Home Invasion by Monique Polak

Author:Monique Polak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2005-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

There were thirty seconds left. It was the fourth quarter and the score was tied at forty-eight. We were playing another camp team from Montreal’s East End. They had the ball. Their point guard — a blond guy with wire-rimmed glasses — was dribbling up the court. I watched him eye the clock.

“Isolation!” he yelled, calling a play. All the players on his team rushed to the right side of the court. Which left just him and me one-on-one. For a split second our eyes met. Then I looked down at his hips; I knew they’d tell me the direction he’d be going in.

Basketball’s a bit like poker. Bluffing the other guy is part of the game. When he started dribbling left, I had this feeling he was about to spin right again — and he did. Then he faded away from sixteen feet. It was a beautiful shot.

They were ahead of us by two points now. Six seconds remained on the scoreboard. We still had a chance. A lot can happen in six seconds.

Just then our coach called a twenty-second time-out. “Just focus,” he told us. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and tried to catch my breath. My heart was beating like crazy.

Bobby inbounded the ball to me. I looked up at the clock as I started dribbling up court. Four seconds.

One of the guys on my team was setting a pick on my right side. I crossed left to right, stopping just outside the arc. That left me open for the three-point shot. The shot that would win us the game.

I’d just released the ball from my finger-tips when the buzzer sounded.

“He got it off in time!” I heard our coach’s booming voice, though it sounded like it was coming from far away. My eyes were focused on the ball. I watched as it bounced off the left side of the rim, then hit the right.

“Yes!” I whispered under my breath, willing the ball to sink into the net. I could practically hear the swishing sound it would make. The ball rolled once around the rim, then popped out and fell to the ground.

The guys on the other team were high- fiving each other. I wished I could disappear. I felt even worse when a couple of guys on my team slapped my shoulder. Consolation slaps.

What really put me over the edge was when the coach pulled me aside and said, “You did your best, Josh. That’s what counts.”

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