Shutout by Brendan Halpin Read Free Book Online Page A

fashion,” Lena said. “I’m sure we can get you some manly blue work shirts here on the outside if you decide that’s a look you want.”
    Okay, I was starting to feel better. Even talking about stupid stuff with Lena made me feel better. But then a couple of varsity girls stopped by where we were sitting.
    â€œHey, Lena,” they said, smiling.
    â€œOh, hey!” Lena chirped. “Mo, Lauren, this is Amanda. You remember her from practice?”
    â€œOh yeah,” one of them said. “Hey.”
    â€œHow’s your first day?” the other one said to Lena, and Lena started talking about how totally awesome everything was, and pretty soon a couple more girls stopped by the table, and it wasn’t long after that that a few guys stopped by. And not just any guys. Older guys. Soccer-playing guys. Guys including Duncan, the hottest guy in school. Really cute guys. Tall guys. Guys who had no business even looking at somebody five feet four inches tall because they could find a nice tall girl more appropriate for someone of their height sitting right next to her.
    In a way I guess it was for the best that I turned invisible to everyone, because if Duncan had acknowledged my existenceat all, I would have sputtered and stammered and generally acted like an idiot.
    I had kind of expected to be invisible to the varsity girls because of my lowly JV status, and I was used to being invisible to guys like Duncan or pretty much anyone else for that matter, but not to Lena. When I got up to throw away my trash, she was deep in conversation with Brandi or Courtney or somebody. Anyway, a beautiful girl with long blond hair and a cute boyfriend hanging all over her.
    The afternoon was not marred by any bad math classes, so it was actually an improvement over the morning, even though I was still stung by being ignored by my best friend. The very worst part of the whole thing was trying to picture the situation reversed. Would I be a strong enough person to say, “Hey, popular girls and cute boys, please include my invisible friend in the conversation! I hate being the center of attention! I refuse to vault several steps up the social ladder in my new school!” Of course I wouldn’t. In a way, then, I was only getting what I deserved. How could I expect Lena to be a better friend than I would be in this situation? It was like I was being punished for wanting the attention by having to watch her get it.
    In English class, the teacher—a short guy who seemed to think that our being nervous about school was hilarious—announced that we’d be starting with poetry. He split us into groups to talk about this poem called “To an Athlete Dying Young.”
    I was in a group with Sarah Kestrel, who I knew from fifth grade and liked okay; Tom Castor, who I knew fromalphabetical order in middle school; and some guy I didn’t know named Angus. I swear to God. Like the beef.
    â€œI think,” Tom said, “that the poem is saying it’s kind of cool that he died young because he’ll never see his record broken.”
    â€œYeah,” Sarah agreed. “It’s a romantic idea.”
    â€œI think it’s a dumb idea,” I said. I thought it was dumb because it seemed to be saying that if you were a great athlete in your teens, it wouldn’t matter when you got old. I mean, so what if Lena wouldn’t be a great soccer player at forty-five? At least she was once! And was that how long I’d have to wait to step out of her shadow?
    â€œIt’s a completely stupid poem,” Angus growled, and his face was getting red. “It’s just about the single stupidest thing I’ve ever read.”
    Everybody paused for a moment, and then I joked, “Well, you obviously didn’t read
A Separate Peace
over the summer like we were supposed to,” and, at the same time, Sarah said, “Whoa. Somebody’s a little touchy.”
    Angus smiled