Center Court Sting Read online

  “You don’t?” Lynn was amazed. “Why not? He’s been messing around with the two of you until you were ready to fight each other. Hey, he had almost the whole team ready to fight! Why not let him have it?”

  Lou started walking back to his locker. He looked over his shoulder at Lynn and Daren.

  “Just because Andy was using a red pen, we don’t know for sure that he did the other stuff. And I’m really tired of hassles. All we do lately is yell and scream. I just want to play ball and forget this garbage.”

  Daren said, “I feel the same way.”

  Lynn’s jaw dropped open. “You do? I figured you’d want to get Andy good.”

  But Daren had been thinking about some of the things he had said to Andy lately. Things that he now suspected had hurt the manager’s feelings. He was still bothered by what he had done to Gary, too. But he didn’t want to talk about it just now.

  “I’ll explain it later. Right now, I just want to get out of here. I’m supposed to meet Gary Parnell and teach him some basketball.”

  Lynn shrugged. “Cool. You want to ride home with me?”

  “You really aren’t mad about what I said yesterday? I was a total jerk,” Daren admitted.

  Lynn smiled. “I won’t argue with you. But forget it.”

  Daren shook his head. “I won’t forget it, but I’ll try not to do it again.”

  Riding home, Lynn kept staring at Daren until Daren asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “That’s what I was going to ask you,” Lynn said. “You’re acting funny. You all right?”

  Daren thought for a moment. “I’m not great, but I’m working on getting better.”

  “Whatever that means,” said Lynn.

  “It’s cool,” Daren replied. “I’m okay.”

  Gary was waiting in his driveway when Daren got home. His basketball was next to him.

  He jumped up when he saw Daren coming. “Hi, Daren! Wanna watch me dribble?”

  Daren smiled. “Sure, just let me put my bike away.”

  When Daren returned, Gary said, “Look!” He stood motionless for a moment, lifted his eyes so that he was looking over Daren’s head, and started bouncing the ball. He didn’t let himself look down at the ball and made four or five good dribbles before the ball got away from him.

  “Great!” Daren chased the ball down and threw it back to Gary. “That’s better!”

  But Gary looked upset. “I was doing it even better before you got home! Really! I was really doing good!”

  Daren smiled. “That’s the idea. Just keep working on these things, and before you know it, you won’t even have to think about it. You’ll do it automatically.”

  “But I was really doing good before,” Gary insisted. “Let me do it again!”

  “Okay,” Daren said. “But don’t expect to get real good all at once. It takes time.”

  Gary wasn’t paying attention. He was staring hard at the basketball he held in both hands. Then he started dribbling again, with his eyes focused on Daren’s face. After six bounces, the ball hit his foot and bounced onto the lawn. Gary looked like he might start crying.

  “I was really dribbling great! I can’t do it anymore!”

  “Hey, hey, take it easy!” Daren reached out and patted Gary on the shoulder. “You were doing better. I could see. You weren’t looking at the ball, and you were controlling it better.”

  “But I did it for a lot longer before, only you didn’t see me.” Gary looked miserable.

  Daren sat down on the grass beside the driveway. “You’re doing better than I did when I was your age. When I started trying to play b-ball, I was awful. It was embarrassing!”

  “Really?” Gary looked doubtful.

  “Absolutely! My dad put up a hoop for me, but I couldn’t reach it. I would take that ball and heave it up as hard as I could, and it would hit the wall, or it wouldn’t hit anything at all. Finally, Dad lowered the hoop for me — and I still couldn’t reach it. I remember the ball hit me in the head a couple of times!”

  Daren rolled his eyes, as if he’d been bonked on the head by a heavy object. Gary laughed.

  “But my dad,” said Daren, “he was cool about it — not like me the other day. He told me that I’d get better, and he was right.”

  Gary nodded. “Yeah. And I’ll get better, too, huh?”

  “Sure!” Daren stood up. “Hey, why don’t we work on passing today? I bet you do better with that, because you can use both hands.”

  Gary frowned. “Two hands? Isn’t that just for little kids?”

  “No way,” Daren assured him. “Even the pros make two-handed passes. I’ll show you. You stand right here.” He placed Gary near the garage end of the driveway and stood next to him with the ball.

  “Okay. Now, hold the ball in your spread fingers, like this.” Daren demonstrated. “When you want to pass, use your wrists and fingers to control the direction of the ball and give it speed. I’ll show you.”

  Daren moved ten feet away and threw a gentle pass to Gary, who caught it, and grinned.

  “Now you do it,” Daren suggested.

  Gary nodded, gritted his teeth, and threw the ball as hard as he could — straight to Daren! “Way to go!” Daren shouted. Gary’s smile was huge. Daren flipped the ball back. “Let’s see another one!”

  Gary had no trouble getting the hang of two-handed chest passes. Daren gave him a few tips about how to position his feet and after a few minutes, held up a hand.

  “Let’s move on to bounce passes. They’re a great way to move the ball around the court. You mix up the kind of passes you’ve been doing with bounce passes, and you’ll keep the defense guessing. Like this.”

  He bounced the ball off the driveway pavement to Gary, who caught it waist-high. Gary tried getting the ball back to Daren the same way but bounced it off Daren’s feet.

  “Whoa!” Daren said, grinning. “Take it easy on my toes — I only have ten of them.”

  Gary giggled.

  Daren explained how a bounce pass should be aimed to hit the floor several feet in front of the other player, so it bounces about waist-high and is easy to catch.

  They practiced bounce passes and more chest passes. Daren moved back a little bit when Gary showed he could throw the extra distance.

  All the while, Daren told Gary stories about his learning to play basketball. Like how he didn’t know how to tie his shoelaces when he first played and fell on his face a couple of times rather than asking other kids to help him out. Gary, who Daren had seen tie his laces, laughed. He was no longer nervous or anxious about making mistakes. He was having a great time.

  Daren realized that he was enjoying himself, too.

  Once, when he chased a ball onto the Parnells’ lawn, he noticed that Judy was watching quietly from her porch.

  After a while he forgot to notice the time. Then Judy came over and said, “Gary, it’s almost time for dinner. Come in and clean up.”

  Gary made a face. “Just a few minutes, okay? We haven’t done any shooting yet!”

  “Let’s leave shooting for another day, all right?” Daren said. “I had a hard practice today before I started with you, and I’m wiped out.” He tossed the ball underhand to Gary, and pretended to pant, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

  “Okay,” Gary said, with a laugh. “Next time! See you, Daren!” He sped into the house.

  “I really am whipped,” Daren said to Judy. “He’s doing good.”

  “I know,” said Judy. She looked embarrassed and seemed to have trouble meeting Daren’s eyes with her own. “Urn… about yesterday… I just wanted to say…”

  Daren, who also felt bad about the day before, interrupted. “Hey, you don’t have to… I mean, I wasn’t…”

  “No, really,” Judy said, looking straight at Daren now, “I shouldn’t have said some of the things I said yesterday, and I want you to know that I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize,” Dar
en replied. “I was a jerk with Gary, and what you said was right. And what you said made me start thinking about some stuff that I should have thought about before. So let’s say we’re even.”

  Judy nodded, smiling. “Good. So, when’s your next game?”

  “The day after tomorrow.” Daren sighed. “It’s a big one, too — against the Rebels. If we lose, we may be out of the tournament this year, and those guys are really tough.”

  “You guys are tough, too,” said Judy. “I’ll come to the game and bring Gary with me.”

  “Yeah?” Daren grinned. “That’d be fantastic. Well, I better get inside. See you.”

  Judy waved. “Bye.”

  When Daren sat down for dinner that evening, he was starved. His father smiled, watching him clean his plate.

  “Looks like you worked up a real appetite at practice,” he said, offering Daren a second helping of chicken.

  “Thanks,” Daren said, spearing a piece. “Yeah, Coach Michaels really worked us hard, and then I was helping Gary out for a while.”

  Mr. McCall also took more chicken. “But it was a pretty good day, wasn’t it?”

  “It was a really good day. And maybe tomorrow is going to be even better.”

  Daren’s mother spooned some more peas onto her plate. “By the way, Daren, how is Mrs. Bettman doing these days?” she asked. “What have you heard?”

  Daren stared at her. “Huh? Hear what? I didn’t hear anything!”

  “Something wrong with Lou’s mother?” asked Mr. McCall.

  “Yes, she’s very ill,” replied Mrs. McCall. She looked at Daren with surprise. “You didn’t know? I understand she’s been in the hospital for weeks.”

  Daren put down his fork. He suddenly had no appetite.

  Mr. McCall frowned. “Sorry to hear it. Dar, you never said that Lou’s mom was sick.”

  Daren shook his head. “I didn’t know!”

  “Lou didn’t tell you?” Mr. McCall asked.

  “Uh-uh,” answered Daren. “I don’t think he told anyone.”

  His mother sighed. “That poor boy. It must be very hard on him.”

  Daren pushed back his chair. “Can I be excused?”

  Mr McCall pointed to Daren’s plate. “Don’t you want that chicken?”

  “Uh, no, I changed my mind.”

  Mrs. McCall gave her son a careful look. “Are you feeling all right, sweetie?”

  Daren nodded. “Yeah, I just wasn’t as hungry as I thought I was.”

  Daren trudged up to his room. He felt awful. He’d been giving Lou grief, and Lou’s mom was sick! No wonder the guy was down! Why hadn’t he said anything?

  Daren understood that it didn’t matter why. He had to get Lou to listen to him, at least long enough for him to say he was sorry.

  13

  As he and Lynn biked to school the next morning, Daren asked, “Do you know about Lou’s mom?”

  “What about her?”

  “She’s sick. She’s in the hospital.”

  Lynn whistled. “Wow. That explains a lot. Think that’s why he hasn’t been playing well?”

  Daren considered it. “Yeah,” he said. “I bet if it was my mom or dad, my head wouldn’t be in the game one hundred percent.” After a minute, he added, “I could kick myself for the way I’ve been riding him.”

  “You didn’t know his mom was sick,” Lynn pointed out. “And you thought he was playing tricks on you.”

  They reached the school yard and chained their bikes to the bike rack. They were about to head into school when Daren stopped.

  “Tell me something, okay?”

  “Sure.” Lynn looked closely at his friend.

  “I just wanted to know — how come you’re still my friend? I mean, the way I act sometimes, and the stuff I say to you… Why haven’t you just walked away?”

  Lynn laughed. “Believe me, it isn’t easy.” His face grew serious. “I just like you, I guess. You can be fun to be around, when you’re not being a jerk. And we’ve been friends for so long, I must have just got used to you.”

  Daren shook his head. “I guess I’m lucky to have you as a friend.”

  “You better believe it!” Lynn grinned.

  “Seriously!” insisted Daren. “I tried to give Gary Parnell basketball tips, but instead of helping him, I kept getting in his face. I said these terrible things, and I imitated him, made him feel really stupid. Then his sister Judy yelled at me, and I was, like, ‘What did I do?’ And the worst part was, I really didn’t know!

  “Then, when I thought about it, I saw that it’s the same thing I do to Lou, to Andy — even you. And you’re my best friend! When I feel bad, I want to get back by hurting someone. It doesn’t really matter who.”

  Lynn wasn’t smiling anymore. “Uh-huh. You’re good at it, too.”

  Daren bit his lip. “I know I am. I make people feel like — like I felt when Ms. Cass got on me yesterday. No wonder most of the guys on the team hate me. That’s why I couldn’t understand why you don’t hate me, too.”

  “You’re wrong,” Lynn insisted. “They don’t hate you. Nobody hates you. They’re ready to be friends with you, when you show that you want to be friends with them.”

  Daren stared Lynn, wanting to believe him. “You think so? I don’t know.… ”

  “There’s one way to see for sure,” Lynn said. “Act like a friend. When you feel yourself getting ready to give someone the needle — stop. I bet everyone will forget there was a problem.”

  “I still feel bad, especially about Lou,” said Daren as they mounted the steps into school. “I’m going to talk to Lou today. I’m going to tell him I’m sorry, even if I have to hold him down to do it!”

  Later that day, Daren got his chance. He and Lynn had just come into the cafeteria for lunch.

  “There’s Lou over there,” Daren said, pointing across the crowded room. “Maybe I can talk to him now and see what happens.”

  Lynn looked where Daren was pointing. “Looks like Lou is going somewhere.”

  Sure enough, Lou was wearing his jacket and dangling his backpack from one hand. He said something to Shawn, who was standing with him. Shawn said something back. Lou turned and hurried out of the cafeteria, practically running.

  “What’s going on?” Daren asked.

  “Let’s ask Shawn,” suggested Lynn.

  They crossed the room. Shawn was still watching the door that Lou had gone through, and didn’t turn until Lynn said, “Hey, Shawn, what’s happening?”

  Shawn turned with a worried look on his face. “Hey, Lynn.” Then he noticed Daren and his face went blank. He nodded, without a word.

  “What’s going on with Lou?” Daren asked. “Was he leaving school just now?”

  The worried look returned to Shawn’s face. “Yeah, he had to leave.”

  “How come?” asked Daren. “Is it about his mom?”

  Shawn stared hard at Daren. “How do you know about his mom?”

  “I — I just know, that’s all,” Daren replied. “Is she all right?”

  “I don’t know,” said Shawn. “All I know is, his dad came by to pick him up and take him to the hospital.”

  “You knew about this, huh?” said Lynn. “Were you the only one who knew?”

  Shawn nodded. “He wanted to keep it quiet. He told me because we’re tight, but he made me promise not to tell anyone else. I tried to get him to let the team know, but he wouldn’t.”

  “Boy, I sure wish I’d known earlier,” muttered Daren. “I wouldn’t’ve…”

  He stopped, not knowing what to say.

  Shawn glared at Daren. “You were the last person he would have told.”

  Daren shook his head. “Look, I know you won’t believe me, but I never meant to make Lou upset. Even when I was saying all those things, I was just blowing off steam.”

  Shawn narrowed his eyes, but he seemed to soften a bit. “Yeah, well, I guess I’ll see you guys at practice. Later.”

  Daren and Lynn watched him go.
/>
  “You tried, Daren, and that’s the best you can do for now,” Lynn said.

  Daren sighed. “Hope things go better at practice today.”

  When Daren came into the locker room to prepare for practice, he was surprised to see Lou at his locker, getting changed. After a moment’s hesitation, he went up to the taller boy.

  “How’s it going?”

  “Okay,” Lou said, lacing up a sneaker.

  Daren knew that he had to say something more, but after the way he’d behaved toward Lou, he found himself stumbling over his words.

  “Listen — I — I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and — I’m sorry about the way I’ve been riding you. All I can say is that I know I was a creep and that I wish it never happened, and it won’t happen again.”

  Lou had put on his other sneaker, but he stopped tying the laces to look at Daren. “All right. I’d rather just forget about it, myself.”

  Daren let out a sigh of relief. “Really? Me, too.” He sat down next to Lou. “Listen, I heard about your mom. How’s she doing? I saw you leave school early, and I was wondering —”

  When Lou broke into a big smile, Daren suddenly realized how long it had been since he’d seen that look on Lou’s face. “She’s doing a lot better. Her doctor says she’s going to be fine! Dad took me over so she could tell me the news herself. She’ll be coming home in a week!”

  “That’s great!” enthused Daren, genuinely pleased for the lanky center. “It must have been tough, trying to play ball while your mom was sick.”

  “It was pretty bad,” Lou agreed. He gave Daren a thoughtful look. “Thanks for asking about her.”

  Daren stood up to go to his locker but sat again quickly. He nudged Lou and pointed toward the locker room door. Andy Higgins had just come in. He saw the two Rangers looking at him and turned away quickly.

  Before he could disappear, Daren called, “Hey, Andy! Come over here a second, okay?”

  Andy slowly walked toward them. He looked nervous and unhappy.

  “How are you doing?” asked Daren when the manager finally reached them.

  “All right,” mumbled Andy, looking at the floor, the ceiling, the lockers — anywhere but at Daren and Lou.

  “Hey, listen,” Daren said. “I know you do a lot of stuff for the team, and most of it is stuff we would hate to have to do ourselves, like picking up towels. And almost nobody ever says thank you. Well, I sure don’t. So I figure this is a good time to say thanks.”