Jumped Read Free Page A

then she’s going to be funny too? Left you hanging, didn’t he?
    But here we are. Out in the cold because the cop won’t pass us through. Viv and Shayne drop the ball completely. They can’t remember why we’re here to begin with. That they’re my girls and they’re supposed to just be here. Shayne’s a baby for that hot chocolate. I’m tired of hearing her whine, so me and Viv walk her over to the bagel man on the corner. She gets hers, then I tell her, “Get me one.”
    â€œGet your own.”
    I’m still mad but Shayne got a way with her and I say, “Don’t make me spill that cup all over you. You’ll really be hot.”
    She knows I’m playing. She holds the Styrofoam cup out to me. I take a sip, to make things nice, but give it back. Too sweet. She and Scotty like that sweet, sweet stuff. I shake it off. It’s nasty sweet. She and Viv pass the cup back and forth. They try to get me to take another sip but then they stop. They know when to leave me alone.
    We start back, this time to the side door at the backof the school. That’s the best way to get in or out. The building’s too big. They can’t put a cop on each door. If you want to, you can break in or out.
    We stand there for a while. Viv and Shayne crunch up now that the hot chocolate is gone. They talk, talk, talk but I keep my eye on the door. I wait. The janitor opens the side door to take a smoke. Then boom . We rush him like a storm. Oh! That’s funny.
    He wants to curse us so bad, grown man and whatnot. Can’t be bum-rushed by no girls. But what can he do? Tall, crooked grandpa. We’re too much for him, laughing like a pack of she-dogs, and it makes me feel drunk and silly.
    We’re in. I’m fit to charge up the stairs, the third floor. Hunt down Hershheiser. If I keep pushing on him I know I can break him. We’re down in the basement at the far end of the building near the gym, near the coach’s office. I have a thought. A better thought. All Coach gotta do is change her mind. She can do that. Change her mind. It’s her rule: 75 and higher to take the floor. It’s not the law. It’s not in the rule book. She can change her mind. She can bend this one time.
    Come on, Coach. Let me by this time. I just want my minutes. I’ll take sixteen. Eight. I’ll take four. Four minutes and she’ll want me in for eight. Four minutes whenwe’re down ten points and you’ll never sit me out. You’ll never bench me. Just don’t make me sit and watch. Don’t bench me.
    I tell Shayne and Vivica to wait. I don’t want Coach to think I’m ganging up with my girls. Coach don’t respond to that. Coach is like, “You’ll break before I bend the rules.” Coach isn’t no Hershheiser. Coach’ll be up in your chest, standing six by six, a brick wall you can’t get around. But I’m not trying to charge at her. I just need her to hear me. Just hear me out.
    When I go into her office the radio’s on some talk station. Sports talk. She’s reading the paper, drinking coffee. Only her eyes go up, then back down to the paper.
    â€œCoach, my minutes,” I start.
    â€œNot now, Duncan.”
    â€œBut Coach, I just—”
    â€œDuncan, I said not now.”
    â€œBut Co—”
    â€œDuncan. Out.” And she points to the door like she points to the bench. Like I’m a dog and I take commands. She has the minutes, the game, the season, and I got zip.
    Â 
    Shayne, Viv. Do not speak. Don’t say nothing. Not one sound. Just shut the hell up.
    They get it. They read my face. They follow me from the basement up back, to the first floor where B meets C. I’m so mad I can’t even see them. Just their shapes. They’re not even Viv and Shayne to me. I feel hot and tight. Caged by the No box.
    NO NO
NO NO
    We’re inside where it’s warm but my breath comes out