Kings of the Court by Alison Hughes

Author:Alison Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459812215
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2017-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

Game Plan

Gracie sat with Sameer on the bus after the game against J.P. Thorpe. It happened in an accidental way, with a whole group of them piling onto the bus and fanning out for seats. Gracie just crashed in beside him, but Sameer wasn’t complaining.

Gracie and her friends had asked to come along on the team bus to watch the game, and Coach Will had said, “The more the merrier!” which was a refreshing change from Coach Boss’s belligerent “Team-only” policy.

“I’m impressed you can actually drive this bus, Coach,” Vijay said. “I mean, legally. Like, you can drive it legally, right? ’Cause you don’t really strike me as a big machine guy.” He was asking what all of them were thinking.

“Oh yes, rest assured, Vijay,” Coach Will said, “I’m fully licensed. Completely legal. I taught band at my last school and drove the group to performances, tubas and all.” He leaned on the steering wheel, reminiscing. “Now that group had some wonderful sing-alongs.” He glanced in the rearview mirror, saw Sameer’s face and said, “Not that I’m suggesting this group should have sing-alongs.”

Sameer relaxed into his seat. Coach Will was learning. “Well, another loss, hey, Sameer,” Gracie said, idly kicking at the seatback in front of her.

“Yep.” Sameer nodded. “Depressing.”

“Not a bad loss though,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

She turned to face him. Her dancing brown eyes were serious for a moment. “Well, every guy got in the game, so it was way more of a team effort than it’s ever been before.”

“Yeah, I really like that about Coach Will. Gives everyone a chance.” He didn’t mention that Rochon and Anil had complained bitterly to him after the game about that very policy. They were not happy to sit on the bench and take turns.

“What else did you notice about the game, Gracie? You know basketball. I really want to hear what you think. Some of the guys aren’t happy, and I’m helping coach the team. Vijay’s helping too. Team manager.” Sameer thought he should put in a word for his friend. Sameer had been so busy trying to keep everyone happy, he hadn’t had much of a chance to concentrate on the game, so he really hoped Vijay had taken diligent stats as instructed. Somehow he doubted it. He looked over his shoulder and found Vijay sitting at the back of the bus. He was sandwiched between Hassan and Mohammed, glaring at Sameer.

“Passing was good,” said Gracie, “but Rochon and Anil are total ball hogs. They only pass to each other and don’t give anyone else a chance to shoot. I mean, Anil stripped the ball right off Nate a couple of times! His own player.”

“Yeah, I saw that. Our defense also sucked,” said Sameer.

“Yes, defense,” Gracie said. “Guys always want the big dunk, the three-pointer or the steal. All the flashy glamor stuff, but they’re out there standing still on defense, getting burned. They gotta move.”

Sameer smiled. “You’re absolutely right, Gracie. I’ll make a note to work on that in practice.

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