Double Team Read Online Free Page A

basket,” I said.
    â€œThat’s a good thing!” he said.
    â€œI’m just trying to win the game for us,” I said.
    â€œOh, what, we’re not?” said Deuce.
    â€œNo, I know,” I said. “Of course you are.”
    What else could I say? How do you tell your best friends you don’t think they can beat their defenders? Well, I guess I told them that by scoring the next two points. The first one was a put-back on a heave by Deuce, so they couldn’t really blame me for that. But I scored game point on a long jumper from the corner. I just had a good feeling about it, so I took it.
    Mike should’ve been happy it went in. I mean, (A) we won, and (B) Big Man had to stop leaning on him now. But when I went to high-five him, I thought he wasgoing to leave me hanging. He finally raised his hand up and gave mine a weak slap.
    â€œSupposed to be three-on-three,” he said as he headed off the court.
    I looked around for Deuce, but he was already gone. The only ones left were the guys on the other team. I shook their hands and we all agreed it was a good, tough game. They told me their real names, but they’ll probably always be Red Laces, Blue Laces, and Big Man to me.
    As I walked off the court to go find my teammates, I saw Omar still standing by the fence. He gave me a nod. I nodded back, but I still couldn’t figure out why he looked so familiar.

I picked up my pace to catch Mike and Deuce. “Two down, two to go,” I said as I pulled even with them.
    We’d made it through the first two rounds, so the next game would be the semifinal. If we won that one, we’d get to play in the championship game. So it was all good, but Mike and Deuce didn’t even respond. Maybe they didn’t hear me. More people had showed up as the morning went on, and it was kind of loud.
    â€œTwo to go,” I repeated.
    â€œWe heard you,” said Mike.
    That was it: Three words and then they went back to the silent treatment. They were still mad.
    â€œCome on,” I said as we found a spot in the bleachers. “I had the best matchup. I had to push the action.”
    â€œPush the action?” said Deuce. “You mean hog the ball?”
    â€œYou guys both had the ball early,” I said. “They were killing us.”
    â€œOh, so you thought you’d just take things into your own hands?” said Mike.
    I looked over at him. I didn’t really know what to say. Because the answer was yes. That’s exactly what I thought, and it’s the only reason we ended up winning. We just looked at each other for a long second. Then I remembered something my dad said once: If you don’t know what to say, just say what you know. “You couldn’t get around that guy,” I said.
    Mike rolled his eyes. “Please,” he said. “It just took me a little time to figure him out, is all.”
    â€œYeah, okay,” I said.
    There was one of those weird pauses where both of us were waiting for the other one to say something more. We both thought we were right. I couldeither make things worse, or I could apologize. I manned up.
    â€œMy bad,” I said.
    Mike shook his head and looked away. But he didn’t say anything else. So of course that’s when Deuce decided to speak up.
    â€œWhat about me?” he said.
    I decided to do the same thing: Tell the truth and then apologize.
    â€œYou couldn’t get any separation from your guy,” I said. “But my bad anyway,” I said.
    â€œThat’s right,” said Deuce.
    It didn’t make any sense. The two statements completely contradicted each other, but Deuce was agreeing to both. I think he just wanted to save some face. I think they both did. They didn’t look as mad. Their jaws weren’t clenched up like they were trying to crack a walnut anymore.
    Down on the court, the last game of the morning was wrapping up. As I turned to look, one of the