Chapter 19

  Magnus sauntered over to his opponent, walking slowly as if to savor every moment of his sure victory. “I hope you’re ready to get crushed, Peterson,” the bully taunted. “This is going to be a quick trench battle. Oh, wait – it’s not even going to be a battle, because I’m going to crush you so hard that it’ll be entirely one-sided, and it’ll just be me beating you up.”

  The other football players closed in around the two boys, making Solomon feel trapped. He took a few deep breaths and rolled his shoulders. It didn’t help much. His nerves were still tangled up like a ball of yarn. Even though he had superpowers, it didn’t make it any easier to face his worst enemy.

  Coach Brant pointed to the fifty-yard line, which sat just between Solomon and Magnus. “First one to push his way over the line wins. Ready?”

  Solomon crouched down on one side of the line. He pretended that he couldn’t see Magnus glaring at him. Alright, superpowers, this is the time to bring everything you’ve got! Magnus weighs a lot more than a dummy, but I’d really prefer not to get crushed by him, whether literally or figuratively. Think you can handle that?

  “On your mark… Get set… Charge!”

  Magnus surged forward like an unstoppable wave. To the crowd of spectators, it looked as if he was going to easily sweep away his opponent. But then Solomon rose to the challenge, and the two players crashed together. Solomon grabbed his enemy’s shoulder pads and fought to keep his position.

  Solomon was determined to be the first one to cross that line. But with Magnus giving it everything he had, it was all Solomon could do to stop himself from being shoved back. The two boys tussled back and forth, neither gaining more than an inch at a time. It was one of the closest trench battles to ever go down on the playing field of the Spritewood Serpents.

  Then Solomon remembered how he’d just lifted a fifteen-pound dummy like it weighed absolutely nothing. I got this! Let’s show him what I can do! His muscles hummed like a sports car revved up and ready to go, and he realized that he wasn’t anywhere close to using his full power. This whole time, he’d been pushing back against Magnus with only a fraction of his strength. Magnus was sweating and panting as he fought out the trench battle, and yet Solomon felt like he was just warming up.

  Solomon grinned, then shoved Magnus back with enough force to move one of West Virginia’s beloved mountains. The bully flew backward and hit the ground with a dull thud. The audience of football players stood by in shock, not sure what on earth had just happened. Coach Brant rushed to check on Magnus. Luckily, the boy didn’t seem to be hurt too badly, as he was able to get to his feet a few moments later.

  Now that the danger had passed, the whispers began. The other players murmured to each other about what this could mean for the team. The best player had just been defeated by the worst player – and not just defeated, either. Magnus had been crushed, overpowered, and trounced. The bully glared at the whisperers in an attempt to shut them up, but it was too late. Solomon had made him look like a weakling, and everyone there had seen it. It was doubtful that anyone would let Magnus hear the end of it. Solomon felt a bit of pity for Magnus but quickly shoved it down. He deserves to be humbled. He’s done it to me so many times, and it’s about time the tables got turned.

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  Coach Brant crossed his arms, looking uncertain about how to handle the situation. “Why don’t we… uh… do a re-match? I’m sure Magnus was just caught off-guard.” Solomon and Magnus faced off again, and Solomon won even quicker, erasing all doubts that his first victory had just been a fluke. But, unwilling to hurt even one of his enemies, Solomon limited himself, using only enough of his superstrength to win quickly and efficiently. It was still a severe blow to Magnus’ pride, but at least Solomon wouldn’t have to worry about getting a flag for unnecessary roughness.

  Coach Brant seemed lost for words, and yet somehow he was able to instruct the football players to pair up and start practicing trench battles along the fifty-yard line. Solomon partnered with Doug, but even though Doug was significantly bigger than him, it was still easy for Solomon to beat the other player. The seventh-grader had a feeling that he could do whatever he wanted to with his new superstrength. The only question was whether it had a limit.

  The whistle blew every few minutes, and the players automatically switched partners. Solomon cycled through player after player, and he was able to beat them all. He could feel Coach Brant watching him with a keen eye and made sure to keep his winning streak going. With my powers, I could very well be the best player n the team. Maybe this is my chance to finally get off the bench!

  For the rest of the practice, even after the trench battles were finished, it seemed like Coach Brant was testing Solomon’s skills. He gave the seventh-grader harder positions to play, longer interceptions to make, and more people to block at once. The one thing the coach didn’t do, however, was to set Solomon against bigger players. The trench battles had adequately proved that he could hold his own in matters of strength, and so Coach Brant had no need to test him in that area.

  By the end of their hour-and-a-half-long practice, the football players were worn down, and Coach Brant had come to a decision. He dismissed everyone except for Solomon, then waited until the others had left. “You’ve performed extremely well today, Solomon,” the coach began. “In fact, you’ve done so well that I can hardly believe you’re the same player who could barely manage to make Magnus stumble. I had almost given up all hope for you. Setting you against Magnus in every scrimmage didn’t help, as even some healthy competition didn’t seem to give you the drive you needed to improve. But now… now you’re showing up every single player on the team. You went into a week-long coma and came out of as the strongest seventh-grader I’ve ever known. Your technical skills need a bit of work, but that can be solved easily. There’s just one problem.”

  Solomon gulped. “What is it?”

  “How am I supposed to tell people that the best kid on my team is in seventh grade? They’d never believe me!” Coach Brant’s face broke into a grin. “From now on, I want you to play in every game! We don’t want a fine player like you to waste away on the bench, now do we?”

  Realization finally dawned on Solomon. He’s going to let me play in a game! And not just one game, but in all of them! “Thank you so much!” He jumped up and down just the tiniest bit, unable to contain his excitement. “I won’t let you down!”

  “I know you won’t, Solomon.” The coach gave his player a friendly pat on the shoulder. “I know you won’t.”