Athlete vs. Mathlete

by W. C. Mack

  Since a good leader knows that the best ideas aren’t always his own, we’d chosen Jason’s plan.

  And now we had to make it work in front of an audience.

  The seconds ticked quietly on an egg timer as we put our carrier together. There were excited voices all around us as the other teams did the same.

  Jason duct-taped the edges of our newspaper pages so they wouldn’t tear while Nitu molded the aluminum-foil basket that would carry the egg. I cut our string into four equal pieces, then cut holes in the corners of the newspaper pages. Sara threaded the string through the holes and tied them to the handle of the foil basket.

  We had our parachute.

  “Less than a minute left,” Jason said, watching the clock.

  “Styrofoam,” Nitu said.

  As quickly as we could, we broke our chunks into tiny pieces, then filled our foil basket with them.

  Sara placed our egg on top of the Styrofoam and Nitu secured a layer of foil over the top.

  We all glanced at each other and nodded.

  We were finished.

  There was frantic scrambling all around us until the buzzer went off.

  It was time!

  Most of the competitors moved outside with the audience while Sara and one member from each of the other teams carried the eggs upstairs.

  In just a few minutes, the first egg came sailing toward the ground … and smashed onto the pavement.

  The crowd gasped.

  I guess the chopsticks were a bad idea.

  Two more eggs splattered, then another three.

  When our turn finally came, not a single egg had made it.

  I took a deep breath as Sara released the newspaper parachute into the sky above us. It swayed a few feet, pushed by the breeze. I was worried the basket would tip, but let go of the breath when it straightened out.

  “Please, please, please,” Nitu whispered.

  “It’s slower than any of the others,” I said. “That’s a good sign.”

  When the parachute landed, the judge made sure the egg had no cracks.

  “Lewis and Clark Middle School is in first place.”

  We would have cheered, but Beaumont was still waiting for their turn.

  I held my breath again when their egg carrier was dropped from the window. It looked like it was moving too fast, but it was hard to know for sure.

  When it landed, the judge examined the egg even more carefully than she’d checked ours.

  “Just a crack,” Jason whispered. “One little crack.”

  “Please, please, please,” our math whiz whispered again.

  I would have crossed my fingers, begged and pleaded for one little crack, too, but I suddenly realized that wasn’t what I wanted. At all.

  “What’s wrong, Russ?” Nitu asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to win like this.”

  She gasped. “Like what?”

  I looked at all the smug Beaumont faces lined up across from us. “I don’t want the judges to need a magnifying glass to declare us the winners, Nitu. I don’t want to squeak into first place.”

  “A win is a win, Russell.”

  “No,” I said, looking right at Peter and thinking about the Pioneers’ thirty-two-point loss. A blowout. “No, I want our win to be so huge and obvious it’s visible from space.”

  “What?”

  Before I could answer, the judge announced, “Perfect condition! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a tie.”

  “Excellent,” I said, grinning. “That means we get to compete against them at Regionals.”

  My teammates and I rushed over to the Beaumont team to congratulate them on our joint win.

  “We’re going to stomp you next time,” Peter said, with a cold smile. “Trust me.”

  “Whoa,” Jason whispered.

  I led the team back to our area, already feeling excited about the rematch. “Okay, we’ve got one month until Regionals. We’re going to need to find our fifth team member within the next few days,” I said to the group. “Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” they all answered at once.

  I don’t know whether it was the influence of my evil twin or the competition on the basketball court, but I surprised myself by adding, “Because we’ve got to destroy Beaumont.”

  I glanced at Nitu and saw that I’d surprised her, too. Not to mention Jason and Sara, whose mouths were hanging open.

  “Well,” I said, clearing my throat, “beat them, anyway.”

  Jason laughed. “I’m with you, Russ.”

  “We’re going to Regionals!” Nitu screamed, pulling us all into a hug.

  We couldn’t stop laughing.

  And the next thing I knew, my whole family had gathered around us.

  I never would have imagined it, but Mom, Dad, and Owen were right there with me, standing in the middle of the Masters of the Mind district competition, hugging me and cheering like we’d won a championship basketball game.

  It felt … magical.

  Nothing but Net

  At the next Pioneers game, the crowd went crazy. The bleachers were packed and the team was on fire. Russ and I were out on the court together, right where we belonged.

  It felt so good to have my brother back. I kept checking to make sure he was really there, but he’d already put sixteen points on the board to prove it.

  After what happened on the court before, Coach hadn’t been too sure about putting the Evans brothers in together, but we were proving that it was the right move.

  People had always asked me if my twin and I could read each other’s minds, and I’d laughed. But during that game, we were so in sync, it was scary.

  And awesome.

  When we got down to the last minute or so of the final quarter, the Pioneers were losing by just one stinkin’ point. I knew we could take the game if we just played smart.

  I ran down the court.

  Just one basket to win it!

  I dribbled around one guard, then another, while the crowd cheered. It was the kind of moment I’d always dreamed about. I got into position and lined up the shot. Then I saw Russ out of the corner of my eye. He was wide open, just standing there.

  I didn’t even have to think about what I did next.

  I passed him the ball.

  Russ looked surprised, catching it at the same time the two guards went after him. He went vertical to make his jump shot, but at the very last second, he twisted in midair and passed the ball back to me.

  I couldn’t believe it! After everything that had happened, Russ was willing to share the glory.

  I aimed for the basket and let go of the ball.

  Swish.

  The crowd were on their feet, screaming like lunatics, and so were the Pioneers.

  We won!

  I grinned as I ran over to Russ, and he grinned right back at me.

  We’d won the game together, as real teammates, for the first time ever.

  I lifted my hand for a high five.

  As usual, my brother missed.

  But that’s okay. It’s kind of his trademark now.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, huge thanks to my agent, Sally Harding, the ultimate literary referee.

  And to the Bloomsbury folks, especially Michelle Nagler, who took possession at the tip-off, and Brett Wright, MVP.

  Copyright © 2013 by Wendy C. Smith

  First published in the United States of America in February 2013

  by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers

  www.bloomsbury.com

  This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  All rights reserved

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Mack, W. C.

  Athlete vs. mathlete / by W.C. Mack. — 1st U.S. ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: When their two worlds collide in seventh grade, fraternal twins and opposites Owen and Russell find themselves in direct competition at school, on the court, and at home.

  [1. Twins—Fiction. 2. Brothers—Fiction. 3. Basketball—Fiction. 4. Competition

  (Psychology)—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Athlete versus mathlete.

  PZ7.M18996At 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2012014146

  eISBN 978-1-5999-0937-0 (e-book)