“One thing I do to at least try to keep myself young,” he said, “is to not be one of those old goats living in the past.”

“But you love basketball history,” Lucas said.

“Always remember something,” Gramps said. “The past is a nice place to visit sometimes. You just don’t want to stay there.”

That one went right into the journal.

In class that afternoon, Mr. Collins said it was time for a new writing assignment. The last one had been about friendship, and why friendship mattered. Lucas hadn’t just written about Ryan, but about Maria Chen, his other best friend.

“This is going to be a fun one,” Mr. Collins said.

“They’re always fun,” Maria said.

From the desk behind Maria, Ryan said, “Speak for yourself.”

“C’mon, Ryan,” Mr. Collins said. “We both know what kind of writer you can be when you apply yourself.”

“It’s not the writing I mind,” Ryan said. “It’s the rewriting.”

“But good writing is rewriting,” Mr. Collins said.

Ryan put his head down on his desk, as if that were the saddest thing he’d ever heard.

“I know,” he said. “I know.”

The rest of his classmates laughed. Even Ryan was laughing when he picked his head up.

“So what is the new topic?” Maria said.

“I want you all to write a short biography,” Mr. Collins said. “You all know what a biography is, right?”

Lucas raised his hand. The journal he was keeping was more like his own autobiography, a day at a time, but he knew the difference between that and a biography.

“You tell the story of somebody else’s life,” Lucas said.

“Exactly,” Mr. Collins said.

He was sitting on the front of his desk, legs dangling over the side. As usual he was wearing a pair of classic sneakers. These were old red-and-black Air Jordans, as cool as Mr. Collins was.

You could tell he loved teaching English the way Gramps loved teaching basketball.

“Who’s the biography supposed to be about?” Maria said.

“Someone you admire,” Mr. Collins said. “But here’s a little twist: It can’t be a parent.”

Lucas smiled, because he’d already decided who his subject would be.

“Can it be someone who’s like a parent?” he said.

Mr. Collins scratched his head, as if trying to look confused. “Gee,” he said, “can anybody help me out with who Lucas might be talking about here?”

“Gramps,” Ryan said.

“One hundred percent,” Maria said.

“So can it?” Lucas said.

“Absolutely,” Mr. Collins said. Then he told them that he was giving them more time to this assignment than he ever had before, that it wasn’t due until right before their Christmas break next month.

Best assignment yet, Lucas thought. And already his favorite, even if he hadn’t started.

He reached across the aisle and gave Ryan a low-five.

“This is going to be like a layup for you,” Ryan Moretti said.