Slugfest

After missing three months of school because she broke her foot in a skiing accident, Cleo Marchand has to make up all her eighth-grade classes to graduate, including gym. While she loves sports, she’s quit them for good because “nothing is worth what [she’s] been through these past few months” (10). On her first day, she literally bumps into Yash, who’s asleep in front of her locker. The two swap stories about why they’re stuck at summer school, both lamenting how they’re losing their time off. Cleo has decided to make the most of it by signing up for the theater club, but Yash plans to spend every period but gym class sleeping because he isn’t going to waste his time. Cleo finds his attitude annoying and stomps off.

Slugfest is taught by Mrs. Finnerty, who used to teach second grade and got roped into overseeing summer-school gym. She has a positive attitude and keeps the kids busy with games like Red Light, Green Light and Duck, Duck, Goose. Despite Cleo’s annoyance with Yash, she has to admit that he’s an amazing athlete—fast, nimble, and strong. When the group plays Duck, Duck, Goose, he makes two rotations of the circle before the kid he tagged can even stand up. When the kid tags him simply by letting Yash run into his hand, Yash debates his loss as if he’s arguing with a referee.

Cleo can’t believe Yash’s ego and resolves to outrun him during tag. He’s faster than she thought, though, so she tricks him instead—stopping short while he charges past. Yash is amazed. At the end of class, Mrs. Finnerty offers the kids brownies. At first, Cleo is annoyed that she’s treating them like babies, but she changes her mind when the brownie is the best she’s ever tasted. All the other kids think so too, except Yash, who leaves without eating one.

Yash runs out of gym so that he can make it to the high school in time for the summer football workout. On the way, he thinks about the move Cleo pulled. He can’t believe she bested him because that never happens, and “it definitely doesn’t happen in a gym full of slugs” (30). He reaches the practice just as it ends and meets up with two of his friends, who tease him about Slugfest. Since Yash isn’t technically in high school, he can’t come to practice or participate in the football tournament next month. He’s sure that the team will be useless without him, but his friends point out a new kid, Nitro Nate, who’s good enough to take Yash’s place. Yash feels sick at the idea that Slugfest might cost him his place on the football team.

Arabella Hopp hates that she’s forced to attend summer school for gym: She doesn’t want to participate in physical education and feels that being forced to do so is a violation of her rights. The only thing that makes summer school bearable is a class in investigative journalism, which Arabella plans to use to expose the corruption behind compulsory physical education.

One day during the second week of summer school, Mrs. Finnerty has the class bake pizzas instead of playing games. While Arabella prefers cooking to forced exercise, the change sets her investigative journalism bells ringing because it seems fishy for a second-grade teacher to be in charge of gym and then to avoid typical gym activities. She poses the idea that the gym class doesn’t count unless it’s taught by a real gym teacher. Everyone shrugs this off but Yash. Rather, he looks haunted, and Arabella thinks this is good because “people need to be woken up sometimes” (52).

As the kids watch one of the pizzas in the oven, it explodes. Jesse put firecrackers in it as a prank. Mrs. Finnerty isn’t amused. She gives Jesse’s pizza to the owner of the ruined one and makes Jesse clean out the oven while everyone else eats. At the end of lunch, Yash asks Arabella if she thinks the gym credit really might not count. Arabella doesn’t know, but she suggests that Yash take investigative journalism if he wants to learn how to get to the truth.

Yash plays football in the mall with his friends over the weekend—mall security officers recognize Yash and do not intervene. The entire time, Yash worries about Arabella’s theory: “[T]he only thing worse than being a slug is being a slug for nothing” (57). It doesn’t help that Yash’s friends and the cheerleaders seem to think less of him because of Slugfest. Kaden, who’s also in Slugfest, comes to say hi, and Yash sees his football buddy preparing to punt the football into Kaden’s shopping bag. Yash pretends to fumble to stop his friend, amazed that he’s sticking up for a slug.

The new football player, Nitro Nate, also drops by. The cheerleaders seem very impressed with him, and Yash’s friends suck up to him. Nate casually mentions that he’s heard a lot about Yash, to which Yash goes on the defensive. The exchange gets awkward, and by the time it’s over, Yash wonders if his friends really still think he’s the best.

Kaden Cooperman is at slugfest because he skipped gym throughout eighth grade to get away from being taunted in the locker room. One day, he arrives at class to find Yash begging Cleo to be his workout buddy to prepare for football season. When Cleo refuses, Kaden volunteers. Everyone stares at him, and he immediately thinks, “[I]f I could take back my words, swallow them, choke on them, I would” (68). Remembering how Yash stood up for him at the mall, though, Kaden doesn’t take it back.

Kaden gets physically exhausted after almost no activity at all. Yash sits Kaden down while he throws, continually missing his target. Kaden explains that Yash isn’t compensating for wind resistance, and Yash improves his aim dramatically. He thanks Kaden, telling him that he’s awesome. Kaden looks shocked, and suddenly, Yash feels guilty because he realizes that “Kaden has been called a lot of things by guys like [Yash], but awesome probably isn’t one of them” (73).

In the investigative journalism class, Arabella hounds the teacher about investigating all the summer-school teachers to make sure that they’re qualified. Yash panics, thinking that if Mrs. Finnerty is outed, he’ll never pass gym. To distract from Finnerty, Yash latches on to another classmate’s story, about a girl who kicked a dog, which takes up the rest of class. In gym, Mrs. Finnerty brings the kids outside to play a game where they need to run with a spoonful of lemonade to fill a pitcher. At first, Yash is embarrassed, but he soon realizes that the task is a lot harder than it looks. Still, it makes him really wonder if Mrs. Finnerty is qualified to teach the class.

Watching Yash work himself ragged makes Cleo certain that giving up sports was the right choice. Still, it feels like there’s a hole in her life, which the theater club isn’t filling. The director picked a musical called Andromedon—a science-fiction version of Lord of the Rings. The final monologue is supposed to be delivered by someone with a booming voice, but there’s no one in the cast who can do it. Cleo makes it her job to find someone, but the only student with the right voice is Yash. She offers to train with him if he reads the monologue, but Yash refuses.

The other slugs start hanging around Yash more, which makes Cleo feel like an outcast. Cleo is also the only person who doesn’t believe that Mrs. Finnerty is unqualified. The other kids, especially Arabella, argue, citing what they’ve learned in investigative journalism. Cleo realizes that “the only way to stop this is from the inside” (92), and she decides to sign up for investigative journalism.

Yash visits one of his football friends, who has the team’s playbook in his room. When Yash tries to look at it, his friend yanks it away. The two argue about Yash’s commitment to football. Yash says that he can’t come to practice because he’s not allowed, but his friend doesn’t believe this excuse: The whole town has bent over backward for Yash several times, and he doesn’t see why they can’t do it again. In addition, Nate has proven himself just as good, if not better, than Yash, and though Yash knew that this was possibility, he’s floored with the realization that “they don’t need [him]” (98). Yash leaves, feeling dejected.

Jesse Darrowick is in summer school because he pulled a prank that flooded the school and a nearby store. At lunch one day, the kids hack the state government website to see if Mrs. Finnerty is listed as a certified teacher. She’s not, which shakes everyone. Arabella wants to expose the truth, but Yash warns her not to because it won’t end well for any of them. The principal makes an announcement that there will be an open house in two weeks for the kids, teachers, and other community members, which will include the monologue from Cleo’s play. The group worries that Arabella will try to expose Mrs. Finnerty at the open house. Yash tells Cleo that he’ll do the play, and for Jesse, it’s the moment when he realizes that “Yash is more than another dumb jock” (109).