“Derek—remember last summer when we talked about playing for Saint Augustine’s in seventh grade? Being part of that great basketball tradition—having our pictures up on that wall in the hallway, with all the trophies in the glass cases?”

“Yeah.”

“You know who coaches the under-twelve team?”

“No—who?”

“Mr. Nelson!”

Mr. Nelson, who was, of course, also the coach of the Saint Augustine basketball team. “If we make this team, we’re a cinch to play for the Irish next year!”

Derek sat silently, pondering how he could carve out some more time to come out here. Dave’s family lived way out on the outskirts of town.

“Of course, if the talent show’s that important to you… ”

“It’s not that.… ” Derek was going to explain how much Vijay was looking forward to doing the talent show with him. But he decided to keep that part to himself. He didn’t want to drag Vijay into it or set up conflict between his two best friends in the world.

“I just thought it would be fun to give it a shot, you know?” he said. “I just didn’t think it was going to get in the way of basketball tryouts.”

“You could back out of it,” Dave said. “It’s not too late.”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m going to have to find some way to make it all happen.”

“How?”

Derek sighed. “That’s the part I haven’t figured out yet.”

He finished his water, put down the bottle, and stood up. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back to work. I’m going to drive on you, and you have to block my shot, or make me miss, and come down with the rebound.”

Dave was tall and thin and athletic. He had a good vertical leap and long arms—good for blocking shots and rebounding. But he wasn’t bulky enough to go toe-to-toe with other teams’ big men. Derek thought he would make a good small forward—but that meant improving his jump shot first.

Derek tried showing him, demonstrating proper form, but Dave didn’t seem to get it. And when he tried and failed, he was quick to go right back to the old, wrong way of doing it.

Derek could see that Dave needed more coaching than he could give him. And that gave him a great idea.…

“I’ve got it!” he suddenly shouted, leaving Dave unguarded in the middle of driving to the basket.

Dave buried the easy layup and said, “Hey! What happened?”

“I know how we can improve our game in a hurry.”

“Cool! How?”

“Are you busy tomorrow afternoon?”

“Um, I don’t think so… why?”

“I’m going for a picnic with my folks and Sharlee at the college where my dad works. They’ve got indoor and outdoor courts there, and we sometimes fool around on them if nobody else is playing.”