The Trouble with Mark Hopper by Elissa Brent Weissman

over.
    â€œYeah,” Mark whispered. “It’s really weird.”
    â€œThat’s scary,” Jonathan said. “Maybe you’re going to get home and find that he killed your cat or something.”
    â€œI don’t have a cat.”
    â€œMaybe he got you a cat and then killed it.”
    Mark stood far away from the other Mark while the gym teacher led the class through the presport stretches. But after stretching, Mark came next to him and said, “You’re really good at that hamstring stretch.”
    Jonathan, who was still standing on one foot and stretching the other leg, fell over.
    â€œUm, thanks,” Mark said.
    â€œA lot of people don’t realize that stretching is really important,” Mark continued. “But you’re pretty good at it. Like me.”
    The gym teacher selected two boys to be captains for a soccer game, and they stepped in front of the group to choose their players. Kenny Yolent took Jonathan and Paul Grotosky, and Pete Dale chose Tyrell Smith and Cole Zitoff. Then Pete pointed to Mark Hopper, who was standing next to Mark Hopper. “I’ll take Hopper,” he said.
    Both Marks stepped forward. They stopped and looked at each other.
    â€œI’m really good at soccer,” said the Mark who had been acting strangely friendly.
    Pete rolled his eyes and pointed to the other Mark. “I want that Hopper.”
    â€œAre you sure?” asked Mark in a way that suggested Pete was choosing creamed spinach over chocolate cake.
    â€œIt’s okay,” said the other Mark. “You go be on Pete’s team.”
    â€œWhat?” said Pete. “I’m the captain. I pick you Hopper, not you Hopper.” He turned to the second one. “Get over yourself,” he said.
    Mark glared at Pete and said, “Your team’s loss, diaper breath.” Then he patted the other Mark on the back and said, through his teeth, “No offense.”
    Mark walked to stand by Pete and Jonathan with his eyes as round as soccer balls. A few rounds of picking later, no one was left but the other Mark Hopper and Jim Sewell, who, no matter what the sport, picked up the ball and threw it. Kenny picked Jim, and Pete had no choice but to take the other Mark after all.
    The Mark chosen last usually tried to score every time he got the ball, no matter how far he was from the goal. But when the ball came to him at the very end of the class period, he passed it to the other Mark, who kicked it to score the winning goal. The whole team cheered and patted Mark on the back, including the other Mark, who patted so hard he almost knocked Mark over.
    The Mark who scored, still concerned that Mark’s friendliness was all a front, decided to fight fire with fire—or, in this case, roses with roses. He took Mark’s hand in his, shook it tightly, and then raised it in the air. “That was a great assist!” he shouted.
    The other teammates looked at one another. Then Jonathan stepped up and patted both Marks on the back. “Awesome pass!” he yelled. “All right, team!”
    Tyrell and Cole followed. They jumped on Mark’s back and hollered. Even Pete Dale shook Mark’s hand. The gym teacher blew his whistle, and all of the boys ran back to the locker room chanting “Mark and Mark! Mark and Mark!”

Chapter 16
    Mark’s Talent
    Being friendly was exhausting. After a whole day of being nice to Mark Hopper, Mark left school straight after eighth period. He wanted to just walk home alone and collapse on his bed for a little while, but Jasmina caught up with him and started talking. She talked about Kylie’s new haircut (“Don’t you think it’s cute?”) and Becky’s skirt (“I thought Becky had better fashion sense than to wear something with leopard print!”) and that day’s school lunch (“The soup was pretty good but, really, who would want pot roast for lunch—especially