Crash

For two years, the Webbs invite Crash to dinner or to go with them on trips, but he always makes excuses and turns them down. In third grade, they stop asking him. As the years go by, Penn acquires new friends, and he waves at Crash, but they never spend time together.

In sixth grade, a new guy moves in across the street, named Mike Deluca. A jock who, like Crash, wants to be a professional football player, Mike hits it off with Crash right away and they become best friends. One day, they watch Penn walk up the street towing his Conestoga wagon with his turtle inside. Crash explains his experiences with Penn in first grade, then says, “But I don’t bother with him anymore.” Mike stares at Penn and says, “that’s gonna change” (30).

On the first day of seventh grade at Springfield Middle School, Mike pretends to like Penn, high-fiving him and calling him “Webberoni.” Mike and Crash ask Penn about his new school clothes—they look old and worn—and Penn says his mom buys them for him. Mike says, “Maybe Second Time Around?” (33). It’s a used clothing store, somewhere Mike and Crash would never be caught dead in.