backhands She wears opponents down We wouldn’t be having the year we’re having without her that’s for sure Danner was not available for a post-match interview
CHAPTER 1 Scuttlebutt That’s the word Stewart Mac McKenzie has been searching the archives of his brain for the perfect word the last several days He couldn’t find it until a moment ago He had just rolled his wheelchair out of his social studies class and started heading toward his locker at the other end of the school when suddenly there she was next to him the one and only Roe Danner She just happened to be making her way down the same hall as him at the same time Of course Mac would love to do an interview But Roe’s not looking to have her story told that much has been obvious by the way she’s dodged him at the end of this season’s students attention shifts to them well to her the tennis matches As
word Mac has been digging around for is finally right on the tip of his tongue It’s the best word he knows how to describe his Coyote Canyon classmates behavior Scuttlebutt He’d learned the word last year from Ms Stark his seventh-grade English teacher Scuttlebutt is what you call the bucket of water sailors gather and tell stories around Made-up stories Far-fetched stories Stories meant to entertain not to report the truth According to Ms Stark the word has a double meaning Over the years the word has come to mean not only the bucket of water around which the stories are told but also the act of telling the stories When people make things up about others and then share the information like it’s the truth it’s called scuttlebutt As a reporter Mac hates scuttlebutt A less careful thinker or a less precise writer may have settled for rumor-spreading
or gossip to describe the Coyote Canyon Middle School’s student body’s treatment of Roe Danner Roe the school’s introverted tennis prodigy enrolled only this fall and by all accounts has said barely a word to any other student But Mac is nothing if not careful and precise He’s a firm believer in the dogged pursuit of facts and sticking to the story the sports story in his case People love to hear stories spun and exaggerated Mac likes novels and movies as much as anyone but when it comes to real people he sticks to the facts In his mind it’s only fair lot about his Mac admires a fellow students As Coyote Canyon’s resident sports reporter he has watched them push past hardship and achieve success He has watched them support one another in defeat And whether on championship or struggling teams Mac’s peers to be good teammates They like each other and treat tend
