Fast Break Read online

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One—Triple Challenge

  Chapter Two—Time Crunch

  Chapter Three—The Seeds of Doubt

  Chapter Four—Hoop Dreams

  Chapter Five—Fear Factor

  Chapter Six—Pressure Cooker

  Chapter Seven—Testing Time

  Chapter Eight—Results

  Chapter Nine—Pain in the Neck

  Chapter Ten—Disaster!

  Chapter Eleven—On the Clock

  Chapter Twelve—Showtime!

  Chapter Thirteen—Ups and Downs

  Chapter Fourteen—Scramble!

  Chapter Fifteen—On with the Show!

  Chapter Sixteen—Just Rewards

  About the Authors

  To those who dare to dream. Don’t let fear keep you from working your hardest to reach your goals.

  —D. J.

  A Note About the Text

  The rules of Little League followed in this book are the rules of the present day. There are six innings in each game. Every player on a Little League baseball team must play at least two innings of every game in the field and have at least one at bat. In any given contest, there is a limit on the number of pitches a pitcher can throw, in accordance with age. Pitchers who are eight years old are allowed a maximum of fifty pitches in a game, pitchers who are nine or ten years old are allowed seventy-five pitches per game, and pitchers who are eleven or twelve years old are allowed eighty-five pitches.

  Dear Reader,

  Fast Break is inspired by some of my experiences growing up. The book portrays the values my parents instilled in me and the lessons they have taught me about how to remain true to myself and embrace the unique differences in everyone around me.

  Fast Break is based on the lesson that trying new things is an important part of life and of success; don’t be afraid to try, even if you fail. This is one of the principles I have lived by in order to achieve my dreams. I hope you enjoy reading!

  Derek Jeter

  DEREK JETER’S 10 LIFE LESSONS

  Set Your Goals High (The Contract)

  Think Before You Act (Hit & Miss)

  Deal with Growing Pains (Change Up)

  The World Isn’t Always Fair (Fair Ball)

  Find the Right Role Models (Curveball)

  Don’t Be Afraid to Fail (Fast Break)

  Have a Strong Supporting Cast

  Be Serious but Have Fun

  Be a Leader, Follow the Leader

  Life Is a Daily Challenge

  CONTRACT FOR DEREK JETER

  Family Comes First. Attend our nightly dinner.

  Be a Role Model for Sharlee. (She looks to you to model good behavior.)

  Do Your Schoolwork and Maintain Good Grades (As or Bs).

  Bedtime. Lights out at nine p.m. on school nights.

  Do Your Chores. Take out the garbage, clean your room on weekends, and help with the dishes.

  Respect Others. Be a good friend, classmate, and teammate. Listen to your teachers, coaches, and other adults.

  Respect Yourself. Take good care of your body and your mind. Avoid alcohol and drugs. Surround yourself with positive friends with strong values.

  Work Hard. You owe it to yourself and those around you to give your all. Do your best in everything that you do.

  Think Before You Act.

  Failure to comply will result in the loss of playing sports and hanging out with friends. Extra-special rewards include attending a Major League Baseball game, choosing a location for dinner, and selecting another event of your choice.

  Chapter One TRIPLE CHALLENGE

  “It’s a rocket to short—OOHH! Jeter makes the diving stab going away from first, then throws from his knees and nails the runner! What a play! That’s one for the ages, folks! Let’s watch it one more time, in slow motion.… ”

  “Derek! Are you with us?”

  Derek Jeter snapped to attention, his beautiful daydream gone in an instant. The whole class full of sixth graders laughed.

  “Yes, Ms. Terrapin, I’m listening. Sorry.”

  “Summer is over, everyone,” said the teacher. “I know it’s still early September, and it’s warm and sunny and beautiful outside—but we’ve got a lot of work to cover, and I need your attention.”

  The trouble was, summer was over. It felt like a million years since Derek was up at his grandparents’ place in Greenwood Lake, New Jersey.

  It had been the best summer ever! Derek’s best friend Dave Hennum had come for a week to join him. They had played baseball with a bunch of city kids in the Bronx, who would have all been Little League all-stars—if only they’d had a league of their own.

  After playing ball with them, Derek’s game was better than ever. He couldn’t wait to play again! In fact, he’d just gotten caught daydreaming about it.

  Too bad his next chance was seven months away. In the meantime, all he could do was play pickup games on Jeter’s Hill—the sloping patch of grass in Mount Royal Townhouses, where Derek spent so much of his time that the other kids had named it after him.

  In a month or so, cold weather would force everyone else indoors—but not Derek. From October through March, the only kid in Kalamazoo who thought it was warm enough to play baseball was Derek.

  He would go to the batting cages with his dad every once in a while, of course, but that was about it. And Derek could feel already that it wouldn’t be nearly enough to see him through till spring. No, he was going to have to find something else to do until then.

  But what?

  “Class,” said Ms. Terrapin, interrupting his train of thought, “in a couple of weeks we will be moving forward into the wild worlds of algebra, chemistry, biology, and earth science.”

  There were murmurings from all around the room. “Ugh. Sounds hard,” Derek heard Sam Rockman mutter behind him.

  “Don’t be a wuss,” Gary Parnell whispered back to the complainer.

  “Lay off him, Gary,” Derek said.

  Sam shot Derek a silent Thank you with his eyes.

  Sam Rockman was always scuffling to get a passing grade. He was very nice, but some things took him a little longer to understand—like math. And science.

  Gary Parnell, on the other hand, was the class brainiac—which would have been fine, except that he loved to brag about it. Especially to Derek, whom Gary considered his biggest rival.

  Gary insisted on making every quiz and every test a contest between the two of them—just to prove who was smarter.

  Derek never backed away from the challenge—which was probably why Gary never got tired of beating him. Derek could count on one hand the number of times he’d come out ahead, but that didn’t stop him from trying even harder the next time.

  On the other hand, when it came to anything involving sports or exercise, Gary usually got a D at best—if not an F. He always acted like it was torture to break a sweat. Last spring, when he’d been forced to play baseball by his mom and wound up on Derek’s team, he’d spent the first three weeks of the season complaining nonstop.

  Ms. Terrapin cleared her throat, a signal for the class to quiet down. “Before we move on to sixth-grade work, though, we’re going to test what you’ve already learned. Or at least how much of it you’ve retained over the summer.”

  She started passing out test booklets. The kids in front handed them back until they reached the rear of the classroom. Derek noticed that Sam took his reluctantly, with a little shudder of dread.

  “As you may know, national standardized tests are coming next spring. They’re very different from what you’ve experienced—and they test everything you’ve ever learned. So naturally they take a lot of time to prepare for.” Another murmur went through the class; a soft ripple of worry.

>   “So we are giving you a ‘pretest.’ In addition to giving you valuable practice, it will help us measure your current levels of learning. Don’t worry—your scores won’t count this time around. But for those of you who are behind and need more help, we’ll be recommending after-school study and tutoring between now and next spring.”

  “Yikes!” said Sam, fidgeting nervously in his seat. “Extra study? Tutoring?”

  Gary pretended to yawn. “It’s good to be a genius,” he whispered to Derek. “I get to spend all my extra time playing computer games.”

  “The practice exams will be on September twentieth and twenty-first,” said Ms. Terrapin. “One day for English and one day for math. We will be using last year’s tests to practice on. Between now and then we will be reviewing for it. I will expect you to go through these study booklets at home.”

  She stood behind her desk, a gleam in her eye. “Now. Principal Parker has offered a special pizza party to the class that does the best. As the world’s biggest pizza fan, I expect my class to bring home the pie!”

  That got a big cheer—although there were plenty of nervous looks going around too.

  “Je-Ter… pre-pare to be de-feat-ed!” Gary said, using his best sci-fi robot voice.

  “Who’s that supposed to sound like?” Derek shot back. “Frankenstein?”

  “Don’t you know anything? It’s Jar-El, the final boss!”

  “Huh?”

  “From DoomMaster,” Gary explained, as if Derek were a two-year-old and didn’t know his fingers from his toes.

  “Oooh. Okay,” Derek said doubtfully. “Gotta say, I’ve never heard of Jar-El—or DoomMaster. Just so you know, though—I am not going to be de-feat-ed on this test. Not by Jar-El, and definitely not by you, Par-Nell.”

  Smack-talking was one thing, but actually beating Gary out on a test that measured everything they’d ever learned? That was going to take a lot of extra studying between now and the twentieth!

  “Here’s something else to take home,” said Ms. Terrapin, handing back another bunch of papers. “Applications for the Fall Talent Show.”

  “Yesss!” Vijay Patel said, pumping his fist. He looked across the room to Derek, waving the form at him excitedly and pointing at it with his other hand.

  Derek had completely forgotten about the Fall Talent Show. Now he remembered that he and Vijay had talked about it over the summer—or written about it, to be more accurate.

  Vijay had been halfway around the world in India last summer, attending a family wedding with his mom and dad—which was why he hadn’t joined Derek and Dave at the lake.

  Vijay had written though—all about his gigantic family and Indian wedding customs. He’d also suggested the two of them work up a break dance routine for the Fall Talent Show.

  Derek had sort of said “okay”… then proceeded to forget all about it. But obviously Vijay had not forgotten. Not at all.

  “All right, class, you can start packing up your things,” said the teacher. “The bell’s about to—and there it goes,” she finished as the bell chimed in right on cue.

  “Better start cramming, Jeter,” Gary said. “Oh no! Is that sweat on your forehead? You wouldn’t be worried, now, would you?”

  “Not a chance,” Derek shot back, showing more confidence than he felt. “Forget Jar-El—I am Je-Ter, and you are going to find out who’s the real final boss.”

  * * *

  “Wait up, Derek!”

  Vijay came up to him as he was repacking his book bag in the hallway.

  “Hi, Vij.”

  “So cool, right? You and me in the talent show?” He put out his hand for a high five.

  “Definitely,” Derek said.

  Truth was, the idea of the two of them break-dancing onstage did seem like fun. It definitely would make everyone at school stand up and take notice. He and Vijay sometimes fooled around with dance moves when they were over at each other’s houses—but nobody at school knew either of them were into it.

  If Derek wasn’t all that enthusiastic right at the moment, it was because his mind was focused on outscoring Gary on the big test. Creating a talent show act definitely was going to infringe on his study and review time.

  “So, let’s get going!” Vijay said happily. His parents both worked late at the hospital on Thursdays and wouldn’t be home till six, so the two boys had planned to spend the afternoon together at Derek’s.

  “Last one on the bus is a rotten egg!” Derek said—and the race was on.

  Derek got to the school’s front lobby way ahead of Vijay. And there was Dave, staring at something posted on the big bulletin board.

  “Derek! Check this out!”

  Derek looked over his shoulder for Vijay but couldn’t see him through the crowd of kids cramming the lobby, all of them trying to get out the door at once.

  “What is it?”

  “AAU basketball tryouts at the Y!”

  “Whoa! Already?”

  “A week from Saturday! Are you psyched?”

  “Totally!”

  “We’re gonna have to get our game in gear,” Dave said.

  Just then a breathless Vijay finally made his way over to them. “I couldn’t get through that mob!” he said, laughing. “You are way too fast for me, Derek.”

  “Hi, Vij,” said Dave.

  “Hi, Dave. Hey, Derek, we’d better get going. The bus is going to leave without us!”

  “Talk to you later, Derek,” said Dave, who always got driven home and never took the bus. “We’ve got to make some plans.”

  “Definitely!” Derek waved, then followed Vijay out to the bus, his head spinning. Fifteen minutes ago he’d been looking at an easy, relaxed weekend. Now he was looking at a three-ring circus!

  Chapter Two TIME CRUNCH

  The two boys sat at Derek’s kitchen table, going over their review booklets. Derek’s mom was working till six at her accounting job. His dad taught classes at the university in the mornings each weekday as well as three evenings a week, and he had just gotten home.

  But at the moment he was still out with Sharlee at her dance class—or was it karate today? Derek couldn’t remember—his little sister was even busier than he was. Obviously, though, that was about to change.

  “I think we should look over your music collection,” Vijay was saying now. “I haven’t got nearly as much music as you do.”

  “Come on, man, we’ve got to keep studying,” Derek said. “There’s a ton of stuff here to review before the twentieth.”

  “Yes, but we are going to do fine, Derek! We are the best test-takers in the whole class, except for—”

  “—for Gary Parnell,” Derek finished the sentence. “I know, I know. That’s just it.”

  “I don’t get it,” said Vijay with a puzzled look.

  Derek started to speak, then stopped himself. “Never mind. It’s too dumb to even waste time talking about. But I do think we need to keep going over this stuff. I want to make sure we know everything in this booklet backward and forward.”

  “Okay,” said Vijay, backing off. “But maybe we can at least check out some music after? I mean, we can’t just go up onstage and expect to do a break dance number! We have to plan it all out first and then put in lots of time practicing. You know what they say? They say, ‘Practice makes perfect!’ ”

  “Well, we’ll still have a week after the test… ”

  “Derek, you know all those other kids will be doing stuff they’ve done for years. We are probably the only ones making up our act from scratch!”

  “I know. But—”

  “Look, don’t worry,” Vijay said. “We are both super-good dancers. We just have to figure out what we’re going to do—and then, of course, practice doing it over and over and over again. If we do that, we are sure to win the contest!”

  “Mmm,” said Derek. “No pressure, right?”

  Vijay laughed. “You are very funny. So what do you say about this weekend? We can figure out our routine, pick out
our music… ”

  “Uh… sure,” Derek said, eager to change the subject. “But right now we need to get back to work.”

  Being in the talent show was all well and good, but not if it meant having to listen to Gary’s mocking Jar-El voice for the rest of the semester!

  “We were on page twenty-three, at the top. One fourth of one fourth equals… ”

  The phone rang. Derek got up from the kitchen table to answer it.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s me!”

  “Hey, Dave, what’s up?”

  “When are you free to get together and practice, man? We can use the court at my house this weekend. What do you say?”

  Dave lived in a big house with a pool, a golf hole—and, best of all, a tricked-out sports court. And his family had their own personal driver, named Chase, who also served as Dave’s guardian whenever his parents were away on business—which was a lot.

  “Sure thing! I’ll talk to my parents.” Derek looked over at Vijay, who was waiting expectantly for him to get off the phone—and he suddenly realized he had a problem. “Uh, listen, Dave, I’m kind of busy right now. Can we talk about it tomorrow?”

  He didn’t mention to Dave that Vijay was in the room with him. Nor did he say anything that would clue Vijay in to what he and Dave were talking about.

  Vijay and Dave were his two best friends—but sometimes it was hard not to make one of them feel like Derek was favoring the other.

  “Oh, okay,” said Dave. “Talk to you later, then!”

  “What was that all about?” Vijay asked after Derek hung up. “He sounded pretty excited.”

  Derek gave a casual shrug. “Basketball tryouts over at the Y.”