Break All Rules intAnna. Anna was his girlfriend. Anna texted, “Call me.” Cole turned the radio...

5

Chapter

1 It was Friday night. Cole was at

home.Hehadhisradioon.Hiscellphone

chirped. He had a text message from

Anna.Anna was his girlfriend.Anna

texted,“Callme.”

Coleturnedtheradiodown.Thenhe

calledAnna. “Hi,Anna.When did you

gethome?”Coleasked.Annahadgoneto

seeherlittlesisterSara’splay.Thatwas

whysheandColedidn’thaveadate.

“Afewminutesago,”Annasaid.

“How was the play? Did you have a

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goodtime?”Coleasked.

Anna said, “The play was okay. But

Iwishyou’dbeentherewithme.Where

areyounow?Whathaveyoubeendoing

tonight?”

Cole said, “I’m at home. I have the

radioon.I’mtryingtofindouttheOak

Hillgame’sscore.”

The winner of the game would play

Dawson High in the state finals. Cole

was on the Dawson High team. He

playedtightend.

HehopedthatOakHilllost.OakHill

hadthebestteaminthestate.AndCole

didn’twanttoplaytheminthestatefinals.

Oak Hill had the best running back

inthestate.HisnamewasGarrett.And

Cole didn’t think Oak Hill could lose

withhimontheteam.

Anna said, “I’ll hang up. You can

listentotheradio.”

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“Youdon’thavetohangup.Icanfind

outthescorelater.I’msureOakHillwill

win,”Colesaid.

“I’llstillhangup.Iknowyouwantto

findoutthescorerightaway.Youcancall

metomorrowmorning,”Annasaid.

“Okay.I’lltalktoyouthen,”Colesaid.

Cole turned the radio back up. He

thoughtabout theOakHill game.Cole

couldn’tkeephismindonhishomework.

About twenty minutes later, his cell

phone rang.He turned the radiodown.

Thenhequicklyansweredhisphone.

Aboysaid,“Bro,it’sJeff.Ijustfound

outwhowontheOakHillgame.”

Jeff was Cole’s best friend. Jeff was

ontheDawsonHighteam.Andhewasa

tightend,too.

“Great.Whowon?”Coleasked.

“Badnews.OakHillwon,”Jeffsaid.“I

justhearditontheradio.OakHillwon

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by21points.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. But I

hopedtheywouldlose,”Colesaid.

Jeffsaid,“Yeah,metoo.ThatGarrett

guy’sagoodplayer.Idon’tthinkwecan

beatOakHillinthestatefinals.”

“Weneedtobelievewecanwin.Ifwe

don’t,wewon’thaveachance,”saidCole

“Yeah.Iknow.I’lltrytothinkwecan

win.But Idon’tbelievewecan.Unless

somethinghappens,”Jeffsaid.

“Likewhat?”Coleasked.

“I don’tknow.Butmaybe something

willhappenthatwillhelpus.Weneedall

thehelpwecanget,”Jeffsaid.

“You’rerightaboutthat,”Colesaid.

Theonlythingthatwouldhelpwasif

Garrettdidn’tplay.AndColedidn’twant

Garrett togethurt.Colecouldn’t think

ofanythingelsethatcouldhelpDawson

Highwin.

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Chapter

2 ItwasMondayafternoon.Colewasat

footballpractice.Jeffwasthere,too.They

were talking about the Oak Hill game.

TheirfriendRickranovertothem.Rick

wastheback-upcenter.

Ricksaid,“Idon’tknowwhyIcameto

footballpracticetoday.”

“What do you mean by that?” Cole

asked.

Jeffsaid,“Yeah.Whatdoyoumeanby

that?Weallhavetopractice.Sowehave

tobeheretoday.”

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“There isn’t any reason to practice.

We’llstillloseonSaturday.There’snoway

wecanbeatOakHill.Sowhypractice?”

Rickasked.

CoachBrentblewhiswhistle.Hewas

thefootballcoach.

Coach Brent yelled to the team. He

said,“Guys,allofyoucomeoverhere.We

needtogetstarted.”Theboysranoverto

him.

CoachBrentsaid,“I thinkallofyou

alreadyknowthis.We’llplayOakHillin

MacononSaturdayafternoon.”

Coleknewthecoachwasright.Allof

the players knew it.And none of them

were happy about it.They didn’t want

to play Oak Hill.Their winning streak

wouldbeover.

Coach Brent said,“I want you to be

restedforthegame.Sowe’llgotoMacon

afterschoolonFriday.”

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“Thatsoundsgoodtome,”Jeffsaid.

Cole was glad about that, too. He

wouldn’thavetogetupearlyonSaturday.

AndthenrideonabustoMaconmostof

themorning.

Coach Brent said, “Our game with

Oak Hill will be a tough one.And you

willneedtoworkhardallweek.Youwill

needtobeatyourbestforthegame.”

“Why does it matter, Coach?” Rick

asked.

Cole couldn’t believe Rick asked the

coach that. Some of the other players

lookedsurprised,too.

CoachBrentlookedatRick.Hedidn’t

look pleased with Rick. “What do you

meanbythat,Rick?”heasked.

Ricksaid,“WehavetoplayOakHill.

And Oak Hill is the best team in the

state.There’snowaywecanbeatthem.

NotwiththatdudeGarrettontheteam.”

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“That’sthewrongwaytothink,Rick,”

CoachBrentsaid.

“Yeah,Rick,”Colesaid.

“Yeah,”someoftheotherboyssaid.

“You’rewrong,Rick.We’llbeatthem,”

saidanotherboy.

“Yeah,” most of the boys said. But

not all of them looked as though they

believedit.

Ricksaid,“Noway.We’llneverbeable

tobeatOakHill.”

CoachBrentlookedatRickagain.He

stilldidn’tlookpleased.

He said, “You might be right, Rick.

Butyouneedtothinkaboutsomething.”

“What?”Rickasked.

Coach Brent said, “On any day the

bestteamcanlose.Andonanydaythe

teamthatisn’tthebestteamcanwin.”

Coleknewthatwastrue.

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Coach Brent said,“We might not be

asgoodasOakHill.But thisSaturday

couldbetheirdaytolose.Sowehaveto

bereadytowin.”

Coach Brent told the team about

someotherteamsthathadwon.Noone

had thought they had a chance to win.

Buttheywonanyway.

Then Coach Brent said, “So think

about that, Rick.And all of you guys

think about that, too. We might be

able tobeatOakHill.Butyouhave to

practicehard.Youmustbereadytobeat

them.”

CoachBrentlookedatalloftheboys.

ThenhelookedbackatRick.

“Anythingelseyou’dliketosay,Rick?”

heasked.

“No,”Ricksaid.

ThenRicklookeddownattheground.

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Cole said,“Coach Brent is right.We

need to practice hard. Then we’ll be

readytobeatOakHillonSaturday.”

Cole still wasn’t sure they could beat

OakHill.

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5

Chapter

1 Raewalkeddown thehall at school.

She was on her way to class.Then she

sawJess.Jesswasherbestfriend.

Rae wanted to talk to Jess. So she

hurriedtomeether.

Raeyelled,“Jess,waitforme!”

Raelookedverymad.Andshesounded

verymad,too.

Jess stopped and waited for Rae.

“Youlookmad,Rae.What’swrong?”Jess

asked.

Raehissed,“You’dbetterbelieve I’m

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mad.I’llpayherback.Ipromise!”

“Whyareyousoupset,Rae?Andwho

doyouwanttopayback?”Jessasked.

“Torie,” Rae said.Torie was in her

scienceclass.Raedidn’tlikeTorie.

“WhatdidToriedo?”Jessasked.

“She had a date with Chance last

Fridaynight.I just foundoutabout it,”

Raesaid.

Rae and Chance had gone on a few

dates.AndRaelikedhimalot.

Jesssaid,“Calmdown,Rae.Itisn’ta

bigdeal.”

“Itistome.IlikeChance,”Raesaid.

Jesssaid,“Don’tworryaboutit.Torie

likes Brad. So I don’t think she’ll date

Chanceforlong.”

“I don’t care. She shouldn’t have

datedChanceatall,”Raesaid.

Raestilllookedmad.

Jess said, “Rae, Torie really likes

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Brad, not Chance. So you are getting

upsetaboutnothing.”

“I’mnotupsetaboutnothing.AndI’ll

payTorieback,”Raesaid.

“Forgetaboutit,Rae.It’snobigdeal,”

Jesssaidagain.

“It is to me. Just you wait and see,”

Raesaid.

Jess looked worried. “What are you

goingtodo,Rae?”sheasked.

“TorielikesBrad.I’llgetBradtoask

meoutonadate.AndthatwillpayTorie

back,”Raesaid.

“You don’t even like Brad. You’ve

never wanted to date him before. So

whydoyouwanttodatehimnow?”Jess

asked.

Jesswasrightaboutthat.Raedidn’t

like Brad.And she’d never wanted to

datehimbefore.

“I just told you why I want to date

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Brad.IwanttopayTorieback.Shedated

Chance.AndIhavetogetevenwithher,”

Raesaid.

“Forgetaboutit,Rae,”Jesssaid.

Raesaid,“Idon’tcarewhatyouthink,

Jess.I’llgetBradtoaskmeout.”

“Don’tdoit,Rae.Youdon’tevenlike

Brad,”Jesssaid.

“So what? I just want to date him,”

Rae said. “I don’t want to marry him,”

Raesaid.

“But it wouldn’t be fair to get Brad

todateyou.Youwouldn’twantaguyto

date you to get even with another girl.

Thinkofhowthatwouldmakeyoufeel.

AndBradwouldfeelthatway,too,”Jess

said.

“He won’t know the reason why I

wanttodatehim,”Raesaid.

“But someone might tell him,” Jess

said.

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“You’re the only person who knows.

And you won’t tell him, will you?” Rae

asked.

“No.Buthecouldstillfindout,”Jess

said.

“Noway.Onlytwoofuswouldknow.

You are my best friend.You won’t tell

him.AndIsurewon’t,”Raesaid.

“Don’tdoit,Rae.Thinkaboutitsome

more.Thinkabouthowyouwouldfeel,”

Jesssaid.

“Don’ttrytomakemefeelbad,Jess.

I’ll get a date with Brad.And I’ll pay

Torieback.Justyouwaitandsee,”Rae

said.

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Chapter

2 Raehurriedintothelunchroom.She

gotherlunch.ThenshelookedforJess.

Rae saw Jess sitting at a table. Rae

hurriedovertothetable.Andshequickly

satdown.RaelookedatJess.

“Ihaveaplan.AndIcan’twaittotell

youaboutit,”Raeblurted.

“Whatkindofplan?”Jessasked.

“AplantogetBradtoaskmeouton

adate,”Raesaid.Shehadabigsmileon

herface.

Jess said, “Forget about Brad.And

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12

forgetaboutyourplan,Rae.”Jesslooked

worriedagain.

“Noway,Jess.Don’tyouwanttohear

myplan?”Raeasked.

Jess said, “Not really. But I guess

you’lltellmeanyway.”

“I foundoutBradwillbeat thepep

rally tonight,”Raesaid.Theschoolhad

afootballgamethenextnight.Andthe

schoolalwayshadapeprallythenight

before.

Rae said, “Brad is going by himself.

And I’ll go without a date, too.” She

laughed. “I’ll get my dad to take me.

That’sthefirstpartofmyplan.”

“Doyouwantmetogowithyou?”Jess

asked.

“Youcanridetothepeprallywithme.

But we can’t stay together once weget

there.You’llhave to findyourownway

home,”Raesaid.

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Jessasked,“Why?Didyourdad say

hecouldn’tcomebackandgetyou?”

“No,”Raesaid.Shelaughedagain.

“Then why would I need to find my

ownwayhome?IsthereareasonwhyI

can’tridehomewithyou?”Jessasked.

Rae said, “Yes. I told my dad that I

didn’twanthimtocomebackforme.”

Jess looked surprised.“Why did you

tellyourdadthat?”Jessasked.

“Itoldyou.Ihaveaplan,”Raesaid.

“Sowhat’syourplan?”Jessasked.

“I’ll look for Brad at the pep rally.

ThenI’llgethimtotakemehome,”Rae

said.

“Alotofpeoplewillbeatthepeprally,

Rae.Youmightnotseehim,”Jesssaid.

“Don’tworryaboutthat.I’llfindBrad.

Youcancountonthat,”Raesaid.

“Maybe. But you can’t be sure that

he’lltakeyouhome,”Jesssaid.

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