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
That's right Dwayne said And I have the best foul shot on this team So no worries right PJ laughed How many foul shots do I even take a season he said Like four Dwayne nodded Maybe two he said The two boys laughed and joined the rest of the team for layup drills
Chapter 2 AGAINST THE JAGUARS The next day was Thursday game day The Westfield Middle School Wildcats took on the Grayson City Jaguars Since PJ was the tallest player on the team he went to the center of the court for the jump ball The referee tossed the ball up and PJ jumped With his fingertips he knocked the ball toward Dwayne The Westfield side of the stands cheered PJ was feeling good He ran with his team up the court and took his
