I felt a nervous tingle of anticipation and excitement as I walked through the gate to school the following Monday morning. It was the first official day of the Legend of Basketball after another short break between sports.

The Legend winter sports were crammed together. The soccer goals were still up and Mr Zucker was walking around with a smile on his face. I wasn’t sure how Mr T, our football coach, was feeling. I wondered if we could say we won the four winter sports – supposing we won basketball – if we only had three of the trophies. I also wondered if Mrs Waite, the principal, would call in the police.

At recess I went to the library with Bubba. I was surprised to see Fisk and Mazis looking through some basketball books. I was just as surprised (and a bit curious, too) to see that Jimmy Paisley wasn’t with them. I’d heard that he’d injured himself last week. Maybe he wasn’t going to be in the Legend of Basketball.

‘Any news about the football trophy, Miss Javros?’ I asked.

‘Not a thing, Mitchell. It’s a total mystery. I’m sure it will turn up,’ she said. ‘Did you know that in 1966, in London, the trophy for the Soccer World Cup was stolen, then found a few days later under a bush by a dog called Pickles?’

We stared at her.

‘It was wrapped up in newspaper,’ she added.

Bubba’s eyes were wide and his mouth had dropped a few centimetres. It was a pretty impressive bit of trivia – and Bubbaman loved trivia.

‘No, I expect you didn’t.’ Miss Javros smiled, then turned back to her computer.

I walked over to the work stations near the fiction books.

‘Hey, Bubba, c’mon,’ I called, settling in for some serious web searching.

‘So, Bubba,’ I said. ‘Tell me about the Legend of Basketball. How did it work last year? Who’s the teacher in charge?’

‘Hmm. The biggest thing last year was that Fisk got injured. Some say he faked it because he thought he wasn’t going to win, so he wanted to kind of save face. It was all a bit of a mystery,’ said Bubba.

‘Wow, go on.’

‘Well, we play a big tournament in the Kent Street Stadium – you know, behind the soccer pitch where you and Fisk met up with those Hoods kids. And speaking of Hoods kids, there’s this little kid called Rat–’

‘Rat?’ I swivelled around in my chair to look at Bubba.

‘Yeah, Rat. He’s just unbelievable. He’s, like, born to play basketball. He can do anything. He was captain of the all-star team last year, and he’s still got two more years at school. There’s no way the Hoods can lose at basketball,’ Bubba said.

‘There is one way,’ I said.

‘Mitch, you haven’t seen him play–’

‘What if he played for us? What if he switched schools?’ I said.

‘Why would he do that?’

‘Because he loves sport. Because he’d love to be a Legend.’

‘He’s from Wetherhood, Mitch. A Hood would rather die than not be a Hood.’

We both thought about what Bubba had just said.

‘Okay, that might be taking it a bit far, but you know what I mean, hey?’ said Bubba.

‘Yeah, Bubba, I know. What else?’

‘Well, last year there wasn’t really a proper teacher for basketball. Mr T and Mr Bronsen sort of shared. Don’t know what they’ll do this year. There’s a girls’ team and a boys’ team. There are firsts, seconds, thirds and fourths. But only the firsts and seconds play off in the big tournament.’

‘Cool,’ I said. ‘What’s the quiz like?’

‘Awesome. You have to get all your answers by searching these official basketball sites. It’s not like the others.’

‘Cool, like the NBA and NBL and stuff?’ I asked.

‘Yep. All of that.’

I nodded. There was already plenty to think about, and the Legend of Basketball hadn’t even started yet. But it was about to.

I checked the Legends noticeboard after school, and saw that there was to be a meeting and grading session after lunch on Wednesday for anyone interested in being in the Legend of Basketball. The note was handwritten and hard to read – unlike the previous sports notices.

A huge group of kids had gathered in the library for the Legend of Basketball meeting, maybe the most I’d ever seen at a Legends meeting. Mr Spears, who’d been away for a term, introduced us to Mrs Cartwright. She wore a black bomber jacket and an angry face.

‘Don’t cross me, and you’ll be fine, you hear?’ were her first words to us.

It was a strange way to start. I looked over at Mr Spears. His head was down, checking out some notice on his clipboard.

‘You kids are privileged,’ she said. ‘You’re lucky to be doing this Legend thing and you’re lucky the school has got me in to take the basketball.’

Kids were looking sideways, back-ways, and heaps of other ways, but not at Mrs Cartwright as she delivered her words.

‘Is everyone listening?’

There was silence.

‘Good. Now, I want all you boys to meet me down in the gym, now. You girls can stay here and–’

‘Oh, Mrs Cartwright, we weren’t anticipating that there –’ Miss Javros’s voice trailed off. I think she’d been hiding behind the fiction books.

‘Well, I’m not anticipating that I’ll be having all this lot down in the gym.’

‘I can take the girls on the outside courts,’ Mr Spears added helpfully, nodding at Miss Javros.

Paisley caught my eye and made a face – a what-the-heck-have-we-got-ourselves-into-here kind of face. I shrugged and gave him a fake scared face back. He grinned.

‘Right. C’mon then, boys,’ Mrs Cartwright bellowed.

‘Um, excuse me, Mrs Carntwrite –’

There was a burst of laughter.

‘Cartwright!’ she yelled. ‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Nick. It’s just that I don’t think Mum–’

‘Well, forget it, then. Go home. You’re off the list.’

‘I don’t think that’s what he meant, Mrs Cartwright–’ began Bryce.

‘And who are you?’ she cried, turning on Bryce. ‘You can forget about playing too, unless you decide to get rid of those glasses. I won’t have anyone playing for me in glasses, do you hear?’

‘Yeah, he can hear. He just can’t see.’ Fisk sniggered. No one laughed. Everyone seemed stunned. And I reckon that included Mr Spears and Miss Javros.

Luci put a hand on Bryce’s arm.

‘C’mon, Bryce. We’re going to Mrs Waite. Now.’