Centerville by Jeff Rud

Author:Jeff Rud
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV032020, JUV035000, JUV021000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2016-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

By the time Saturday evening rolled around, I had convinced myself that the Skyline game was going to be different. I would get some minutes and contribute and show Coach Stone that I was more than capable of helping the team. It didn’t hurt my mood that it had been a glorious, sunny fall day in Benson and the guys and I had walked to the Metro Diner for our pregame meal. The atmosphere was light and confident as we ate and then headed to Benson Rec Center with Coach.

A couple of hours later, we were warming up in an already-packed gym. As I stretched at center court, I watched as Skyline, in its powder-blue-and-silver uniforms, went through its pregame rituals. Kyle Winston, Skyline’s six-foot-five McDonald’s High School All-American, was taking pass after pass on the baseline from an assistant coach. I was counting his three-point makes. At twenty in a row, I stopped counting and concentrated on my own stretching. Winston was an amazing knock-down shooter. I badly wanted a chance to guard him that night.

Once again, however, I was not in the Centerville starting lineup. The top five were identical to what they had been since our first practice. And Coach didn’t make a single sub during the entire first quarter. At the end of that eight-minute period, we were up 16–14. But Winston had nailed three three-pointers, all on Kelvin’s head. Kelvin was just too short to be able to bother the Skyline shooter’s smooth release to any degree.

“Thomas,” Coach said during the huddle, “I want you to switch onto Winston. Get a hand up in his face. His looks have been way too easy.”

Thomas nodded. I checked the reaction on Kelvin’s face. He wasn’t happy. Basically, Coach had just told the entire team that Kelvin had done a poor job of defending Winston. When we broke our huddle, the whole gym would know. But the change with Thomas and Kelvin meant everybody else’s defensive assignment was changed as well. Moving Thomas on to Kyle Winston was a bit of gamble. It meant that Kelvin ended up covering Tatum Rice, Skyline’s silky-smooth, six-foot-six forward. That was a huge mismatch too. I couldn’t help but think Coach should be putting me in the game. Kelvin was certainly more athletic, but I was longer and stronger. I would be capable of staying on either Winston or Rice.

Coach didn’t make a single sub in the second quarter either. I could tell that all the guys on the bench were getting antsy. Dewayne was overtly angry, throwing a towel down in disgust after a timeout ended and he still remained on the bench. But what did Dewayne have to complain about? At least he’d actually been in a game. I glanced over at Billy, who, like me, had yet to play a minute. He was again sitting glumly at the end of the bench. His heavily freckled face looked disengaged, like he had given up any hope of seeing the floor this season.

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