Slugfest by Gordon Korman

Yash is the best athlete at Robinette Middle School. So good, in fact, that he’s already been playing on the high school’s JV sports teams. Imagine his shock when he learns that his JV practices have kept him from earning a board-mandated credit for eighth-grade PE. To graduate, he has to take Physical Education Equivalency — PEE — which is also known as “Slugfest,” in summer school.

At Slugfest, Yash meets Kaden, an academic superstar who’s physically hopeless. Twins Sarah and Stuart are too busy trying to kill each other to actually pay attention in class. Jesse is a notorious prankster. Arabella protests just about everything — including mandatory PE. And Cleo is a natural athlete who has sworn off sports. Then there’s their “coach,” Mrs. Tamara Finnerty, a retired teacher whose idea of physical education seems to have frozen in preschool. But Yash doesn’t care — as long as he gets the credit. Too bad one of his fellow “slugs” is determined to blow the lid off a scandal that could make all their time in summer school a waste. And if that weren’t bad enough, Yash is in danger of losing his star spot on the JV football team.

So Yash recruits his fellow PE rejects to train with him. Spending the summer with the most hapless crew in school can really surprise a person. And their teacher might be hiding the biggest surprise yet . . .