Center Court Sting Read online

  Daren didn’t speak. He was afraid that, if he tried, he might start crying. A million feelings whirled in his head. Everyone was blaming him, but he hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, not enough for him to be kicked off the team!

  Riding home, Lynn broke the silence. “Dar? I’m your friend. I want to help.”

  Daren looked at Lynn. “Yeah? Then you’re the only one. Everyone else hates me, even the coach. He wants me off the Rangers.”

  “He — you sure? It’s not his style to —”

  “He said so!” Daren braked to a squealing stop. “He wants me out! Maybe I’ll quit and save him the trouble! The team would probably throw a party, and you’d probably go!”

  Lynn stopped and faced Daren. “Did he say, ‘I’m kicking you off’ or ‘If you don’t get your act together, I may have to kick you off’?”

  “What’s the difference?” A voice in Daren’s head said chill, but he couldn’t stop himself. “He blames me! So do you, don’t you?”

  Lynn stared at Daren. “I —”

  “Don’t you?” screamed Daren.

  “Get a grip,” snapped Lynn, finally angry. “Listen to me! You say mean things, and when someone else does it, too, you complain! ‘It’s not my fault!’ Here’s a bulletin — some of it is your fault! And, I am your friend! I’m trying to make you see how you hurt yourself.”

  “You’re even dumber than you look! Who needs that kind of friend? I sure don’t!”

  Lynn spun around and pedaled away. Daren suddenly felt awful and called to Lynn, but the other boy vanished around the corner. Daren slowly headed home. Now he had gone and done it. Now he really had no friends at all.

  But Lynn wouldn’t back him up. He blamed Daren, like everyone else.

  Still… Lynn had defended him in the past and could make Daren feel good when he was down about something. They’d been buddies since kindergarten. Now Lynn would never talk to him or hang with him, ever again.

  By the time Daren reached home, he was feeling as bad as he had ever felt in his life.

  As he got off his bike, Daren saw Gary Parnell sitting on his porch, looking as un happy as Daren felt. The boy didn’t have his basketball.

  Daren decided he might feel better if he offered Gary a lesson. He walked over, but Gary paid no attention until he spoke.

  “Hey, want another lesson? We could —”

  Gary got up and walked into his yard.

  Daren stared, not sure if he should go after him and ask again.

  At that moment, Judy Parnell appeared.

  “Hi,” said Daren, hoping that Judy’s anger had been forgotten.

  Judy did not smile back. “What do you want?” Her voice, like her face, was unfriendly.

  “I — I thought maybe Gary wanted some more basketball tips, so I asked him, but he just walked away.”

  “I told you,” answered Judy. “He doesn’t want to play basketball anymore. He says he hates it. He tried to throw his ball away, but I took it out of the garbage and put it away, in case he changes his mind. Maybe he will, if you leave him alone.”

  “Me?” Daren felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. “What did I do?”

  “You don’t have a clue?” Judy shook her head. “You were Gary’s hero. He was so excited that you were going to help him, he couldn’t stop talking about it.

  “But when you were here yesterday, it was like you were a different person. Gary told me — once he stopped crying, that is. You said these horrible things, and imitated him, and everything. You made him feel totally dumb and useless.”

  Daren tried to defend himself. “All I did was try to show him how to dribble, and he wouldn’t do what I said — that’s all. Maybe I was a little hard on him, but.—”

  “‘A little hard’? Amazing!” Judy turned to walk away, then turned to face Daren again. “You really don’t understand, do you? You don’t see how you hurt Gary and made him feel awful with your nasty remarks. I wouldn’t have believed it, but it’s true. That’s kind of sad.”

  Daren didn’t know what to say. “I — I didn’t — I never — it wasn’t —”

  Judy’s eyes flashed in anger. “Oh no, don’t you dare say that it wasn’t your fault! The best thing for you to do now is to stay away from Gary. You’ve hurt him enough.”

  “Okay,” Daren muttered.

  “And I’d like you to stay away from me, too.” With that, Judy turned, walked into her house, and shut the door.

  10

  Daren slammed the door behind him. His dad called from the basement, where he was in his workshop, but Daren didn’t feel like talking. Taking the stairs two at a time, he ducked into his room and flopped onto his bed.

  He stared at the ceiling. Maybe he could just lie there for a month or two. He didn’t know what to do now. Lynn never got angry with him. Judy and he had always been friendly. Now even they didn’t want to be friends.

  Was what they were saying true? He knew his temper got out of control sometimes, but did what he say make such a huge impact?

  Daren didn’t know.

  He lay there for a while. The ceiling didn’t have answers, but at least it didn’t blame him for anything. That was an improvement.

  A little later, Daren heard a knock on his door. It opened slowly, and his father peered in.

  “Hey, champ, how you doing?”

  Daren didn’t look over. “Okay, I guess.” He hoped his dad would leave him alone.

  “Okay?” Mr. McCall pulled over Daren’s desk chair and sat facing the bed. “I have to admit, you don’t look too okay to me. You look kind of down. If you’re really okay, fine. But if something’s bothering you, I wish you’d tell me. It might make you feel better to talk about it.”

  Daren rolled on his side and propped his head on his hand, facing his father.

  “I don’t know,” he said, after thinking for a moment. “I don’t know what’s going on. The other guys on the Rangers don’t like me. Even Lynn is mad at me. Coach Michaels told me he may kick me off the team —”

  Daren’s dad frowned. “The coach said that? That’s surprising.”

  Daren nodded. “Now even Judy doesn’t want to talk to me. It isn’t fair! What’d I do?”

  Daren collapsed onto his back again.

  “Yes,” said Mr. McCall. “I heard about a problem with Judy — and her little brother.”

  “I was explaining how to dribble!” said Daren. “He wanted help, so I was helping him, but he ran away and Judy won’t talk to me.”

  Mr. McCall looked serious. “So I heard. You’ve been friends since you could walk.”

  He was quiet for a long moment, then suddenly chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” Daren asked.

  “I’m not laughing at what happened between you and Judy. I was thinking of when I started teaching you basketball. Remember?”

  “Yeah,” said Daren. “I was pretty little.”

  “You were seven,” said Mr. McCall. “A year younger than Gary is. And, as I remember, you weren’t very good at it.”

  “I was only seven!”

  “Right,” agreed his father. “You weren’t strong enough to reach the basket. You’d throw the ball hard as you could, and it would be four feet short of the rim! I wish I’d had a video camera. It was pretty funny.”

  “Uh-huh.” Daren wondered if his dad was making fun of him.

  Mr. McCall leaned forward. “But you were doing the best you could. So I’d just say, ‘Way to go!’ I knew you’d get better when you got older. And that’s what happened.”

  “Well… yeah,” Daren said slowly.

  “Now, imagine you’re seven. You throw the ball, and it goes up two feet and hits the garage door. And I laugh at you, or I say, ‘Guess I’ll have to raise the driveway or lower the hoop.’ Or, ‘Is that the best you can do?’ How would you have felt?”

  Daren shrugged. “Not great, I guess.”

  “Maybe like Gary felt yesterday?”

  “But, I was just trying t
o get Gary to —”

  “To do what he can’t do yet,” Mr. McCall finished. “Maybe he’ll be able to dribble next year, or the year after, or maybe never. But he tried his best, just like you at seven. You didn’t give him any credit for trying, did you?”

  Daren knew how bad he’d have felt if his dad had made fun of him. He wouldn’t have wanted to touch a basketball, not when Mr. McCall was around to watch.

  “Yeah, he did try. And I guess I didn’t give him credit for that,” he finally admitted.

  Daren’s father peered out the window.

  “Gary’s in his yard,” he said. “You’ve got time before dinner. Why not talk to him?”

  Daren shook his head. “What could I say? He won’t want to listen, anyway.”

  His father shrugged. “You’ll think of something. Just try to remember what it was like to be seven.”

  Daren looked at his father. He thought about what the coach, Lynn, and Judy had all been saying to him. Then he got up. “Okay, I’ll try.”

  Mr. McCall patted him on the knee. “That’s my boy. Now go on downstairs and say the things Gary needs to hear.”

  A moment later, Daren walked into Gary’s yard. Gary turned his back.

  “Gary,” he said. “Hey, listen, I’d really like to help you play basketball.”

  “Don’t want to,” Gary mumbled. “I can’t play good.”

  “That’s not so,” Daren replied.

  “I can’t even bounce the ball right.”

  “You did okay,” Daren answered.

  “No, I didn’t. I made dumb mistakes.”

  “No,” Daren insisted. “You did fine. I made the dumb mistakes.”

  Gary looked at Daren. “Yeah? Really?”

  “Absolutely,” answered Daren. “That’s why I came over. I wanted to let you know how bad I felt about giving you a hard time. You didn’t deserve it. If you give me another chance, you’d be doing me a favor. What do you say?”

  Gary was still suspicious. “You sure?”

  Daren nodded and smiled. “Uh-huh. It won’t be like yesterday. What do you say?”

  Gary scuffed the ground with his sneaker. Then he looked up and smiled.

  “Okay, I guess.”

  Daren smiled the widest smile he had all day. “All right! How about after my practice tomorrow?”

  Gary’s smile turned into a grin. “Okay.”

  “Fantastic!” Daren said. “See you then!”

  “Yeah!” answered Gary.

  As he turned for home, Daren noticed Judy watching him from her window.

  11

  In English class the next day, Daren couldn’t concentrate. He wanted to clear things up with Lynn, but he hadn’t been able to talk to him yet. Also, he couldn’t stop worrying about practice. Would the coach walk up in front of the other Rangers and say he was off the team?

  Suddenly he was aware that kids around him were giggling. He looked up to see the teacher standing over his desk, hands on hips.

  “Earth to Daren. Come in, Daren,” said Ms. Cass. The giggling got louder. “If you hear me, speak or nod your head.”

  Daren felt his face turn red. Ms. Cass could sometimes make him feel really dumb.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled.

  “I’m glad you could join us, Daren,” said the teacher. “Now, would you do us a huge favor and answer the question I just asked?”

  “I — I guess I didn’t hear the question.”

  “I guess you didn’t,” said the teacher. “Sorry to break in with something as silly as English. Would you like to tell us what you were doing? I’m sure it was terribly important.”

  By now, Daren felt so tongue-tied, he couldn’t have told her his name. “I, uh, no, it — sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t… um…”

  Ms. Cass glared at him, making him more and more uncomfortable. Finally, the bell rang, ending the class and Daren’s agony.

  He headed for the cafeteria, trying to forget his embarrassment. Behind him, someone whispered, “Earth to Daren,” and snickered. Then another voice spoke.

  “She can sure be rough!” Daren was startled and happy to see Lynn beside him.

  “She’s just mean,” said Daren. He took a deep breath. “I didn’t think you’d talk to me.”

  Lynn grinned. “Me neither. But when Ms. C. got on your case, I took pity on you.”

  Daren scowled. “Why’d she do it? It’s not like I cheated on a test or anything. Why did she have to make me feel like a jerk?”

  Lynn shrugged. “Maybe she got mad and couldn’t stop herself. You know all about that.”

  “Well, she —” Daren stopped. “Wait a second! I never… Lou and me, that’s different!”

  “Yeah? How?” Lynn asked innocently.

  “Because he — I mean, I —”

  Daren knew it was different. It had to be.

  But he couldn’t think why. Was it possible that he had been as mean as Ms. Cass?

  In the cafeteria, Daren saw Lou sitting by himself. Thinking back to the night before, when he had managed to smooth things over with Gary, he said, “I’m going to talk to him.”

  “Want me there?” Lynn asked.

  “Maybe it should be just us two, okay?”

  Lynn smiled. “Sounds good to me.”

  Lou looked up when Daren approached. “What do you want?” he snapped. “Can’t you stop hassling me everywhere I go?”

  Daren put up his hands. “I just want to —”

  “Leave me alone!” Lou jumped up, knocking over his chair. Daren was stunned to see tears in Lou’s eyes. “Why can’t you just leave, me alone?”

  Lou rushed out of the room. Daren simply stared after him, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

  Lynn came up beside him. “Well, that didn’t seem to go too well,” he stated. “What’d you say to him?”

  Daren shook his head. “Believe it or not, I didn’t even say anything to him. I didn’t have the chance.” He didn’t tell Lynn that he thought Lou had been about to cry. But something told him that Lou had been upset before Daren had even come over. What about, Daren hadn’t a clue.

  When practice started that day, Daren was still a Ranger. He noticed that Lou stayed as far away from him as possible. Daren had sworn to himself that he would approach Lou to clear the air at practice, but Lou didn’t give him an opening.

  So instead, Daren was determined to keep his mouth shut.

  The Rangers began by working on the pick-and-roll, one of basketball’s basic scoring plays. Lou would plant himself at the top of the key, as if to keep defenders away from Lynn while Lynn took a jump shot. Then, as Lou broke toward the basket, Lynn would throw a pass that Lou could catch on the run and lay in for an easy two points. They ran the play over and over. At one point, Daren set himself to rebound if Lou missed his shot, and Lou slammed into him.

  Daren said, “Sorry. I was out of position.”

  Lou stared at Daren, as if waiting for a nasty remark, then nodded. Daren saw Lynn give him a speculative look, as though he was thinking, Who is this guy, and what has he done with Daren?

  Practice continued, and nobody yelled or argued. Coach Michaels had the team work on zone defenses and backcourt traps, which he said might be useful against a powerful team like the Rebels. At least, he said, it would confuse them and make them think twice, and that could help. With Shawn playing the part of Tony Tisdale, the Rebel scoring machine, the other Rangers worked on double- and triple-teaming to make it hard for the player to get his shots up.

  It was a long, hard workout, and by the end, the Rangers were totally worn out. Coach Michaels clapped his hands as the tired players grouped around him.

  “Good work today. Good attitude. Keep going like this, and the Rebels are in for a surprise. See you all tomorrow.”

  Tired as he was, Daren felt good as he headed for his locker. He had played hard, he hadn’t made anyone mad at him, and later on, he would give Gary some good tips without —

  He stopped and stared
at his locker door, unable to believe his eyes.

  Taped to the door was an ugly cartoon drawn with a red pen. The figure in the cartoon was supposed to be him, since it had the number four on its uniform. The cartoon face had a huge open mouth full of big teeth. The caption underneath read, daren — big mouth, tiny brain.

  Lynn came up alongside him and looked at the cartoon.

  “Oh, man,” he said. “Not again.”

  Daren ripped the drawing off the locker and marched toward Lou Bettman, with Lynn alongside him. He knew he had done nothing today to deserve this. If Lou was going to pull this kind of prank, then Daren would… he would… he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but he wanted to confront Lou with the evidence.

  Lou was standing in front of his own locker, looking mad. He waved a piece of paper in Daren’s face. Daren looked at it and didn’t know what to say.

  It was a cartoon, drawn with a red pen. The cartoon character was supposed to be Lou. It was ridiculously tall and skinny, with a big round head on top of a bony body. Tied to the cartoon player’s sneakers were concrete blocks.

  The caption under the cartoon read, lou skywalker — triple threat: can’t jump, can’t shoot, can’t run.

  Before Lou could say a word, Daren showed Lou his cartoon.

  The two Rangers exchanged long looks of amazement.

  Both knew the other had been on the court the whole practice. So neither of them had done these cartoons.

  And maybe neither of them had pulled the towel or shoe prank, either.

  “If it wasn’t you —,” Daren started.

  “Then who was it?” Lou finished.

  “Hey, guys,” Lynn said softly, “maybe I just solved the mystery. Look over there.”

  He pointed to a corner of the locker room. Daren and Lou followed his finger.

  Andy Higgins sat there, lettering a poster. He was using a red marking pen.

  12

  Andy was busy with his poster and hadn’t seen the three Rangers watching him.

  Lynn said, “I bet he did the other stuff, too: Lou’s shoes and Daren’s towel. Let’s go over and —”

  “No,” said Lou. “I don’t want to do that.”