"Where is everyone?" Jonathan Cho asked. He brushed his long black hair from his eyes so he could see better.
He and his best friend, Carlos Ruiz, stood near the soccer field. They were looking for other thirteen-year-olds.
"My mom told me our new soccer team was meeting here today."
"My dad told me the same thing, but I don't see any other players," Carlos said.
"Maybe we joined an invisible team by mistake," Jonathan joked. "Feel around for them."
Carlos laughed and waved his hands through the air.
Jonathan pretended to shake an invisible hand. "Hello, invisible teammate. Nice to see you. Or not see you." not
Carlos laughed again, which was one of the things that Jonathan liked best about his friend.
Carlos understood Jonathan's strange sense of humor.
"Hey, I think some people are at the other end of the park." Carlos pointed.
Jonathan spotted a small group of guys. "That must be our team."
Jonathan and Carlos hurried toward them. As they got closer, Jonathan recognized a few boys, including Aaron and Andrew Russell.
They were twins who lived on Jonathan's street.
Both of them were good soccer players.
A tall, bald man stood with the group, frowning at a clipboard. Jonathan figured he was the coach.
"See that guy on the left?" Carlos pointed to a lanky boy in the group. "Isn't that Max Wattenbarger?"
"It is! Awesome!" Jonathan said. Max Wattenbarger was an excellent soccer player.
He and Jonathan both played the position of forward. Working together, they could score a lot of goals.
Jonathan played in the recreational league, which focused on having fun, improving skills, and letting everyone play.
That was fine with Jonathan. He loved running outside on the grass, trying to become a better player, and being part of a team.
Of course, Jonathan liked winning much more than losing. He'd bet he'd win a lot with Max Wattenbarger on his team.
While Carlos talked to the twins, Jonathan went over to Max, who was expertly juggling a soccer ball with his feet.
"Hey, Max. I'm Jonathan." He grinned. "This is the first time I'm actually happy to see you with a soccer ball!"
"Huh?" Max frowned.
"I was kidding," Jonathan said quickly. "I meant you're such a good player that it's tough to play against you. We've never been on the same team before."
The coach stepped closer to Jonathan.
"Max isn't just a good player. He's a great player. He learned from the best." goodgreat
"From Lionel Messi?" Jonathan joked.
Neither Max nor the coach smiled.
"I was joking again," Jonathan explained to them. But they didn't seem to get Jonathan's sense of humor.
Now the coach was scowling.
"If you spent more time practicing soccer skills and less time trying to be funny, maybe you'd be a great player like Max," he said.
"I should know what it takes. I've been training Max for soccer stardom since he was three years old.
I'm Max's father—and your new coach."
Jonathan gulped. Coach Wattenbarger seemed stern. He obviously took soccer very seriously.
"It's nice to meet you, Coach. I'm Jon—"
"We're wasting time," the coach interrupted him. Then he said in a booming voice, "Listen up, everyone!
I'm Coach Wattenbarger. I'll keep this meeting short so we can start practicing as soon as possible.
You don't need to introduce yourselves. Just know who I am and who Max is." He clapped a hand on Max's shoulder.
"He's my son. More importantly, he's the best player in the league. With Max on our team, I expect us to win every game!"
The boys cheered.
Coach Wattenbarger held up his hand to silence them. "We'll quickly vote on a team name, hold practice, and then hand out uniforms.
Our uniforms are red, by the way. Let's pick our team's name fast."
Jonathan liked choosing team names. "How about the Red Hot Suns?"
"Or the Dragons," Carlos said.
Aaron said, "How about—"
"We're wasting time. Picking a team name won't help us win. Practice will help us win," Coach Wattenbarger said. Practice
"It's time to vote. Raise your hand if you like the name Max Attacks."
"But . . . What about—" A couple of kids tried to protest, but the coach cut them off.
"Who votes for the name Team Mighty Max?" he asked.
Again, no one raised his hand.
"The final choice is Team Wattenbarger," the coach said.
Only Max Wattenbarger raised his hand.
"Team Wattenbarger got the most votes, so our name will be Team Wattenbarger!" the coach barked.
"This is more like 'Team What a Bummer,'" Jonathan thought. He'd wanted a name to go with the team's red uniforms.
Anything would be better than Team Wattenbarger. Well, not the Big Red Pimples. Or the Itchy Red Rashes.
Still, Team Wattenbarger was an awful name.
Jonathan raised his hand. "Coach, how about the Red Lightning Bolts?"
The coach glanced up at the sky. "I don't see any lightning bolts. Time for practice!"
The coach set up the first drill. Everyone had to take turns passing the ball to Max.
Then Max got to dribble the ball down the field and shoot it into the goal.
Max was an impressive player. He ran very fast and had excellent control of the ball.
But Jonathan wished he and his teammates could practice shooting too.
After an hour, which felt to Jonathan like ten hours, Coach Wattenbarger told everyone to drink some water and collect a uniform.
Jonathan picked up his water bottle, but he wasn't thirsty. He'd hardly done anything during practice except stand in line and watch Max.
And now he was in line again, to get his uniform.
Jonathan watched Coach Wattenbarger give Max his uniform.
"The number one player gets to wear number one on his jersey," Jonathan murmured.
Jonathan's own uniform had number zero on it. He held up his jersey next to Max's and joked, "Look—here are the hero and the zero."
Carlos and some other boys laughed, but Max rolled his eyes.
"Max Wattenbarger is a great soccer player," Jonathan thought, "but he has no sense of humor."
If they were on a sense-of-humor team together, Jonathan would be number one and Max would be zero.
Then it was Jonathan's turn to roll his eyes—at himself. They were not on a sense-of-humor team.
They were on a soccer team. And it was a soccer team with his best friend—and with the best player in the league.
"So you're actually really lucky," he told himself. "It's going to be a fantastic season."