The Losers Club: Chapters 26–37

He kept staring at his book, and they resumed their reading.

A tall fifth-grade girl stood at the plate, and Kent was right—she connected and popped the ball up way out beyond third base, but Mr. Jenson bellowed, “Foul ball!”

“So...would you like to make a bet about that?” He almost said, Maybe an ice cream sandwich? But taunting wasn’t part of his plan.

As Kent felt the strength in Alec’s grip, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. For a second, Alec squeezed even harder—he had power to spare.

He wasn’t big, but he looked wiry and quick, and he stepped right up to the plate like he knew what he was doing—and he did.

Still, he knew he was coordinated, and he also knew that his legs had gotten strong from his time cutting across the lake on a slalom ski.

He had made himself the center of a small spectacle.

A smug, snarly smile lit up Kent’s face, and the captain of the Champs looked around the diamond and shouted, “Easy out, easy out! And here we go!”

That way, Kent wouldn’t be looking across the table at Nina...or sitting next to Jason. Alec was suddenly glad to have all those fourth-grade girls to spread around the table today...like insulation between positive and negative wires—good for preventing sparks.

It was the same old Kent—not the honorable warrior from yesterday who had insisted that he wanted to stick to the conditions of their bargain.

“In my business, we don’t call them jerks—we call them reluctant readers, and there are lists and lists of books for kids like that. What grade is he in?”

Alec almost laughed, but he kept his face stony, his eyes serious.

“Did you stir up the Caveman Clan? Because yesterday Kent and one of his pals shoved me against the lockers and then grunted, ‘Watch where you’re walking, Little Loser!’"

He’d thought that since Kent was honoring his agreement, he would somehow start being more...civilized—maybe even friendly.

With a flourish, Luke whipped back the cover of his iPad, tapped the screen a few times, then stuck it under Alec’s nose.

After some honest explaining and some serious begging, Alec managed to whittle down his penalty period from two weeks to just one.

If students finish with daily homework assignments, any remaining time should be spent reviewing for tests or quizzes and working on long-term assignments or other school projects. Extra time is not for socializing, for recreational reading, or for recreational computer use.

He shrugged and went back to studying how radiation, conduction, and convection differed from each other.

He shrugged and went back to studying how radiation, conduction, and convection differed from each other.

“And if you ever want to give your massive muscles a break, come on over and sit down—we’ll save a spot for you. In fact, we’re gonna put a bronze plaque at our table where you used to sit, just so everyone knows how cool we really are!”

There was an endless number of good books, and he had been totally content to hop from book to book, each one like a stepping-stone, leading him across a rushing river, so that his feet never got wet.

Without another word, Alec methodically demolished his food.

Social studies, math, language arts—Alec trudged along from room to room, sitting down, standing up, nodding when spoken to, smiling now and then.

Eighteen long trails of paper fanned out from the back corner of the gym—it looked like a satellite image of a huge river delta.

I’ve read that story so many times that if I ever got lost in the wilderness? I’d be scared, but I’d have a lot of good ideas about how to stay alive, and I wouldn’t feel totally helpless or ignorant. Because books do that—they make us lose some ignorance, and lose some fear.