Hothead

Luis scanned the field. The soccer ball was tucked between his feet. He searched and searched until… there! His friend Nicholas was wide open. He faked like he was going to pass to a teammate with a defender on him but at the last second passed the ball to Nicholas instead. Nicholas trapped the ball and started dribbling. Two defenders rushed towards him. But it didn’t matter. He was miles ahead of them, just like Luis had planned. Nicholas swung his leg back, kicked, and…

GOAL!!! Luis leaped up and down, celebrating. Nicholas grinned at him.

Just then, the teacher blew her whistle. It was time to head back inside for their next class.

“Thanks for the assist,” Nicholas said as he jogged up. “But if you’d seen me open earlier then I could have scored two goals in that time.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Luis said, “You’re such a pro, you could have dribbled circles around everyone before they even realized you had the ball.”

“You know it!” Nicholas said, totally unfazed by Luis’ sarcasm. The boys all grabbed for their Gatorade and water bottles, teasing each other about how they played and bragging about their own skills. Just then, Devon walked up, his face twisted in anger.

“What were you DOING out there Luis?!!” he yelled. Luis rolled his eyes. Devon had started playing soccer at recess with them a few weeks ago. He was a nice enough guy when he felt like things in the game had gone his way. But when he felt like they hadn’t… watch out.

“I was playing soccer. What were you doing?” Luis asked.

“Yeah, whatever, duh. But why didn’t you pass to me? You looked like you were about to and then you didn’t! I was WAY closer to the goal than Nicholas was.”

“Dude, you weren’t open. It’s just that simple.”

“I’m fast though!” Devon protested, his voice still loud and angry. “I could have lost Alex and Bayo like that!” He snapped his fingers loudly.

“Yeah, right!” jumped in Alex, who had been playing on defense. “You wish you could lose me!”

As the group walked in, Devon continued. Luis ignored him. He didn’t like being dragged into arguments. So that’s what he did with Devon most of the time — just ignored him. It almost always worked.

* * *

“I don’t like the way that Devon talks after soccer,” Nicholas said. Luis looked up from his phone. They took the same bus after school, although Nicholas got off at the first stop and Luis didn’t get off until the last stop.

“What do you mean?” he asked as Nicholas sat down.

“He’s always yelling at people and bragging about himself.”

“You brag about yourself,” Luis pointed out.

“Yeah, but I don’t yell at people,” said Nicholas. Luis nodded. That was true. “It isn’t right,” Nicholas continued. “He’s a bad sport. All that yelling. It makes soccer less fun.”

“So what do you want to do about it?” Luis asked. He could tell that Nicholas had a plan. His eyes had brightened, and he looked excited.

“I want to move to the other part of the soccer field. And then tell him that he can’t play with us anymore.”

“What? But isn’t that… isn’t that leaving him out?” Luis asked.

“Yeah, I mean I guess? Kind of.” Nicholas put his head down and started playing with his hands. “But come on. You know it was way more fun last year before he started playing with us.”

“Yeah… I mean, you have a point. But I don’t think he means to get so over the top. Why can’t we just ignore him? That’s what I’ve been doing.”

“Well I already talked to all the other guys,” Nicholas said. He looked up. His eyes were set in determination. “And they all agree with me.”

“All of them? You’ve talked to all of them?” Luis asked, startled. The bus started to slow down for Nicholas’ stop. Nicholas stood up, swinging his backpack back onto his shoulder.

“Yeah, I have. I know everyone has been getting sick of Devon ruining soccer for a while now. We all agree that it was more fun before he started playing with us. Even you said so.”

Luis gulped. He had said that. But still. Having all the boys who played soccer at recess get together tell Devon that he couldn’t play with them anymore? That seemed extreme.

He watched as Nicholas ran off the bus. He slumped forward in his seat. Now it was his turn to stare at his lap. He spent the rest of the ride trying to figure out what he should do tomorrow at recess.

By the time he walked in the front door, Luis still didn’t have an answer. His older brother, Omar, welcomed him with a wide smile from where he stood in front of the stove. Omar was the most weirdly cheerful person he had ever met. It was like nothing ever put him in a bad mood.

“What’s up, Luis?” Omar asked as he stirred a simmering pan of arroz con pollo. Omar went to college across town but saved money by living at home. He cooked dinner for Luis and his two younger sisters whenever their mom ended up stuck at work. Their dad always got home too late to make dinner anyway. Luis didn’t mind. He’d never tell either of his parents, but Omar could already cook circles around the both of them.

“Not much,” Luis said with a sigh, dropping his backpack onto the table. He unzipped it and a bunch of crumpled papers fell out.

“Bro, you gotta clean that out,” Omar said with a laugh. “That’s nasty!”

“It’s fine!” Luis shot back with more anger than he meant. He couldn’t help it though. He glared at Omar.

“Whoa, okay!” Omar said with his hands up. “Out with it. What’s wrong?”

It bugged Luis how Omar always knew if something was wrong. Stupid older brother telepathy.

“Nothing… it’s just… there’s this kid at school…”

Omar swung a chair around and pulled it up to the table. “What’s going on?”

Luis told him about Nicholas’ plan. Omar listened thoughtfully, and then said, “And you don’t want to leave him out?”

“No! I think that’s really mean. It’s just a game. Everyone should be able to play.”

“So tell Nicholas that it’s no big deal and that you want Devon to play.”

“I tried! But Nicholas wouldn’t listen. And also, well, I don’t want to tell Devon he can’t play with us. But Nicholas has a point. It isn’t fun when Devon yells at people.”

“Ahhhh,” said Omar, as he leaned back in the chair. “I have a question. Have any of you tried talking to Devon about this?”

“I don’t think so,” Luis said, scrunching his brow. “Maybe? I don’t know.”

“It sounds like what you need is a boundary,” Omar said. Luis rolled his eyes. Ever since Omar had started college, he’d been full of ideas and quick to lecture.

“Yeah, man, a boundary!” Omar leaned in. “Like alright, listen, when you play soccer, how do you know if someone is offsides?”

“When there are too many players across the line.”

“And what’s that line called?”

“... a boundary,” Luis mumbled begrudgingly.

“Exactly! So how can you expect Devon to know he’s crossing a line with how he talks to you if you don’t tell him?” Omar leaned back again, clearly thinking he had just solved all of Luis’ problems. Luis rolled his eyes again.

“Shouldn’t it be obvious that it isn’t fun if you yell at people?” he asked.

“Maybe it's obvious to you. But not to him. Just like it’s obvious to me that you should start setting the table for dinner. But apparently not to you.”

Luis sighed and started grabbing plates.

* * *

Luis thought about what Omar said. And he decided there wasn’t much to lose. Besides, it was the only thing he could think of that didn’t involve shutting Devon out or letting him keep yelling at people. So, the next day before school started he asked Devon if he could talk with him. His palms were sweaty, even though he’d already thought about what he was going to say.

“Listen Devon,” he started. “We like having you play soccer with us at recess. But none of the other guys like being yelled at and — ”

“I don’t yell at people,” Devon immediately interrupted.

“You yelled at me the other day because I didn’t pass to you,” Luis pointed out calmly. “And you are yelling right now.” Devon opened his mouth again to reply, but Luis cut him off. “Can you let me finish first?” Devon thought about it and nodded, his mouth a tight line.

“None of the guys like being yelled at. I know that it stinks to not get passed to, but there are other ways of dealing with it. And the other guys, well, they said that if you keep yelling at them, then they don’t want to keep playing soccer with you.”

Devon’s anger drained. “I love playing soccer with you guys,” he said, his voice much quieter now.

“Yeah. Which is why I’m talking to you. Listen, you can’t yell at us anymore. If you really need to yell, I don’t know, go kick the soccer ball really hard or something instead. But you can’t keep yelling at us if you want to keep playing with us. Being yelled at isn’t fun and playing soccer at recess is supposed to be fun.”

“Okay,” Devon said. “I’ll do my best.”

At recess that day, Luis hurried out onto the field. He caught up with Nicholas on his way over to the pitch and told him what he’d told Devon.

“Just give him another shot, okay? If he crosses the line and yells at someone today, then I’m okay with us not playing with him anymore. But he deserves a chance.”

The other guys were slowly walking up. Nicholas crossed his arms over his chest but didn’t say anything. They split into teams, just like always, and started to play. Luis could barely keep his eyes on the ball, he was watching Devon so much. Things seemed to be going well. Devon kept his word and didn’t yell at anyone.

But then — the ball rolled over the line towards a patch of trees. That meant there was a chance for their team to take a corner kick. Devon, who was close to the ball, started running to go and get it. So did Justin. They reached the ball at the same time.

“I’ve got it!” Justin called out, grabbing the ball. Luis watched as Devon slowed to a stop. He seemed to pause for a second. To Luis, it felt like minutes. Finally, Devon nodded. Justin put the ball on the line, wound up, and kicked. Everyone could tell that he meant to pass it to Nicholas, who was standing nearby. But the kick sent the ball about five feet to the right of Nicholas. Alex, who was on the other team, jumped in front of Nicholas, quick as a rabbit, and took control of the ball. Before anyone could react, Alex had dribbled up the field, wound up for a kick, and shot the ball.

It landed right in the center of the goal. The other team threw their arms up to celebrate. But Luis barely glanced at them. He was too busy watching Devon. Devon’s lips were tight and his fists were clenched. Luis watched him nervously and then started to jog closer to them. He had to get there before the explosion.

Just as he was close enough to say something, he saw Devon close his eyes and take a deep breath. Luis stopped in his tracks.

“That was a good kick,” he heard Devon tell Justin. “It was like Alex came out of nowhere.”

Luis released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

After the whistle blew for the end of recess, Luis jogged over to Devon.

“Thanks man,” Luis said, “that was a fun game.”

“Yeah,” Devon agreed. “I had fun playing with you all.” They didn’t talk about anything else, but Devon was smiling, and Luis could feel himself start to grin, too.

Nicholas caught up to Luis, joining him as they lined up to go back inside. Luis glanced at him, suddenly feeling nervous. But Nicholas didn’t look upset. Actually, he looked happy. “What can I say? You were right. Devon deserved a second chance. And now we get to have one of the best players on our team without anyone getting yelled at.” At that, Luis practically beamed. He felt on top of the world.

Devon kept playing soccer with them for the rest of the school year. He yelled a couple of times, but then Luis reminded him of the boundary he’d set, sometimes with words, other times with a look. Devon would apologize to the guys he’d yelled at and ask to keep playing. Luis felt proud of himself for finding a way to include Devon. But he never did tell Omar how well his advice had worked out. He didn’t think his older brother’s head needed to get any bigger.