Bad-Luck Basketball (3 page)

“Whatever, man,” Jeff said. “You're making a mistake. But you're clearly not going to listen to me. I'll see you tomorrow at school.”

When Brandon hung up, he felt even worse than he had before. He'd thought he was doing the right thing skipping the game.
But if that's the case, why does it feel so wrong?
he wondered.

CHAPTER 6

After school on Friday, Brandon went home and headed to his room. He dropped his backpack onto the floor and flopped facedown on his bed.

As expected, his mom came up a few minutes later and poked her head in through the doorway. “What's wrong?” she asked.

“I don't feel good,” Brandon said. He kept his face in the pillow. “I feel like I might throw up.”

His mom came in and put a hand on the back of his head. “Are you feeling nervous about the big game tonight?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Brandon admitted, happy he didn't have to lie about that, at least. “I don't think I'm feeling well enough to play.”

His mom frowned. “Oh, no. This is the biggest game of the season, honey.”

“Yeah, I know,” Brandon mumbled, his voice muffled against the pillow. “But I don't want to barf all over the court.”

In no time, his mom had brought him a glass of ginger ale and some soup. Brandon felt so bad about faking sick that he started actually feeling sick. He lay in bed, staring out the window as the sky grew darker.

I wonder how the Clovers are doing so far
, Brandon thought.

The anticipation was driving him nuts. A few hours later, the phone rang. Brandon wanted to answer it, but needed to keep up the sick act.

“Brandon!” his dad called from downstairs. “Jeff is on the phone for you!”

“Okay,” Brandon croaked, hoping he sounded sick enough. He picked up the phone and hit the talk button. “Hello?”

“Dude. You're not going to believe it!” Jeff exclaimed. “We won! I bet you wish you hadn't made up an excuse not to play tonight.”

A moment later, Brandon heard a click as someone hung up the other phone. His dad had still been on the line.

“You there?” Jeff asked. “Aren't you excited?”

Brandon felt his stomach drop but tried to focus enough to respond. “Yeah,” he managed. “Yeah, I'm here. That's awesome.”

As Jeff recounted the game's highlights, Brandon only half heard him. He was excited that the Clovers were going to the play-offs, but there was a more pressing issue on his mind at the moment.
Dad was on the phone when Jeff said I made up an excuse to skip the game
, he thought.
I'm busted. More bad luck.

CHAPTER 7

Brandon was right. His dad had heard what Jeff said on the phone, and as a result, Brandon spent the rest of the weekend grounded. And as if that punishment wasn't bad enough, on Monday he had to confess to Coach Hanson that he'd lied to him, too.

“I can't say I'm happy about you lying to me, Brandon,” Coach Hanson said when Brandon told him the truth. “You're a part of this team, and that rule applies all the time. You don't get to pick and choose when you want to play. We needed you Friday.”

“I'm sorry, Coach,” Brandon said. “I was just trying to do what was best for the team. I didn't want to drag everyone down with my bad luck during the big game.”

Coach Hanson shook his head. “Brandon, the only thing that's going to bring us down is poor playing,” he said. “Bad luck has nothing to do with it.”

“Does that mean I can come to practice today?” Brandon asked.

“Of course,” Coach said. “As long as you come ready to play. And, Brandon? I'm glad you told me the truth.”

* * *

When Brandon arrived at practice that afternoon, none of his teammates said anything about him missing Friday's game. It seemed like the only ones who knew the truth about why he'd skipped were Jeff and Coach Hanson.

During practice, the Chesterfield Clovers were like a completely different team. They were more alert and had more energy than ever before. It was like their win on Friday had shot new life back into the team.

No one mentioned the bad-luck business. Even Kevin kept quiet about it. When Brandon hit a sweet jump shot, Kevin came over and slapped him on the back.

“Nice shot, B!” Kevin said.

It's good to be back
, Brandon thought, smiling. The energy in the gym was electric. It felt like the bad luck was gone for good, and Brandon couldn't have been happier.

All week long, the Clovers played like a team. Everyone hustled big time during drills, running as hard and as fast as they could. They all concentrated and listened as Coach made suggestions and tweaks to the team's lineup and defensive strategy.

By the time they finished practice on Thursday, the Clovers felt ready for their first big play-off game the next night.

Before they left, Coach gathered the team around the bench. “Bring it in, guys,” he said. “I just want to say, you're all looking great out there. Last week we proved how badly we wanted this spot in the play-offs. This week, you're showing me that making the play-offs isn't enough. You want to win this thing.”

The Clovers whooped and hollered with excitement.

“Here's the thing, guys,” Coach said. “Spring Hill isn't expecting Chesterfield to be much of a challenge tomorrow night. We're smaller, and they think we're an easy win for them. They're just expecting us to show up.”

“Oh, we'll show up all right,” Jeff said. “You can count on that!” Tony and Drew both grinned and high fived him.

“That's what I like to hear, boys,” Coach said. “Let's use their low expectations to our advantage. We've got a rough road ahead of us, but if you guys keep the same intensity and spirit that you've shown over the past week, they'll never know what hit 'em!”

CHAPTER 8

On game day, the entire student body was pumped up about the Clovers' spot in the play-offs. There was a pep rally in the gym after lunch, and everyone cheered louder than ever before.

When school was finally over, the team met in the gym for the bus ride to Spring Hill. As they boarded the bus, Brandon could hardly contain his excitement. They were going to the play-offs!

The bus ride was noisy as everyone talked excitedly about the upcoming game against the Spring Hill Hornets. They'd faced them in the past and had come close to beating them once, but ended up just a little short.

“But we're a different team now,” Drew said. “The Hornets have no idea what they're in for!”

As the bus headed out into the wooded countryside, Brandon peered out the window. There were trees all around, and the sky was starting to grow dark. He knew from past games out in Spring Hill that they were still about twenty minutes away.

Twenty minutes away from the play-offs
, Brandon thought.
It's a good time to be a Clover
.

Suddenly, without warning, the bus lurched and jerked to the right. There was a loud grinding sound, and the bus driver groaned. He slowed the bus down and pulled over to the side of the road. Brandon could smell bitter, metallic smoke.

“Why are we stopping?” Tony asked.

The rest of the players looked around in confused concern. The bus driver pulled the lever to open the front doors and stepped outside. The entire team moved to the front of the bus to see what was happening.

Coach Hanson joined the driver outside, and together they carefully opened the bus's hood. As soon as they did, a large plume of black smoke rose from the engine compartment.

“Is the engine on fire?” Brandon cried.

At the word fire, the whole team quickly scrambled out of the bus. When they got outside, they saw Coach Hanson shaking his head and looking disappointed.

“I've got some bad news, guys,” the coach said. “The bus isn't on fire, but it's definitely not getting us to the game. Not tonight, anyway.”

Brandon felt his heart sink, and he closed his eyes. It felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach.

We were so close
, he thought. But now the Clovers were stuck.

CHAPTER 9

Brandon knew they had to do something and they had to do it fast. The game started in less than an hour. “Guys,” Brandon said. “Come on. We can't let this beat us!”

Kevin, naturally, stepped forward and started in on Brandon again. “That's great coming from the guy who brought us bad luck,” he said. “This never would've happened if —”

“I'm tired of being the excuse you come up with,” Brandon interrupted. “We're a team, and we need to start acting like one, even when things go bad. We've been doing great in practice and showing Coach we're not the same team that started this season.”

“He's right,” Jeff said, and Brandon tried not to smile. “We have come a long way. Too far to give up now.”

“Right,” Kevin said. “But did anyone else notice that we won our last game
without
Brandon there? It was like the bad luck took a break or something.”

Brandon cringed, certain the rest of the Clovers would agree with Kevin. But surprisingly, no one else did.

“We can stand around arguing about bad luck and superstitions all night, Kevin,” Brandon said. “It's not going to help us get to the game. And if we don't show up, we forfeit. The Hornets will win by default. We've worked too hard to let that happen.”

“So what's your bright idea?” Kevin asked sarcastically.

“We can cross through the woods here and cut the time it takes to get to Spring Hill in half,” Brandon said. “If we hustle, we can make it. I know we can.”

“Why can't someone just come and pick us up?” one of the players asked. “We could get a ride the rest of the way.”

“They won't get here in time,” Coach replied. “Besides that, I've got no signal on my phone down here in the valley.”

“Hmm,” Kevin muttered. “Imagine that. More bad luck.”

Brandon ignored him. He knew arguing would do no good. “Look, I'm going,” he said. “If you guys want a fighting chance at playing in this game, come with me.”

With that, Brandon climbed back on the bus to grab his gym bag. When he turned around, he saw the rest of the team, including Kevin, had followed him to grab their stuff, too.

“All right, then,” Brandon said. This time he couldn't help but smile.

* * *

The team followed Coach Hanson, who had an idea of where they were going, into the woods. The ground was marshy, the woods were dark, and after about ten minutes, they couldn't see the road behind them. The only source of light was the flashlight the bus driver had lent them.

“This might not have been a good idea,” Drew said aloud. “We could end up lost and still have to forfeit the game.”

“If we're going to have to forfeit anyway, I would've rather stayed with the bus,” Kevin said.

Brandon resisted the urge to snap at them. But in truth, he was getting a little worried. They were running out of time.

Coach Hanson stopped and swung his flashlight all around them. Unfortunately, there were no trails or anything that clued them into where they were. “Guys, we have to keep it together,” he said.

“We can't be too far away,” Brandon added, looking around the wooded area. “We've gone as straight as possible, and Spring Hill Junior High is up on a hill.”

“Well, yeah,” Jeff said. “But where's the hill?”

Brandon looked around. The valley dropped off to their right. To the left it was dark. Straight ahead he saw a flash of something in the trees.

“Hold on a second,” Brandon said. “Everyone, listen up.”

Everyone quieted down, but when nothing happened immediately, Kevin piped up. “What? Why are we keeping quiet?”

“Just listen,” Brandon said. He held his hand up in the light of Coach's flashlight. There. Just beneath the wind rustling through the trees, Brandon heard it. “I hear cars,” he whispered. “And I think I can hear the band.”

“It's probably cars back on the road,” Kevin said. “And the music is probably their radios.”

“Nope,” Brandon said, shaking his head. “We should go this way. I know it.”

Kevin stood his ground. “I think it's a bad idea,” he argued. He turned to the rest of the team. “Do we really want to trust Brandon's gut on this and hope maybe we'll get lucky and end up at the school on time? I say we head back to the bus.”

Coach Hanson stood back. “The majority needs to rule here,” he said. “You guys have to decide as a team what you want to do. Go Kevin's way or Brandon's?”

Jeff stepped toward Brandon. So did Drew, Tony, Stephen, and the rest of the Clovers. After a moment, Coach Hanson did, too.

“I think he's right, Kevin,” Coach said. “And I've never believed in bad luck, anyway. But more than anything, I believe that this team deserves a chance in the play-offs.”

With a sigh, Kevin nodded and joined his team. “I do, too,” he said.

CHAPTER 10

As the Clovers pressed on, Brandon heard more cars. He heard people talking. The music from the band sounded like it was growing louder. They were getting closer.

“Wouldn't it be great if there was a crowd waiting for us outside the school, clapping?” Tony asked. “I mean, like they knew what we're going through to get to this game?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jeff said, rolling his eyes. “It'd make a great movie. Keep walking, man.”

A few minutes later, Coach Hanson swung his flashlight to the left to reveal where the ground rose steeply. “Let's slow down for a second, boys.”

“Holy cow,” Charlie said as he caught sight of the steep hill. “That's way steeper than it looks when you're in a bus. We're going to be exhausted by the time we get to the top of that thing.”