Mr. Collins saw, and smiled.

“Does that mean you’ve picked half a subject, Lucas?” he said.

“Having some trouble,” he said.

“Picking a subject?”

“With my subject,” he said.

“Can I help?”

Lucas said, “It’s like the paper, I guess. I’ll have to figure it out myself.”

“I want the reporting on this to be as much fun as the writing,” Mr. Collins said.

“Same,” Lucas said.

Lucas wanted Gramps to change his mind on his own. But his mom was right. It was early in the game. Lucas wasn’t giving up. That wasn’t him. In anything.

On the way to the bus, Lucas asked Ryan if he’d picked his subject yet.

“No,” he said. “I was glad that Mr. Collins was looking at you after he asked the question, because both my hands were on my desk.”

“You’ll come up with somebody good,” Lucas said.

“It doesn’t matter whether I do or not,” Ryan said. “I’m no good at writing.”

“You can write,” Lucas said.

“Not like you.”

“Nobody’s asking you to write like me,” he said. “You just have to write like you.”

“You don’t understand,” Ryan said. “My dad told me last night that I’ve got to do better this semester than I did second semester last year. If I don’t, I can’t play sports second semester this year.”

“What does ‘better’ mean?”

“No more Cs,” Ryan said.

“For real?”

“For real,” he said. “Dad said he’s not asking me to be an A student. But that he knows I’m capable of better work. My mom agrees with him. So if any of my grades tank, I won’t be able to finish the season.”

“So we won’t let them tank,” Lucas said.

“They’re not your grades,” Ryan said.

“We’re a team, remember?”

“I can’t write!” Ryan said.

“And I used to think I couldn’t shoot from the outside,” Lucas said.

“You practiced and got better,” Ryan said.

“So can you.”

“The difference is that you love basketball,” Ryan said. “I’ll never love English.”

“Just think of the class,” Lucas said, “as a game you refuse to lose. Or a match in tennis.”

Ryan had gotten even better at tennis than he was at basketball over the last couple years, and was probably the best player their age in Claremont by now.

“I know I need a better attitude,” Ryan said.

“I can help you with that, too,” Lucas said.

“A for attitude?” Ryan said.