Practice was light and fun, and everybody seemed happy. A win could have that effect. We’d won our game by one point. It was a last-minute shot by me. A lucky, desperate shot that had no right to go in but did. Everybody on the team had celebrated like we’d won the championship instead of beating a team that was almost as bad as us. It wasn’t like either team was really good enough to win, but we couldn’t both lose. Still, it was better to beat a bad team than lose to one.
I put up a shot and it missed everything, even the netting. Major air ball. I just hoped nobody had—
“Glad you didn’t do that in the game yesterday,” Kia suggested.
Obviously one pair of eyes saw me miss.
“We both had a pretty good game.”
“We both had a great game,” she said quietly. She leaned in even closer. “Which is the only reason we won.”
“Yeah, I guess we’ll just have to play that way every game and we’ll—”
“Still lose most of our games.”
“What?”
She pulled me into the corner away from everybody.
“Do you really think that was a good team we beat?” she asked.
“No, of course not. They were bad.”
“And we still almost lost to them. Unless we hope that every team is terrible, we’re in trouble.”
“We’re getting better with each practice,” I suggested.
“We’re getting better because we were so bad we had no place to go but up.”
“You two decided to take a mid-practice break?” Mr. Roberts asked as he came up behind us.
“We were just talking…talking strategy,” Kia lied.
“And what did you come up with?”
Oh good, let’s tell him that our strategy is that we hope all the other teams play worse than we do.
“We were thinking it would be good to spread the points around more,” Kia said.
Thank goodness she could always come up with something to say.
“You two scored forty-seven of our fifty-four points,” Mr. Roberts said.
“Yeah,” Kia agreed. “So we need to feed the other players more.”
“I was thinking the opposite,” Mr. Roberts said.
“What?” I asked.
“The rest of the team got seven points on twenty-four shots. They hit around eighteen percent of their shots. We can’t afford to have them shoot very much. We won because you two played hard, shot well and didn’t let the others give up.”
“They did try hard,” Kia agreed.
“They did. Think about that last basket,” Mr.Roberts said. “The game was basically over, and we could’ve lost, but Devon goes after that ball, strips it from their player. Then Bilaal practically kills himself by grabbing the ball as it goes out of bounds and taps it back in to you, Kia, before he crashes into those seats. And, of course, Kia gets it to you, Nick, and you shoot. But really, if any of those plays weren’t made, we would have lost.”
Strange. I hadn’t thought of any of that, but Mr. Roberts was right.
“We’ll just have to keep trying as hard as we can every play of every game,” Mr. Roberts said.
“We’ll keep hustling,” I confirmed.
“I hope so. It’s going to be harder once we start losing,” he said.
Kia and I looked at each other and then at him. Neither of us was expecting him to say that.
“Come on, you two aren’t the only ones who know basketball. For us to have any chance in any game, we’ll have to out-hustle everybody. If we don’t bring more energy than the other team, we have no chance. It’s easier to hustle when you’re winning or the game is close. Much harder if you’re losing, especially by a lot…and that could happen.”
“You better tell them,” Kia said, gesturing to the rest of the team. “After yesterday they think we’re going to go undefeated.”
“It’s better if they don’t know. Let’s not talk to them about any of this. Let them believe, because that may be the best weapon we have.”
He paused. “Besides, it isn’t just about winning.”
“It isn’t?” Kia questioned.
He shrugged. “Well, winning is nice, but maybe this year winning isn’t about the score at the end but how we play the game.”
I was pretty sure that winning was based solely on the score at the end of the game, but I didn’t think that was what he meant or wanted to hear.
“If we keep on trying, keep on improving, then that will be like a victory,” he continued.
Maybe like a victory, but certainly not a victory.
“And that’s why I need the two of you to promise me you will not give up on them and will keep the team from giving up,” he said.
“That’s a promise,” Kia said. “You won’t see any quit in either of us.”
“No way we’ll quit,” I agreed.
“No matter how bad it gets, we’ll keep a positive attitude. But it sure would have been a real morale booster if the Raptors had agreed to send a player to our school. But there’s no chance of that, right?” he asked.
“Their letter was pretty clear that they can’t come this year,” I said. “The letter said they get hundreds and hundreds of requests and can’t say yes to them all.”
“Well, I guess they have a point,” Mr. Roberts said. “Although sometimes taking no for an answer is too easy.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You truly fail when you stop trying to succeed,” he said.
“Do you have an idea?” I asked—hoping he did.
“I just gave you an idea. Maybe you shouldn’t give up so easily,” he said.
I dribbled a few steps and then skidded to a stop as a little grade-one kid scampered in front of me, chasing a ball. He didn’t even notice me. It was lucky I saw him or there could have been another playground collision.
“He’s right, you know,” Kia said.
“That little kid with the ball?”
“No. Mr. Roberts. He’s right. We shouldn’t just give up on the idea of having the Raptors come to our school.”
“Okay, do you have any bright ideas?”
“Not yet, but—”
“Hi, Nick.” It was Lailah. “You played a good game yesterday.”
“How would you know?” Kia questioned. “You weren’t there.”
“Some people listen to the morning announcements. Anyway, I heard he scored twenty-four points.”
“There’s more to a good game than points,” Kia said.
“You mean he didn’t play a good game?” Lailah asked.
“Of course he played a good game, but there is more than just how many points somebody gets.”
“You mean like his number of rebounds and assists, or maybe he had a lot of steals and played some good D?” Lailah asked.
Kia looked surprised.
“You shouldn’t look so shocked,” Lailah said to Kia. “You don’t have to wear a jersey every day or smell like sweat to know basketball.”
Kia was wearing a school jersey but it wasn’t sweaty.
“I guess I’m just proud to be part of the team,” Kia said, “but you wouldn’t know about that.”
“I’ve been on winning teams before.”
“With those nails?” Kia asked.
Lailah didn’t answer but she looked annoyed— very annoyed. Kia was being rude, but she did have a point. It would be hard to play any sport with nails that long.
“Kia got twenty-three points,” I said. “She was the second-highest scorer.”
“Well, good for her,” Lailah said. The tone of her voice certainly didn’t match the words.
More silence. Overhead a plane came in, breaking the silence with the noise of its engines. Our school was under one of the flight paths to the airport and on some days, depending on the direction the wind was blowing, we could have planes overhead every few minutes.
The noise faded as the plane passed out of sight.
“They’re awfully loud,” Lailah said.
“I hardly notice them,” I said.
“Me neither,” Kia agreed. “But we’ve gone to this school our whole lives.”
Lailah was still so new at the school that she hadn’t gotten used to it.
“I never hear them when we’re inside the school,” Lailah said.
“It’s specially built to be soundproof,” I added.
“I guess that’s why. I was sad about the Raptors not coming,” Lailah said.
I really didn’t want to talk about this.
“We haven’t given up yet,” Kia said.
“You haven’t?”
“Nope, not quitting.”
“So what’s the new plan?” Lailah asked, looking right at me for an answer.
“Umm…we don’t have anything specific yet.”
“But we’ll come up with something,” Kia said.
“It would be awesome to have them come to the school,” Lailah said. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”
“We’ve got it covered,” Kia said, cutting her off. “We don’t need any help.”
Lailah gave Kia an evil eye and then turned to me, flashed a big smile and walked away.
“I really don’t like her,” Kia snapped.
“I don’t think she’s too crazy about you either.”
“Good. Now forget about her. Let’s try to figure out what we’re going to do about the Raptors.”
“I thought you had an idea.”
“I just said that to get rid of her, but we’ll come up with something. Maybe we can write them again.”
“That didn’t work once so I don’t think a second time will help. You don’t have any other ideas?” I asked.
She shook her head. “The day is still young.”