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

DOING DIDN’T HEAR BACK

SAME

ERIC

YO PJ ARE YOU AND HIM COOL?

ME AND WHO?

ERIC

CLAY

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

ERIC

NOTHING JUST WONDERING, AFTER THAT HALFTIME THING

YEAH WE’RE GOOD

ERIC

COOL

I MEAN, I HAVEN’T TALKED TO HIM SINCE THE GAME BUT YEAH

CHASE

WHAT ARE YOU BOYS TALKING ABOUT?

NOTHING, I MEAN YOU HEARD CLAY GOT HURT RIGHT?

CHASE

OF COURSE DUH

WE’RE JUST THINKING HE’S GOTTA BE SO PISSED I MEAN WHO KNOWS HOW MANY GAMES HE’LL MISS

CHASE

IF IT’S HIS KNEE THEN THE WHOLE SEASON FOR SURE

KEVIN

THAT WOULD BEYOND SUCK

WE’LL BE OKAY WE JUST NEED TO PICK UP THE SLACK AND PLAY HARD

ERIC

GREAT, AND ALSO WE JUST NEED SOMEONE ON OUR TEAM TO GROW SIX INCHES BEFORE THE NEXT GAME

CHASE

HAHAHAHAHAHA

ERIC

I’D RATHER NOT THINK ABOUT IT

WHATEVER SEE EVERYONE TOMW

WWMS

WALTHORNE SOUTH RADIO

ALFIE:

Hey everyone, welcome back to Talking Sports with Alfie Jenks, cool, so uh today we have the captains of both the girls and boys basketball teams, Janeece Renfro and Carter Haswell. Janeece, you have your first game tonight, is that right?

JANEECE:

This is so cool, Alfie. You have your own radio show!

ALFIE:

I know right?

JANEECE:

Hey so my friend Alexa heard you announcing the game the other day, she said you were really good.

ALFIE:

For real? That’s so cool, uh, thanks, well it was easy because it was such a great game.

CARTER:

Yeah, except for the ending.

JANEECE:

I know right? That was a bummer that you guys lost. We play North tonight, we’ll get ’em back for you.

CARTER:

Oh, yeah, but I meant that kid getting hurt.

ALFIE:

You’re talking about Clay Elkind, center for North?

JANEECE:

He’s such a good player.

CARTER:

Yeah he is.

JANEECE:

I mean, he’s no Carter Haswell, but he’s really good.

CARTER:

Ha ha. You’re really good, too.

JANEECE:

Thanks.

ALFIE:

Hey, no flirting, this is a sports show!

CARTER:

Ha!

ALFIE:

Actually, I mentioned this to Carter after the game, but what’s weird about that kid Clay is that I could see him limping a little bit earlier in the game. I was wondering if something was wrong with him.

CARTER:

Yeah right, I was wondering the same thing at first, but he was so good I thought maybe that was, like, just how he ran or something.

ALFIE:

With a limp?

CARTER:

Whatever. I was playing the game, cut me some slack.

JANEECE:

There was something else about that kid Clay that was weird too—at halftime I saw him, like, totally arguing with one of the other kids on his team.

ALFIE:

Really? You saw that?

JANEECE:

Yeah, I remember for sure. I was coming back from getting a slice of pizza and they were coming out of the locker room, like, totally yelling at each other.

ALFIE:

Huh. Do you remember which kid?

JANEECE:

Nah, I couldn’t really see who the other kid was, the hallway was pretty packed, I could only see the big kid.

CARTER:

That’s actually not that weird. I mean the game was close, teammates get in arguments and stuff all the time. It’s like how we get psyched up, you know?

JANEECE:

Yeah duh, of course I know, I’m on a team, too, remember? But this was different. This was pretty intense.

ALFIE:

Wow. Sounds like there might be a story there.

CARTER:

What are you, like, an investigative reporter now?

ALFIE:

Maybe. In the meantime, let’s take some questions from our listeners. Please call or text your questions to 555.284.3855.

JANEECE:

How long are we supposed to wait for the first caller? I need to be home for dinner.

ALFIE:

Ha ha ha.

CARTER

I don’t really like to talk about basketball.

I don’t like to talk about why I’m good at it, or how much I do or don’t practice, or whether or not I think I can play in college or even go pro.

I don’t like to talk about the fact that ever since I can remember, I just had this ability to see the court, know everything that was about to happen before it happens, or that I was born with quickness, and speed, and the ability to put the ball in the basket in a lot of different ways from a lot of different angles. And it’s not like I’m bragging when I say that, because I didn’t have anything to do with it. I mean, yeah I practice, but mostly I was just born with it. Kind of like how I’m already six foot two, and the doctor thinks I might get up to six-seven or six-eight. Pure luck.

Anyway, I don’t like to talk about any of that stuff. I don’t know why, I just don’t.

Which is why, when I’m heading to lunch with Lucas, Eddy, and Sham, I kind of tune out. All they talk about is basketball, and I can’t take it anymore.

Instead, I’m thinking about whether or not I was actually flirting with Janeece on Alfie’s radio show—and more importantly, whether or not she was actually flirting with me—when Lucas elbows me in the ribs. “Yo Carter, what about you? You do it?”

“Do what?”

“The math homework.”

I blink a few times. “Huh? I thought you guys were talking about basketball.”

“We were, but now we’re talking about math. Stop spacing out. You do it or not?”

“Of course I did it.”

Sham laughs. “Of course you didn’t do it, you mean.”

“Oh yeah, that.”

Eddy shakes his head, like he always does when I’m disappointing him, which is a lot when it comes to school. He’s really smart. I’m really not. “Dude,” he says, “I showed you how it worked. I practically did it for you.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t.”

Lucas and Sham shake their heads.

“Bro, you gotta step it up a little bit,” Lucas says.

“You can’t fail,” adds Sham.

“I swear I won’t,” I tell them. “I got this. I won’t fail.”

Suddenly I hear a different voice. “Won’t fail what?”

I’m pretty sure there’s only one voice that deep in the whole world. Sure enough, when I turn around, Coach Benny is standing there.

“Hey, Coach,” we all say.

“Hello, boys,” he rumbles. Then he repeats, “Won’t fail what?”

The guys look at me, waiting.

“Uh, well Coach, math,” I say. “It’s really hard this quarter and I guess I am struggling a little bit. But it’s