Rivals by Tommy Greenwald (the speed reading book txt) 📗

his voice. Kids are starting to body up to each other, getting a little intense, and my heart starts racing. After a great game, it can’t end like this.

“Everyone, let’s all just chill!” I yell.

“Seriously!” adds Austin.

No one seems sure what to do. There’s no pushing and shoving going on, but kids are getting in each others’ faces and I don’t like how it feels. Austin looks at me like, Dude, now what? And I look back at him like, Dude, I have no idea. I stare up into the sky, hoping there’s an idea in the clouds somewhere.

And there is.

“HOLD UP! HOLD UP!” I yell. “I GOT IT! I KNOW WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO!”

Everyone stops jabbering and looks at me.

“What?” asks Amir.

I grin. “We’re gonna settle this old school.”

AUSTIN

We all stand there, waiting for Carter to tell us his great idea.

“Austin,” he says. “I need you to help me settle this once and for all.”

I look at him cockeyed. “How?”

“Well, our guy says the ball was off your guy, and your guy says the ball was off our guy. There’s only one way to find out who’s right.”

“Which is what?”

He sticks out his hand. “Rock paper scissors.”

“Rock paper scissors?”

“Rock paper scissors.”

Now I get it. “Just like Free Shoot,” I say.

He grins. “Just like Free Shoot.”

I look around. Kids are nodding, and it seems like everyone is thinking the same thing.

Why not?

“Okay,” I say. “How many takes it?”

“One takes it, just like always.”

“Great.”

Clay steps up. “I’ll say ‘rock, paper, scissors, shoot,’ and you guys put your hands out on shoot.”

Carter and I both nod.

The tension builds.

Here we go.

“Okay, let’s do this!” Clay pronounces. “ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, SHOOT!”

Carter puts out scissors. I put out paper.

He wins.

“YES!” Carter hollers.

“NOOOOOOO!” I moan.

But to be honest, I’m not mad. Actually, I think it’s kind of funny.

I look at Carter. He looks at me. And the next thing you know, we both start cracking up.

The guys on Carter’s team go nuts and start pounding him on the back. Meanwhile, I collapse to the ground, pretending to be devastated. My teammates look at me, shaking their heads and smiling. Eventually I get up, walk over to Carter, and shake his hand. “You won fair and square,” I tell him. “Scissors beats paper every time. Dang, I need to practice more.”

Everyone laughs.

It’s almost like we forget that we have a game to finish.

ALFIE:

Well, the game has just ended, ladies and gentlemen, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that. A very intense contest comes down to the last few seconds, one final disputed possession, and the argument is settled by rock paper scissors. You won’t see that in an official league game, that’s for sure. During the postgame handshakes, the kids on both teams were laughing and high-fiving each other, which is another thing I’ve never seen in all my years–well, two years–of covering boys basketball.

Oh, by the way, Walthorne South ended up beating Walthorne North by two, on a last-second shot by Sham Collins. Everyone thought Carter Haswell was going to take the shot, but after he was triple-teamed he found Sham for a wide-open layup. Congratulations to the South kids, but really, congratulations to both teams for reminding us all how the game is supposed to be played.

Thanks for tuning in! This is Alfie Jenks reporting.

AUSTIN

After the game, kids start to drift away, biking home or getting a ride from their parents. When my mom comes to pick me up, Carter walks up to her.

“Hi, Ms. Chambers.”

Her face looks unsure. “Nice to see you, Carter. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Austin played really well today.”

“Was it fun?”

“It sure was.”

“I’m so glad to hear it.” My mom looks at me. “Dad will be glad to hear it, too.”

“I promise to tell him all about it later,” I say. She looks a little skeptical, but I mean it.

Carter shifts his feet. “Ms. Chambers, I heard you called my dad’s boss and helped him get his job back. I’m not sure what happened that day at your house, and I know it’s complicated, but I just wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” my mom says. “My son really respects you. I hope you know that.”

“I do,” I say, looking at Austin. “And I respect him, too.”

My mom looks around. “Are your parents coming to pick you up?”

“Nah,” Carter says. “I’m just going to walk.”

“Are you sure?” my mom asks. “Don’t you live a couple of miles from here?”

“It’s fine. I like walking.”

An idea occurs to me. “Hey, Mom? I’m going to go with Carter.”

Now my mom looks really surprised. I’m not big on walking long distances. “Wait a second,” she says. “Who are you and what have you done with my son?”

I laugh. “Well, at least part of the way.”

My mom throws up her hands, but she’s smiling. “Call me if you need me. Good to see you, Carter.”

“Good to see you, too,” he says.

After my mom leaves, I look around and realize we’re the only ones left. And I’m still holding the basketball.

“Hey, can I get a rematch?” I ask Carter.

He laughs, but then realizes I’m serious. “Now?”

“Yeah, now. We beat you guys first game of the season, you beat us today. Rubber game, you against me, for all the marbles.”

Carter grabs the ball out of my hands and starts spinning it on his finger. “Okay, why not? Let’s do it.”

Neither of us says the obvious thing, which is that he’s way better than me and it’s probably not going to be much of a game. But hey, you never know, right?

We shoot it out to see who gets the ball first. Rock, paper, scissors.

He goes rock.

I go paper.

“You got me this time,” he says, tossing the ball back to me. “Let’s do this.”

Game on.

CARTER

We’re playing to twenty-one, twos count as twos, threes count as threes, loser takes the ball out, gotta win by two.

We don’t talk much. We just ball.

The game is tight, because even though I’ve got the height and