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the skippers flowing through the rope. They were laughing, running, jumping, breathing hard. “…eighty-four, eighty-five…” Then, “OOOOOH!” His voice echoed everyone’s disappointment as Reshauna tripped.
    â€œYou missed! You missed! You missed a beat!” Aaron called, slapping his knees and laughing.
    â€œAaron!” Jeremy said. There was disappointment in his voice.
    â€œBetter than you can do, Cantwait,” Tufan snarled.
    Aaron turned his laughter off.
    â€œYou know what?” Mr. Collins said to the kids who had been skipping. “That was great! You’re all coming along so well that it’s hard to believe you’ve only been skipping for a few weeks. Take the last ten minutes to work with your groups on the skills you want to perfect before we call it a day.”
    He picked up the long rope and folded it as he came to sit beside Aaron. They were silent for a while. Aaron watched Jeremy coach Tufan on how to do crossovers.
    â€œPretty impressive stuff,” Mr. Collins said.
    â€œYeah!” Aaron agreed.
    â€œWhat are you working on?”
    Aaron shrugged.
    â€œI know you can skip. I’ve seen you do it. Why did you stop?”
    â€œI dunno.”
    â€œIt’s hard for you.”
    â€œYeah! And I’m…I’m…”
    â€œYou’re what?”
    â€œKinda klutzy.”
    â€œOnly one way to stop being klutzy.”
    â€œPractice?”
    â€œThat would help. Doesn’t matter what you do, singing or skipping, if you want to do it well, you have to practice. Why did you stop?”
    â€œNobody wants me in their group.”
    â€œNobody? Didn’t I see Karima and Jeremy helping you last week? What happened?”
    â€œKarima got mad.”
    â€œKarima? Seems to me she’s the kind of girl who needs a really good reason to get mad. What happened?”
    â€œI said…I said Jeremy was in LO-O-OVE with Karima.”
    â€œOoooh,” Mr. Collins said, stretching the word so that it came out like a sigh. “I guess that would do it.”
    â€œYeah.” Aaron’s shoulders drooped, and he pulled in his neck. “I guess it was a loser thing to say.”
    â€œKarima’s a pretty forgiving girl,” Mr. Collins said. “Give her a little time. She might let this pass.”
    â€œYeah,” Aaron said again, but he stayed on the bench until the skippers started packing up to go home.
    He was reaching for his own coat when Jeremy said, “You coming?”
    â€œAren’t you…? What about Karima?” Aaron asked.
    â€œShe’s going to the dentist.”
    â€œOh, okay.” Aaron tried to sound cool, but inside he felt happy. I’m walking home with Jeremy , he thought as he bent to zip up his coat . I’m walking home with Jeremy. In his excitement, his fingers stiffened. He fumbled. The zipper jammed. Little mouthfuls of frustration puffed from his lips. When Jeremy started for the door, he followed, leaving his coat open.
    â€œYou wanna come over and finish our science project?” he asked when he caught up.
    Jeremy shook his head. “Not today.” He was leaning into the wind, his hands jammed into his pockets. When he spoke, his words sounded angry. “You know, I’m trying to be your friend, but you have to try a little harder not to be such a jerk. If you laugh at people when they make a mistake, you’ll hurt their feelings. They’re gonna get mad at you.”
    â€œYeah,” Aaron said. “That’s what my gran told me. She said, ‘Don’t laugh at people.’ I wasn’t laughing at Reshauna, you know.”
    â€œYes, you were. You laughed when she tripped. It wasn’t funny.”
    â€œI wasn’t laughing ’cause it was funny.”
    â€œWell, what were you laughing about?”
    Aaron couldn’t decide if Jeremy looked angry or confused. He wished Karen was here to tell