Double or Nothing by Belle Payton Page B

pretty well today, and yesterday during conditioning I had the second-fastest time in the pro-agility test and the fourth-fastest time in the shuttle endurance drill.”
    Coach looked impressed. “You’ve got both speed and quickness, honey,” he said approvingly.
    â€œAren’t those the same?” Alex asked, pausing midway through practicing her speech.
    â€œSpeed is how fast you can go, but quickness is how fast you can change speed or direction,” Coach explained.
    Alex nodded and tuned them out again.
    â€œAnd today they made me practice with the quarterbacks and receivers,” Ava continued. “Because I guess they didn’t know where else to put me.”
    Mrs. Sackett elbowed Coach meaningfully. “Michael. Tell Ava what we’ve decided.”
    Ava pushed away her uneaten spaghetti and looked at her dad. She had no idea what he was going to say. He was so adamant about parents not fighting kids’ battles for them, especially when it came to sports. And yet, right now she was feeling pretty unsure what to do.
    â€œSport,” said Coach. “You mother and I are going to support you the best we can with this situation. It’s tricky, as I’m sure you know, because I’m the coach of the Tigers.”
    â€œBut I’m not the coach of the Tigers!” said Mrs. Sackett fiercely. Her eyes were bright, and she had two pink spots on her cheeks. “I can say whatever I want to them!”
    â€œLaur,” said Coach, putting a hand over hers. “Ave, we’ve decided it would be best if your mother came with you next Wednesday to the school board meeting. But in the meantime, you can come to my practices. You can participate in the conditioning we do, and you can practice kicking when we’re not using that end of the field.”
    â€œAnd I’ll have some time this weekend to work out with you,” said Tommy. “I need to do some passing drills and you can be my receiver.”
    â€œThanks,” said Ava. “The whole thing just seems so dumb. I don’t get why it’s such a big deal. I’m not any more likely to get hurt than any of the guys.”
    â€œI know, right?” Alex finally piped up.
    Ava looked at her.
    Alex shrugged. “Just trying to be supportive,” she said.
    â€œThanks a lot,” said Ava dryly.
    â€œAnd I can help you study your playbook,” said Mrs. Sackett. “So you’ll be able to come back knowing the plays.”
    â€œGreat,” said Ava. “Not exactly the perfect strategy for a kid with ADHD. Studying the playbook makes me go cross-eyed. I learn so much better when I actually do them.”
    â€œSpeaking of Ava’s ADHD,” said Tommy cheerfully, “my friend Luke says he wouldn’t mind interviewing to be a tutor for her. He wants to be a teacher, I guess.”
    â€œGood for him,” said Coach. “We’ll have to talk to him.” He turned toward Alex. “And how’s the campaign going, honey?”
    â€œOh, the campaign itself is fine,” said Alex. “But I don’t think I have a chance at winning. Logan has the jock vote, and Ella has the brainvote, so that leaves me the artsy kids and the delinquents, and I don’t think either of those groups even know there’s an election. Plus, Logan and Ella both seem to have unlimited campaign funds. Logan has no end of swag to pass out. His staffers were handing out candy bars yesterday”—she looked accusingly at Ava—“and today it was pencils with ‘Vote for Logan’ on them. And Ella’s posters look like they were done by professionals, which they were, because her dad owns a chain of copy shops.”
    â€œSounds like Ashland Middle School needs some campaign finance reform,” said Tommy.
    â€œGo ahead and make a joke,” said Alex, “but it’s actually so not funny. They’re obviously both independently