Full Court Press Read Free

notice us. We climbed up onto the edge of the stage, took a seat and started to put on our basketball shoes.
    â€œCan you believe some of the people who are trying out?” Kia asked.
    â€œThere are some surprises,” I admitted. We’d played against most of these kids in the three-on-three contest, or at least seen them play. Some of them were not what I’d call ‘quality’ players.
    â€œThere’s Marcus,” Kia said, pointing to the far corner.
    He was bouncing a ball, standing and talking to a group of kids that included Kingsley and Deanand Roy. Great, Roy trying out too. Though I didn’t really know him — ‘cause he was in grade five — Roy was not my favorite guy. He had been part of the team that we’d beaten in the finals and had been pretty dirty and nasty — and not just in our games.
    â€œI see your old buddy is here,” Kia said, reading my mind.
    â€œRoy doesn’t like you any better than he likes me.”
    â€œI don’t think Roy likes even his own mother,” Kia said, “but it wasn’t me who made him look like a fool in front of half the school during the final game of the tournament.”
    â€œI didn’t make him look… at least I didn’t
mean
to make him look bad,” I said.
    â€œWhat you meant and what you did are two different things, but I’m sure Roy will be just as forgiving as he is nice.”
    â€œBut he’s not nice at…” I let the sentence trail off, because of course Kia was saying thathe probably would hold a grudge.
    â€œAnd maybe we can all become teammates and good friends,” she continued. “And then you can invite Roy to come back to your house after the games for milk and —”
    A shrill whistle blast interrupted Kia’s comments. It was Mr. Roberts, standing at the gym door, a ball under one arm, a whistle in his other hand. Most kids had stopped talking and turned to face him. A couple were still bouncing their balls.
    â€œHold the balls!” Mr. Roberts bellowed and the bouncing stopped. “Everybody line up right across the baseline!”
    Kia and I jumped down off the edge of the stage and took a place at the very end.
    â€œWelcome to the first basketball tryout,” Mr. Roberts said as he started to walk down the line. “It’s great that so many of you want to be on the team. Unfortunately you all cannot be part of the team. There are only ten spots available.”
    Ten spots meant two less possibilities for me and Kia. This had suddenly gotten harder before it had even started.
    â€œWe will be meeting before and after school all week. After Friday’s last workout I’ll bemaking my decisions about who will be on the team. A list will be posted on the gym door Monday morning. I know that some people will not be —”
    Mr. Roberts stopped mid-sentence as he came to the end of the line and saw me and Kia. He looked confused.
    â€œNick… Kia… I didn’t expect to see the two of you here this morning.”
    â€œWhere else would we be?” Kia asked.
    â€œIt’s just that you’re in grade three.”
    â€œBut we’re allowed to tryout, aren’t we?” I asked.
    â€œWell, sure… I guess… anybody in the school can try out.”
    â€œGood,” Kia said. “Because we want to be on the team.”
    Mr. Roberts nodded his head in agree-ment, but there was something about the look on his face that said he had some serious doubts.
    â€œOkay, we’ve wasted enough time. We’re going to do some warm-ups and then once everybody is good and loose we’re going to do some suicides. Let’s get going!”
    * * *

    I took a deep swig from my bottle of water. It felt good going down. Mr. Roberts hadn’t even let us stop for a water break during the whole tryout.
    â€œThat was some workout,” Kia commented.
    I nodded my head and then took a towel