EllRay Jakes Stands Tall by Sally Warner Page B

already practice-dribbling a ball.
    â€œWhere’s Coach?” Corey asks, looking around.
    â€œProbably in the Teachers’ Lounge, with an ice pack on his back. Like Ms. Sanchez said that time,” I tell him. But I can’t really picture it. Coach looks too strong for that.
    â€œWe don’t need Coach to play basketball,” Jared says, dribbling away.
    â€œWell, we don’t need him for practice drills, anyway,” Diego says. “But Coach hasn’t shown us how to shoot baskets yet.”
    â€œ
Duh
,” Kevin says, making a face at Diego. “You just throw the ball and hope for the best.” He crouches and then shoots an imaginary ball,demonstrating. He is probably pretending he is a pro player tossing the winning throw as an invisible crowd cheers.
    Marco is playing with his olden days figures on the grass near the picnic table. He’s probably just glad no one is yelling. Major is standing next to him, like he can’t decide whether to join in Marco’s game or grab a kickball and start dribbling.
    Annie Pat has wandered over to where we are standing. “I don’t know,” she says, twirling a red pigtail as she watches Kevin leap around. “I think there’s probably an official way to shoot baskets, Kevin. A way you can practice. We should wait for Coach to teach us.”
    â€œBe quiet,
girl
,” Jared tells her. “Just because you caught the ball
one time
this morning. By accident, probably.”
    Uh-oh.
    Foul!
    â€œHer name is Annie Pat, and you know it,” Emma pipes up. She’s a little scared of Jared, I think. But for some reason, she always stands up to him anyway.
    I start to get the feeling that things are about to go seriously wrong with this afternoon recess. Andwe have waited for it ever since lunch! But Jared would never dare say something mean to Annie Pat if Coach was around. If he did, Coach would send Jared over to the teeter-totters to eat fruit leather with the little kids. Or make him run laps around the playground.
    But Jared’s the type of kid who acts up when there are no grown-ups nearby. It’s his specialty.
    â€œOoh, she’s gonna tell on Jared. Just like a widdle baby,” Stanley jeers, using baby talk as he points at Annie Pat. He wipes his grimy fists in his eyes. “
Wah, wah
,” he pretend-cries.
    â€œI’m not going to tell,” Annie Pat says, protesting. “I never said I was, either.”
    â€œGo play with your stupid eraser, or do some stretchy, bendy yoga,” Jared tells her, turning away. “
So lame
,” he adds under his breath.
    â€œYoga’s not lame,” Annie Pat says.
    â€œUs guys should divide up into teams,” Kevin says, after Annie Pat and Emma have joined a nearby group of girls: Kry, Fiona, Heather. They’re already laughing together, playing some other game. Tagging and chasing, it looks like.
    â€œYeah,” Stanley chimes in. “Let’s divide up, andthen try to get past each other.” He rams his shoulder into Marco, demonstrating his bashing skills, I guess.
    â€œI’ll choose the first team, because I’ve got the ball,” Jared announces. He really means that he’ll be the
boss
of that team. The boss of all of us, if he can pull it off.
    Not. Gonna. Happen.
    â€œAnd I’ll choose the other team,” Jason says. Like I said before, Jason’s kind of chunky. But as I also mentioned before, he always says it’s pure muscle, even when nobody asks.
    But—
choosing teams!
    I hate it when us guys choose teams, mostly because of how short I am. I’m usually picked last for sports things, never first. Or second. Or even third. I liked it better when we were all on the same team during our training sessions, with Coach as our leader.
    But what can I do about this whole choosing-teams thing? Nothing!
    I’m not the boss of recess. I’m not the boss of
anything.

18
    THE