I didn’t want to be popular with a bunch ofkids I didn’t even know. What I wanted was for things to be like they used to be, where it was Lena and me together against the world. Even with her remembering I existed, it still wasn’t like it used to be. I wanted them all to go away, even the cute boys, so I could have my best friend back.

2
    Our game was at home, and so Lena, who knew I was completely exhausted, went over to the store across the street after school and bought me an energy drink. I didn’t know how drinking a barrel of sugar and caffeine would affect my sleep tonight, and I didn’t really care. I had a game to play.
    Lena sat with Dominic and Dad. Mom had apologized for not being able to get off work early enough, which was fine. It’s weird, because of course both my parents are corny and embarrassing, especially Dad, but I always appreciate a parental representative in the stands at my games.
    Lena was the only member of the varsity who showed up to watch our game. “I see your friend’s the only one doing the right thing,” Shakina observed before the game started.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWell, what do you say we put on a show for her? Maybe she’ll tell the rest of them to come next time.”
    I answered “Yeah!” maybe a little too loudly, becauseShakina looked kind of embarrassed and everybody on the field looked at me. “Uh, too much caffeine, I guess.”
    In the first half, we did put on a show. The other team only got three shots on goal, and I stopped all of them easily, even the one that was perfectly placed right in the corner of the