Free Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

done being a real estate agent.”
    â€œI’m sure,” Danny said.
    When he explained it to Will and Ty at lunch, Will said, “Let me see if I understand this. You’re staying in a bunk you don’t really want to be in and passing up a chance to move to the bunk you do want to be in so you can look out for a kid who doesn’t even want to be here?”
    â€œPretty much.”
    Will turned to Tarik and said, “And he calls me weird.”
    â€œHe’s not weird, dog,” Tarik said. “He just sticks.”
    â€œSticks?” Will said.
    â€œThat’s what you do when you’re loyal,” Tarik said. “You stick, even if it’s to somebody you barely know.”
    â€œWord,” Will said.
    â€œBeyond word,” Tarik said. “Walker here, he’s wet.”
    â€œI’m never gonna know all your words, am I?” Will said.
    â€œProbably not,” Tarik said.
    Ty just sat there doing what he did a lot, only opening his mouth for the purpose of smiling at his friends.
    Â 
    The second day with Coach Powers was worse than the first.
    Danny never opened his mouth, avoided any kind of eye contact unless Coach Powers was talking directly to him, hustled his butt off even if that just involved chasing a ball that had bounced off the court, and tried his best to learn the offense they were being taught—Coach Powers’s famous Providence College passing offense.
    It didn’t take Danny long to figure out why it was called that, by the way.
    Because all Coach Powers seemed to want them to do was pass, at least until somebody finally got a layup off one of the backdoor picks that seemed to be the only thing in the world that made him genuinely happy.
    â€œNo outside shots until you get it down,” he said. “First team, you guys just keep running it all the way through, and if it doesn’t produce an easy two, then swing it back to the top and start all over again.
    â€œYou’re going to know what to do and where everybody is on the court at all times, as if you’ve been running this offense since your first Biddy Basketball league.”
    â€œAnd running…and running…and running,” Will said to Danny on the down-low. “They should call our team the Energizer Bunnies.”
    They were on the second team, along with Tarik, who’d turned out to be slow but was a ferocious rebounder. Rasheed was on the first team, of course. Danny was actually curious to see how Rasheed was going to handle an offense like this, one that did everything except puncture the ball they were using to take the air out of it. Danny was sure an offense like this wasn’t nearly big enough to fit Rasheed’s game, no matter how much Coach Powers said he loved him now, even if the coach had practically declared that it was as much Rasheed’s team as his.
    Danny thought about asking him, but Rasheed hadn’t said a word to Danny after the first time they’d seen each other. It was as if they were on different teams, even playing on the same team. Different teams or maybe just different worlds.
    The first hour of practice was spent going through the offense over and over, Rasheed’s five getting a lot more time with the ball than Danny’s five.
    Coach Powers finally blew his whistle and told them to get some water, because after that they were going to scrimmage all the way to dinnertime.
    At one of the water fountains, a safe enough distance away from the coach, Will said to Danny, “Can I say something without you getting that shut-up-or-die look on your face?”
    â€œIf you can say it quietly.”
    Will said, “I just wanted you to know I did notice one guy having fun while we went through ballet class.”
    â€œWho?”
    Will nodded at Coach Powers.
    â€œHim.”
    When they were all back on the court, Coach Powers told them to match up with the guys they’d had before. “Now