So, as I said, Bones obviously didn’t make the team. Coach Koffler did offer him the spot of team manager, but Bones said he would rather try out for debate team than be a gopher.

Bones still loved coming to our practices, mostly because they were at the high school, and he loved running around the track. He’d rather spin around in a circle about a hundred times than go sit at home. No wonder he was so skinny—the kid never stopped moving.

When Estelle dropped us off, she’d make sure to let us know her expectations when she picked us up. “I don’t want any nonsense happening when I come back, especially from one of your ridiculous games.”

One day at the end of practice, I was huddled together with my team for a quick talk about our upcoming game, and I looked across the field and noticed Bones was slowly coming to a stop on the track.

Then he just kind of fell to the ground. I ran over to him because I thought maybe he was having a cancer attack or something—never mind that the idiot ran around the track about forty times without stopping for a drink.

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