Luis Mendoza was in a very bad mood.  He was benched.  Benched because of grades.  Not cool.  One lousy F on a test, and his grades had steadily dropped.  All of them.  He had straight D’s in every single class.  He had just endured a phone call from his mom, followed by a good stern talking to by his dad, ending with a meeting with the dean.  And he still had to face the team.  Although, in all truth, he hadn’t been playing in the games to face much anyway.  He spent most of his time on the bench.  And now he might as well secure his plans with that piece of wood, because he wasn’t going to be leaving it for as long as it took him to raise his grades.  And he was too proud to accept a tutor, though the dean had thrown a few names at him.  He was expected to go to breakfast, go to class, go to practice, go to dinner, go back to his dorm, and go nowhere else for the rest of the night.  How fun.  Oh, and on hearing of his benching, his girlfriend, Sarah, had dumped him.  A/N, not the cheerleader at the end of D3.

          “Hey guys,” Luis said quietly, walking into the locker room.  A few accusing eyes followed him.  Adam had seen him being yelled at in the dean’s office, but didn’t know what about.  Then Charlie came up, put his face right up to Luis’s, and said,

          “You got something to tell us?  Orion said you did.”

          “Uh, yeah.  Um, guys…I, uh, I’m gonna be benched for…I don’t know how long.”  There was an angry murmuring.

          “Why?” was the general question.

          “Well, ya know, the dean has this silly idea that you should keep you’re grades up…” he gave a weak smile and laugh.  Julie glared at him.

          “Why didn’t you ask for help?  I would’ve helped you!”  Luis hung his head.

          “I just didn’t want to bother any one.  It won’t be for very long, guys, really.  I only have to raise, well, two grades, one according to school rules but two according to Orion’s rules.”  Then he kept his eyes down and got dressed quickly and quietly, wishing he’s kept his grades up so his team wouldn’t have to hate him.

A/N Sorry it’s so short.  I’m still getting used to this uploading thing.