Double Fake Read Free

sturdy, with the beginnings of a summer mustache sprouting above his lip. He would be captain of the Hudson City High School team this fall.
    “How many of you have actually played this game?” he asked. “On a real team, I mean.”
    Four or five players raised their hands. Zero asked, “Does gym count?”
    The coach smiled and shrugged. “Sort of.” He made two quick cutting motions with his hand, dividing the group into three sets of three. “You three stand up,” he said, indicating Calvin, Mary Pineda, and Peter Leung. “You’re a team.”
    “Just three of us?” Calvin asked.
    “Three is the perfect unit. You’ll see.”
    Coach had set up two portable goals, one in front of a full-sized goal and the other at midfield. “Short field. No goalies,” he said. “But no long shots, either. I want to see footwork and passing. Any shot longer than fifteen yards doesn’t count.”
    Coach sent Zero, Julie Carrasco, and Orlando Green onto the field for the game. “The game goes for one goal,” Coach said. “Losing team steps off and the third team comes on. We’ll switch the teammates around after a while.”
    He blew his whistle and Calvin took possession of the ball, kicking it ahead and chasing it down. The three opponents converged on him, and Calvin pivoted, kicking the ball to the side and throwing out an elbow.
    Julie took possession of the ball and booted it up the field, where Peter caught up to it and sent it flying in the other direction.
    Now it was simply a race to the ball, and Calvin got there first. With the three opponents in pursuit, Calvin quickly shot the ball toward the goal. It missed by about four feet and spun out of bounds.
    Coach Diaz stood with his arms folded and his mouth tight. He stepped over to the three players who were waiting to get in and started talking quietly to them.
    On the field, Calvin chased down a long boot from Orlando and came racing back up the field. He dodged past Zero, then managed to spin between Julie and Orlando, finding himself right in front of a wide-open goal. He easily kicked the ball into the net and threw his fists into the air.
    He trotted back to his team’s end of the field, laughing.
    “Okay,” Coach said. “Next team.”
    Angel Medina, Briana Torres, and Victor Alvarez trotted out. All three were a year younger than Calvin.
    “We’ll eat these guys up,” Calvin said to Mary.
    Angel came up the field with the ball, and Calvin and his teammates ran toward him. As they approached, Angel turned and sent the ball back to Briana, who was about fifteen feet to the side and behind him.
    “Charge!” yelled Calvin with a broad grin, leading his two teammates toward the ball.
    But Briana was quick, barely receiving the ball before she passed it over to Victor. By the time Calvin had turned and headed toward Victor, the ball was already moving back to Angel, who easily took it thirty yards to the goal and fired it in.
    Coach blew his whistle. “Calvin,” he said with a broad smile. “Tell me what just happened.”
    “That kid scored.”
    Coach laughed. “How come?”
    “Because he got lucky?”
    “You tell me. How lucky does he have to be when nobody’s guarding him?”
    Calvin shrugged. “I got through three of them when I scored.”
    “It wasn’t easy though, was it?”
    “Guess not.”
    “Look,” Coach said. “Remember when I said three was the perfect unit? Think about it. While you were fighting to get through three defenders, your two teammates were as wide open as they could be. You had your head down, thinking only about dribbling and shooting. The way to score goals is to pass, my man.”
    Calvin nodded.
    “We need to work hard, but we need to work smart. That’s all I told these guys,” he said, sweeping his hand toward Angel and his two teammates. “When you three went racing after the ball together, all they had to do was form a triangle and make a few simple passes to pick you apart.”
    “I get it,” Calvin