Free Hot Shot by Matt Christopher

face turned puffy. His skin broke out in itchy red patches.
     His tongue swelled up and his throat started to close. He couldn’t breathe!”
    Julian’s hand crept to his neck. Paul must have been terrified! “Is he okay?”
    Alex bit his lip. “It was a pretty bad reaction. But it could have been a whole lot worse. Luckily, Coach Boyd keeps a shot
     of the medicine Paul needs with him at all times. It’s called epinephrine, I think. The coach gave Paul the shot and then
     drove him to the emergency room. The doctors are keeping Paul for a day just to be sure he’s all right.”
    “Wow. That’s unreal.” He and Alex started walking down the hallway to their first class. “Where did the peanuts come from,
     anyway?”
    “No one knows how he got exposed.” Alex shifted his books from one arm to the other. “Anyway, since you didn’t know about
     Paul, I’m guessing you didn’t hear that practice is canceled today, either.”
    Julian shook his head.
    “Jackson and I are going to visit him in the hospital after school,” Alex said. “You want to come?”
    Julian hesitated. “You think he’d be okay with that? If you hadn’t noticed, we aren’t the best of buddies!”
    Alex smiled. “You’re hoping to change that though, right? Now’s your chance—after all, he’s confined to a hospital bed so
     he’ll be a captive audience!”
    “Well, when you put it that way,” Julian said, laughing, “sure, I’ll come this afternoon.”

18
    W hen Julian walked into Paul’s hospital room later that day, he felt as if he’d been transported back in time. After all, less
     than three months ago he’d walked into a similar room, to visit Barry. Paul looked a whole lot better than Barry had, however.
     Barry’s head had been wrapped in gauze, his broken limbs had been encased in plaster casts, and tubes had run into his arms.
    Paul, meanwhile, was just hooked up to a single intravenous drip. Yet Julian could tell he had been through an ordeal. There
     were dark circles under his eyes. His skin looked blotchy. When he spoke, his voice was raspy.
    “What’s
he
doing here?” he asked, jutting his chin in Julian’s direction.
    Any sympathy Julian had felt vanished. He turned to leave when Alex stopped him.
    “He’s here because he’s your teammate,” Alex replied calmly. “Now stop being a jerk or I’ll have an orderly bring you a peanut
     butter and jelly sandwich for lunch!”
    Julian sucked in his breath. He was sure Paul would order them all from the room.
    But to his amazement, Paul chuckled. “Been a while since you talked to me that way,” he said.
    Alex pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. “Yeah, well, it’s been a while since you noticed I existed!”
    Julian looked from one boy to the other and then tugged Jackson to one side. “Am I missing something here?” he whispered.
    Jackson nodded. “Alex and Paul are best friends. Or they used to be, anyway, until Coach Boyd decided Paul was going to be
     the next NBA superstar. Since then, Paul’s done nothing but play basketball. He never gets to hang out with us anymore. When
     he’s not at practice, he’s working on his shot. Or he’s lifting weights. Or running on a track. Or downing special protein
     bars to get big and strong.”
    “Wow,” Julian said. “He must really like basketball.”
    Jackson shrugged as if to say maybe he did, maybe he didn’t, before wandering over to the bed. Julian hesitated, and then
     joined the others.
    “So did they find out what caused the attack?” Alex was asking Paul.
    “My mom did, when she was cleaning out my duffel bag this morning,” Paul answered. “My towel had these weird smudges all over
     it. Turns out the smudges were made by chocolate and peanut butter.” He laid his head back against his pillow as if he was
     suddenly exhausted. “I remember wiping my face on the towel on the way home last night. I must have rubbed the peanut butter
     on me without knowing