After Grandma Connie and Pastor Jeff left, the dinner table got real quiet.
Coach George watched little George bolt for the door and suddenly said, "Hey, George. One thing before you go. Ms. Ingram is giving a surprise math test this Wednesday.
If you don't pass, you're benched for the football game next Monday."
"You serious?" Little George whipped around, staring at his dad's dead-serious face, already getting a bad feeling.
"Dead serious," George said, shrugging like he couldn't help it. "She pulled some strings with the school. My hands are tied."
Deep down, George wasn't thrilled with the school's move either.
"I'm screwed…" Little George collapsed back into his chair like his soul just left his body. Then he started whining: "How can they do this to me? I helped get the team to the state top ten!"
Yeah, in his mind, this pop-quiz was straight-up targeted at him.
If it was any other rule, he might've fought for it to stay on the field.
But schoolwork? No chance.
He knew his limits. Ever since middle school started, he hadn't passed a single math test.
The talent just wasn't there. Effort didn't help.
While Little George was spiraling, Sheldon across the table piped up with a weird angle: "Data shows your on-field performance only impacts the team's win rate by less than five percent.
The team can function perfectly fine without you. So no need to feel guilty about missing the game."
Right then, Sheldon dropping that cold fact… hard to tell if he was trying to comfort his brother or just roast him.
One thing was clear: Little George did NOT want to hear it.
His face turned beet red. "You don't get it! Football's a team sport. I'm a wide receiver. Every single honor the team gets, I get a piece of it too."
To back himself up, he added, "Ask Mike if you don't believe me."
Mike just nodded calmly.
Truth is, wide receivers usually have a big role in football.
But the Medford team had a weird strategy that made their receivers almost optional.
So yeah, Little George had actually sacrificed a lot for the team's wins.
"Hmmph." Sheldon just shrugged like he wasn't buying it.
"Ugh!" Little George groaned, then said enviously, "Man, I wish I could actually understand what the teacher's saying in class."
Everything he was stressing about came down to sucking at school.
If he could, he'd love to be like Sheldon and Mike—straight-A kids who make learning look easy.
"If you spent half the time you waste on dirty magazines on actual studying," Sheldon said flatly, "your grades wouldn't be this bad."
"Shut up!" Little George snapped, clearly embarrassed.
"Enough!" Coach George cut in before they could really start fighting.
He glared at Sheldon first. "Cool it, you."
Then he turned to Little George, softer now. "This isn't the end of the world, bud. Right now you just need to figure out how to pass Wednesday's test."
"How? I got nothing," Little George said, fully giving up.
"Maybe you don't," Coach George said with a little grin, glancing around the table. "But you've got two brainiacs right here in the house."
He was obviously saying: ask your brothers for help.
He figured with Sheldon and Mike tutoring, there might be a shot.
But before Little George could even ask, Sheldon shut it down fast: "I'm not wasting my time teaching a barely-evolved upright ape."
Classic Sheldon, still roasting Little George's IQ.
He'd rather play with his toy train than teach math to his brother.
"How about a new toy car?" Coach George offered, going straight to bribes.
"What?" Sheldon's eyes lit up. "Like… I get to pick it out myself at the mall?"
"Deal," George said, smiling because he knew he had him.
Then he looked at Mike. "What about you? Brand-new football sound good?"
"Nah, I'm good," Mike said generously. "Helping George pass helps the team anyway. I don't need anything."
Real talk: ever since Mike got the [Moonlight] trait that kept boosting his body, he'd lost most of his love for football.
He only joined the team in the first place because the hard hits were a fast way to get stronger.
But now the easy gains were gone. It was way harder to level up through workouts.
Deep down, Mike was thinking: why hang out with sweaty guys every day when I could be doing "two-person sports" with Karen or Lena instead? Way better ROI.
George, clueless about Mike's real thoughts, just smiled proudly. "Alright, I'll hold onto your reward. Whenever you want something, just tell me."
Mike nodded, not bothering to explain.
Across the table, Missy's eyes sparkled. She ran over, grabbed Mike's arm and started shaking it. "Mike, if you get a reward spot, can you give me a pink Aisha?"
Mike blinked. "Aisha? Who's that?"
"She's the oldest of the Twelve Ballet Princesses! They just came out with a pink Barbie outfit for her. So pretty!" Missy's eyes were shining.
She was exactly the age where pink sparkly Barbies are everything.
Mike finally caught on: toy Barbie doll.
He smiled and said, "Sure thing. Soon as I get the reward, you'll get your pink Aisha."
"Yay!" Missy cheered, jumping up and down. "Let's go study right now!"
She'd never been this excited about homework in her life.
Of course, she was just gonna be the "supervisor."
The one actually sweating bullets? Little George, still slumped in his chair.
The whole family had already planned out his study schedule… without asking him once.