“It’s nothing,” Julian said.
Barry raised his eyebrows in a show of disbelief. “Nothing. Right. Except you and he came to see me separately, and he wouldn’t say why and you won’t talk about it. Hey, I’m your friend, and I’m his friend, so come on. Tell me.”
Julian stood up and started to pace around the room. “He’s hassling me about how I’m supposed to be a ‘team leader,’ whatever that means. He says I have to, like, be buddies with everyone and hang out with them and be a cheerleader. And that I’m ‘setting a bad example’ by not hustling. Well, where does he come off telling me what to do? It’s none of his business. He keeps saying the Tornadoes are going to be great, which is just dumb. There’s no way that’s happening, because everybody’s gone except me, so when we look bad, it’s all going to be my fault. And I didn’t sign up to be the great leader; I just want to play basketball.”
Julian sat back down by the bed. “Anyway. That’s it.” Barry said, “Wow. That’s a lot of nothing. But, you know, even if I was on the team, and Max, too, you would be the leader. You were our go-to guy last year, the MVP, the big dog. And that’s what you’re going to be this year, too. You’re a star, dude. That’s how it is. You’re a star. Being a leader is part of the deal, and you can do it.”
Julian scowled. “What if I don’t want to do it? Don’t I have a choice?”
Barry said, “Well, you can walk away and quit the team. Which is something you’re not going to do. But I don’t think you have any other choice. You’re a great basketball player, and guys expect a lot out of you, and not just good stats, either. Tell you what, though, I think you’re wrong about people blaming you if the Tornadoes aren’t champs this year — no one who knows anything about basketball would blame you. They’ll have a problem with you if you don’t play as well as you can. But if you play hard, nobody’s going to give you grief, even if the team never wins a game. At least, that’s what I think.”
Julian didn’t agree with Barry, but he didn’t want to argue. Not with Barry looking the way he did and about to have that operation and possibly never being able to play again. Finally, he said, “Grady’s crazy if he thinks we’ll be a great team, right? No way that can happen, not with a bunch of new guys who are just okay players.”
Barry said, “Why are you so down on the new blood? That guy Mick who came over with Grady seems cool, and Grady thinks he can play. Maybe he’s as good as me. Who knows?”
“As good as you?” Julian laughed. “No way. I mean he’s not bad, but...”
“Jools. Hello? Listen up.” Barry held up two fingers. “You’ve had two practices. How did we look last year after two practices? Did it look like we’d go all the way? Did we come on like champs? I don’t think so. We messed up sometimes, and we needed a lot of practice. But we got better. You’ll get better this year, too.”
Julian wasn’t in the mood to be convinced. “Well... I guess. I wish you guys were all back, though. It’s . . . it’s just not fun. And even if we get better, it’s not going to be like last year was, that’s for sure.”
Barry winced as he shifted his body in the bed. “Yeah, I guess it won’t. It’s not going to be like last year for me, either. How’d you like to switch places?”
Julian blinked, startled. “Whoa, I didn’t mean...I don’t ...I wouldn’t . . .”
“Forget it. Listen, I’m feeling pretty wiped out,” Barry said. “I better get some sleep. But it’d be great if you can come back again. I’ll be here for a while.”
“Sure,” Julian replied. “Count on it. Good luck with the operation tomorrow. I’ll see you.” He stood up to leave.
Barry’s answering smile looked tired. “When you come next time, maybe you can do me a favor.”
Julian said, “Whatever you want.”
“Okay,” said Barry. “Next time, I’d like to see you and Grady come together. All right?”
“Uh, sure, if you want. I’ll... we’ll be back to see you as soon as we can,” Julian said.
Barry reached out and pushed a button, and the head of his bed lowered with a whir.
“Excellent. Take it easy, Jools.”
“You too,” said Julian. “Hang in there.”
“I’ll give it my best shot,” said Barry, closing his eyes. “Don’t worry so much, and everything will be cool.”
As Julian reached the door, he looked back. Barry suddenly seemed very tired and not at all happy.
7
The next morning, Julian came into the kitchen to find his sister having breakfast. Megan asked, “How’s Barry?”
“Not great,” Julian said, sitting across from his sister as he waited for his toast. “His leg had this gigantic metal thing on it, and he was all bandaged up. Plus, he had stuff going into his arm from a plastic bag through a needle. He’s probably going to have an operation today, and he doesn’t know if he can play ball again.”
Megan stared. “You mean, never?”
Julian got up for his toast and sat back down. “The doctors won’t say. But maybe never. I didn’t know what to tell him.”
He kept seeing Barry in his memory, looking the way he did in the hospital bed. He felt his eyes blur and looked away so Megan wouldn’t see them.
“That’s terrible, Jools. What could you have said?” Megan’s voice was unusually soft. “Look, you went to see him, and you’ll see him again. You’re doing what a friend is supposed to do. You’re there for him, right?”
“Oh, yeah, right,” Julian muttered. “All I did was complain about Grady and the team and... just me, me, me. Some friend I am.”
“Don’t give yourself such a hard time,” said Megan. “Take it easy, all right?”
“Well, I should’ve tried to cheer him up instead of whining.”
Megan put down her juice glass and stared at her brother. “Cheer him up? Yeah, sure, you should have cheered him up. He’s going to have this operation, and he doesn’t know what shape he’ll be in afterward. You really think you could have made him forget his problems? Get real.”
Julian said, “Instead, he wound up trying to make me feel better.”
Megan said, “Then maybe you got him to take his mind off what’s going on. For a few minutes, anyway. Lighten up, bro. One minute you’re down on Grady and your team, and the next minute you’re giving yourself all this grief. Do yourself a favor — cut it out.”
Julian shrugged. “I don’t know how.”
“You’re not the guy in the hospital,” said Megan. “You’re the star athlete who’s healthy and has a big future. You might want to think about that for a while instead of looking for things to gripe about.”
When Julian left for school a few minutes later, he decided that Megan couldn’t understand what he was going through. It seemed as though no one could.
Julian spent the morning unable to focus on what was happening in class. He split his time between wishing he didn’t have to deal with the routine of practice and being hassled by Grady and the coach, and feeling guilty for not having been more upbeat with Barry. During English class, he imagined himself lying in bed, facing surgery, never being able to play ball again, until his teacher had to warn him about daydreaming.
When lunchtime rolled around, Julian thought he’d go outside and find a quiet place to sit by himself. He headed for the baseball field and sat on a bench nearby. Was Megan right? Could he turn his mood around? How?
“Hey,” called a voice, and Julian looked up, startled. Three boys were coming toward him. Julian wasn’t happy when he recognized Grady, Mick, and Len.
“Hi,” Mick said, looking nervous about what Julian’s reaction would be. Len nodded.
“You want company?” Grady asked when the trio got closer. “I mean, if you’d rather be left alone, that’s cool, but we’ll sit with you if that’s all right.”
Julian’s first impulse was to tell them all to leave him alone, but he remembered Barry’s request. “Actually, I’d like to talk to Grady, okay? Do you guys mind?”
>
“Sure,” said Len, looking puzzled. “See you later.” “Later,” said Mick as he turned and walked away with Len. Julian watched them talk to each other as they went. Probably, he figured, they were talking about him and what a pain he was.
Grady said, “I don’t get it. What is your problem with those guys? What did they do to make you not like them? What did I do?”
“They didn’t do anything,” replied Julian. “It’s not that I don’t like them; I just don’t know them. Is that all right with you?”
“Sure, whatever.” Grady pointed at himself with his thumb. “What about me? What did I do? I thought we were friends.”
“Me, too.” Julian couldn’t believe how unfair Grady was. “I thought we were friends, too. But all you want to do is lecture me and hassle me. I should do this, I shouldn’t do that, I’m not a team player. And you’d rather spend your time with those guys than with me. I’m not the one who’s not being a friend.”
“You never say anything nice to the new players,” Grady insisted. “You avoid them, and when I’m with them, you avoid me. Yesterday, you wouldn’t even go with me to visit Barry in the hospital. How lame is that?”
“I did visit him,” snapped Julian. “I went last night, okay? I saw him, and we talked. But you’re right, he’s in pretty bad shape, I guess.”
The boys said nothing for a moment, both of them thinking about Barry.
“He might not be able to play basketball again,” Grady said softly.
“Yeah.” Julian turned to Grady, his anger forgotten for the moment. “What would you do if it was you?”
Grady shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe Coach Valenti will have news about what’s going on,” Julian suggested.
“I don’t know. It’s probably too soon to know much.” Grady unwrapped his lunch. “Anyway, I’m not lecturing you.”
“Yes, you are,” Julian answered. “Telling me what I should do or not do — that’s the coach’s job, not yours.”
After a pause, Grady said, “You’re right. I shouldn’t do that. I’m sorry; I was out of line. I won’t do it anymore.”
Julian wasn’t expecting Grady’s response. He had been ready for more arguing.
“But the coach won’t let you get away with anything,” Grady added. “You know he’ll be all over you if you don’t get it together.”
Julian wanted to disagree, but couldn’t. Grady was right; Coach Valenti had warned Julian already. But Julian wasn’t going to say so to Grady. “That’s between me and the coach,” he said at last.
“Okay,” Grady said. “And listen, I still want to be your friend. But don’t expect me not to be friends with Mick and Len, or anyone else. We’re all going to be practicing and playing together, so we might as well get along.”
“Okay,” Julian said, still not really happy with the idea. “Oh, one other thing. Barry asked if you and me could visit him together. He said he’d like that.”
“Sure. I’d like that,” Grady said. “If it’s all right with you.”
“Yeah, why not?” Julian said. He realized that he hadn’t eaten his lunch, but he no longer felt hungry. “I better go.”
“See you at practice,” Grady said.
“Right.” Julian wished he could make himself look forward to it.
Practice began with the usual warm-ups. In the layup drill, Julian didn’t have to work too hard and made just about all his shots, going in and rising effortlessly, then banking the ball in. Once or twice, for variety, he used a finger roll to loft the ball on a high arc and through the hoop. He was one of the few boys his age who could do such a move with success.
But while Julian could look good on layups, even while not working hard, if he loafed when going for the ball after another player’s shot, it showed. After one halfhearted attempt at a block, Coach Valenti called out, “Julian!”
The coach beckoned him. Julian, nervous that he’d pushed his luck too far, trotted over.
“I can see you’re tired,” Coach Valenti said. “So I’ll give you two choices. Number one: sit down on that bench for a few minutes, then come back ready to hustle. Number two: go to the locker room, change clothes, and go home. And don’t come back until you think you’re ready to play. Which is it going to be?”
Julian said, “I’ll pick it up, Coach. Really.”
The coach gestured to the bench. “Sit down and think about it. Go on.”
Feeling every eye on him, Julian sat down on the bench. He was seething but couldn’t decide whether he was angry at himself or at everybody else. A few minutes later, the coach blew his whistle to get the team together and signaled for Julian to join them.
“No more of this lounging around,” he said quietly to Julian. “I mean that.” He raised his voice so the whole team could hear him. “All right, we’re going to do a three-on-three half-court passing exercise. The three on offense will inbound the ball at midcourt and try to score. Before you shoot, however, you have to pass the ball at least five times. After a made shot, the other team puts the ball in play from midcourt. On a missed shot, whichever team gets the rebound has to pass the ball out to midcourt, and we start again. The team with the ball has to make five passes before shooting. Any questions?”
Grady and Julian were on the first squad with the ball, along with a forward named Warren. Warren had been on the team the previous year but had seen little playing time. Mick and Len were on the defense squad, along with another new guy, a tall, skinny center named Cal.
Grady inbounded to Julian, who backed the ball in toward the basket, with Cal trying to block his move. Julian was bigger than Cal and could have turned and shot. But the drill called for five passes. So Julian faked to his right side, turned the other way, and threw a bounce pass to Warren, who was standing in the left corner near the baseline. Warren flicked a chest pass to Grady, who had managed to get away from Len behind the key. Grady threw a high pass to Julian. Julian fired the ball straight back to Grady and slid in toward the basket. Cal tried to block the lane, planting himself behind Julian’s inside shoulder. But Julian wheeled away to the baseline, and Grady found him with a soft, arching pass. Cal lunged desperately to keep Julian from shooting, but Julian put up a baseline shot that swished through the net.
“All right!” said Grady.
Julian found himself grinning. This was the way it should be. But the other squad now put the ball in play from midcourt, and Julian had to guard Cal. Though Julian had a few inches on the thinner boy, Cal proved to be surprisingly quick on his feet. He worked free to take a pass from Mick. Cal dropped a bounce pass behind him to Len and drifted inside. Len lobbed the ball to Cal, who fired it back to Len. Len bounced it to Mick, who had an open shot from fifteen feet. Julian launched himself toward him, hands extended to block a shot. But instead of shooting, Mick threw a well-timed pass to Cal. Unguarded, Cal dropped in an easy layup.
Julian knew right away that he’d made a mistake — he’d left his man free for an easy bucket to try to block a low-percentage outside shot. The coach whistled play to a stop. “What happened?” he asked Julian.
“I should have stayed with my man inside instead of worrying about the long jumper,” Julian said. “I shouldn’t give him the high-percentage shot.”
“Good,” said the coach. “That’s how we learn. Okay, back to work.”
A minute later, after Warren had missed a ten-foot jumper, Mick took a crosscourt pass from Len and went up for his own jump shot. Julian jumped, stretched out an arm, and just managed to get a couple of finger-tips on the ball, spoiling a good shot opportunity.
“Nice move, Julian,” the coach called. “Let’s have some other people on the floor.”
When Julian went to the sideline, Grady turned and said, “Nice block.”
Julian wiped his face with a towel. “Good assist back there.”
It was almost like last year.
A few minutes later, the coach told the team to relax and left the gym for a m
inute. When he returned, he said, “Can I have your attention? I thought you’d want to know that Barry Streeter had his surgery earlier today. His father says it went well, but there’s still no word on what happens next. Tomorrow’s Saturday, and he’ll be ready for company. We don’t practice until midafter-noon, so you have time to drop by if you want to.”
Julian and Grady exchanged looks.
“Want to go?” Julian asked.
“Absolutely,” Grady replied.
Julian said, “He’s going to be fine. You’ll see.” He wished he felt as sure as he sounded.
8
The next morning, Julian and Grady were on their way down the hall toward Barry’s room when someone called Julian’s name. Mrs. Streeter waved to them from the visitors’ lounge. She stood up and hugged each of them in turn. She looked very tired.
“Barry will be happy to see you,” she said. “Sit down. They only let in two visitors at a time, and Barry’s dad and Coach Valenti are in there. But they’ll be out soon.”
“How is he?” asked Grady.
Mrs. Streeter sat back down with a sigh. “He’s doing well, all things considered. He’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow, and he’ll begin physical therapy in a few days.”
“That’s great,” Julian said.
She smiled. “He keeps talking about how he wishes he could play ball.”
“We really miss him, too,” said Julian.
Grady nodded. “But the main thing is, he’s going to get better, right?”
Before Mrs. Streeter could reply, the coach and Mr. Streeter walked into the lounge.
“Hey, boys, glad you’re here,” Mr. Streeter said, shaking their hands. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he sat next to his wife and took her hand.
“Good to see you,” said the coach. He looked as if he hadn’t had much sleep either.
“We hear Barry’s okay,” said Grady.
“The doctors sound more encouraging than yesterday,” answered Mr. Streeter. “Barry’s going to have some tough months ahead of him. But if he works hard with the therapist, he should be fine. Why don’t you go in and see him?”
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