Today was no exception.

It had all started with a simple half-court game. Some midday fun in the middle of the weekend at a local court. No biggie, no drama, nothing strange. It was one of the first times he’d played with some of these guys. He thought—hoped—that everything would be cool. For a while he’d actually been able to simply be a kid trying to score.

Now there was one more play. He dribbled the ball, then passed it to Nathan, who he knew would hold on to it for a few seconds then pass it back. Nathan had a hard enough time hitting a basket without anyone blocking him. Everybody knew Nathan wasn’t going to take the last shot.

With the ball passed back to him as expected, Thomas surveyed the scene. Vic was all over him just like he had been all game. Thomas wanted to pass the ball below the rim and have someone do a nice little layup. A couple other guys came up to try to block him.

Vic tapped him on the arm, an obvious foul, but he’d been doing that all day too. As a guard on the varsity team at Greer, Vic obviously had something to prove.

With two others close to him, Thomas backed over and then bolted past them. Vic trailed but was too slow.

Just as they thought he was going to drive hard to the net, Thomas backed out of the box and went up to make a shot. Vic could only do one thing—come crashing into him. But Thomas was too fast, launching a shot that would have been a three-pointer right before having his arms crushed.

The shot was a thing of beauty.

As it dropped into the net, a chorus of both cheers and “oohs” sounded. Nobody could believe that he’d been able to make it. Especially the red-faced, out-of-breath Vic.

Thomas smiled, which probably only made things worse. He couldn’t help it. The guy had obviously fouled him on purpose, but Thomas kept his mouth shut.

“So where you from again?”

The comment had come as Thomas was walking off the court with some guys he thought might become friends. He certainly wouldn’t mind finding a few at the high school.

For a moment Thomas didn’t even realize Vic was talking to him.

“Hey, Kobe, I’m talking to you.”

The other guys stopped, so Thomas did too. He turned around and saw Vic walking toward him.

“Where’d you learn to play like that?” he asked.

Where does anybody learn to play? Thomas had thought. You just play. A lot. And if you’re lucky, you can drain shots to win the game.

“I don’t know. Just played a lot.”

Thomas knew he could probably say anything and still manage to get attitude from this guy who definitely didn’t like losing.

“So you play a lot but you’re too good to play at Greer?”

“I just started going here this year. I couldn’t try out for the team. They wouldn’t let me.”