Eliot roamed through Mickey's Sports, browsing shelves stocked with tennis rackets and baseball bats.
His younger brother, Sean, was searching for a new goalkeeper's jersey in the soccer aisle.
Soccer tryouts started on Monday, and Sean wanted a new jersey for good luck.
As Eliot headed back toward the soccer gear, he spotted an athletic boy looming over Sean.
"Sean must have bumped into a friend," he thought.
Then he saw the kid jab Sean with a finger. "Hey!" Eliot shouted.
Sean's face turned bright red when he saw Eliot rushing toward him.
"Stay off the soccer field, loser!" the kid snarled before he stalked off, snickering.
"Who was that?" Eliot asked.
Sean held up a lime green jersey.
"What do you think?" he joked weakly.
"Does this go with my red hair and freckles?"
Before Eliot could reply, Sean shoved the jersey back in a pile on the shelf.
"Let's get out of here. I can't afford a new jersey anyway."
On Monday Eliot wasn't expecting to see Sean until dinnertime, after his first tryout session had ended.
But when Eliot entered the kitchen after school, Sean was perched on a counter stool.
"Sean! What are you doing here?"
"I live here," he said sarcastically. "Remember?"
"That's not what I meant," Eliot said.
"Why aren't you at tryouts?"
"Because I'm not trying out."
"What?"
"I won't make the team. So what's the point?"
"The point is, you love soccer," Eliot said.
"And you've been preparing for tryouts for months."
"That was before I—" Sean's mouth abruptly snapped shut.
"Before what?" Eliot demanded.
Suddenly he flashed back to the scene at Mickey's Sports.
"It's that kid from the store!
He's the reason you skipped tryouts.
You can't let him bully you into staying on the sidelines!"
"It's my own fault," Sean said.
"I shouldn't have bragged about my goalie skills to him."
"Whoa." Eliot held up a hand.
"It's not your fault.
That kid is a bully, plain and simple."
He frowned. "Has he harmed you physically?"
Sean shook his head.
"George just threatens to hurt me.
Plus, he posts mean stuff about me on social media.
I figured he'd finally leave me alone if I sat out tryouts this year."
He sighed. "I can try out next year."
"No way," Eliot said firmly.
"You're not allowing some dumb bully to sabotage your soccer tryout."
He glanced at the clock.
"I'm driving you back to school.
I'll give you some tips for dealing with bullies on the way."
On Friday afternoon Eliot parked at the soccer field.
"Today's the day," he thought anxiously.
On the field the players huddled around Coach as she announced the names and positions of the players who'd made the team.
Eliot didn't see George in the huddle.
A few minutes later, Sean approached the car, head down.
"Uh-oh," Eliot thought.
Then Sean lifted his head—and grinned!
Eliot hopped out of the car. "You made the team!"
"Yep. I'm the starting goalie!" Sean said as Coach joined them.
Coach shook Sean's hand.
"Sean, you demonstrated great leadership on Monday by asking me to talk with everyone about bullying.
It turns out you weren't the only one having issues with George."
"Talking to an adult," Eliot thought with a smile.
"That's a brilliant strategy for dealing with bullies.
I wonder who thought of it."
"Teamwork is important, and one bully can hurt the whole team," Coach went on.
"I'm sorry I didn't know about the situation sooner.
We now have a strict no-bullying policy, thanks to you."
A few minutes later Eliot turned his car onto Main Street.
"Where are we going?" Sean asked
"Back to Mickey's Sports," he said.
"To celebrate our victory, I'm going to buy you that green jersey!"