by Phil Bildner
The New Teammate
“I want to introduce you to someone,” Coach Acevedo said. We huddled by the bus. “This here is Charlie Roth. He’ll be taking Elbows’s place on Clifton United.”
“What happened to Elbows?” Maya asked.
“Elbows isn’t allowed to play for Clifton United this weekend,” Coach Acevedo answered flatly. “Charlie here played on Millwood with Super-Size,” Coach Acevedo said. “Most of you know him as Mega-Man. We’ll be calling him that, too.”
Mega-Man gave a quick wave.
I grabbed the locks above my neck and checked Super-Size. He had his arms folded across his chest and a blank look on his face.
Mega-Man was the kid who’d knocked out Keith Krebs during fall ball. He was the kid whose own teammates didn’t like to hang with. He was Coach Crazy’s son. In my head, when I looked at him, I saw Coach Crazy stalking the sidelines, screaming at his players, and arguing with the refs. I saw Red sitting on the end of our bench, hunched over with his fists shaking in front of his eyes.
“Mega-Man is one of us now,” Coach Acevedo said, patting his shoulder. “Let’s make him feel part of Clifton United.”
“Welcome to Clifton United,” Ms. Yvonne said.
“Welcome to Clifton United, Charlie ‘Mega-Man’ Roth.” Red stepped forward and gave him a pound.
“Thanks, Red,” Coach Acevedo said.
Maya gave him a pound, too. Then some of the others did.
I didn’t. I flipped up my hood and squeezed my head with my arms. Mega-Man was on Clifton United? Why did Coach Acevedo pick Mega-Man?
“As I’m sure most of you know by now,” Coach Acevedo said, “we did resolve our chaperone situation. Rip’s father graciously offered to step in. He’ll be meeting us at the Showdown tomorrow morning.”
A few kids clapped. Diego patted my back.
I dug my hands into the pouch pocket of my hoodie and clenched my fists. Elbows wasn’t coming, Mega-Man was taking his place, and my father was the third chaperone. The best basketball weekend of my life was turning into a disaster!
“When we get on the bus,” Coach Acevedo said, “I’d like for someone to take Mega-Man around and introduce him to everyone.”
Red’s hand shot up first.
“You’re the man, Red,” Coach Acevedo said.
“I’m your man, Coach Acevedo.”
“Yo, do you know our team mantra?” Diego asked Mega-Man.
He shook his head.
“We will rise to the occasion, which is life!” Diego leaped into the middle of the circle and did a jumping three-sixty. “We will rise to the occasion, which is life!”
Most of the kids laughed.
Suddenly, it hit me. Mega-Man was going to be rooming with us. He was going to be in the same hotel room as Diego, Red, and me. Red was going to bug. Had Coach Acevedo thought about this? How was he planning to tell Red? What if Red couldn’t …
“Charlie ‘Mega-Man’ Roth can be in our hotel room,” Red said, hopping. “Charlie ‘Mega-Man’ Roth can take Bomani ‘Elbows’ Taylor’s place in our hotel room.”
“Sounds good to me,” Coach Acevedo said.
I let out a puff. So much for Red buggin’. What did I know anymore?
“You know what would sound good to me?” Diego said, bouncing. “If Coach Acevedo said it was time to go to the Showdown.”
“I’m incredibly proud of each and every one of you,” Coach Acevedo said, drawing a circle in the air with his finger. “At this tournament of champions, you already are the champions.” He patted the bus. “Let’s go to the Showdown!”
The United Express
I pressed my head against the window and closed my eyes. My mind went back to Stop ’n Save. I was pushing the cart around the produce section, grabbing the strawberries and onions, listening to Mom.
Coach Acevedo wasn’t able to secure a third chaperone. This was the only solution.
“Cannonball contest!” Diego shouted. His words jolted me back.
“Chicken fights!” Zoe said.
“Yo, even better!” Diego said. “Chicken fights! I’m with Super-Size!”
“I’m with Mimi,” Speedy called.
“I’m with Maya Wade!” Red said.
The bus was big enough for everyone to have their own seat, but most of the kids were in the last two rows. Coach Acevedo had just walked back to tell everyone there would be time for a team swim before dinner.
“The pool has a basketball hoop,” Hudson said.
“How do you know?” Zoe asked.
“My dad and I checked the hotel website last night,” he said.
“Ballin’,” Maya said.
I wasn’t sitting with the others. I was toward the front of the bus. Like I had been the whole ride. We’d been on the road for about an hour.
I closed my eyes again. My brain went right back to the supermarket: Mom placing her hands on top of mine, holding my fingers, squeezing my fingers, telling me that my father—who I hadn’t seen in two years and who I had no interest in ever seeing again—was chaperoning my basketball team’s trip.
“Yo, you joining us?” Diego knocked on my head. He stood on the seat next to me. “It’s mad fun back there. You’re missing out.”
I blinked hard. “In a little bit,” I said.
“C’mon, Rip. It’s the Showdown.” Diego swatted my shoulder. “Whatever this thing with your father is, forget about it. Come back there.”
“I will. Just give me a—”
“Yo, you two should be a team for chicken fights,” Diego said, cutting me off. He elbow-pointed to Mega-Man diagonally across the aisle.
“Okay,” I said softly.
“I will destroy you in a chicken fight, puny man!” Diego said in a weird accent. He knocked my head again, jumped off the seat, and raced back.
I looked over at Mega-Man. He was plugged in and sitting by himself. Just like he had been ever since Red finished introducing him to everyone, which took all of about three minutes because Red’s not exactly the greatest conversation starter and Mega-Man wasn’t exactly talkative.
I flipped up my hood, lay across both seats, and curled into a ball. I should have helped Red with the intros. Coach Acevedo and Ms. Yvonne wanted me to. They both kept looking over at me when Red was taking Mega-Man around, but I only wanted to sleep.
“Our team bus needs a name,” Maya said.
“The United Mobile,” Hudson said.
“The Showdown Express,” Super-Size said.
“The United Express!” Diego said.
“Ballin’,” Maya said. “The United Express.”
“The United Express!” Red said.
I could hear his basketball smile. I don’t have to be looking at Red to know when he’s basketball-smiling.
My brain went back to my bedroom. I was on the floor, chewing on purple teddy’s ear, staring at the journal in my lap.
How do you choose your job over your family? How do you just leave your family? You didn’t have to go. No one made you go. You went on your own.
I shot up. I reached across the aisle and tapped Mega-Man’s armrest. “What are you listening to?” I asked.
He pulled out a bud. “What?”
I pointed to his screen. “What are you listening to?”
“Just some music.”
No, I thought you were listening to barking dogs and mooing cows. I gripped my neck.
“What type?”
“Just a playlist I made.”
What’s it like having Coach Crazy for a father? Does he act like that at home? Did that ref press charges?
“Have you ever played in a tournament?” I asked instead.
“What?” Mega-Man pulled out the earbud he’d already put back in.
“Have you ever gone on a trip like this?”
“I go camping every summer.”
“That’s a good book.” I motioned to Unidentified Suburban Object on the seat next to him.
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“What do you think…? Never mind.” I slid back over to my seat and pressed my head against the window.
* * *
“You coming?” Diego knocked my head.
“Huh?”
“Wake up, man,” Diego said. “We’re here.”
“Whoa.”
He pointed to the front of my sweatshirt and laughed. “Yo, you drooled in your sleep!”
I’d slept. The whole rest of the way, I’d slept. I smacked the side of my head and looked around. Everyone else had gotten off the bus already. Except for Coach Acevedo, who stood in the aisle up front. He gave Diego a pound as he leaped around the front seat and down the stairs. Then he waved me forward.
I wiped the front of my hoodie with my palm and shuffled up.
“Good nap?” he said.
“I think so,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “I didn’t think I’d fall asleep like that.”
Coach Acevedo tapped his iPad. “Losing Elbows is a tough blow.”
“Why isn’t he allowed to play?”
“His mother said he didn’t do his schoolwork.”
“Was there…? Did you try talking to her?”
“I talked to Elbows,” Coach Acevedo said. “He knows he let everyone down.” He touched my arm. “I’m looking forward to meeting your father tomorrow. He’ll be waiting for us at Hoops Haven in the morning.”
I dipped my hands into my hoodie pouch and nodded.
“We Skyped for a while on Wednesday,” Coach Acevedo said. “He seems like a fascinating guy.”
“Okay.”
“He’s saving Clifton United, that’s for sure.” Coach Acevedo adjusted a hoop in the top of his ear. “The district insisted we have three adults present at the games. Your father’s coming through big-time for us.”
“Big-time,” I said softly. I clenched my hidden fists.
“When we’re at the pool now, try to get Mega-Man involved. Really make him feel like he’s part of Clifton United.”
“I will.”
“I’m counting on you, Rip. You know that.”
“I know.”
“I did speak to your mom.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “She told me a little about the situation with your father. Not a lot, but enough to—”
“It’s fine,” I interrupted.
“Good,” he said. “That’s what I want to hear. That’s what leadership’s all about. Clifton United needs you focused.”
Inside my pouch pocket, I pressed my knuckles together.
“We come committed,” Coach Acevedo said. “No distractions. Time to rise to the occasion.”
Pool Play
“No goaltending,” I said. I pointed to the basket by the side of the pool with the rubber ball and waved my teammates out of the way. “I’m serious, no goaltending.”
“Just shoot it,” Zoe said.
I adjusted my goggles. I wasn’t getting a clean shot. No way. Zoe, Speedy, and Super-Size were already moving closer to the hoop, and Super-Size was waving his noodle.
I ran toward the pool, leaped into the air, and fired the ball down at the rim.
Splash!
I popped out of the water and shook my hair.
“You missed,” Speedy said.
“That was so going in,” I said.
“No way.” Super-Size swatted me with his noodle.
Hudson and Diego scrambled out of the pool and chased after the ball bounding toward the lounge chairs in the corner. Diego got to it first.
We were the only ones in the pool. Coach Acevedo was letting us stay in until he and Ms. Yvonne finished filling out forms for the Showdown. They were in the lobby area watching us through the windows.
“Incoming!” Diego shouted, sprinting back to the pool. He ran off the diving board toward the hoop. “Boom! In your face!” He two-handed tomahawk-slammed the ball.
Splash!
I headed for Red and Maya in the shallow end. They were floating on their backs with noodles tucked under their arms.
“‘I don’t need a noodle to swim,’” I said teasingly to Red.
He squinched his face under his goggles.
“Told you you’d want one.” I turned to Maya and smiled. “You should have heard Red this morning. He was whining all about how he didn’t need—”
“I wasn’t whining, Mason Irving,” Red said.
Maya dropped to her knees and blew bubbles on the surface. “You were whining, Red?”
“No.”
“Yes.” I reached for a noodle, tapped the water with it, and teased him more. “‘I’ve been taking swim lessons with Coach Lisa since kindergarten,’” I mimicked.
“Very funny,” Red said.
I reached out to ruffle his hair, but he ducked away. Then he reached for mine and got in a good shake. A little water sprayed his face, but he didn’t even flinch.
I glanced over at Mehdi and Mega-Man sitting on the lounge chairs near the entrance. They were the only two who didn’t come in. Mehdi didn’t because he was getting over an ear infection. Mega-Man didn’t because he didn’t want to. I’d tried to convince him—especially since I knew how much Coach Acevedo wanted Mega-Man included—but I couldn’t.
“Cannonball time!” Diego shouted. He stood in back of the diving board while we cleared a landing zone. Then he raced onto the board and sprang off. “Look out below!”
In midair, Diego wrapped his arms around his legs in cannonball position, but he hit the water more on his back than on his butt.
Splash!
“Boom! In your face!” Super-Size yelled. He scooped up the ball and held it over his head.
Diego popped out of the water and grabbed a noodle. He pointed it at Super-Size like a light saber. “Kill the giant!” he shouted, and lunged at him.
Suddenly, Mimi, Hudson, and A-Wu pounced on Super-Size. A-Wu knocked the ball out of his hands. Speedy grabbed it and threw it toward the shallow end. Maya got to it first.
“Let Red take a shot,” I said.
Maya tossed him the ball. “Dial it up from long distance,” she said.
“It’s like your Valpo play,” I said, adjusting the straps of my goggles.
“No, it’s not, Mason Irving. I’m not passing the ball. In the Valparaiso University Crusaders—”
“Take your shot.”
“Oh, man.” Red sized up the rim.
“Two-point-five seconds left on the clock,” I play-by-played. “Blake Daniels will need to go the length of the pool. He’ll need a full-court miracle. Daniels launches the shot … It’s got a chance…”
“Bam!” Hudson leaped into the air and punched the ball out of the pool. It bounced past Mehdi’s lounge chair toward the door to the pool area just as it was opening.
Another team walked in.
Well, it looked like another team. It was a group of kids about our age, and since other teams were staying at our hotel, I figured that’s who they were. It was a team of all boys. They all wore bathing suits and had blue towels. Most of them had the towels wrapped around their necks; two of the kids were wearing them like they’d just gotten out of the shower. They all had on flip-flops—some the kind you got at the dollar store, some the fly kind with white stripes and logos. One kid had on orange Houston Rockets socks.
“What’s up?” said one of the kids wearing the dollar-store flip-flops. He walked to the edge of the pool and flashed a Red-like smile.
Diego held up his fist. “I’m Diego.”
“Don’t pull me in.” He gave Diego a pound. “I’m Kasaan.”
“We’re Clifton United.” Diego swatted the side of the pool with his noodle.
Kasaan motioned to the two boys who’d walked up beside him. “He’s Noel. That’s Freddie.”
Both gave pounds to Diego, Speedy, and Hudson.
“That kid with the Mohawk over there is Carmelo,” Kasaan said, pointing. “The kid next to him is Andre.” Andre was wearing the Houston Rockets socks.
“Yo, where are you from?” Diego kicked o
ff the wall and floated back on his noodle.
“We can’t come in until Coach B. gets here.” Kasaan grabbed the ends of the towel around his neck. “She’d send us home if we went in without her again.”
“What’s the name of your team?” Speedy asked.
“Check out that hoop!” Andre said. He started walking around the pool.
“Where you going?” Kasaan said.
“Coach B. better get here soon,” Andre said, tossing his towel onto a chair and kicking off his flip-flops. “That’s all I have to say.”
“Andre, man,” Noel said, “you have to wait.”
He stopped by Red, Maya, and me and fist-bumped Red, who was sitting on the side of the pool. “I’m Andre.”
“Hakeem ‘the Dream’ Olajuwon played for the Houston Rockets,” Red said, looking at his socks. “Hakeem ‘the Dream’ Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets was the NBA Most Valuable Player in 1994. Hakeem ‘the Dream’ Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets was the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals in 1994 and 1995.”
“Send that up.” Andre motioned to the ball floating near Zoe.
“Andre, man, you have to wait,” Noel said again. “C’mon.”
“One shot,” Andre said.
Maya passed him the ball.
“It’ll be fine.” He headed for the diving board. “There’s no slide at this pool, so I can’t get in trouble for…”
The door to the pool area opened. A woman walked in. She pointed at Andre.
“I know you weren’t about to—”
“No way, Coach B.,” Andre said, cutting her off and smacking the ball. “I was … I was just scoping things out.”
With a tilt of the head, she told him to get rid of the ball.
He passed it down to me. Diego snatched it out of my hands.
The door to the pool area opened again. Coach Acevedo walked in.
“My crew is just getting out,” he said, heading for Coach B.
“That’s not necessary,” she said. “My guys can wait.”
“No, no, no,” Coach Acevedo said. “We’ve been in long enough, and they need to be at dinner in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes?” She laughed. “Good luck with that.”
