At the Center by Patrick Jones

Author:Patrick Jones [Jones, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sports, Sports & Recreation, Basketball, Social Themes, Prejudice, Racism, At the Center, Athlete, Athletes, Black History, Civil Rights, Diversity, High School, High School Athlete, High School Athletes, High/Low, Multicultural, Multiculturalism, Patrick Jones, Protest, Protests, Segregation, Student Activists, Student Athletes
ISBN: 9781512419238
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2016-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

9

Thursday morning

December 15

Vestavia Hills High School gym

“Have you seen it?” A.C. shoves his phone in my face.

“Seen what?” I act like I have no idea what he’s talking about, even though I can feel the phone in my pocket blowing up. I’m casual as I peer at the posts that Ashley talked me through creating. #BringBack45.

“Look, it’s on Tumblr, Instagram, everywhere. Viral!”

I pretend my nose itches and scratch it to hide my yawn. Spreading the news everywhere took until four in the morning.

Pretty soon some other friends come up, talking about the same thing. All of them follow and then retweet the latest anonymous post about how Coach treats black players and about the racist remarks he’s made.

“Think Jayson did it?” A.C. asks no one in particular.

“I doubt it,” I say. Jayson’s hands are not half skin, half phone like Lucy’s and Ashley’s. “But Coach is gonna think he did it anyway.”

“Like Austin said the other day in class,” Gerald says, “power to the people, right on!”

The bell rings for first hour, sending conversations and bodies in different directions toward class. Everybody but me. I’m on my way to the bathroom. I close the little stall door, take out my phone, and share my bile with the whole world by posting more anonymous stuff about Coach.

Just after I get to first hour late, Mr. Austin even mentions the hashtag in class. For the first time, I feel like a big shot, even if nobody except Ashley knows it’s me. I guess there are two people who might suspect me: Lucy and Coach. With Lucy, I’ll tell her as soon I see her. With Coach, I’ll know whether he suspects me as soon as he sees me. He’ll have my uniform and my head, I’m just not sure in which order.

•••

“Whoever did this is gutless!” Coach shouts. The only thing we’ve stretched at practice so far is our patience as Coach goes on and on about what he calls “that tweet nonsense.”

“The essence of any sport is respect,” Coach starts. He finally moves off the “tweet nonsense” rant and onto one of his canned speeches about the virtues of a successful athlete. He doesn’t mention bullying, his stock-in-trade, as one of these virtues.

We get through stretching and exercises with a minimum of screaming. I wonder if Page told Coach he needed to turn down the volume. I smile. Maybe “that tweet nonsense” is already working.

The scrimmage starts. I’m on the bench, but the real game is the social media offensive happening outside this gym. About halfway through, I get on the court as the first team comes down with the ball. Dylan takes a jumper that clangs off the rim almost as loud as Coach yelling “No!” at him. The ball shoots out and I haul it in, dribble twice, make the long pass, but then cut toward the basket for the give-and-go. When the ball comes back to me, Lex has thundered down the court. He’s not in position, so I cut toward the basket.

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