Coach Jennings called my house last night too Troy walked up and pulled books out of his locker Are you going to practice after school he asked James Of course James looked at his friends It beats getting into trouble he said half-seriously When the bell rang at the end of the school day they made their way to the basketball court at the recreation center In minutes they were teamed up and tossing a basketball around Come on Moochie James called as Moochie missed another layup You can do it Moochie cursed and chased the ball I’m just no good he said to James through clenched teeth You and Troy are the stars I’ll never be as good as you two 6
That may be true James joked But you have great speed You just need to believe in yourself They practiced an hour longer Moochie started to relax and improved his game James and the others cheered him on We knew you could do it Randy playfully punched Moochie in the arm All you needed was confi dence James added Thanks for believing in me James Moochie gave him a high-fi ve Anytime James for helping his friend Just don’t think you’ll ever be as good as me he joked felt good 7
Winner Please don’t kill me James pretended to cry while April pulled off from the curb Charles laughed You can always walk you know April readjusted the rearview mirror Easy easy Grandpa coached April as she pulled into traffi c James turned to Charles How about a couple hours of Basketball Jam after dinner I owe you a whipping How about a couple hours of games video homework before Grandpa said 8
James rolled his eyes Charles winked at him Without warning the van hit a pothole James cursed James Grandpa barked Be careful April April successfully pulled into the driveway She beamed at Grandpa She looked at James and stuck out her tongue As they approached the door Greg opened it Hey Greg Charles puffed as he practiced using his crutches Did your letter come today Yeah Greg held it up for everyone to see I won 9
