Free EllRay Jakes Stands Tall by Sally Warner Page A

on to me. “
Payback
,” he mouths without making any noise.
    Like I’ve forgotten!
    Kry is dribbling away like crazy, with her ball really low to the ground. It keeps bouncing back to her fingertips like there are invisible elastic strings attached. I try to dribble like that, but after a few bounces, Stanley kicks my ball away with a sideswipe move he could never pull off on the soccer field.
    Lucky kick—for
him.
    â€œBoing, boing
, boing,”
he teases quietly, making bouncy trampoline noises.
    Because I’m so short, remember?
    Oops! Coach saw that sideswipe kick. “Stanley,” he says, barking out the name. “One lap. And when Stanley comes back, boys and girls, we’re going to try some layups,” he tells the rest of us as Stanley goes chugging off.
    â€œDo ‘layups’ mean we get to take a nap?” I hear Annie Pat ask Emma. She sounds hopeful.
    â€œProbably not,” Emma says, panting a little as she tries to keep control of her ball—which seems to have its own idea of where to bounce. It’s the opposite of Kry’s ball, that’s for sure.
    1. My pivot and dribble skills are somewhere in between Kry’s and Emma’s.
    2. I’m also worse at pivoting and dribbling than Corey and Kevin.
    3. I’m about the same as Major.
    4. But I’m a little better than Jason and Jared—and Marco, who is barely even trying today. I’m better than they are in the skills we’ve learned so far, anyway. Not in size.
    It’s like there are comparison charts—about
everything
—that are always in my brain.
    â€œ
Hup, hup
,” Coach says as Stanley comes gasping back to us. “Time for some layups, then we’ll have a huddle.”
    Diego’s hand shoots up. “Isn’t ‘huddle’ a football word?” he asks, curious.
    â€œBasketball, too,” Coach says. “Okay, layups. They’re the most basic shot in basketball, guys. You use
one hand
to shoot the ball, left or right. Like I said before, I want you to use both hands equally well. That could win you the game someday. But you’re going to use your right hands today. You’ll try to bounce the ball off the backboard, if you can get it up that high. Your goal is for the ball to then go down through the basket. The backboard’s your
helper
. And a layup can be a thing of beauty. Watch this,” he tells us. “I’ll show you.”
    And Coach heads toward the basket, dribbling his ball all the way perfectly, of course. When he gets there, he jumps off his left foot, and he uses his right hand to toss the ball against the backboard. His hand looks totally relaxed in the air, and his arm stays up there after he’s thrown the ball.
    Whoosh!
    Bounce-off-the-backboard, basket.
    So cool.
    â€œYou’re using your elbow, forearm, and wrist to shoot,” Coach says, dribbling the ball back to us.
    â€œWhat’s a forearm?” Kevin asks Jared, looking worried. “I only got two.”
    â€œHe means from the elbow down,” Diego says, showing him.
    â€œSo, now,” Coach tells us, “I want you to dribble down the court with your
right hand
, then try to shoot a layup when you get near the basket. We’ll try the other hand tomorrow.”
    Me?
Hit the backboard?
    Throwing the ball the correct way?
    Man, I am gonna be so bad at this. I can feel my whole head get hot just thinking about it.
    â€œDon’t even worry about making a basket,” Coach tells us, like he can read my mind. “You’re just getting used to a series of moves. Okay—Jared, Kry, and Corey. Now!”
    And off they go, dribbling.
    â€œRight-hand dribbles only, for now,” Coach yells. He hollers a reminder. “And jump off your left foot! Shoot with your right arm! Elbows, forearms, andwrists, people. You’re not flinging eggs against a wall.”
    Which sounds like complete and total fun. Let’s do