Center Court Sting

  Copyright

  Copyright © 1998 by Matt Christopher Royalties, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Little, Brown and Company

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  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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  First eBook Edition: December 2009

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Matt Christopher® is a registered trademark of Matt Christopher Royalties, Inc.

  ISBN: 978-0-316-09515-0

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Matt Christopher®

  The #1 SPORTS SERIES FOR KIDS: MATT CHRISTOPHER®

  To my great-grandson, Evan Robert

  1

  Daren McCall was hot.

  It wasn’t the noise of the screaming fans in the echoing gym or the glaring lights. It wasn’t that the basketball game was close or that he’d been racing up and down the polished hardwood floor for what seemed like hours.

  What Daren really was, was steamed. He’d expected the game to be a romp. His team, the Rangers, was one of the best in the league, way better than the pathetic Demons, the bunch they were playing. Daren had hoped to score a lot of points, maybe even a personal high.

  But the Demons had hung in all the way. Now, with four minutes left, the Rangers led by just five points, and the game was still up for grabs.

  Lou Bettman, the six-foot one-inch Ranger center, was having a terrible game — again. He seemed to be sleepwalking, unable to score or rebound. Daren couldn’t understand what had happened to Lou. He was the star of last year’s Rangers and had looked even better as this year’s season began. Then, suddenly, he’d fallen apart.

  But the person who was irritating Daren the most was a guy named Carl Mantell. Carl was guarding Daren. A mediocre player according to his stats, Carl was giving Daren more trouble than Daren had thought he would. No matter what Daren did, Carl stayed in his face, cutting off the lane when he tried to drive or giving him little shoves to keep him off balance. What was worse, the ref, a skinny dude with hair in his eyes, hadn’t called these obvious fouls. With a decent ref, Daren felt, Mantell would have fouled out by now.

  After Lou blew another layup, the Demons raced up-court. Carl got the ball in the corner and threw a bad shot, way out of his range. The ball bounced hard off the front rim and into the hands of Ranger guard Lynn Mayes, Daren’s best friend on the team. Daren, seeing a possible fast break, spun and raced toward the Ranger basket. Lynn’s pass was short, making Daren slow down to catch it. As he spun to shoot the hoop, Carl darted in to block him. As Daren threw up an off-balance shot, they collided, and Carl staggered back, arms wheeling. Daren knew he hadn’t hit the guy hard and that Carl was acting. Sure enough, the ref blew his whistle. Daren snagged the ball, sure he would be taking a trip to the foul line for two free throws.

  A blocking foul on Carl, at last, he thought with satisfaction. But that feeling changed abruptly when he saw the ref pointing at him.

  “Charging, number four,” he said as Daren stared in disbelief. “Green ball.”

  “What!” Daren yelped.

  He saw Lynn signal him to cool it, but he was too angry to care. This ref was unreal!

  The ref held out his hands. “C’mon, let’s have the ball. Now.”

  Daren slammed the ball to the floor as hard as he could and stomped away. Behind him, he heard another shrill whistle.

  “Technical foul, number four!”

  Daren’s face burned as the crowd booed and jeered. He didn’t know if they were booing the ref or him, but he wanted to kick himself for giving the Demons the chance to cut into the Ranger lead. Maybe he could make it up in the last few minutes, if—

  “Time out!” shouted Coach Michaels, drilling Daren with an icy glare. As the team went to the sideline, he pointed at Daren.

  “Sit,” he snapped. “Shawn, go in for Daren. Listen up, everyone.” Daren started to protest, but a look at the coach’s face made him shut up. The coach began talking to the team as Daren slumped in his seat. He knew that Coach Michaels was mad and that there was no way he’d get back in this game, not even if six Rangers broke their legs.

  It wasn’t fair. Carl Mantell was playing dirty, the ref was blind, and now the coach was making him look bad by benching him.

  When the game resumed, he stared at the floor. He could tell from the crowd’s groan that Carl had made the technical. Now the Ranger lead had been cut to four, and the Demons had the ball.

  Could the Demons pull this game out? And if they did, would Daren’s teammates blame him?

  He forced himself to watch. A moment later, he jumped up in excitement when the Rangers intercepted a Demon pass. Guard Cris Campbell banked in a jumper, and Daren cheered. The Ranger lead inched ahead to six points.

  A moment later, Mac Gould, the Demon center, took a pass from Carl Mantell, spun away from Lou Bettman, and tried a soft jumper from eight feet. Lou hit Mac’s arm as the shot went in. The ref called the foul on Lou, and Gould sank the foul shot. The Ranger lead was cut to three with two minutes left.

  Daren slapped his thigh with his lucky towel. What was going on with Lou? Had he forgotten how to play basketball? Didn’t he care anymore? Daren felt like running in and shaking Lou by the shoulders, hard, and yelling at him to wake up. Maybe Daren had not had a very good game, but Lou was totally messing up.

  When the Rangers inbounded, the Demons tried to trap Lynn in the backcourt, swarming around him and waving their arms. Shawn Howe came back to help, and Lynn bounced a pass to him. Shawn passed to Cris, who sank another jumper.

  The Demons seemed rattled. Lynn intercepted the Demons’ inbound pass and laid it in to make the Ranger lead seven. Daren looked at the clock and knew it was all over. The Rangers had the game in their pockets now.

  At the final buzzer, the scoreboard read Rangers 52, Demons 45.

  The teams headed for the locker rooms. The Demons looked unhappy, but the Rangers weren’t too cheerful, either. They knew they hadn’t played anywhere near their best.

  Daren felt bad about the technical and knew it might have cost his team the game. Just thinking about the events that had led up to it made him hot under the collar. He might have had a good game if Carl Mantell hadn’t played dirty and if the ref hadn’t needed glasses. It was really their fault he had lost his temper and been benched.

  And what was up with that? He was sure that he could have made up for his mistake if the coach hadn’t benched him. Coach Michaels should have given him another chance instead of making him look bad.

  It just wasn’t fair.

  2

  The first thing Daren saw in the visitors locker room was the Ranger team manager, Andy Higgins. Andy, with his usual geeky grin, was clapp
ing his hands, trading high fives with whoever was willing, and slapping players on the back. Didn’t he see that the Rangers hadn’t played well today, even though they’d won?

  Apparently, he didn’t. “All right!” he yelled. “Way to go! Rangers rule!” Andy was no athlete, but he loved basketball and hanging with the Rangers. Daren loved basketball, too, but he doubted he’d spend his free time rattling around on an old school bus to away games just to hand out towels and drinks.

  “Way to go, Dar!” Andy said, holding out his hand. Daren brushed by him, ignoring the hand. Andy looked hurt, but Daren was too upset to care.

  “Right, Andy,” called Lou Bettman, sitting by his locker. “Daren did great… for the other guys. Real smart, Daren, getting a T.”

  Daren heard a couple of others muttering agreement with Lou and felt his temper heat up.

  “Hey, Lou,” Daren said, sneering. “You want to talk about great games? You want to talk about my mistakes? You were a real all-star out there — not. You couldn’t find the basket with a road map, and you wouldn’t know what a rebound was if it bit you on the leg. Talk about pathetic. You were the worst —”

  Lou stood up quickly and walked away, almost falling over Andy, who was stooping to pick up towels. “Watch it!” he shouted. “Look where you’re going!”

  “S-sorry, Lou,” Andy mumbled as he edged away. “I didn’t… I mean, I wasn’t…”

  “Hey, McCall! Don’t hassle Lou!” Shawn glared at Daren. “Maybe Lou didn’t have his shot working, but that doesn’t change the fact that what you did was just stupid.”

  Daren knew that Shawn was right. It had been stupid. But he wasn’t about to admit it, not the way he was feeling. He matched Shawn’s glare with one of his own. “That ref was the pits!” he said. “If he hadn’t swallowed his whistle, Mantell would’ve fouled out! First the ref gets on me, and now you! You must be glad I got benched so you could get some playing time. What a team player!”

  Shawn looked disgusted. “It’s all about you, huh? You talk about team players! A real team player doesn’t blow up like you did, and he doesn’t hassle a teammate just because the guy’s game was a little off.”

  “A little off!” Daren laughed. Lynn came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. Daren shook it off. “Right! And the Grand Canyon’s a little hole in the ground!”

  “Quiet, everybody!” Coach Michaels stood in the doorway and looked around the suddenly silent room.

  “That’s better,” the coach said. “I think you all know we didn’t give a hundred percent today. We could just as easily have lost it at the end.

  “We play the Blazers next, and you’d better be ready. If you don’t pick up your game, those guys will walk all over you. We have our work cut out for us, so be ready to sweat at practice tomorrow. I’ll go over the things we need to work on. That’s all for now. Daren, come with me.”

  Uh-oh, Daren thought. As he stood up, Lynn whispered, “Be cool. Hang in there.”

  In the hallway, Daren faced Coach Michaels but looked away fast. The coach’s eyes were cold, and his lips formed a thin line. Daren braced himself to get chewed out.

  But the coach didn’t say anything at first, and when he did, his voice was soft.

  “What happened out there? What did you think you were doing?”

  Daren looked up. “I — I guess I sort of blew it, huh?” Daren tried a little smile, but he got no smile in return.

  “‘Sort of’? You totally blew it, big time. Sometimes I wonder what you’re thinking.”

  Daren stopped smiling. “Well, it’s just that… Coach, didn’t you see Mantell shove me around and foul me all game long? That ref was —”

  The coach cut Daren off. “So it was all Mantell’s and the ref’s fault?”

  “Well…” Daren shrugged. “No, not all their fault, but —”

  “That technical wasn’t anybody’s fault but yours,” said Coach Michaels. His eyes bored into Daren. “It was that temper of yours — again. We’ve talked about it before.”

  Daren looked down. “I know. But —”

  “No, Daren. No ‘buts.’ If you can’t learn to control that temper, you’ll wind up hurting the team more than you help it. I won’t have that. Next time you go ballistic in a game, you can expect to spend a lot more time on the bench. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” Daren muttered.

  The coach nodded. “All right. Just as long as we understand each other. Now, let’s put it behind us and get ready for the Blazers.”

  When Daren went out to the team bus for the trip home, he felt everyone’s eyes on him. He found a seat alone at the back.

  “How you doing?” Lynn sat down next to Daren, who shrugged.

  Lynn peered at Daren for a moment. “Got chewed out, huh? Well, Coach doesn’t hold a grudge. Tomorrow it’ll all —”

  Daren cut him off. “He doesn’t like me. He’s going to kick me off the team soon.”

  Lynn shook his head. “No way, Dar. He likes you as much as he likes any of us. It’s just that he —”

  Daren hunched forward. “Look, I’d rather be by myself, okay?”

  Lynn blinked. Then he shrugged.

  “You got it.” He moved to another seat, leaving Daren alone.

  A few seats ahead, Lou Bettman also sat by himself, staring out the window at nothing.

  For a team that had won a game, the trip home was very quiet.

  3

  After games, Daren and Lynn usually rode their bikes home together. The ride, and Lynn’s easy-going chatter, usually calmed Daren. But today Lynn had a challenge on his hands.

  “The Blazers are pretty hot this season,” Lynn said, “but we can take them.”

  “I guess,” Daren muttered. “If we don’t get that lame ref we had today. Can you believe him? He didn’t give me one break!”

  “I guess,” said Lynn.

  Daren stared at his friend. “You guess? Carl did everything but hit me with a baseball bat! If he had, the ref still would’ve called the foul on me!”

  “Well…” Lynn pedaled in silence for a moment. “Carl plays tough D. In-your-face defense. Against the Blazers, he held Don Spratt to ten points. That’s doing a good job, I think.”

  Daren was amazed. He wanted sympathy, and here his best friend was, praising Carl Mantell! He was practically saying that all the problems today were Daren’s fault!

  “Carl Mantell plays dirty! End of discussion! If you can’t tell the difference between good defense and playing dirty, you should try another sport — like checkers! What kind of friend are you?”

  Lynn kept calm, and his voice stayed level. “I’m a good friend. But I don’t always have to agree with you. I can say what I think.”

  “Yeah, well, do me a favor and keep your thoughts to yourself for the rest of the ride,” Daren snapped.

  Lynn shrugged, and neither one said another word. They parted when Daren pedaled up his driveway and Lynn headed home.

  Daren put his bike in the garage and grabbed his backpack from the backseat carrier. As he was closing the garage door, he heard a voice calling him.

  “Dar, how’d it go? Did you win?”

  His friend and neighbor, twelve-year-old Judy Parnell was smiling at him from her side of the fence between their front lawns. Daren and Judy had known each other since they were babies, and Daren felt his mood improve. He walked over to the fence.

  “We won, barely. I didn’t do so great.”

  Judy’s smile faded. “That’s too bad, but you’ll have a great game next time. You never have two bad ones in a row.”

  Daren smiled for the first time in hours. “Well… thanks. I better have, because we’re playing the Blazers, and those guys are tough.”

  “I hope I can come see you. Daren, can I ask you a big favor?”

  “No problem. What’s up?”

  Judy looked back toward her house. “It’s about my little brother, Gary.”

  Gary was eight, and Daren thought he was a nic
e kid. “What about him?”

  “Well, he’s really interested in basketball all of a sudden. He watches it on TV, and he’s got posters of pro players all over his room. We got him a ball for his birthday, and Dad is going to put up a hoop and backboard in the yard.”

  Daren nodded. “That’s great. It’s good for kids to get started young. I was only seven when I got my first ball. My dad and I practiced all the time.”

  “I remember,” Judy said with a smile. “The thing is, my dad is so busy these days that he doesn’t have the time right now to help Gary. And Gary needs some coaching. You know, someone to give him tips. I don’t know enough about it, so I was hoping that you could help. Gary really looks up to you.”

  Daren thought a moment. He liked Judy, and he was sure he could get Gary playing well in no time.

  “Sure, why not?”

  “Oh, that would be so great!” Judy’s smile was radiant. “Would you wait a minute, and I’ll get Gary. He’s doing his homework.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Judy ran into her house and came out a moment later with Gary, who had a basketball under his arm. His face lit up at the sight of Daren.

  “Hey, Dar!” he yelled. “I got a basketball, see?” He held the ball up.

  “That’s cool, Gary,” Daren said, taking the ball and spinning it on his index finger.

  “Gary,” said Judy, “would you like Daren to coach you now and then?”

  The younger boy’s eyes grew round in astonishment. “Really? He’d coach me?”

  “Definitely,” said Daren, tossing the ball back to Gary.

  “Awesome!” Gary caught the ball. “Hey, could we start now?”

  Daren laughed. “I can’t today. I have homework. But how about tomorrow? I can be here by four-thirty.”

  “Yes!” Gary beamed at Daren and his sister. “Wait’ll the guys at school hear!”

  Daren reached over the fence and patted Gary’s shoulder. “Okay. See you tomorrow afternoon. Bye, Judy!”

  “Bye, Daren,” she said, “and thanks!”

  As Daren walked inside, he realized that his bad mood was gone.