On Monday, I go to my first day of summer school. When I arrive, there is my old teacher, Mr. James. I say, “Hello, Mr. James! Lucky day! Guess what? It’s me! Francisco!”
Mr. James says, “Yes, I see that. Please sit down. It’s time for our very first test. You did do the pre-reading, right?”
I say, “I did not do the pre-reading. Or the reading. Or the post reading. I did not do any reading at all because it is summer and that is just wrong.”
He says, “Well. Here’s your test. It is fill-in-the-blank. Good luck. Please, sit down.”
But I cannot sit down. It is not sittingdowntime. It is summertime. Summer is time for skipping and prancing and playing soccer.
Mr. James says, “Get down from there. Give me the soccer ball, Cisco.”
Mr. …show more content…
I think that he ate too much pizza.
“Research is looking stuff up in books,” Pablo says.
“Ah!” I say. “If you ever have to research the topic, The Glorious History of Soccer in America: The Story of a Superstar Named Francisco, you could go back and research in my second book, How to Be a Soccer Star on Planet Earth, Book #2: The Try Ins which includes the essay, The Glorious History of Soccer in America: The Story of a Superstar Named Francisco.”
“So it was a creative writing class?” asks Marc.
They all laugh. I do not know why.
Tommy says, “It was Social studies. Which is why you did all that extra credit and still got an F.”
“ F+ ,” I say proudly. “The plus was for putting my name and date on it. I am very good at that stuff.”
“I guess F+ wasn’t enough to raise your grade,” Marc says.
I say, “Mr. James said that it brought it down.”
Pablo says, “Ouch.”
Francisco’s Soccer Rule #xx: You cannot be the best at everything.
Tommy says, “We gotta get you on Mr. James’s good side, Cisco. If you fail this class, mom’s gonna blame me. You gotta stay on top of this summer school business. Do you have homework, Cisco? A test coming up? I can help you. Cisco? You listening? You