Airball

”You want to do the suicides… for him? ” Coach Hendrix asked, looking confused.

”Yeah, ” I said. ”Ill do them instead of him. ”

Hendrix looked between me and the chubby kid for a few seconds. ”You two are friends? ”

I shook my head. ”No sir. ”

”Acquaintances? ”

I shook my head again.

”You don even know this kid? ” the coach asked.

”No sir. ”

”Haven even seen him before? ”

I shook my head. ”Never. ”

”So, ” the coach concluded. ”You want to run for a random kid you don know. ”

”Yes, sir. If thats okay, I would like to. ”

Coach Hendrix looked between me and the freshman sitting beat on the court. ”Okay, ” he said eventually. ”If you switch with him, you do four suicides. ”

I nodded. ”Will do, sir. ”

The coach raised his eyebrow, but then nodded and gestured for me to take the floor.

I waited for the other three freshmen to finish up their suicides, then started mine. I had been running a lot during the summer and the beginning of the school year, so I got through the first two okay. The third one was when it started to burn a little. I was in shape, all right, but no one is immune from suicides. My steps started to become heavier, and my shoulder began to rise higher. I felt every time my foot touched the ground like someone was stepping on my gut. I began to slow down, but I could feel everyones eyes behind me. I finished the third suicide and started the fourth, running from the baseline to the free throw and back. The half court line and back. The other free throw line. The other baseline. And then back to the starting baseline, where I was met with applause.

Nathan stepped forward and guided me over to where he, Cam, and Max were hanging out. I leaned heavily on a wall and tried to catch my breath.

”Well done, ” said Max.

”Yeah, thats how we do it, ” Cam said, slapping me on the shoulder.

”Well, well, well, ” Coach Hendrix was saying.

I managed to pull myself up a little and focus my attention on the coach.

”Whats your name, kid? ”

”Blake Manson, sir, ” I said between breaths.

”I must admit, Im mildly impressed, ” Hendrix said. ”Don get me wrong, any of you here could have probably done that. ” He looked over at some of the freshman who had run extra laps. All four of them were collapsed on the floor. ”Well, maybe not all of you, but you get my point. Most of you could have run that, maybe even faster than Blake here did, but you wouldn have, would you? ”

I was a little ticked off. I had just ran who knows how many suicides in the past twenty minutes and his comment was that I could have gone faster.

”Who here would have ran those laps for that random kid? ” the coach asked.

No one raised their hands or answered. At least everyone was smart enough to not answer that—another trick question. The coach nodded slowly and wrote something down on a clipboard that Coach Myers handed to him on queue.

”Alright, workouts lets go! ” the coach yelled, handing the pen and clipboard back to the assistant coach. ”Everyone spread out and find their own place on the court. Come on, hop to it! You all know how this works. Im aware that we have no mats, youll just have to tough it out. ”

I found a space a couple feet away from others and started doing reps of whatever the coach would call out. The coach kept yelling out orders: 20 push-ups here or 15 crunches there. Then he and Coach Myers would walk around the court slowly, observing everyones strength and endurance. Once everyones arms were throbbing and legs were failing, Coach Hendrix blew his whistle and we stood at attention for our next instructions.

I noticed that Coach Hendrix was about my height, and a little shorter than Coach Myers. Hendrix had some stubble for a beard and deep, calculating eyes. I could tell that no detail every got past Coach Hendrix without him noticing. Assistant Coach Myers, on the other hand, was tall and focused, but in a different way from Hendrix. Myers looked just as calculating as Hendrix, but he looked like he was about to tell a joke, whereas Hendrix looked as if he was bearing bad news about your puppy that ran away. As you might have figured, it was one expression meanly two very different things. Coach Hendrix looked like he would crank out some push-ups on the spot if someone asked him too, and he wouldn stop either. Coach Myers looked like he had just finished a marathon, and was searching restlessly for his next opportunity to partake in one.

”We
e playing scrimmage games now. Go to the side of wherever you are now, and we should have two 5-on-5 games plus subs. ”

Everyone did as they were told carefully, making sure not to make the same mistake the four freshmen did, and end up doing more running. I walked over to one side and saw that Nathan and I had been separated from Cam and Max, and would be playing different games from one another.

”Alright! ” the coach yelled to get everyones attention. ”Youll be playing half court games. Pick teams quickly. Liam, Gavin, Travis, Adam, you
e team captains. For this scrim, there will be freshman playing against seniors and whatnot, so itll be a little unbalanced. Don worry about that, just try to get the most points. Well do grade-based scrims after. ”

We got in line facing our team captains, Liam and the guy I assumed—from process of elimination—was Travis. They did rock, paper, scissors rather than shooting for ball and Liam got first pick.

”Kay, ” said Liam. ”Imma choose Blake. ”

It took me awhile to realize that he just said my name. Me, first pick? When Id never even played a game at the school? I was no stranger to being first pick on a team, but I certainly didn expect it here.

”What you waiting on? ” he asked.

”Me? ” I said intelligently.

”Yes, you, ” Liam said. ”Get over here, First Pick. ”

I looked at Nathan, who raised his eyebrows. I shrugged and walked over to where Liam was standing, looking like a dwarf with him towering over me. That might have been an overstatement, but you get my point. The man is tall. And hes not even a senior.

Four more sophomores, juniors, or seniors were picked and two freshman were picked by Travis. Liam looked over the remaining pool of players. ”Looks like I need another freshman to make it even, ” Liam said, and it took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. ”Which one should I go for, huh? ”

”Shaggy, brown hair, ” I said immediately and Liam laughed at my description.

”Shaggy, brown hair, ” Liam echoed to the pool of players.

Nathan looked over at me and pointed at himself, as if to ask: Me?

I nodded and he walked over and joined our team. The rest of the players on our side of the court were then dished out and we began the game. Liam picked out which players would start and which would sub, and surprisingly, I was one of the starters. I decided to pull him to the side.

”Hey, man, ” I said to Liam. ”Why do you keep choosing me? ”

Liam just smiled a little and walked back over to play the game.

”Good talk, ” I said to myself.

We started the game, and I realized that I was pretty much useless. Not that I had expected any different. I was mainly just standing around, looking for openings that weren presenting themselves. By the time the game was almost over, I had messed up several times. I had missed a pass at the beginning of the game, and the opponents gained possession of the ball. I had missed two jump-shots and a layup, all denied by taller players. I felt sure than the head coach had been looking when I missed one of the jump shots. On the defensive end, I wasn doing so bad though. I had one rebound and one block. No triple-doubles there, but it was better than my offensive game.

We were playing to 21, and the score was 17-18, other team. The other team had the ball, and were dribbling up the court. I attempted to intercept a pass inside, but the intended recipient side-stepped me and got the easy lay-up. I groaned. The team had done better during the time I had been subbed out. 17-20. Great. One more shot and they would win.

Liam took it up the court and passed it to me. I quickly sent it to Nathan, who was open. I didn want that ball in my hands any longer than it had to be. It was clear I could do no good with it. Nathan made the layup, securing his first points. 19-20.

I flashed Nathan a thumbs-up and ran back down the court. Someone shots a jumper and missed. I ducked under a taller player and grabbed the rebound from under him before he could see what was happening. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liam wink at me, and he and another player run down the court.

But they don run down normally. They ran down the court in chaotic zigzag form, passing by each other over and over again, confusing the other team. I took my own moment of confusion, but then realized what was happening. I dribbled down the court and launched the ball up at the goal. Both Liam and the other player jump up and help the straying ball go down in the net. 21-20.

Liam walked over to me grinning. ”Thats why I wanted you on my team. ”

I realized that Liam must have seen me when I had visited the South Miami High games to watch them play. He had wanted me on the team because I could probably remember some plays, giving his team an advantage. Smart.

I watched the other team finish their game and then we all divided ourselves into halves again. Coach Hendrix ordered for freshman and sophomores on one side of the court and juniors and seniors on the other. Another game. The juniors and seniors were given captains and told to get themselves into teams and start playing. Then the coach came over to our game.

”I want you all to divide yourselves however you want to, just make it even. I don care whos on whos team. Work it out among yourselves and get the game going, ” he ordered.

Cam, Nathan, and Max drifted over to me, and we watched as all the other freshman divided among who knew who, and ended up with four different groups. Then we combined to make two groups, and the sophomores (who were very few in number) sprinkled in. I realized I knew most of the people in the groups. Not personally, of course. Most of them were in one or two of my classes, I had just never bothered to get to know them.

”Finally, ” Coach Hendrix said. He had been watching the whole time. ”Now, figure out captains. Captains, introduce yourself to each other and then start the game. ”

I realized, as the coach stared intently at our every move, that it was a test. To see how we acted and who we knew. It was a subtle test to make certain players stand out to him. Our designated team got in a circle, but no one said anything.

”So, whos going to be captain? ” one guy asked.

No one said anything.

”Blake, ” Cam said, like the answer should be obvious. I saw the coach raise an eyebrow at this. ”Blake for sure. ”

”Yeah, Blake, ” Nathan agreed.

”Yep, ” said Max.

”I don — ” I started.

”We have our two captains. Blake Manson and Jackson Hendrix, ” the coach announced.

I broke from my teams circle to find myself face-to-face with the other captain. Jackson… Hendrix. The coachs son. I looked at the guy before me, and it was definitely clear that that was who he was. Jackson Hendrix looked in every part like his dad. Same height as me if not taller, the same black hair.

Jackson reached out his hand to me and I shook it. We locked eyes and I saw the same calculating gaze that his father possessed.

”Nice to meet you, Blake, ” he said.