Wind Up, Derek Jeter [little red riding hood read aloud .txt] 📗

frame of mind than the day before. He smiled as he got down to work. Just the thought of making Gary eat humble pie was enough motivation to do his best—or even better! And he found the test easier than he’d thought it would be. He even finished with five minutes to spare!

Derek sat by himself, eating his lunch in the cafeteria. He usually sat with Vijay and some of his other friends, but today, he wanted to think about nothing but the task at hand.

He thought he’d done pretty well on the math and science tests. But this was a two-final day, which meant that after lunch, he had to take the English final. Not his best subject.

He sure hoped he’d beaten Gary on the first two tests.

Suddenly, Derek found that he’d lost his appetite. He packed his lunch back up and put it in his book bag.

It was time. The moment of truth had arrived.

Derek finished the grammar and vocabulary sections with no problem and was feeling better about things. He was about to tackle the essay that would count for 40 percent of his score when he looked up and saw that Gary was already handing in his finished test!

Derek glanced at the clock—only fifteen minutes left, and he hadn’t even started his essay!

Suddenly all the confidence he’d been feeling drained out of him, as if the bottoms of his feet were full of holes. He felt the cold sweat coming on again.

Gary turned at the door and looked right at Derek, a huge grin sprouting on his face.

Was it that obvious that Derek was in trouble? Obviously yes. At least to Gary.

Time was running out on Derek. What was he going to write about? Ms. Terrapin had listed a few topics, but none of them had much appeal to Derek.

There was no time to think. He just had to make up his mind and start writing—now!

Okay, he told himself. I’m just going to give it my best shot and try to relax, like my mom and dad always say to do.

An Important Lesson I Have Learned

One important lesson I have learned in my life is to enjoy every moment you can. Sometimes I try so hard to succeed that I get tense and worried. The weird thing about that is, then I usually don’t do my best. I do my best when I am relaxed and having a good time. Even in the middle of some close ball games, I still enjoy myself.

When I mess up, I don’t have to get even more tense because of it. I can remind myself that everyone messes up. I can learn from what I did wrong, so that I can do better next time.

Like with my friend Avery Mullins. She just started to play baseball this year, and she’s really good. But being the only girl in the league gets her stressed out sometimes. And when she gets like that, she doesn’t play her best ball.

That’s a shame, because she’s normally a really good player. I guess it’s hard for her to relax when there are always kids making fun of her, just because she’s the only girl on the team.

I can see she’d do better if she was playing loose. But it’s harder to see it in myself. Sometimes I catch myself clenching my jaw, or making fists with my hands, and I have to tell myself to chill out.

Then there’s my tied-for-best-friend Dave Hennum. When he first moved to town, he was all tense because he didn’t know anybody. So everybody thought he was a snob, and nobody liked him, and it just got worse and worse.

Once I got to know him, I realized he wasn’t a snob at all. When he was relaxed and having fun, he was one of the coolest kids I’ve ever met, and we became best friends. We’ve got so much in common, like our dreams of being sports stars.

Well, we’ve been best friends ever since. But now he’s moving away, and I’m really pretty tense about it. I don’t know if we will even be friends in the future. I want to, but I have my doubts if it will work.

I am going to enjoy my last times with Dave, because you never know if you will have another chance to hang out with somebody you really care about. We are going to write to each other, so we’ll see. Let’s hope for the best.

But I don’t know how not to be tense about saying good-bye.

Derek didn’t know if his essay was any good, or if Ms. Terrapin would penalize him for not following one of the suggested topics—but what was done was done. He finished, putting down his pencil just as the bell rang.

At any rate, he’d enjoyed writing it. And at least every word in it was true.

Chapter Twelve CRASH AND BURN

“Go get ’em, Sharlee!”

Derek yelled as loudly as he could, to make sure she heard him over the noise of the crowd. It was amazing how much noise parents could make when their kids were in action.

Sharlee spotted Derek and her mom in the stands and pointed at them, nodding confidently as she stepped up to the plate.

Just like a pro, Derek thought proudly.

Sharlee’s team was up 3–2, with two runners on base. Hitting the first pitch, she drove them both in. It was a clean double—but Sharlee just kept on going, all the way around the bases, until she was finally tagged out at home!

She got mad, but only for a second. Then she leapt up and down along with her teammates, whooping it up to the max.

They’re used to winning, Derek thought, watching Sharlee and her teammates celebrate. They haven’t lost once all year. Just like the Giants—before we ambushed them.

Derek never liked to celebrate too much until the game was over, and the last out made. Because you never knew. In fact, Derek considered it bad