Arnold

All of my life I have been the different one. Even when I was just little I was always the kid that no one wanted to play with. I had no friends and if I ever made any they would always move away and we would lose touch. Now I have learned to live with the fact that no one likes me and I have no friends. I am my own friend I spend most of my time doing things like writing short action and adventure stories. When I write I don't even care that I don’t have friends. The characters that I create are my friends they are just as good as people but I don’t have to worry about them moving or losing interest. Price is constantly bullying me and just being mean. He does things like knocking my stuff out of my hands and then just walking away laughing at me scrambling to get my stuff so I’m not late for class. His grades are absolutely horrible he never does homework and he is always falling asleep in class. It’s like he doesn’t even care about anything, I mean does he really think he will ever get anywhere in life when he’s not doing anything in class? He’ll probably end up working at a fast food restaurant or worse, in jail. I’m so mad that Mr. Russell is making me tutor him to get his grades up before the big game so he can play in it.      

Price
Game time is only two days away for the pre-qualifier. I know my grades aren’t the best, but what can I do? If they don’t get up, no game for me, and I never have missed a game in my life as a point guard. If I do this time, I won’t have my title as star anymore. I do everything I can in classes, but all I think about is basketball. I have to quit falling asleep in class, or can Arnold forgive me for all of the bad and mean things I done to him as kids? He is the smartest kid in the class. I know he likes to write stories, since he doesn’t have any friends and the characters are his friends. If we can get together in the project from Mr. Russell, maybe he will help me with my grades if I help him with the bullying. Maybe my good actions will be rewarded if I help him and tell the boys to lay off of him. Now it is just up to him to chose.

Arnold
Mr. Russell is making Price and I do a book report over To Kill a Mockingbird. I have never read it, but I am looking forward to reading it the only thing I am worried about is if Price is going to help me or if I am going to have to do all of the work while he does nothing. I really think there is no way to help Price, if he doesn't care about school or his grades. There is nothing I can help him with. If he shows me that he truly wants to get his grades up and become a better student, then I believe that I can help him get better grades. Price has helped me some, he is reading the book and we are coming together to write the report. I think I have misjudged Price, he is actually really smart when he applies himself he can get a lot done. I am just afraid that about half way through the report he will start to not do as well and eventually will give up on it and go back to the way he was, because he is tired of doing the work.

Price
   So, I lucked up and got Arnold as a partner for the report. I was so excited until I heard what it was over. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the most boring and annoying stories ever! I´m just glad I have Arnold to help me get through the boring book. Maybe, if I show him that I can apply myself, he will forgive me and truly believe I can get this done. I know I want to play in this game and Arnold is my only hope. If I let him down, my season will be over, and no shot at the big leagues for me. I will have to focus more on school, not on what I can´t get off my mind, basketball. It will be a lot of self-sacrifice from my part. Maybe Arnold´s to because he has to work with me. If I get this done, this will change the way coach thinks about me, as well as the way my teacher think of my work ethic. If I apply myself to this like I do on the court, then I might be able to pull this off.

Arnold
Price is actually doing a lot of the work I am really surprised I thought that after a week he would give up and not work with me, but he has done the exact opposite he is reading and helping me with writing the report. He told me that now he is doing better in the other classes and that I am helping him with his grades, and they are rising in just about every class. I just hope he will stay on track and not get distracted with other things and all of our hard work will be for nothing. Price has also started to become friends with me I am not being bullied as much, but it is still there. I like having Price as a friend he is much better that the friends that I would create in my stories. I’m starting to think that I’m not so different after all. I guess that only time will tell.

Price
   I have been working with Arnold for about a week now, and I am surprised it is going as well as it has. We have gotten a lot of the boring book done and we only have 100 pages left! If I can prove to him I will work, we might be able to work together for a long time. I will read the rest of it now, and shock him that I had that kind of work ethic. We have made a schedule for me. (Actually, Arnold did, but what does that matter?) I get to study and work on school work from the time I get home to 5 o'clock, then I have all the other time to play basketball for the big game. I have noticed my grades going up since Arnold won`t let me play ball until my work he has set for me is done. I have a B in my LA class with it rising every day. Thanks to Arnold, I now can play in the championship game. My mind wants to go to basketball, but it can´t! I hope the third week will go as good as this one has. I think I can pull this off if I keep my head in the game. Not basketball, school.

Arnold
It’s the third week I have been working with Price he is still going strong and I can’t ask anymore from him. If he continues to work this hard we won't have to worry about his grades anymore. It’s been a few days and I’m starting to worry about Price he is not showing up to read and help write the report with me. When he does show up he looks distracted and mentally drained. He will have to push through it if he wants to continue to have the grades that he does. A few more days have passed and I haven’t seen Price at all if his grades start to slip and I’m stuck doing all of the work I might have to stop helping Price and do this on my own. Yesterday my family were going to the store we passed Price’s house and he was outside practicing basketball. When we came back to school I talked to Price about why he is not helping me any more he told me that he couldn’t continue to study and not play basketball it has been on his mind so much that he can’t do anything. His grades have slipped again and they are just about back to where they were before we started. I am being bullied even more now because I got mad a Price and he told all of his friends, so they feel like if they bully me it will make me let Price off the hook without any problems. I can tell you now that won’t be happening.

Price
      Now let us get something straight, Arnold was flipping out because I didn't do one page of the homework he assigned me. Big deal! I told the boys what had happened, and they took it into their own hands. I will refuse to stop them because of how he treated me with that little thing I didn't do. I will play in the tournament and win that game, even if I have to stay after for the rest of the quarter. If he wants to give up on me, he can. I will just prove him wrong when I have an A in every class without his help. He would think twice about doing it again, and I will NEVER have him as a partner, OR a friend again. He will wish all of this never happened when the boys put him in the locker with my basketball stuff. I am through with him and he will never help me again, PERIOD!

Arnold     
Price’s friends are bullying me worse than ever now, but I can take it. I have to prove my point that I won’t go around giving everyone second chances he had his shot at getting better grades, but he messed it all up. I honestly don’t think he can do it anymore because I’m not  helping him through it. I think that he has really messed up and he should realize that in life you don’t always have multiple chances to do something. If he does come back asking for me to help him again I won’t because I  want him to have to suffer not playing in the game because he missed his chance to work with me and get his grades up. What do you know it’s been almost a week and Price has asked me to continue helping him I have told him already that he has already messed his one chance up and I won’t give him another. His friends have bullied me the absolute worse This past week, but like I said I have to get my point across that I won’t help him because I saw that he didn’t want to get better grades. If he did he would have worked harder and continued to study instead of playing basketball.  I am almost done with the book, but the report still needs a little work before it is done. I bet Price hasn’t even worked on it after I quit helping him. The big game is coming up and I don’t think Price’s grades are still good enough to play in it, but I could be wrong.

  Price

My grades are up, even though I don't have Arnold`s help. I went to him and told him my grades, just to rub it in his face that I can do something good. I am proud of myself and can't wait until the big game tomorrow. I have to practice and practice to get my form back down, kind of like I did for my school work. I have not been studying as much as I need to, but cut me a break. I studied for many nights when I needed to be practicing, what could one night hurt? (Next day- championship game) I have been running my butt off, trying to get to this point in my career. I have been waiting to get the news that I can't play, but coach said I have great grades and he is happy to have his star point guard back. He said that I will go places in life, because I am focusing on school and my work ethic is up. We will play in 9 minutes and 43 seconds from now. I just hope I can come through in these final minutes of warm up, and show everyone that time will tell.