Ball Don't Lie by Matt de la Pena

Author:Matt de la Pena
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307433169
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2009-04-13T22:00:00+00:00

Check This Move,

Sticky said, and Anh-thu turned around to watch. This is for when some dude gets all up on me. Sticky jab-stepped with his right foot, hesitated, and took off baseline. Cupped the ball between his right hand and forearm and spun it in cool off the glass. Just like that, Annie. These fools can’t hold me.

Too bad nobody’s really guarding you, Anh-thu said, and she went back to reading her book.

It was Saturday night back in mid-April, and the park Sticky’d pulled Anh-thu into was dark. She had to put her book right up to a yellow floodlight to make out the words.

But if there was, Sticky said. That’s how I’d do em.

On their way to some high school party on Second Street, at some guy named Cyrus’s house, Sticky spotted the baskets and veered Anh-thu onto the empty blacktop with pleading eyes. He just couldn’t resist it. Needed to fix. It was his last Saturday of community service, the court-ordered 100 hours he’d been given for the window-breaking incident, and he was hyped. No more ten-hour weekend days cleaning up graffiti. No more orange vest.

He pulled his beat-up ball out of his backpack and ran his fingers along the grooves. Just a couple quick jumpers, he’d said. But Anh-thu knew better and rolled her eyes. Sticky ripped off his sweatshirt and dribbled over to the nearest hoop. Anh-thu sat with their stuff and pulled out the novel she was reading for English class.

Over an hour spiraled by and here they were, still holding down the same spots.

I’ll post this dude up, Sticky said, crab-dribbling with his back to the basket, digging a couple elbows into an imaginary defender’s chest. He spun quick and rose up off two feet. Dunked the ball with two hands and hung on the rim. Too strong, he said, and let himself drop. These fools gotta get in the weight room.

He picked up his ball and dribbled out to the wing. This ain’t no fair, Annie. These dudes ain’t got no defense. I need someone out here who could at least put on a little defense.

Anh-thu, without looking up from her book, told him: What happened to you taking me to that big party?

I am, Sticky said. I just gotta finish off these fools .

The park had four hoops, all without nets. One of the rims was bent so far it pointed right back down at the blacktop. The old-school wooden backboards were all tagged up with different-style gang markings. Sticky knew how to take care of stuff like that, though. He’d even kept some of the community service solvent thinking he might one day clean up the outside of Lincoln Rec. Figured there shouldn’t be any taggings on a dude’s home away from home.

Anh-thu looked up at Sticky for a second. Watched him spin in a reverse layup and point at an invisible crowd. She shook her head and reached into her bag for a pack of Starburst. She unwrapped a red one and popped it in her mouth.

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