The Twinning Project by Robert Lipsyte

Author:Robert Lipsyte
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The teachers were having a conference in the auditorium, so the seventh grade was marched into the gym to play dodgeball. Eddie liked dodgeball, but he could see why kids hated it when Britzky yelled “Britzkyball!” and started nailing them. The teachers in the gym were busy thumbing their tiny telephones and couldn’t care less.

Britzky kept glancing at Eddie but didn’t throw the ball his way. Instead, he kept trying to nail Alessa and the kids who sat at her cafeteria table. Alessa didn’t move very fast, and she got whacked in the face and went into a corner so people wouldn’t see her cry. Eddie felt sorry for her. Tom would have done something. Probably with one of his electronic devices.

What should I do? Eddie thought. It’s not like I’m on Britzky’s side or anything, but Alessa did make that nasty crack about his face, and even though she’s a girl, she should know you can’t go around insulting people and not think they’re going to get mad and try to get even.

But she was Tom’s friend and she was helping him. She was on Eddie’s team.

He thought about decking Britzky, but Tom was on probation, so he’d probably get suspended. He could tell Britzky to stop, but if he didn’t, what would Eddie do next? Tom wouldn’t run to a teacher.

What would Captain Eddie do? If a guy on the team messed up or had a bad attitude, it never did much good to punch him out or even yell at him. You take him aside and talk to him privately, or at least show him the right way by your own actions.

Sorry, Tom. Maybe we have to do this the Captain Eddie way.

When Britzky pegged the ball at Hannah, the green-haired girl, Eddie ran out on the court, leaped up, and grabbed it in midair. It was like intercepting a pass. It caught everybody’s attention. The gym got quiet. Britzky faced Eddie, all tensed up. Eddie thought Britzky looked like he wasn’t sure if he should start searching for a place to hide or get ready to fight.

Relax, Eddie thought, I’m not going to act like you.

He shouted, “You win, Britzky. Game’s over.”

He dribbled the dodgeball between his legs, did his double spin, and fired a jumper at the nearest basket, which was almost a half-court away. It wasn’t a pretty shot; it was no nothing-but-net, just a soft bank off the backboard. But it did the job. The dodgeball spun in the rim and fell through.

Crowd goes wild!

One of the gym teachers came over. “I thought you played the violin.”

“Not right now,” Eddie said.

For the rest of the gym period, while everybody stood and watched, the gym teacher made Eddie shoot baskets from different places on the floor with a real basketball. Eddie thought about all the hours with Dad at the hoop on the garage. When Dad was around, they’d get out there even if they had to shovel snow off the driveway. Eddie pretended

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