The image of Avery grabbing her stomach came into his head. Was that why she was hurting? Was she too stressed out to eat enough?
Derek made himself a PB and J sandwich and poured himself a glass of milk. He had just sat down to eat when his dad came into the kitchen. “Hey, champ,” he said. “Studying make you hungry?”
“Mm-hmmph,” Derek said, nodding with his mouth full.
His dad smiled and sat down across from him. “Well, finish up. It’s bedtime.”
Derek swallowed and took a swig of milk. “Ahh,” he said. “I was so hungry, my stomach was actually hurting!”
“Hmm,” said his dad, stroking his chin. “You think maybe all the pressure is starting to get to you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, a lot of times when we’re anxious about things, we feel it in our bodies. I notice you’ve been kind of tense lately… a little more irritable than usual…”
“Me?”
“Just a little more than normal,” his dad reassured him. “But it’s understandable. Even Sharlee felt upset yesterday. That was a hard blow for her.”
“She didn’t mean it—about it all being your fault,” Derek told his dad.
“Oh, I know that—but thank you for saying it. That’s kind of you. And you seemed to know just what to say to settle Sharlee down too.”
“Kind of.” He guessed younger kids got over things more easily. They didn’t have as many worries as big kids like him.
“Maybe you should say some of those same things to yourself, Derek. It helps to be able to shake off our worries, and just—”
“Enjoy the moment?”
“Exactly. You took the words right out of my mouth. You see what happened with your friend Avery? It’s not good to get too wound up about things. I know you’ve got your big game Saturday. But you’ve been in big games before. And you’ll be in bigger games down the road.”
“It’s not just that,” Derek confessed. “There’s the standardized tests, too.”
“You’ve prepped as much as anyone could, Son. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“No, you don’t understand, Dad—there’s more.” He proceeded to tell his dad all about his bet with Gary.
“Chicken suit, huh? Whew. That’s rough.”
“I’ll say. Now I’m as good as doomed.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said his dad. “All that work you’ve put in—I sense an upset coming.”
Derek tried to smile. “Thanks, Dad. But it’s hard to enjoy the moment right now.”
“Derek, let me ask you—why do you put in so much effort in school? Not just now. I mean all the time.”
“Huh? Well, uh, to get good grades!”
“And why do you need good grades?”
“To, uh, succeed in life as a grown-up?”
“That’s right! And why do you put in the effort on the ball field? Taking swings and grounders all day, always the first one to show up, and the last one to leave?”
“Because one day I want to play shortstop for the Yankees—the real ones.”
“And why do you want that?”
Derek thought for a moment. “Because… because I love playing baseball.”
“Bingo! Never forget that, Derek! It’s the most important part—because the road is always much longer than the time you spend at your destination. You’ve got to enjoy every moment you can along the way. That will give you the strength to keep on going, and to overcome the huge obstacles and struggles along the way.”
“Avery’s mom says that Avery’s not going to play on Saturday,” Derek said. “I guess it all got to her.”
Mr. Jeter nodded sadly. “You see what can happen if you forget to relax and have fun? It’s not healthy to be serious and intense every minute. Having fun and doing well go together—like breathing out and breathing in. One’s no good without the other.”
Derek shook his head. “Poor Avery. She wanted it so badly…”
His dad nodded. “A person can hold up only so much weight before they collapse,” he said. “I guess she just took on too much.”
Derek wondered if Avery would even show up to watch the team play on Saturday. He could imagine how agonizing it would be for her to just sit there and watch—especially if the Yankees wound up losing.
But how could she not come down to cheer the team on? Derek couldn’t even imagine Avery not being there—not after everything they’d been through together!
Chapter Fourteen BACK IN THE GAME
For a moment Derek wasn’t sure where he was. It looked like Saint Augustine’s school, but why wasn’t anyone else there? Was it a weekend?
He heard a sound, like chalk on a blackboard. He tiptoed slowly down the hallway toward the source of the noise. And then he heard another sound, on top of the scratching. Was it… the clucking of a chicken?
He came to an open classroom door and looked inside. There, at the blackboard, was a giant chicken, scribbling “GARY PARNELL IS SMARTER THAN ME.” Suddenly the chicken turned its head to look at Derek—and he saw that it had HIS FACE!
“AAAAAAAHH!”
Derek sat up in bed, his heart pounding. “A dream, that’s all it was… just a bad dream.”
Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was almost seven a.m. His alarm would be going off in six minutes.
Just as well. No way was he going to go back to sleep and risk having that dream again! If he got up and dressed now, he’d have time for a little last-minute review before heading off to school for the standardized tests.
After today it would all be over—except for the worst part. Tuesday was the last day of school—doomsday, in other words. Unless he could somehow beat Gary on both these exams, the chicken writing at that blackboard would be him!
Derek knew he had stiff competition in Gary. He could have kicked himself for taking the bait and one-upping Gary by suggesting the whole chicken suit thing!
Why had he done that? Writing on all the blackboards that Gary was smarter than him wouldn’t have
