Free Stealing the Game by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Page A

more likely to
answer.”
    “Sounds risky,” I said. From what I knew of Officer Rollins, he would not appreciate Theo doing anything sneaky at the station.
    Theo shrugged. “It’s for a good cause. Anyway, now I can’t go until tomorrow, since I promised to play on your team at the park.”
    Crap! Theo wasn’t the best athlete, despite his height, but he was a steady rebounder and played with a lot of enthusiasm. Losing him would really hurt the team. Even though I knew it was
just for practice, I still wanted to win.
    But I wanted to know what was up with Jax even more.
    “No,” I said. “Do it today. I’ll find someone else to play. This is more important.”
    “Okay,” Theo said. “I can ask Rain to play in my place.”
    “Yeah, that’ll work,” I said. Rain was a better player than Theo, so it was actually an upgrade. She was fast, a good passer, knew how to pick and roll, and had a quick release
of her shots. Guys who didn’t know her usually gave her room at first, and she made them pay.
    “I’ll call you tonight with whatever info I get,” Theo said.
    I nodded and we both walked into English class. Brooke glanced up when we entered, then quickly looked down again at her book, as if we weren’t worth noticing. For some reason, that made
me smile.
    Stupid, I know. But still, there it was.

WHEN IS A HOLE NOT A HOLE?
    “ RIDDLE of the day,” Mr. Laubaugh said. He held up a DVD of
The Breakfast Club
. “This is the prize. It
got me through a rough and tumultuous puberty. I reluctantly part with it in the name of higher education.”
    “‘A brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal,’” Clancy quoted.
    “That’s right,” Mr. Laubaugh said.
    “Kinda like us,” Clancy said.
    “Yeah,” Clancy’s pal, Dirk, said, “with you as the basket case.”
    They both chuckled and bumped fists.
    It occurred to me for the first time that I had never bumped fists with anyone. I mean, I had obliged when they’d stuck their fists out expectantly. But I’d never instigated one,
never offered my fist first. I’d shaken hands with people when introduced, just as my parents had taught me to do. But the fist bump was different, more personal, implying friendship or
acknowledging a shared moment.
    I started to imagine a superhero called Fist-Bump, whose slightest knuckle bump could shatter buildings.
    Mr. Laubaugh interrupted, “Okay, here’s the riddle. Everybody take out your pencil and paper, because there will be math.”
    A collective groan rose from the students, myself included.
    “Here we go: A gravedigger digs a hole in the ground that’s two feet by six feet by six feet. How much dirt is in the hole?”
    I jotted down the numbers.
    Without having written anything at all, Theo and Brooke shouted out in unison, “Seventy-two square feet.”
    Everyone put their pencils down in defeat.
    “That was fast,” Mr. Laubaugh said.
    “I believe I was slightly faster,” Brooke said.
    A few students protested that Theo was faster or at least just as fast. Brooke ignored them and stared at Mr. Laubaugh for a ruling. He fanned himself with the DVD as if trying to decide.
    “Break it in half,” Clancy quipped. “Like King Solomon did with the baby.”
    “He didn’t cut the baby in half, genius,” Brooke said to Clancy. “He only threatened to.”
    I laughed. I didn’t mean to. It just came out. But I couldn’t take it back.
    It was so unusual that everyone turned to look at me.
    Brooke’s eyes flared, widening as if to allow more of her death ray to fire across the room at me.
    “Chris?” Mr. Laubaugh said. “Do you want to comment?”
    Not really, I thought. I want to run to the gym and shoot free throws until this knot in my gut goes away.
    I shook my head. “Nope.”
    But Mr. Laubaugh didn’t look away from me. He waited. Everyone waited.
    “Well,” I said, “I think the answer is that there’s no dirt, because it’s a hole.”
    The class looked at Mr.