14

Every time Mr. Litch called a huddle, Dad made me get off the bench and go join the rest of the team. Have you seen a game on TV and wondered what the benchwarmers were thinking when they stand in the huddle while the coach goes over the game plan? Well, now I can tell you firsthand. Once the sun went down, it got really cold. In fact, it got so cold Mackey Creavey and Manuel Gonzales went and got sleeping bags out of the Creaveys' car.

And Dad still wouldn't even let me go get my coat. During a timeout, we all joined the huddle. And when the coach got an eyeful of Mackey and Manuel, he told them they were excused and to go to the Creaveys' car for the rest of the game. So Mackey and Manuel got to sit in a heated suv, while I had to sit on a cold metal bench in my shorts. And I know for a fact that the Creaveys have a TV in their car, so I'm sure those guys were totally living it up in there.

Monday I have definitely got to start keeping on top of my laundry. I've been out of clean underwear for about three days, so I've been wearing my bathing suit as a substitute. Today we had Phys Ed, and when we changed into our gym clothes, I totally forgot I was wearing my Speedo underneath.

It could have been a lot worse, though. I have a pair of Wonder Woman Underoos that I've never taken out of their wrapper, and this morning I was pretty tempted to wear them just because they were clean. Believe me, I didn't ask for the Wonder Woman Underoos, either. This past summer a few of my relatives asked Mom what I wanted for my birthday, and she told them I was really into comics and super heroes. So the Underoos were a gift from Uncle Charlie.

We had another soccer game after school, but it's been getting a lot warmer lately, and I wasn't worried about the cold. At school, me, Mackey, and Manuel agreed we'd all bring some video games tonight, and for the first time we actually enjoyed ourselves at soccer. It didn't last long, though. Twenty minutes into the game, Mr. Litch called all three of us off the bench

and told us to get on the field. CREAVEY! HEFFLEY! GONZALES! Apparently, some parent complained that their kid wasn't getting any playing time. so the Rec League made a rule that now every kid has to get in the game. Well, none of us had been paying any attention to the game, so when we got on the field, we didn't know what to do or where to stand. A couple of kids on our team told us the other team had a "free kick," and that we were supposed to stand shoulder to shoulder to make a shield to block it. I thought the guys on my team were joking, but it