32-Not Into Sports
Peep fidgeted at his desk. So far he'd managed to keep his invisible cloak a secret. Other than a soccer jock accidentally stepping on the back of it and hurling Peep to the ground, (he resembled Charlie Brown missing the football!) it had been an uneventful 2 hours. Peep knew it could all change during gym class.
Normally PE filled him with dread but today it filled him with horror. He could fake a stomach ache and go to the nurse's office but he'd done that one time too many. His mom warned him to stop and Nurse Tidybowl was on to him.
When the bell rang Peep began tucking his invisible cape inside the front of his skinny jeans. They bulged funny. He looked ridiculous but had no choice. He pulled his oversized black hoodie over his pants and he appeared to be smuggling a small puppy.
As he was about to leave the classroom Mrs. Dyer yanked on his black hood. "What are you hiding Peep?"
Peep gulped. Slowly he turned around and said, "Nothing ma'am."
Mrs. Dyer eyed him suspiciously. She asked, "Then why do you resemble Santa Clause today? Is your belly filled with jelly?" She laughed at her own joke then added, "Ho, ho, ho!"
Peep spoke cautiously to his teacher, "Oh no Mrs Dyer... " He stalled. "It's uh... just that... this sweatshirt is much too big for me. Uh... my mother says she's gonna try and shrink it in the dryer. Yeah... that's it..."
Mrs Dyer insisted, "Take off your jacket Peep."
Peep carefully unzipped his sweatshirt while simultaneously untucking the invisible cloak. It cascaded to the floor. Mrs Dyer took a step closer to examine Peep's normal thin frame.
She ordered him to, "Turn around." When nothing seemed out of the ordinary she said, "That's odd," Mrs Dyer continued, "Hand me your sweatshirt." Peep obeyed. Mrs Dyer turned the sweatshirt inside out looking for whatever he was hiding. "You mister are some sort of magician."
Peep thought, "Ya think?" Mrs. Dyer had no idea how good of a magician he actually was.
Mrs. Dyer handed Peep his jacket and said, "You may go. But no more funny business."
As Peep turned to leave he realized Mrs Dyer happened to be standing on the edge of his cloak. She was clueless and he was stuck!
"I said you may go Mr. Peep." She gestured toward the door with her chin.
Peep hated when she called him, 'Mr. Peep.' He had to think of something to get her to move--and quick! "Mrs Dyer... I was wondering..."
"Yes?" She looked over her reading glasses and took a stop closer to Peep. As she did she stepped further down the cloak. It pulled on Peep's neck causing him to choke and cough. She panicked.
As Mrs. Dyer ran over to the classroom sink to get Peep a cup of water, he gathered up the garment and stuffed it into the back of his pants.
"Here you go," Mrs. Dyer said, handing Peep the dixie cup.
Peep slurped the water.
Mrs. Dyer tilted her head and studied the boy. "Peep would you like to rest here during PE? I've got some papers to grade. I'll call over to Coach Kim and let her know you won't be coming."
"Yes Mrs Dyer. I'd like that very much." Peep walked backwards to his seat, sat down and laid his head in his hands."
For 45 minutes Peep wondered how he'd get through the rest of the day. Hiding an invisible cloak was even harder than he thought it would be. Did Locket understand the trouble she always put him in? Her solutions always ended up being worse than the problem.
As the kids filtered back into the classroom Joey the Jock flicked Peep on the back of his head with a rubber band. "Hey Peep the Creep wake up! Tomorrow you're gonna be our goalie. Since you weren't there that's the only position left."
"Goalie?" Peep stirred from his nap. "I've never been a goalie before."
"Doesn't matter," spat Joey. He got right in Peep's face and said, "All yous gotta do is stop the black and white ballie from hitting the net—stupid. It's not that hard. It's us 3rd graders against the 4th graders and you'd better not make us lose."
"Whatever..." Peep laid his head back down in the crook of his arm. Then he got the best idea. What he'd do would astound Joey the Jock as well as all the 3rd and 4th graders in his gym class. And the best part? They'd never see it coming.
---
The next day during PE class Peep positioned himself as 3rd grade goalie. He wore the usual gym clothes (baggy blue shorts with a gray tee shirt) and his invisible cloak. He held his arms open wide while holding out the cape. He appeared to be saying, "Come and get me fourth graders!" Oh they tried but Peep managed to block each and every soccer ball from hitting the net. No matter where they kicked the ball Peep maneuvered his magic cloak and bounced the ball away from the goal. The 3rd graders cheered. The 4th graders boo'd. Once again Peep managed to turn Locket's lemons into lemonade.
After class the coach approached Peep. "Nice work out there buddy."
Peep's eyes grew wide. "Uh... Thanks."
The PE teacher pressed, "Are you on a team?"
Peek shook his head. He merely wanted to get out of there. He knew what was coming. He didn't want another square dancing fiasco.
Coach Kim continued, "Cuz I coach my son's soccer team and we could really use someone with your skill set.
Peep thought, "With my invisible shield you mean?" But instead he said, "Coach Kim, I'm not really into sports..."
She relied, "Not into sports? Nonsense! You're from America aren't you? What kind of American doesn't like sports?"
"Here we go..." Thought Peep. "Here we go again." Instead he said, "I'm gonna pass Coach Kim. Thanks anyway."
-End of Chapter 32-
Author's Note: I'm not that into sports either. We're all different. Different is beautiful. You're beautiful! Thank you for your support. You're voting, reading, commenting really inspires me! 💛✨💛✨💛✨💛
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top