Lu

Gordon “Goose” Richardson is Lu’s father. Lu has immense respect for his father at the beginning of the text. Lu describes his father as “literally the coolest dude I know [...] Matter fact, he might be the coolest dude anybody knows” (48). Lu wears a string of gold chains around his neck and diamond earrings, gifts from his father, to try and emulate his father’s style. However, what Lu learns about Goose throughout the text forces him to grapple with his perception of his father and to come to a deeper understanding of him and what it really means to be cool.

After enduring bullying over his stutter as a teen, Goose sought out social status by any means necessary, which led him to dealing drugs. Goose acts as a reminder that good people can cause harm, and that while some mistakes cannot be fixed, it does not mean that one cannot do the right thing to try and make reparations. Goose shows this in giving back the medal to Coach, as well as in his work as a rehab recruiter. Goose shows that one’s entire life need not be defined by their worst choices, and Lu helps Goose come to this realization. After returning the medal to Coach, Goose thanks Lu for encouraging him to do something he was afraid of: “I think there’s some things in you that you see in me, that I didn’t even know were there” (164). He also shows that he wants more for his son and encourages Lu’s sense of integrity by telling him that he is proud that Lu’s own struggles with albinism and insecurity haven’t led him down a similar path: “I’m just saying that I’m happy you haven’t let the … pressure make you small. That you haven’t let it eat you” (164). Through Lu, Goose learns that it is never too late to try and make amends and decides to return the medal to Coach solely because of Lu’s influence.

By admitting his mistakes and returning the medal to Coach, Goose shows Lu the importance of confronting one’s hurdles head-on rather than letting them get bigger and more insurmountable over time. Goose teaches Lu the meaning of integrity. Though Lu no longer needs his father’s armor via the gold chains, at the end of the text, it is significant that Lu chooses to wear one of them: “Then I grabbed one chain–just one–and put it around my neck. I mean, they were my father’s. And I’m his son. Gold. Shining. Cool” (195). The gold chains no longer symbolize Lu’s pursuit of social status and coolness; instead, they symbolize a way to honor and connect his identity to his father’s, who Lu once again views as a role model. 

Coach is another example in the text that good people can make mistakes and cause harm, sometimes without realizing it. Coach grew up in a challenging home: his mother worked constantly while his father was addicted to drugs. Despite these challenges, Coach made a name for himself as a runner, going as far as to win an Olympic gold medal and now tries to help burgeoning athletes in his community experience similar success. And yet, Coach still caused harm to others by constantly making fun of Gordon Richardson, cementing his nickname of “Goose.” Even Goose admits to Lu that “I don’t think he, or any of them, meant it to be mean. It was just something everybody was in on” (51), and yet it still pushed Goose down the path that led him to sell drugs and harm his and others’ lives.

Regardless of his past mistakes, Coach proves himself to be a dependable adult in many of his athletes’ lives, including Lu’s. Coach relentlessly supports his athletes, even though at times his support comes across as tough love. An example of this is when Coach has Lu practice jumping hurdles without his contact lenses, without which he can only see far distances. Coach rationalizes this: “You don’t have to see the hurdle to know it’s there. You’ll feel it in your way. And sometimes timing is all you need to get over it” (101). Much of what Coach says is both literal and metaphorical. In this case, Coach creates a timing routine for Lu to successfully jump the hurdles, but his statement also encourages Lu to remember that when it comes to overcoming obstacles, sometimes one just needs to wait until the right moment to surmount it. Lu remembers this when approaching hurdles in his personal life, such as his lingering problems with Kelvin, his relationship with his father, and his new baby sibling.

The bonds Coach forges amongst the Defenders appear at the end of the text when they all (led by Lu) decide to forfeit the championship meet to go to the hospital to support Coach and his family. In a final speech to the Defenders, Coach articulates an important message in the text about how nobody is perfect: “if we push, if we aren’t scared to be scared, if we’re not terrified of being uncomfortable, if we can trust ourselves and be honest about where we fall short [...] and can accept a little help, which we all need sometimes, we can be…good” (214). Many characters, such as Goose and Lu, learn this lesson throughout the text. Lu learns to trust himself, forgive others, and not chase social status at the cost of his integrity. In doing so, Lu grows and leads his team to support Coach in his time of need. Through his coaching, Coach helps Lu become a better version of himself.

Christina Richardson is Lu’s mother and an enormous influence in Lu’s life. She looks out for Lu and tries to instill a sense of confidence in Lu that comes from within rather than relying on outward appearances. Lu expresses disappointment in having a baby sister rather than brother, in large part because he wanted to see “what I would’ve looked like if I was… normal” (46). Christina is quick to remind Lu that there is no such thing as “normal” and reframes Lu’s thinking to build him up: “And even if she doesn’t look like you, she is going to look at you. And you know what she’s gonna see? [...] Herself. [...] She’s gonna see herself, son. In you” (46-47). Christina reminds Lu that appearances are not everything, that what makes him different makes him special and unique, and that outward appearances are not what will tie him to his baby sister.

Christina’s insistence on teaching Lu to look beyond outward appearances often involves fruit metaphors: “You thought eating an orange was like eating an apple. Just bit into it [...] And then I taught you how to peel it. Told you that skin is part of the orange, but not all of it. It’s just there to protect all the sweet stuff on the inside” (139). This lesson echoes for Lu later in the text when he finally forgives his former childhood bully, Kelvin, and understands that Lu unfairly judged him based on appearances.

Christina also owns and runs a fruit sculpture business, and during the summers Lu helps his mother deliver the sculptures. Christina sees potential in things rather than what they appear to be on the surface. An example of this is when she builds the camel out of blended kiwi and banana: “she started taking the leftover skin from all the kiwis I peeled and began laying it on top of the kiwi-banana blend. What… the?” (112). Her method seems odd to Lu, and yet when she has done, she has created a camel out of fruit. Christina views people the same way. When Lu is angry with his father after learning more about his past mistakes, it is Christina who reminds Lu that there is more to his father than the wrong he has done: “When I met him, your dad was a street dude. At least that is what everybody said. But after I started talking to him, I realized he was more than what people thought about him. He was more than his stutter. More than Goose” (147). Through this, she teaches Lu to have compassion for others and to bear in mind that people are more than what they present themselves to be.