It was like all of middle school had been building up to those three Failures and one D plus.

The kids in the room right then probably had perfect scores on everything.

“I heard you guys were looking for volunteers,” Marianne piped up. “And it’s extra credit to join?” She had to make sure of that part.

“We are. It is,” Mr. Garcia responded, expressionless.

Dan jumped in, looking at Vi even as he spoke to Marianne, to say, “Yes, we are! And tomorrow is the last day to submit our final roster, so sign on the bottom line—you’re in.”

Nina whispered something to Vi, and Vi shook her head. What was it?

“Great!” Marianne grinned at Dan.

This would be awful.

She had to do it.

Mr. Garcia tapped a stack of papers on the wood to straighten them and said, “But this is a serious commitment.”

“Got it. I’m totally in.” Marianne did her best to ignore Vi’s mutterings and Nina’s whispering and she tried to think of what a student who was passing Mr. Garcia’s classes would say.

“I’m here to learn!” She smiled at Mr. Garcia—her broadest, brightest, toothiest grin.

And he looked at her like she looked at math—with absolutely zero understanding.

“She’s here for the extra credit,” Vi spat out. “And I get it!” she added, in what may have been an unsuccessful attempt to soften her edges. “But look, maybe someone else will join if we spread the word enough—”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough, Ms. Cross…” Mr. Garcia tried to stop her.

“The deadline for the roster is tomorrow!” Dan said. “Obviously, everyone just wants to be on Junior Diplomats or Academic Games! Can you blame them? They constantly win everything,” he lamented.

“We won our way to Regionals!” Vi argued. “That’s a recruitment tool right there.”

Dan groaned. “There’s no time, and we’ll be disqualified without enough teammates! Are you serious?” He looked to Mr. Garcia for backup.

“Ms. Cross.” Mr. Garcia enunciated each word like a warning. “I hear your concerns. And I promise you, I will do what’s best for the team.” With that, he cleared his throat and said, “Welcome, Ms. Blume.” He took a seat at the teacher’s desk. “Let’s dive right in. Scrimmage time. Ms. Blume, you’ll be with Mr. Griffin.”

The three other kids jumped up. Desk legs screeched across the floor as they set up. They sat in pairs across from one another.

In a rapid flurry, folders and notebooks and buzzers came out of everyone’s bags.

“Wait, so we’re practicing … now? Right away?” Marianne hadn’t thought they’d jump right in like that. She didn’t even know the rules yet.

Panic hit her. Dan, who’d been so welcoming, was about to see that she had nothing to offer. Vi was about to prove who Marianne really was.

Why had she gone through with such a terrible idea?

Mr. Garcia arranged his materials on the teacher’s desk. He straightened his tie. A boring navy blue one that day. “Ms. Cross will explain as we go. Feel free to merely observe for now, but, of course, you may jump in at any time. If you are prepared to answer, simply hit the buzzer.”