Fast Break Read online

“Oh. Yeah, that is pretty cool.” Vijay smiled, but they both knew that basketball wasn’t his sport.

  “You… you want to try out with us?”

  “No, not me. I like baseball and soccer. But basketball? I never understand the dribbling, with only so many steps in between bounces. And the net is too tiny and too far away for my liking!”

  Derek laughed. Vijay was always cracking him up.

  “Anyway, that’s next Saturday, not this one,” Vijay went on. “Lucky for us. We’d better put in some time on our act this weekend, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah.… ”

  Until the moment Ms. Terrapin had handed out their test booklets, Derek’s plan for the weekend had been to watch the big Yankees-Tigers series on TV on Saturday, then spend Sunday with his family as usual.

  But now, suddenly, everything had been thrown into chaos. He had agreed to meet with two different friends, to practice two different things. And on top of it all, he had to review everything he’d ever learned in school—all on Saturday!

  It was Mission: Impossible!

  “So?” Vijay asked.

  “Well, it can’t be on Sunday… that’s always family day around here.”

  “Saturday, then!” Vijay said, smiling. “That’s fine. When do you think—morning or afternoon?”

  “Um, I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

  “Cool. Let’s do our talent show applications before I go.”

  Just as they finished filling out their forms, the front door opened, and Mr. Jeter came in, followed by Sharlee.

  “Hey, you two!” Mr. Jeter greeted them. “What are you up to?”

  “Reviewing for a big test,” Vijay replied. “And planning our act for the Fall Talent Show!”

  “Talent?” Mr. Jeter repeated with a twinkle in his eyes. “And which of your many, many talents would that be?”

  Derek and Vijay laughed. “Don’t tell him—not yet,” Derek told Vijay. “It’ll be a surprise for you, Dad.”

  “Tell me! Tell me!” Sharlee begged, jumping up and down, making her frilly dance skirt bounce along with her.

  “No way—you’ll just blab to everyone,” Derek said, laughing.

  “I will not! My lips are sealed! See?” She pretended to lock her lips with an invisible key. “Mmm… mmmm… mmm!”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you—later,” Derek conceded. “Maybe.”

  “I’d better get home,” Vijay said, gathering up his school stuff. “My parents will be wondering what’s keeping me. See you tomorrow, Derek! Don’t forget to bring the application with you tomorrow. Bye, all!”

  Derek, Sharlee, and Mr. Jeter got to work getting dinner ready. By the time Mrs. Jeter came home, the table was set, the salad made, the vegetables all cut up, and the chicken warming in the oven. All she had to do was drop her briefcase, sit down, and eat!

  After dinner Derek helped her dry the dishes. Only when they were done, and the whole family had settled down in the living room, did he bring up his thorny scheduling problem.

  “Dad? Mom? Could I go over to Dave’s on Saturday afternoon? We need to practice for the under-twelve basketball tryouts.”

  “Didn’t you say you have a lot of reviewing to do?” his mom asked.

  “Yes, but it’s stuff we’ve already learned. And the test isn’t until the twentieth.”

  “Sometimes we forget a lot over the summer,” Derek’s dad pointed out. “You told us there’s a ton of material to go over. So you need make sure you put aside enough time for it.”

  “I’m going to—a lot! But basketball tryouts are next Saturday! Dave and I both want to be on the team, so we need to practice every minute we can between now and then. I can study after that!”

  “You’re talking about the league down at the Y?” his mom asked.

  “Uh-huh. Only the best players make it, Mom! I know Dave and I can do it, though—if we’re prepared enough. He’s got this great sports court at his house.… ”

  Mr. and Mrs. Jeter exchanged glances. “Wouldn’t it save you time if Dave came here?” his mom asked.

  “Mom, the courts here are all messed up! The rims are bent, and the pavement’s cracked. Dave’s court is really awesome!”

  “Wait, now,” said his dad. “Didn’t you and Vijay say you were preparing something for the talent show? Didn’t I hear you tell him you were going to get together on Saturday?”

  “There’s also the Yankees-Tigers game,” Derek added.

  “It sounds like you’ve gotten yourself overcommitted, at least for this weekend,” said Mrs. Jeter.

  “You said you’d tell me what you were going to do in the show!” Sharlee reminded Derek. “Tell me now! Tell me!”

  “We’re not even exactly sure yet,” Derek confessed to her. “That’s why we need to get together,” he told his parents. “To figure out what we’re going to do.”

  “It’s an awful lot, son,” said his dad. “Are you totally sure you want to commit yourself to so many projects? It’s hard to do a lot of things well when you’re doing them all at once.”

  “I am committed!” Derek insisted. “I mean… I’m pretty sure I am.… ”

  “So when do you plan to fit all this in?” asked his mom.

  “Um… that’s where I was hoping you could give me some advice,” he said.

  “Derek,” said his dad, “I think you’re going to have to eliminate something—at least for this weekend. And it’s not going to be our Sunday afternoon, either. We’ve got a picnic planned, over at the university.”

  Derek realized there was only one thing he could sacrifice and still keep his commitments. “I guess I won’t get to watch the game,” he said softly, looking down at the carpet.

  Chapter Three THE SEEDS OF DOUBT

  “Yo, Derek!”

  Derek turned to see Sam approaching him as he stood at his locker, taking books out of his backpack before heading to class.

  “Oh, hey, Sam. What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to thank you for yesterday,” said Sam. “It was… well, thank you.”

  “Aw, that was nothing,” Derek said, waving a hand. “Gary acts like such a jerk sometimes. Just ignore him.”

  “Yeah, that’s easy for you to say. You always get As and Bs. But me, well… ” His voice trailed off, and Sam looked down at his shoes.

  “Come on, Sam, don’t let it get you down. Gary’s the one with the problem here.”

  “It’s not him, really—it’s me,” said Sam. “Gary’s right. I’m just dumb.”

  “That’s a bunch of crud,” Derek told him. “You’re not dumb—you pass almost every test in class!”

  “Barely. And I’m going to totally flunk this big practice test, you watch.”

  “No way, man—we learned all that stuff last year—you knew it back then, right?”

  “I totally forgot everything the minute summer came,” said Sam. “I’ve been trying to go over that stupid booklet. But it just makes my eyes cross!”

  “Well, don’t give up.” Derek didn’t know what else to say.

  “Actually, I was thinking of getting sick on the twentieth,” Sam confessed. “Stomach virus or something. It wouldn’t be a lie—I’m already half-sick just thinking about it.”

  “But Ms. Terrapin said the marks don’t count on our grades,” Derek pointed out.

  “Extra tutoring? Extra study time? She said that, too, Derek.”

  “Just give it your best shot. You can’t be afraid to fail.”

  “Speaking of my best shot—I was thinking… would you maybe be willing to study with me, like, after school one day?” Sam lived just two buildings over from the Jeters’ in Mount Royal Townhouses. “I could walk over to your house, or you could come to mine.”

  He looked at Derek pleadingly. “Please? I need to pass this test—my mom and dad said if I need extra tutoring or after-school study time, I can’t play under-twelve basketball!”

  “You’re trying out?”

  “Uh-huh.”

&nb
sp; “Me too! What position?”

  “Point guard. You?”

  “Uh… point guard.”

  “Oh. Well… good luck. I’m sure you’ll get on the team.”

  “You too,” Derek replied.

  Sam was definitely the best under-12 player Derek knew. They’d gone one-on-one lots of times, and Sam was more than a little better. His shot was more consistent, he was an outstanding ball handler, and he was a total pain on defense. Derek knew he would be tough competition for the point guard position. And now he was asking Derek’s help in passing the test so that he would be allowed to play on the team!

  “So… what do you say?”

  Derek bit his lip. He felt for Sam. Part of him wanted to help. On the other hand, his own schedule was already crammed chock-full.

  Of course he had to review the test material anyway. Derek had been thinking of studying with Vijay, who was one of the best students in the class. Studying with Sam would definitely slow down Derek’s pace—and eat up more of his scarce time.

  “Well, I’m kind of booked this weekend… ”

  “Next week, then? After school?”

  “I guess.” In the end, he found he couldn’t say no. “Well, we’d better get to class,” he said with a sigh.

  “Right,” said Sam. And off they went.

  * * *

  “You’ve got to be kidding me, Jeter!”

  Gary Parnell was staring at the application form in Derek’s hand. “You? In a talent show? I think that’s called an ‘oxymoron.’ ”

  “Why? You don’t think I’ve got what it takes?” Derek shot back.

  “Tsh!” Gary shook his head. “Okay, let’s hear it. Are you going to hit a baseball into the audience?”

  “I might, if you don’t quit yapping.”

  “Seriously, though—what other talents do you fantasize that you have?”

  “Oh, I’m not going to spill the beans—not to you, anyway. I’ll just say this—Vijay and I are going to get huge cheers.”

  “Vijay? Oh, please—this is just too good!”

  “What about you, Gary? You too chicken to apply for the show? Or do you only sing in the shower?”

  “I would not be caught dead on that stage, competing with the rest of you suckers. No way! I am so totally beyond that.”

  “Yeah. Beyond the beyond.”

  “But I’ll tell you one thing, Jeter,” Gary said as Derek got up from his desk to hand in the application. “I’m going to park myself right there in the front row. I want to get a good close-up view of you when everyone is laughing at you!”

  Derek ignored him—or at least he didn’t answer Gary or even turn around to dignify that last rude comment. He knew Gary was that way about everything—except for the things he liked, like math, chess, and now computer games.

  Still, what if Gary was right about Derek and Vijay’s dance? What if they did bomb up there onstage?

  Gary, in his sneaky way, had somehow succeeded in planting a tiny seed of doubt in Derek’s brain.

  Suddenly, agreeing to be in the talent show seemed like a bad idea. Still, he’d promised Vijay he’d do it. Second thoughts or not, Derek was going to get up there on that stage and give it everything he had.

  * * *

  “Class,” said Ms. Terrapin when they’d all settled back in their seats, “Since I know you’re all working hard reviewing the material in your booklets, I’m going to go light on homework this weekend—”

  “Homework?!” Sam moaned. “She’s giving us homework, too?”

  “Yes!” said the teacher as if she had supersonic hearing. “Just because we’re reviewing, that doesn’t mean we can stop moving forward. But don’t worry—this weekend, it’s only an essay. I want two full double-spaced pages from each of you—on the subject of ‘My Animal Encounter.’ ”

  A groan went up from several of the students—Derek included. “We don’t have to get up and read them out loud in front of the class, do we?” he asked.

  If there was one thing Derek was most scared of, it was getting up and speaking in front of a roomful of people.

  “Not this time,” said Ms. Terrapin, and Derek breathed a sigh of relief. “But we will be doing a public speaking unit later this semester.”

  Derek winced. Looking over at Sam, he saw that the poor guy had his head in his hands.

  Derek knew there was no way he could back out of helping Sam, any more than he could back out of the talent show after promising Vijay.

  Derek hadn’t had a chance to talk to him all morning. But the two friends caught up later that morning, at recess.

  “So how is tomorrow afternoon for you?” Vijay asked eagerly.

  “Uh, not good. Sorry—I’m already booked.”

  “Booked?”

  Derek had been dreading this moment, but there was no way of avoiding it any longer. “Yeah… um, my mom is driving me over to Dave’s… to practice basketball.”

  Vijay’s shoulders slumped. “Derek, I know you want to make the team—but you will! You’re so good at basketball already! And we haven’t even picked out our music, let alone put together a routine, and practiced it at least a dozen times.”

  “Yeah, but tryouts are next Saturday, Vij—and the show’s not till October eighth. We’ll have plenty of time before then.”

  “I’m glad you think so,” said Vijay, clearly disappointed. “I’m not as confident as you are.”

  Derek wasn’t that confident onstage himself—but he didn’t try to argue. He had known Vijay would be upset. He would have been too, if their roles had been reversed.

  “So when can you get together this weekend?”

  “Um, how’s Saturday night?” Derek asked.

  “No good for me. It’s a big celebration at our Hindu temple,” Vijay explained.

  “At least you’ll be having some fun,” Derek said. “How’s Sunday night, then? Okay?”

  “I guess so,” Vijay said, clearly down in the dumps. “But we’d better make a lot of headway.”

  “Your house or mine?”

  “Yours,” said Vijay. “I’ll bring a few songs, but you’ve got a much bigger selection.”

  “Deal,” said Derek. “And don’t worry—we’re going to be great!”

  Vijay smiled and headed back inside to the cafeteria. Derek lingered awhile, watching some older kids shooting hoops at the other end of the playground.

  Derek had told his friend they were going to be great, and it had made Vijay a little happier. But inside he kept hearing Gary’s mocking words: “I want to get a good close-up view of you when everyone is laughing at you!”

  The tiny seed of doubt Gary had planted in Derek’s brain was growing like a noxious weed.

  Chapter Four HOOP DREAMS

  “And he drops another 3! Jeter is on fire!”

  Dave was playing announcer for Derek, and vice versa, as they practiced their shooting on Dave’s spectacular court.

  Behind them was the small golf hole his mom and dad had put in, so that whenever he wanted to, Dave could practice the game that was his life’s true passion.

  Of course Derek’s sport was baseball, not basketball. But that didn’t mean he didn’t love basketball, too. “From now on I’m going to bring a ball with me wherever I go and dribble my way down the street,” he told Dave. “Got to make it second nature, you know?”

  “I hear you,” Dave said. “Here, let me have that.”

  Derek handed him the ball, and Dave started taking a few shots. Most of them caromed off the rim or the backboard, and a few just caught air. “You need more arc on your shot,” Derek told him.

  “More arc?”

  “Yeah, you know—think of a rainbow.”

  “Like this?”

  He took another shot, and this time, swished it.

  “There you go,” said Derek, giving his friend a fist bump. “Here, give me that ball.”

  They kept on taking turns—shooting from all distances and angles, taking free throws and layups,
playing pick-and-roll with invisible opponents, and going one-on-one.

  “Okay, break time,” Dave said breathlessly at last. It was a hot, sunny September day, and they’d been at it for over an hour. Both boys were pouring sweat and breathing hard. “Let’s get in the shade and have a cold drink.”

  There was a covered bench at the side of the court, and Derek and Dave sat down and took water bottles out of a cooler.

  “Aaahhh,” said Dave. “Wow. That was a workout!”

  “Tell me about it!”

  “We’ve got to do this every day between now and next Saturday.”

  “I wish I could,” Derek said. “But I’ve got too much going on most of the time.”

  “Hey, I’ve got schoolwork too, man. But if we want to make this team, we need to be at the top of our game!”

  “It’s not just schoolwork—Vijay and I have to work up our thing for the talent show.”

  “Derek—remember last summer when we talked about playing for Saint Augustine’s in seventh grade? Being part of that great basketball tradition—having our pictures up on that wall in the hallway, with all the trophies in the glass cases?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You know who coaches the under-twelve team?”

  “No—who?”

  “Mr. Nelson!”

  Mr. Nelson, who was, of course, also the coach of the Saint Augustine basketball team. “If we make this team, we’re a cinch to play for the Irish next year!”

  Derek sat silently, pondering how he could carve out some more time to come out here. Dave’s family lived way out on the outskirts of town.

  “Of course, if the talent show’s that important to you… ”

  “It’s not that.… ” Derek was going to explain how much Vijay was looking forward to doing the talent show with him. But he decided to keep that part to himself. He didn’t want to drag Vijay into it or set up conflict between his two best friends in the world.

  “I just thought it would be fun to give it a shot, you know?” he said. “I just didn’t think it was going to get in the way of basketball tryouts.”

  “You could back out of it,” Dave said. “It’s not too late.”