The next few weeks were a lot of fun. Mike had six lacrosse sticks at home. Each day he brought them to the gym after school, and the guys took turns fooling around with the ball. They caught on fast. Mike, for his part, looked on with amazement as they practised the different events for Arctic Sports. There were various kicks of different heights, the kneel jump, the airplane, the one-hand reach, the knuckle hop, and the head pull. All of the events were extremely difficult, and Mike realized even more what incredible athletes his friends were. He tried each of the events and was pretty bad at them, with the exception of the airplane. It seemed each time he tried that event he went a little farther than before. The boys were all impressed. After one particularly good try in which he covered a decent distance, Gwen even said, “Good one, Mike,” as she walked by. She still wasn’t that friendly, but the hate she had exhibited before seemed to have cooled somewhat.
With his short, compact build, Tommy was unbelievable. The height he achieved in the kicks was out of this world. Mike understood now why Tommy got such incredible hang time on the basketball court. But the most amazing thing happened one day when they played a quick game of three-on-three lacrosse.
It had become a pattern each day. Mike and Donnie arrived after the Arctic Sports guys were in the gym. They set up the lacrosse net at the other end and began shooting the ball around. Donnie was still pretty terrible but was obviously having fun. Mike could tell it made him feel part of the crowd to be there and play a little.
After a while, Mike joined the other boys to practise the airplane and some of the other Arctic events. At the same time some of the guys fooled around with the lacrosse sticks. About twenty minutes before their time in the gym was finished, everyone took turns playing three-on-three lacrosse, trying to make five passes before they scored on the net.
On the day the amazing thing happened, Mike, Donnie, and Mark played against Tommy, David, and another boy named Dennis Selamio. Mike was standing farthest away from the net when Donnie trapped a loose ball beside the net. He yelled at Donnie to pass the ball out so they could set things up. Donnie tried to lob the ball to Mike, but Tommy intercepted the pass. After briefly hesitating, Tommy hurtled toward Donnie and the net. Donnie’s eyes grew huge behind his glasses, then narrowed in determination. He set his feet wide apart, bent low, and held his stick out in front, ready to bump Tommy off the ball. Donnie was too stationary, though, and Mike knew all Tommy had to do was make a quick move to blow past him before passing the ball.
Tommy was at full speed, charging straight for Donnie. Mike tensed as he realized Tommy had no intention of deking around Donnie. He was too close, and a head-on collision was inevitable. Donnie closed his eyes and prepared for the impact. As if in slow motion, Tommy pushed off with his muscular thighs and left his feet. Lifting himself into a tuck, he narrowly cleared Donnie’s head and landed in a full run on the other side. When he pulled up beside the net, he turned and laughed.
Donnie stood facing away from the net, eyes tightly closed, stick held at arm’s length in front of him. As laughter erupted around him, he opened his eyes and squinted. Turning slowly, he spotted Tommy doubled over, still laughing beside the net. “You jumped right over my head, didn’t you?”
“I sure did,” Tommy said. “Cleared your brush cut by, oh, maybe a millimetre.”
“You could’ve taken my head off!”
Tommy, who had stopped laughing for a moment, broke out again in laughter so hard that he fell on his butt and rolled around.
When Donnie realized everybody else was sniggering, chuckling, or tittering, including Mike, he wailed, “It’s not funny!”
Mike started to feel bad and walked over to his friend. “Donnie, I wasn’t laughing at you. I’ve just never seen anything so incredible in my life. What Tommy did would be amazing to see in a real game. Can you imagine?”
“Yeah, actually, I can. I just lived through it, if you didn’t notice.”
Tommy approached the two. “I’m really sorry, Donnie You’re a good sport. I promise I won’t do it again. When a friend tells me not to do something, I stop.”
Donnie glanced at Mike, then back at Tommy. “Well, I guess it’s okay, Tommy. I know you weren’t trying to hurt me or anything.”
Mike shook his head. “That was awesome! My buddies in St. Albert would never believe something like that could happen.”
Tommy seemed a little embarrassed. “Hey, Mike, I was just fooling around. I have to go now, but we’ll catch you tomorrow. This lacrosse stuff is actually a lot of fun.”
“Tommy,” Mike said, “do you think you and Donnie and some of the guys would like to come over sometime and watch lacrosse DVDs? I’ve got some from NLL games that show some pretty mind-boggling stuff. It might be fun.”
“I’d like that,” Tommy said. “See you guys later.” He turned and jogged away.
Mike focused his attention on Donnie. “You up for that, too, Donnie?”
Donnie was staring after Tommy and didn’t seem to hear Mike.
“Earth to Donnie,” Mike said, grinning.
Donnie finally came out of his trance. “Tommy said I was his friend. None of these guys have called me their friend before. They hardly ever talk to me.”
“I told you, Donnie. All it takes is for people to get to know you. Then they realize what a great guy you are. Let’s get out of here I’ve got a pile of homework to do.”