Scrubs Forever! by Jamie McEwan

chapter 2
    DON’T BREAK 
 THE HANDS
    That afternoon, Dan was nervous. It was the last match of the season!
    Waiting for his turn wasn’t much fun. Watching his teammates wrestle just made him more nervous. His wrestling uniform seemed too tight, and his shoes seemed too loose. Dan’s heart was pounding, but his hands were cold. He couldn’t seem to warm them up.
    â€œCome on, Dan, relax,” said his big friend Rufus. “This is supposed to be fun, right?”
    â€œFun? This isn’t fun. This is battle.”
    â€œIt was a wrestling match, last I checked,” said Rufus.
    â€œI’ve just
got
to win it. You know what they say: ‘Winning isn’t everything. It’s the
only
thing.’”
    â€œThat doesn’t even make sense,” said Rufus.
    â€œMakes sense to me,” said Dan.
    Finally Dan’s turn came. He shook hands with a tough-looking kid just his size. The whistle blew. Dan went right after him. He took his opponent down—but then the guy reversed him. Dan put the guy on his back for a second—and then the guy put Dan on his back. It went back and forth like that until Dan wasn’t even sure who was on top or who was ahead.
    But at the end of the match, after they shook hands, it was the other guy’s hand that was raised over his head. Dan had lost.
    In the locker room Dan was so mad he kicked a locker. He raised his fists to bang on it, too, but Willy and Rufus grabbed his arms to stop him.
    â€œI worked so hard!” yelled Dan.
    â€œHey, take it easy,” said Rufus.
    â€œCome on,” said Willy. “So you lost a match. You’re the one who’s always saying, ‘What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.’ I don’t think that’s true of beating your fists on the locker, though. That just makes you injured.”
    â€œYeah,” said Rufus, “if you break your hands, you won’t be able to go climbing tomorrow.”
    â€œOkay, okay,” said Dan. He lay on his back on the bench. “Man, I’ve had it,” he said. “I’ve really had it. I give up. I’m tired of being the smallest kid in the class. I’m tired of getting chosen last when we play volleyball at recess. I worked so hard at football! And I was still lousy. I worked so hard at wrestling! I’m telling you, I give up.”
    â€œAre you kidding me?” asked Willy. “You’re the guy who’s always telling us things like, ‘There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.’”
    â€œAnd,” said Rufus, “‘The harder you fall, the higher you bounce!’”
    â€œAnd, ‘If at first you don’t succeed—’”
    â€œCan it, guys,” said Dan, “I don’t want to hear it.”
    â€œWhat I say is,” said Willy, “that win or lose, the Scrubs still have fun. ‘We came to play,’ right?”
    â€œNo, I’m telling you, I’m tired of being a Scrub.”
    â€œHey, man, we’re proud of being Scrubs!” said Rufus.
    â€œNot me. I tell you, I’m tired of it,” said Dan.
    Biff had come in from the showers while they were talking. “Yeah, you guys think you’re so cool,” he said, “but you’re too old for that stupid Scrubs stuff. Right, Dan?” Biff was an older kid, and one of the ‘in’ group. He’d never been friendly with Dan.
    â€œYou think so?” asked Dan.
    â€œYeah,” said Biff. “You’ve outgrown it.”

chapter 3
    TO PULL OR 
 NOT TO PULL
    When Dan got home from school, the house was quiet. He went into his room and put on one of his CDs. He sat in his chair and looked at his posters. There were national champion wrestlers and pro-football stars and top climbers and kayakers all over his walls.
    He wondered if those guys had ever lost as often as he had.
    After a while, he heard his father come home. Dan