PLEASE HELP I'LL GIVE A BRAINLIEST TO BEST ANSWER
• What is the tone of the passage? (Tone indicates the writer's attitude toward a topic/subject. Words such as depressed, outraged, sympathetic, cheerful, angry, etc. can describe tone.)
• How do you know? Which specific words or phrases in the passage help you to infer the tone? (To answer this part of the question, point to specific words and their connotations.)

Text passage from page 124:

Before our eyes, Russell became a different person. His teammates nicknamed him Cobra because his head weaved from side to side as he climbed uphill in his cross-country runs. A nickname! Actual friends! Rosalind and I thought. We were thrilled that Russell had come out of his shell. Every night following practice, he’d entertain us with hilarious stories of Rico, Francois, E-Train, and Vernon, imitating their put-downs, gestures, and running styles. He had never been so animated. The following year he was made co-captain of the team and helped coach the girls’ track team.