"Mendez, try harder!" Coach Parker yelled at him. "The net's just above your head. You've come this far, throw it!"
Mateo rolled his eyes and threw the ball at the backboard with little to no effort, before being met by a chorus of boos when he missed.
He was panting and needed a water break. He didn't care how many people were watching him, or calling him names.
Ricky was watching, amused from the substitute bench. "Yeah, try harder."
Mateo grabbed his water bottle and took a few sips before throwing it at Ricky. "Shut up. I did try."
"If you call that trying, I'm skinny," Chuck smirked.
"You shut up too," Mateo sighed, "I don't want to be here, okay?"
Ricky nodded. "I know, but you have to try harder to pass P.E."
"Why the hell did they have to make it compulsory here? I blame fatasses like Chuck."
"Callate, pendejo! I'm less weak than you are." Chuck hissed as he balled up his fists. "At least I can actually get the ball into the damn net."
"Wanna bet? Or are you scared that I'll win again?" Mateo asked. "I can jump higher than you."
Chuck stood closer to Mateo and tried to shove him. "I'm well built."
Mateo stepped backward in time. "Ha, you missed."
Ricky rolled his eyes and stood between them both. "How about you focus on your game, Mateo and draw less? It's the only way you'll pass."
"I don't want to," Mateo groaned, "I'm creative, not a caveman."
"Yeah, but you have to." Ricky looked over at Fur Ass, who was down on the pitch and reached over to snatch the ball from Max Sr, who was trying to impress Yelena. She had a free period. "Even FUR ASS is out there trying his best."
Mateo sat down. "He doesn't mind basketball. He's lankier than me and has good aim. I'm neither of those things."
Ricky shook his head. "You can't give up this easily. All you have to do is either make the team or just impress Parker enough to he gets off your ass. It's not that hard."
"Yeah, for you to do. Or Chuck."
"So you admit I'm a better player than you?" Chuck asked.
"You know what? I don't care. I am still a better jumper. Never said I was a better player." Mateo found an old team sheet crumpled up on the floor and straightened it out. "I'll never make it onto the team with the likes of Vasquez, Peterson, and Valdez. Or that kid Ortiz. They're all too good, no sense in trying."
"Yo, that's self defeatest to the core." Ricky rolled his eyes as he watched Mateo make an origami crane with ease out of the page. "You won't get good if you fold pages."
Jay walked over and nodded. "You have to do push-ups, laps around the track, and stretching exercises to pass this class. Oh, and weight training too."
Ricky glared at Jay. "Don't make it sound worse than it is, for him."
"Why are you defending him?" Jay asked. "You made fun of him once for falling off the monkey bars."
"Almost falling. I helped him up again. At least he tried last year. Now, he seems to have lost all interest."
"Because I need to focus on my art," Mateo said as he watched Coach Parker walk over towards him. "And not on dying, and I can't hurt my hand or injure my fingers because I need them to make my art, and get my grades."
"Mendez, come back on the field. You're playing against Cruz, and Rivera." Parker said. "Your water break's over."
Mateo threw his page down and marched over to the court.
He sighed at Fur Ass and Max, who threw him the ball. Mateo caught it and bounced it several times. Fur Ass took the ball off him and Mateo let him run with it. He watched as he passed it to Max, who threw it through the hoop. And back to Fur Ass.
Parker was standing beside Mateo, shaking his head. "You didn't even try."
Mateo looked at him. "I can't break my hand. I'll play soccer. Don't care about my feet."
Parker sighed. "Why are you acting like this?"
"I have to focus on my art. I can't break my hand. Art is my future."
Parker nodded. "Come with me for a moment."
Parker brought him out of the sports hall, and into his office. Mateo sat down on the sofa opposite Parker's chair. "You know that P.E is compulsory?"
Mateo nodded. "Basketball is the only class that I am looking to withdraw from. Baseball would be good to withdraw from as well, because of the repetitive strain injuries associated with it."
Parker rolled his eyes. "You still have to catch the ball in football, too."
"I know. I'm not a part of the football team, and you can kick the soccer ball."
"Why don't you go and do cheerleading, or dance?"
Mateo glared. "I don't like cheerleading, and I can't dance."
"There's also track, and swimming. They can go towards your Physical Education as well."
"So, I can do Track, Soccer, and Swimming instead of Basketball, Baseball, and Football?"
"Yes, you can. But I want you to get a signed letter to say you're changing sports. Also, if you get out of Basketball, I want you to work twice as hard in soccer. I'll be asking Coach Lopez for checkups."
"Yeah, sure." Mateo thought as he pictured himself in the school's jersey, kicking a ball and scoring a goal. "That would work."
Parker agreed. "You just need to get your Dad to sign off on it. You can start on Friday."
"Why do I have to get my Dad to sign off?" Mateo sighed. "That's stupid."
Parker shrugged. "I didn't make the rules, kid. The city requires you to."
"Okay, so can we make a letter now?" Mateo asked. "You can type it on your computer, and we can print it out on your printer under the desk."
"Since we've reached a fair compromise, of course," Parker said as he opened up the Word Processing program. "I'll talk to Lopez and the other coaches. And see if there are any students who also want to swap places with you."
"Thank you so much," Mateo said with a smile. His heart beat faster when Parker began to type a letter of referral. "My name has one t, not two."
"Sorry," Parker said, checking the note over twice before putting it onto a floppy disk. "Can I trust you to go and print this out at the library?"
"Sure."
"Bring back the disk too."
Mateo nodded and took the disk from Parker, and made his way down to the library. He went over to the helpdesk and asked Mrs. Kehrer-Sanchez to help him print things out.
She brought him over to the printer and set it up by opening up the file. "Do you want it in color, or monochrome?"
"Color would make it look more professional," Mateo said, as he watched her set it up. He was amazed at how fast it printed things out. "This machine is pretty cool. It looks crisp."
She smiled and handed the floppy disk back after the job was done. "There you go."
"Thank you," Mateo said.
He made his way back to Parker's office and left the disk back. He went back into the locker room to put the note back into his bag. He met Ricky, and the other guys there.
The class was ending.
"You bailed on us," Ricky said as Mateo zipped up his bag.
Mateo shook his head. "I was doing something."
"Yourself?" Ricky joked.
"Nope. I got a note to change sports. I'm gonna do track, soccer and swimming now. Swimming is once a week on Friday, apparently. I looked at the charts on the way back."
"You almost drowned in the shower once. How are you gonna do swimming?" Ricky asked smugly.
"Look, I was high and having a bad day and things happened, but I'm over that now. I can swim now. I don't drown. I got my swimming certificate last month."
"Grade one?"
"Three. I can swim in the big pool now. I'm a big boy, I'll be fine." Mateo groaned as he sat down on the bench. "Thanks for your concern, Ricky."
Ricky shrugged. "Aight, but don't come crying to me if you don't make the cut."
"I will make it. I am Mateo the shark." He said as he wiped himself down with a towel.
"Okay, Sharkteo. We still have Science to cover."
Mateo gulped. He wanted the damn day to be over already.
___
A/N: What's your favorite 80s song? Curious to know!
Thank you for reading! As always, votes, comments, and library adds are encouraged!