The Boxing Match
- Remember how Mom wanted Manny to transfer to the school across town? (Hop back to Chapter 3 for a refresher if you need it.) Those plans were a big failure, so Manny ends up at his old school again.
- There is one part of this school that he seriously loves: Miss Van der Meer. She's the hot teacher on campus and Manny and his friend Albert like to sit by her classroom at lunch so they can ogle her whenever they get the chance.
- One day, during a major ogling session, a dude named Lencho Dominguez comes over to their table. It turns out that this guy is a bully who thinks a whole lot of himself.
- So after he's done telling Manny and Albert that they're ridiculous for caring so much about Miss V and her fancy classroom, he gets down to the real business: Lencho wants Nardo to join his boxing team. Sadly for Lencho, though, Manny has no idea if Nardo wants to join.
- When Miss V comes out of her classroom and Lencho starts heading her way, Manny yells out her name and causes a stir. Lencho is annoyed, but Manny figures the power of his big brother will protect him from this bully.
- Lencho has gotten two guys to join his boxing team so far: Chico, who didn't make the basketball team, and Albert, Manny's buddy.
- Lencho gets Manny on the hook, too—our main man works as the equipment manager. Manny figures he's part of the group mainly because Lencho wants Nardo to get interested, but at least he's included.
- During all this boxing talk, we learn that Lencho is a Junior Beret, which basically means he's kind of part of this group called the Berets. We don't hear much about these folks except that they're invested in solidarity among Mexicans.
- It turns out that Lencho is a hardcore leader—and he has an arch nemesis in the school's basketball and boxing coach, a dude named Coach Rogers. They're both trying to get the best boxers for their teams, even though Coach R's team is legit and Lencho's is just a group of guys working out on their own.
- Over time, Lencho's team actually gets pretty good, which makes Manny feel pretty proud. Miss V chats with him one day about Lencho's prospects of winning, so that's another bonus.
- It's game day, and everyone packs into the basketball gym for the boxing match; even Manny's old teacher, Mr. Hart, is there.
- When it's Albert's turn to fight, he is super scared. And he should be, since his opponent is a huge guy who winds up giving him a bloody nose before Albert loses the fight.
- The good news is that at least Albert doesn't get beaten up more, but the bad news is that his bloody nose really freaks out Chico, who's fighting soon.
- Lencho revs Chico up and he makes it through the first two rounds of boxing, but in the third round, he knocks himself out on his opponent's elbow. Oops.
- All in all, Lencho might give good inspirational speeches, but his guys are getting licked, so the Berets step in to give him some advice.
- When it's Lencho's turn to fight Boise (the guy on Coach Rogers's team), he puts up a serious fight. He does pretty well in the first two rounds, but gets beat up in the third, so he loses. It totally stinks.
- What stinks even worse, though, is that the Berets decide to kick Lencho out. Real nice, fellas. At least Lencho has Manny to help him take off his boxing gloves.