EllRay Jakes Stands Tall Read Online Free Page B

decoration-braid swings across her face. “Gossip is when you tell a friend something about someone else,” she continues. “Even if you’re not all-the-way sure it’s true.”
    â€œWhy say it, then?” Corey asks.
    â€œBecause
maybe
it’s true,” Fiona says. Sticking up for gossip, I guess.
    â€œAnd this gossip is
all-the-way
true,” Cynthia says. “Because I heard my mom talking on the phone. Except it’s more boy-gossip than girl-gossip, so who really cares? I was just trying to be nice, telling you guys.”
    â€œUs guys don’t even care,” Jason says in a loud, bored voice.
    â€œHuh,” Cynthia scoffs. “Even when the gossip is about you getting your own special basketball coach? Starting today, Thursday? Pre-basketball, anyway.”
    â€œProbably because they’re so terrible at the real thing,” Heather says, shaking her head in pretend pity.
    â€œOkay. What does ‘pre’ mean?” Major asks Marco, like he’s about to give up on definitions for the day. Two of them already—and class hasn’t even started yet!
    But Marco is off in his own daydreamy world again, scraping gunk off the picnic table with a plastic spoon. I don’t know what he plans to do with it. Nothing, I hope.
    â€œâ€˜Pre’ means ‘before,’” Diego Romero tells Major. “Like, ‘preschool’ happens before you go to regular school,” he explains. Diego reads a lot.
    And suddenly, it feels as though my head is spinning—like a basketball on a professional player’s giant finger. Because what in the world is
pre-basketball
? Anything could come before basketball! Or b-ball, as us guys call it.
    1. Getting out of the car in front of school could be “pre-basketball.”
    2. So could running–I mean walking–onto the playground.
    3. Or trying to grab one of the new balls.
    Why would a kid need lessons in any of those things?
    â€œJust the boys get to have a coach?” Kry asks Cynthia. “That’s not fair.
I
like basketball, too.” Her brown eyes look fierce behind her shiny, straight bangs.
    â€œAnd I’ll try it if Kry does it. I’m tired of yoga,” Emma McGraw says, even though she’s the shortest girl in our class. But she’s still taller than I am.
    See what I mean about “no fair” when it comes to height?
    Cynthia bites her lip for a second, because Kry is the only girl in our class who she’s a little bit afraid of. Not because Kry is mean. Just the opposite!
    Everyone likes Kry, so she’s a puzzle Cynthia cannot figure out.
    â€œI’m sure they might let you play if you
want
,” she finally says, shrugging.
    â€œYeah, maybe. If you
want
,” Heather says, like it sounds pretty dumb to her.
    All this maybe-talk, gossip-talk has gone on long enough. “
Who
is gonna let them play? Let
us
play, I mean,” I say. “Who’s the coach gonna
be
? We don’t even have any coaches at Oak Glen Primary. We don’t have teams! So I think you’re just—”
    â€œIt’s Mr. Havens,” Cynthia interrupts, triumphant. “He’s real good at basketball, it turns out. He was on a team in college. So
ha-ha
, EllRay Jakes. You’re wrong, wrong, wrong!”
    Mr. Havens.
    The second grade teacher, brand-new to Oak Glen this year.
    The man who substitutes for the recess monitor—more and more, lately.
    I’ve even gotten in trouble with him before. Accidentally, of course.
    â€œHuh,” my sometimes-friend Kevin snort-says. “Mr. Havens is always too busy passing out kickballs and taking care of nosebleeds and skinned knees to coach anyone.”
    â€œAnd he keeps kids from walking up the slide, too,which is perfectly safe and fun,” Jared complains, as if he’s had some personal experience with this.
    Which he has.
    â€œThe regular playground monitor will take care of