Chapter 1 JUST PRACTICE PJ Harris looked down at his shoes size 13 He was the tallest guy on the Wildcats basketball team and his feet were the longest But he wasn't thinking about his feet or his height He was thinking about the foul line He looked up The basket hung ten feet high thirteen feet away Down both sides of the lane players stood in red or yellow jerseys watching him out of the corners of their eyes as they looked up at the basket
PJ looked down at his yellow jersey then at the ball and took a deep breath His heart was pounding He could hear the voices of people watching cheering him on or taunting him He looked up at the basket pulled the ball back over his shoulder with both hands and shot Brick The whole backboard shook as the ball slammed into the rim then fell right back to the wood It bounced hard into the lane and one of PJ's opponents grabbed the rebound In seconds it was back up the court and the other team had scored A whistle blew and PJ shook his head Scrimmage over the coach called out Red jerseys win It was only practice but PJ felt awful Man why can't I ever make a foul shot he muttered to himself
Dwayne Illy the starting small forward heard him What did you say he asked PJ turned and said Oh nothing No big deal I missed the foul shot It's just practice right He laughed and gave Dwayne a high five Practice is where we improve PJ Coach Turnbull said If you'd stop goofing around when you miss those foul shots maybe you'd improve I know Coach T PJ replied I'm not goofing around I'm only laughing so I don't look stupid he thought but he didn't want to explain that to Coach Turnbull Don't even worry about it Dwayne said Who cares about a center shooting foul shots Yeah that's your job PJ said smiling You take most of the foul shots cause you get fouled a lot
