CHAPTER TWELVE PRESSURE RONDE WAS REALLY ENJOYING PRACTICE FOR a change. Instead of trying to impress all his coaches and teammates—which never ended up working, it seemed—he was just having fun. It was sort of like playing on Mews Hill Drive—the results didn’t count in the standings. Besides, it was the only chance he and Tiki had to do much playing, because in the games, they were going to be spending most of their time sitting. So why shouldn’t he enjoy practice? Ronde thought. During today’s scrimmage, Coach Spangler had mixed the groups up, to give everybody a new look. He didn’t want them getting too comfortable, always practicing with the same people. Which was how Ronde wound up swatting away a perfectly thrown pass from Matt Clayton to Curt Schoenig. “Good job, Barber!” he heard Coach Pellugi shout. Ronde realized that the coach didn’t know whether his first name was Tiki or Ronde, but he didn’t care. So long as “Barber” equaled “good,” that was okay with him.
