We arrived at the gym. With two kids already eliminated from the Legend of Basketball, or so it seemed, everyone was quiet and ready to do as they were told. Even Mazis and Fisk weren’t pushing and shoving in their usual bullying way.

Seeing Mr T, Mr Bronsen, Miss Lan and Miss Lamb was a relief. We were divided into four groups and taken through a whole range of skills. It was great to be bouncing, passing and shooting again. Although we’d had a few muck-around games during the year, it was always exciting starting a new Legend sport.

Because I was tied with Travis in the Legend Series, I was keen to check out the basketball skills of the other players.

Chaz, who was in my group, was typically skilful. He had proven to be good at pretty much every sport we had played. Mazis was big and strong, but his shots on goal weren’t all that accurate. Fisk, who was also strong, could shoot. I already knew that. At the start of the year we’d had a game of ‘twenty-one’. I’d beaten him then, but watching him now I wondered if he’d let me win. Perhaps I just had my eye in that day.

Paisley watched from the sidelines. His glum expression said everything. It looked like he was out of the competition.

Bubba had good basketball skills, as did many other kids I knew by sight or by name, but who hadn’t yet featured in the other Legend sports.

We worked hard for about an hour or so. I felt confident that I would make the first team, but with only seven places up for grabs, it was going to be tight.

Luci arrived about halfway through the session with Mrs Waite, Bryce and Nick. Nick was still looking a bit distressed. Shortly after their arrival, both Bryce and Nick joined in the grading session. Bryce seemed to struggle with the dribbling, but when I saw him shooting at goal, I changed my mind about his chances. He had a weird style, but it was effective. And when I say weird, I mean totally different.

I didn’t see the girls during their grading session. After a drink and a bit of a rest, Miss Lan came out and took us for some running games on the oval.

I caught up with Luci and Becky about forty minutes later.

‘Wow, you should see some of those girls,’ said Luci.

‘Good?’ I asked.

‘Good? We’ll be lucky to make the thirds,’ Becky said, shaking her head.

Bubba jogged over to us looking excited.

‘Hey, let’s go up to the library,’ he puffed. The three of us looked at each other, smiles slowly spreading across our faces. Bryce had headed off after the grading session. He had an accordion lesson (I’m not joking) that he didn’t want to miss. Now it was our turn to explore.

‘We’ve got about half an hour, but who’s going to clean up the school year boxes once we’re in the tunnel?’ I asked. Then I noticed Paisley, on his own, by the noticeboard. The others caught on quickly.

‘Mitchell, no way. You can’t trust him. Even if he is being nice to you,’ Luci said, shaking her head. ‘It’s probably some sort of trick that Travis has organised.’

‘Luci, sometimes you’ve got to go with your gut feeling. I reckon this is the break he needs. Plus, we might find out if Fisk really does know about the tunnel.’

Before anyone had a chance to reply, I headed over to the noticeboard. The basketball section was still looking boring.

‘Hey, Jimmy. What’s happening?’

He looked around, as if he were afraid Fisk or Mazis might be watching. He shrugged.

‘Not much. You?’

‘A bit actually. You want in?’ I thought this was his sort of language.

‘You going to steal something?’ he asked, looking a bit surprised. Probably not as surprised as I looked, though.

‘Um, well no, actually, just up to the library.’

‘Oh, okay. Nah, I’ll be right.’ He turned back to the noticeboard. He was reading the soccer results.

‘Fisk did score a perfect twenty in the soccer quiz, then.’ I said, following his gaze.

‘I told you he did.’

‘Did he cheat, Jimmy?’

For a moment I thought he was going to tell me. But he shook his head and smiled.

‘So, what’s happening in the library?’ he asked.

‘Oh, we’re just going through a secret panel and into a tunnel that goes under the school and hooks up with Ascot College. Nothing much,’ I said with a shrug.

‘Right, and then you’ll get into a time machine and go over to America and watch the Harlem Globetrotters,’ he added, laughing at his joke.

‘Jimmy!’ I said. ‘Don’t talk dumb. As if we’d do that!’

I headed back to the others.

‘Didn’t work, did it?’ Becky said.

‘And now he knows all about the tunnel,’ added Luci. They were both looking annoyed.

‘Yeah, good one,’ chimed in Bubba, not wanting to be left out. He looked at me guiltily, as if not knowing quite why he’d said what he’d said.

‘We’ll see,’ I said to them all, as we headed to the library.

We walked past the front desk, which at that moment was empty, to where the basketball books were shelved and the posters displayed. We started reefing out the boxes of school year magazines. The place was deserted – 4:30pm seemed to be a good time to escape the school through a secret tunnel. Behind the boxes was the sliding wooden panel that hid a secret room.

‘Okay, we’ll have to toss,’ Becky said, looking around for something to use.

‘No we won’t,’ I said, smiling. The others turned to see Jimmy Paisley, looking a bit tentative but heading towards us.

‘Jimmy. Hi. Um, can you put these year boxes back in their proper order, once we’ve gone through?’ I put out a prayer for a ‘yes’.

‘Yeah, okay. Sure.’ He looked as if we’d each grown an extra nose or something.

‘Okay, Bubba, show us the way,’ Luci said, eyeing Paisley at the same time.

‘No probs. Brycey left a spare torch here. Hang on.’ Once again Bubba worked his magic on the little catch that opened one of the panels. A moment later, the panel slid open. Bubba squeezed his body through the gap. I heard a grunt and then a small crash.

‘Okay, we’re right. In we go,’ Bubba called back.

I glanced at Paisley. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

‘Awesome,’ he said. ‘I’m coming too.’

‘No,’ I snapped. ‘Jimmy, listen. This only works if someone stays back, tidies up and stuff. You want to join us, you gotta do the right thing by us. Deal?’

He looked over as Becky disappeared through the gap.

‘Next time, I’m in. Okay?’

‘You gonna tell Mazis? You gonna tell Fisk?’ I asked.

He looked down at his feet for a moment, then shook his head.

‘No. I won’t tell anyone.’

‘Okay. Cool. We’ll be back in half an hour. And if we’re not, well don’t worry about us. Just make sure you clean up here so that Miss Javros doesn’t get suspicious.’

I moved quickly over to the gap. Luci had gone through and Bubba was holding the panel back for me to enter. I took one last look at Paisley. He stood there, staring at me.

‘Okay?’ I said.

‘Okay.’

I wriggled into a darkness broken only by the flickering light beam from Bubba’s torch.