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Raptors win, Raptors win, Raptors win!

Chapter Twenty-Two

It took ten minutes for the screaming and cheering to stop and another fifteen minutes before anybody seemed willing to leave their seats and start toward the exits. It was as if it had all been so amazing that nobody wanted it to end. I couldn't blame them. I didn't want to leave. I just wanted to stay there replaying it over and over again.

It was like the Raptors didn't want it to end either. They stayed out on the court long after the buzzer. It looked like there were lots of interviews going on, but I got the feeling that they didn't want the experience to be over. It was because we all had shared in something pretty special—almost magical.

“Can I have all your attention, please!”

We all stopped celebrating and turned to Christina, who was standing at the door.

“That was certainly an incredible game!” she said.

We all cheered out our agreement.

“That was the first overtime win of the season, and you all helped to set your own personal record.”

“We did?” Kia asked.

“Yes, we have a final total,” she said. She held a little piece of paper in her hands. “The occupants of this suite consumed forty-seven hot dogs, forty-four pieces of pizza, fourteen orders of nachos and forty-two drinks…none of which were beer, thank goodness.”

“We ate that much?” Greg asked.

“You practically ate that much yourself,” Kia said.

“I contributed, but it was a true team effort,” Greg joked.

“And speaking of team,” Christina said, “we have a couple more surprises awaiting your team.” She smiled. “Surprise number one.”

She stepped aside and the door was filled by Jerome and Johnnie Williams!

“What are you two doing here?” I screamed.

They rushed into the suite, all smiles and laughter and high-fiving everybody.

“How's my little sister?” Jerome asked as he picked up Kia, spun her around and then tossed her into the air like she was a rag doll, catching her on the way down! I'd forgotten just how big and strong he was.

“And my teammate…how's it shaking, Nick?” Jerome asked.

“Good, great, wonderful! What are you two doing here?”

“Catching a little bit of basketball. We do like basketball,” Johnnie said.

“I meant
here
, in Toronto. You were in Africa, and then you were going to China!”

“We were in Africa—South Africa—spreading the NBA Basketball Without Borders message, and then China and finally Puerto Rico, but the tour ended and we got back quickly because we wanted to be part of the surprise that's been arranged for your entire team.”

“A surprise?” I asked.

Both Jerome and Johnnie had gigantic smiles, but neither answered. They turned to Christina.

“Do you want to tell them?” Christina asked.

Jerome shook his head. “You arranged it, so I think you should tell them.”

“I appreciate that. You know how everything you've done over the past few weeks has been dedicated to meeting the Raptors.” She paused and his smile became even bigger.

This could only mean one thing.

“One of the Raptors is going to come to the school?” Kia questioned.

I hoped it was going to be Wayne Dawkins.

“Even better, you're going to meet
all
of the Raptors!”

The room went wild with people screaming and yelling and slapping each other on the back. The chaos in the room was as long and loud as it had been after the winning basket was scored. Unbelievable, after all that we'd gone through—the letters, emails, getting the whole school to do special projects, changing the name of the team, new jerseys, a Raptors song, and of course the gigantic sod sign—it had worked. We were going to have a school visit from the Raptors—
all
of the Raptors!

“I hope it isn't for a few days,” Mr. Waldman said, “so that we have time to give them a royal welcome.”

Christina looked at her watch. “Actually you're going to meet them in about fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes…but…but, I don't understand,” I stammered.

“You're all going down to the Raptors' locker room to meet the entire team!” Christina yelled, and there was more cheering.

“We have never opened up the locker room to fans like this before, but you're special fans from a special school with some friends in very high places!”

“One in a thousand!” Kia screamed.

“More like one in a million!” Christina added.

This was like a dream come true. Here we were, having watched maybe the greatest game of the season, and now we were heading down to their locker room—the Raptors' locker room— to meet the players! That was incredible…but somehow, something didn't seem right. Maybe it was too fantastic for me to even believe it was real.

“That's amazing!” Greg yelled. “Thank you so much!”

“Okay, everybody, grab your things and let's go and meet the Raptors!” Jerome yelled and everybody cheered.

He led, like the pied piper, toward the door and everybody followed, including my mother and Mr. Waldman and Mr. Roberts.

“Wait until we tell the kids at school,” Greg said. “They're not going to believe that we got to meet the Raptors! They're not going to believe it!”

“They are going to be
so
jealous,” Lailah said.

Then it came to me what was wrong, why this didn't feel right. I stopped dead in my tracks.

We
were going to meet the Raptors, the twelve of us, but not the rest of the school.

Jerome looked back and saw me standing there, not following behind.

“Come on, Nick!” Jerome yelled as he walked back toward me. “They're going to be waiting.”

“I can't go to meet them, JYD,” I said.

“What?” he asked.

“I'm not going down to meet the Raptors!” I said loud enough for everybody to hear me over the noise.

Everybody stopped talking and turned to stare at me.

“What did you say?” Kia demanded.

“I'm not going to meet the Raptors.”

Now everybody looked confused—no, stunned.

“But…but…why not?” my mother asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Lailah questioned.

This was going to be hard to explain. I gave a little shrug. “It's not that I'm not grateful for you setting this up,” I said to Christina. “Thanks for doing it.”

“You're welcome…I guess, but I'm confused. This is what you wanted, isn't it?”

I shook my head.

“It isn't?”

“What I wanted was for one of the Raptors to come to the school where
everybody
could meet him, not just me and the basketball team.”

“But they might have a chance to meet them next year,” Christina said.

“They might, if a Raptor does come, but what about the rest of the grade sixes—our classmates. They'll be gone next year,” I said. “We're here tonight because
all
of those kids helped. And that's why I can't go to the Raptors' locker room.”

Everybody looked even more confused.

“Come on, Nicky,” Lailah said.

“What if they said that I was the only one who could go into the locker room and nobody else on the team could?” I asked.

“But they didn't say that,” Greg chimed in.

“But if they did, would it be fair that only I went and the rest of you had to wait in the hall?” I asked.

“That would suck,” Greg said.

“And it wouldn't be fair,” I said. “We're a team. So if the whole team couldn't go, I wouldn't want to go either.”

“But the whole team
is
going,” Lailah said.

“We all get to meet them—everybody,” Greg said.

“Not everybody, just everybody on the basketball team,” I said. “It wasn't just us that got us here.”

“It was just us who made that gigantic sign that got their attention,” Greg argued.

“But not just us who sent the letters and the emails and voted to change the school teams' names or did the artwork or—”

“I get the idea,” Greg said. “But still…
I
really want to meet them.”

“I want to meet them too,” Lailah added.

“Besides, isn't it better that some of us meet them instead of none of us?”

“It's just…it's just…I can't. If everybody can't meet them, then I can't meet them either.”

“What if some of us still want to meet them?” Greg asked.

“I'm not saying
you
can't or shouldn't. I'm just saying I can't go.” I turned to my mom. “Do you understand?”

“I guess I do,” she said, “although I'm very surprised.”

“So am I. How about if we go down to the main entrance and wait for the team until they've met the Raptors?” I said to my mother.

“We can do that,” my mother said.

“Okay, everybody…I guess we'll see you all after your visit.”

Slowly I walked away, and my mother and I left everybody else behind. It felt like the longest walk of my life with everybody's eyes on me, questioning, wondering if I'd lost my mind. Maybe this wasn't the right decision, maybe I could just turn around and say I'd made a mistake. But no, I hadn't made a mistake. This was the right thing to do.

We walked down the hall and toward the stairs.

“Do you think I'm wrong?” I asked my mother, still questioning my decision, needing reassurance.

“You certainly surprised me…no,
shocked
me.”

“But was I wrong?”

“I think you're doing what you think is right.”

“You didn't answer the question,” I said.

She didn't answer right away, which obviously meant that she
did
think I was wrong.

“Nick, sometimes we all make hard decisions,” she said. “This wasn't easy.”

“No, and it's getting harder.”

“But you did what you believed was right.”

“It just wouldn't be right for all of those other kids to work for something that only a few of us get,” I said, trying to explain.

“Then, because you thought this through, there's no question that what you did was the right thing,” she said.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Sometimes your hardest choices aren't necessarily going to feel so right, right away.”

I understood that. It felt
awful
.

“Wait up!”

It was Kia and she was running down the hall toward us. “I'm not going either,” she said.

“You don't have to do this,” I said.

“I don't have to do anything, but I'm going to do it anyway,” she replied.

“You don't think I'm crazy?”

“Oh, no. I
definitely
think you're crazy and probably wrong to toss away an opportunity of a lifetime, but if you're not going, neither am I. Being part of a team is being part of a team.”

Suddenly Lailah came running toward us, followed by Greg and what looked like the whole team. Trailing behind them were Mr. Waldman and Mr. Roberts and Christina and Jerome and Johnnie. We waited for them to catch up to us.

“We're all going home,” Lailah said. “All of us.”

“Really?”

They all nodded their heads in agreement, but they certainly didn't look happy about it.

“Greg?” I asked.

“All of us,” he muttered.

“And nobody's mad at me?”

“We're all standing with you,” Greg said. “I guess I understand. Maybe I don't agree, but we're a team, right? You're the captain, right?”

I nodded. “Thanks…I appreciate it…but you
really
can go and meet them if you want.”

“We're all going home,” Mr. Roberts said.

Everybody nodded in agreement.

“Then let's go,” Mr. Roberts said.

He shook hands with Christina and then led the group. Kids filed out behind him. All of them had their eyes on the ground. There was no more cheering or smiling or laughing. It felt like we were going to a funeral, and it was all my fault.

I stopped in front of Jerome.

“I'm really sorry,” I said. “I know this was a lot of work and you even flew in and I'm sorry.”

He bent down and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Don't ever be sorry for doing what you think is right,” Jerome said. “Sometimes the easy thing isn't the right thing, and the right thing isn't the easy thing.”

“That sounds like something my coach would say.”

“You got a smart coach. Now you go home and we'll talk later…Check your email.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was late when we finally got home. It had been a very quiet car ride from the ACC. It wasn't just that it was like we were driving to—or away from—a funeral, but that I'd been the guy who'd done the killing.

I felt bad. I felt worse than bad. My mother said all the correct things about how what I did was “right,” but she was my mother. She was supposed to try to make me feel better. It was, after all, part of her job description.

Even though it was late, I'd hoped that somebody would have called or even emailed to tell me it was okay, but there hadn't been word one from anybody. Then the computer
binged
—I had mail.

I jumped up off my bed, rushed to the computer and then hesitated. Just because somebody was sending me an email didn't mean it was going to be a good email. Maybe somebody was writing to tell me what a jerk I'd been and how I'd lost them a chance of a lifetime. But if I didn't look, I wouldn't know, and it wasn't like not looking was going to change it.

I clicked on my email. One new message—it was from Jerome! That was great…unless
he
was going to tell me that I was wrong.

I looked at the subject line. It read
The Challenge
. I opened the email.