Andy smiled as he and his field day team stepped up to their last activity. They were in first place, and Andy
could already feel the medal around his neck. “How exciting!” Mrs. Emory said. “You two teams are tied with
the highest score of the day.” “Tied?” Andy said. “But we beat them at the relay race.” “Yes, but that was their
only loss,” Mrs. Emory said. “Your team also has one loss, so you are both tied for first place.”
Andy crossed his arms in front of his chest. He didn’t want to think about the balloon toss. He’d been the first
one to drop his balloon. “This event is a hula hoop challenge,” Mrs. Emory said, handing everyone a hula hoop.
“Your challenge is to hula hoop for as long as possible. Once your hoop hits the ground, you will be
disqualified. The last person hula hooping will win the event for their team.” Andy’s eyes widened. He’d never
hula hooped before. He looked at the rest of his team. Becky seemed confident and so did Cory.
Mrs. Emory blew her whistle. “Begin!” Andy watched Rachelle and mimicked everything she did. But no
matter how hard he tried, the hoop wouldn’t stay up. It bobbled and fell to his ankles. He stepped aside and
cheered for Becky and Cory who were the only ones left to battle Rachelle. Becky sneezed and her hoop
toppled to the ground. Andy grumbled, but he started cheering even louder for Cory. Andy stared at Rachelle.
She looked relaxed as the hoop twirled around her. Her team was chanting her name, and it took Andy a
moment to realize Cory had dropped his hoop. The challenge was over, and Rachelle had won, which meant
Andy’s team had lost. But Andy couldn’t help cheering for Rachelle as she continued to hula hoop. Rachelle
was still hula hooping when Mrs. Emory gave out the medals. Andy wore his second place medal with pride
as he congratulated Rachelle, the true field day champion.

In paragraph 1, what is the author's purpose in mentioning ‘Andy could already feel the medal
around his neck?’
a) Andy was already wearing the medal.
b) Andy had told Mrs. Emory to make him the winner.
c) His team had won all the races, so he was sure he would win.
d) To show that Andy was confident that his team would win