It was a Monday. Pizza day. The worst school lunch in my opinion. I was sitting next to my best friend Marc. I gagged when I picked up my slice of pizza. “It can’t be that bad,” Marc said.

Marc always brought a lunch from home so he didn’t know how revolting it tasted. “Fine,” I announced to everyone at the table, “I’ll try it.”

I slowly lifted the slice of pizza up to my mouth, and then I chomped down on the tip of it. “EWW!” I shouted, “IT’S COLD!”

Marc tried to stop himself from laughing. “OK,” he said, “Maybe it is that bad.”

I started to say something back but we were interrupted by our Vice Principal Mr. Mohegan. 

“Eagles,” he yelled. 

Then I remembered, it was Monday so that meant it was also time for the… my last thoughts were disturbed by Mr. Mohegan again “Are you ready for… THE EAGLE TICKET RAFFLE!”

Every Monday, our Vice Principal, Mr. Mohegan or our Principal, Mrs. Kuttel, picks two Eagle Tickets from each class’s bucket and the people on the tickets get to pick a prize from the prize box and get their picture taken. You earn eagle tickets by being kind, safe, respectful and responsible. “In…” Mr. Mohegan said “Mrs. Cravens’ class” Everybody in Mrs. Cravens’ class started banging their hands on the table. “We have, total coincidence, TUCKER AND BROOKS HART!”

Everybody started clapping “YEAH TUCKER!” I yelled. Tucker and Brooks are brothers so that’s why it was a coincidence that they both won. Tucker has been my best friend since 3rd grade. 

“In,” Mr. Mohagen said again, “Mrs. Ochoa’s class” Everybody in Mrs. Ochoa’s class started banging on the table. “We have CADE AND ABEL!”

Everyone in my class, except me, yelled “GO ABEL!”

Abel was really popular, but if you were someone who didn’t get on his good side, he is a total jerkface. Sadly, I was one of those somebodies. “And last but not least IN MRS. VARGAS’S CLASS, we have JOEY AND CARSON!”

Before Mr. Mohagen called the names, in my head I was thinking it’s not going to be me, it’s not going to be me. I never won. It’s always rigged so that the people that would start crying if they didn’t win would be the people who win every single time. Sometimes they call other people but probably just to make sure kids don’t get too suspicious. But then my name was called. I was so shocked that I didn’t realize what was happening until some of my friends started shoving me and saying, “Carson, get up there!”

“Ok” I said. So I got up from my seat and walked towards the edge of the stage. I looked in the prize basket and thought to myself, These prizes suck! The best thing I found was a tennis ball to use for this recess.

I ran to the baseball diamond as fast as I could. I was the first person there so I stuck up my hand in the air and I made a “1” with my finger. This signified that I was the first team captain. It also meant I got to pick who was on my team first for tennis racket baseball. As soon as everybody got there, they lined up at the backstop and I said “My first pick is Julian G.”

There were two Julians in 5th grade so we just call them Julian G. and Julian S. Julian G. was the best at batting in tennis racket baseball. The other team captain, Beau, said “My first pick is Leon.” We went back and forth picking teams until nobody was left at the backstop.

“We bat first,” Beau said. Beau’s team lined up behind the

Backstop. Julian G. pitched the ball at Beau and Beau smashed the ball way into the outfield. Tatum, one of my outfielders, ran to go catch the ball but it already hit the ground. So instead, he threw the ball as hard as he could to the pitcher to stop the play. Beau ended up on second base. 

Next up on Beau’s team was Leon. Julian G. chucked the ball at Leon. Then Leon smacked it super high into the air but another outfielder, Andrew, caught the ball and chucked it to home plate where Beau was running.

“DOUBLE PLAY!” I yelled. That was two outs, one to go. 

Next to bat was Zion. Julian G. pitched the ball, “A swing and a miss” Julian G. said

“STRIKE HIM OUT JULIAN!” I shouted. So he did. 

“3 STRIKES. YOU’RE OUT!” Julian shouted. So we switched sides. I was up to bat first.

“LETS GO CARSON!” everybody on my team chanted. I eyed the pitcher, I stepped into the batter’s box and the pitcher threw the ball. I swung and I missed. The catcher threw the ball back to Leon. He pitched again. 

“BALL” said our umpire, Joel. Leon pitched again. “BALL” Joel yelled again. I stood up and took a deep breath. 

You can do this, I told myself. Leon pitched again, I swung, AND I HIT THE BALL! I watched the ball soar into the air, across the foul line. 

“FOUL BALL, STRIKE TWO!” Joel yelled. I felt so embarrassed.

“NO!” I yelled. I hung my head. But it wasn’t over yet. The catcher tossed the ball back to Leon. Leon pitched the ball as hard and as fast as he could. It zoomed towards me and it soared to the right of Home Plate. 

“BALL THREE, FULL COUNT” Joel yelled. This was my last chance to hit the ball. The catcher threw the ball back to Leon. I stared at Leon. He stared at me. He winded up, and he chucked the ball as fast as he could. I swung at the ball with all my strength and it soared out into the outfield even farther than Beau’s hit. 

“IT’S OUT OF HERE” I heard Julian G. yell. I dashed to 1st base then to 2nd, and 3rd and as I ran to home plate, I realized I still had so much time so I dropped down on my chest and army-crawled all the way to Home Plate. 

“HOMERUN!” 

AUTHOR’S NOTES

Carson Dubansky lives in Truckee California with his mom, dad and little sister. He loves to play lacrosse, basketball and soccer. He also loves video games. Some of his hopes for the future is that he will keep improving in sports and school. When he grows up, he wants to be an NBA player. His story was about tennis racket baseball. When he almost struck out he felt extremely defeated but he didn’t give up. Another one of his hopes is that he will carry on that power of not giving up when things get tough into 6th grade.