Luci put a hand on Bryce’s arm.
‘C’mon, Bryce. We’re going to Mrs Waite. Now.’
We arrived at the gym. With two kids already eliminated from the Legend of Basketball, or so it seemed, everyone was quiet and ready to do as they were told. Even Mazis and Fisk weren’t pushing and shoving in their usual bullying way.
Seeing Mr T, Mr Bronsen, Miss Lan and Miss Lamb was a relief. We were divided into four groups and taken through a whole range of skills. It was great to be bouncing, passing and shooting again. Although we’d had a few muck-around games during the year, it was always exciting starting a new Legend sport.
Because I was tied with Travis in the Legend Series, I was keen to check out the basketball skills of the other players.
Chaz, who was in my group, was typically skilful. He had proven to be good at pretty much every sport we had played. Mazis was big and strong, but his shots on goal weren’t all that accurate. Fisk, who was also strong, could shoot. I already knew that. At the start of the year we’d had a game of ‘twenty-one’. I’d beaten him then, but watching him now I wondered if he’d let me win. Perhaps I just had my eye in that day.
Paisley watched from the sidelines. His glum expression said everything. It looked like he was out of the competition.
Bubba had good basketball skills, as did many other kids I knew by sight or by name, but who hadn’t yet featured in the other Legend sports.
We worked hard for about an hour or so. I felt confident that I would make the first team, but with only seven places up for grabs, it was going to be tight.
Luci arrived about halfway through the session with Mrs Waite, Bryce and Nick. Nick was still looking a bit distressed. Shortly after their arrival, both Bryce and Nick joined in the grading session. Bryce seemed to struggle with the dribbling, but when I saw him shooting at goal, I changed my mind about his chances. He had a weird style, but it was effective. And when I say weird, I mean totally different.
I didn’t see the girls during their grading session. After a drink and a bit of a rest, Miss Lan came out and took us for some running games on the oval.
I caught up with Luci and Becky about forty minutes later.
‘Wow, you should see some of those girls,’ said Luci.
‘Good?’ I asked.
‘Good? We’ll be lucky to make the thirds,’ Becky said, shaking her head.
Bubba jogged over to us looking excited.
‘Hey, let’s go up to the library,’ he puffed. The three of us looked at each other, smiles slowly spreading across our faces. Bryce had headed off after the grading session. He had an accordion lesson (I’m not joking) that he didn’t want to miss. Now it was our turn to explore.
‘We’ve got about half an hour, but who’s going to clean up the school year boxes once we’re in the tunnel?’ I asked. Then I noticed Paisley, on his own, by the noticeboard. The others caught on quickly.
‘Mitchell, no way. You can’t trust him. Even if he is being nice to you,’ Luci said, shaking her head. ‘It’s probably some sort of trick that Travis has organised.’
‘Luci, sometimes you’ve got to go with your gut feeling. I reckon this is the break he needs. Plus, we might find out if Fisk really does know about the tunnel.’
Before anyone had a chance to reply, I headed over to the noticeboard. The basketball section was still looking boring.
‘Hey, Jimmy. What’s happening?’
He looked around, as if he were afraid Fisk or Mazis might be watching. He shrugged.
‘Not much. You?’
‘A bit actually. You want in?’ I thought this was his sort of language.
‘You going to steal something?’ he asked, looking a bit surprised. Probably not as surprised as I looked, though.
‘Um, well no, actually, just up to the library.’
‘Oh, okay. Nah, I’ll be right.’ He turned back to the noticeboard. He was reading the soccer results.
‘Fisk did score a perfect twenty in the soccer quiz, then.’ I said, following his gaze.
‘I told you he did.’
‘Did he cheat, Jimmy?’
For a moment I thought he was going to tell me. But he shook his head and smiled.
‘So, what’s happening in the library?’ he asked.
‘Oh, we’re just going through a secret panel and into a tunnel that goes under the school and hooks up with Ascot College. Nothing much,’ I said with a shrug.
‘Right, and then you’ll get into a time machine and go over to America and watch the Harlem Globetrotters,’ he added, laughing at his joke.
‘Jimmy!’ I said. ‘Don’t talk dumb. As if we’d do that!’
I headed back to the others.
‘Didn’t work, did it?’ Becky said.
‘And now he knows all about the tunnel,’ added Luci. They were both looking annoyed.
‘Yeah, good one,’ chimed in Bubba, not wanting to be left out. He looked at me guiltily, as if not knowing quite why he’d said what he’d said.
‘We’ll see,’ I said to them all, as we headed to the library.
We walked past the front desk, which at that moment was empty, to where the basketball books were shelved and the posters displayed. We started reefing out the boxes of school year magazines. The place was deserted – 4:30pm seemed to be a good time to escape the school through a secret tunnel. Behind the boxes was the sliding wooden panel that hid a secret room.
‘Okay, we’ll have to toss,’ Becky said, looking around for something to use.
‘No we won’t,’ I said, smiling. The others turned to see Jimmy Paisley, looking a bit tentative but heading towards us.
‘Jimmy. Hi. Um, can you put these year boxes back in their proper order, once we’ve gone through?’ I put out a prayer for a ‘yes’.
‘Yeah, okay. Sure.’ He looked as if we’d each grown an extra nose or something.
‘Okay, Bubba, show us the way,’ Luci said, eyeing Paisley at the same time.
‘No probs. Brycey left a spare torch here. Hang on.’ Once again Bubba worked his magic on the little catch that opened one of the panels. A moment later, the panel slid open. Bubba squeezed his body through the gap. I heard a grunt and then a small crash.
‘Okay, we’re right. In we go,’ Bubba called back.
I glanced at Paisley. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.
‘Awesome,’ he said. ‘I’m coming too.’
‘No,’ I snapped. ‘Jimmy, listen. This only works if someone stays back, tidies up and stuff. You want to join us, you gotta do the right thing by us. Deal?’
He looked over as Becky disappeared through the gap.
‘Next time, I’m in. Okay?’
‘You gonna tell Mazis? You gonna tell Fisk?’ I asked.
He looked down at his feet for a moment, then shook his head.
‘No. I won’t tell anyone.’
‘Okay. Cool. We’ll be back in half an hour. And if we’re not, well don’t worry about us. Just make sure you clean up here so that Miss Javros doesn’t get suspicious.’
I moved quickly over to the gap. Luci had gone through and Bubba was holding the panel back for me to enter. I took one last look at Paisley. He stood there, staring at me.
‘Okay?’ I said.
‘Okay.’
I wriggled into a darkness broken only by the flickering light beam from Bubba’s torch.
‘Okay, follow me.’ Bubba was in charge. We crept forward on what seemed to be a wooden floor to a flight of stairs. They were solid, like stone or concrete. No one spoke.
The stairs went down about three flights, with a turn after every ten steps or so. At the bottom a tunnel headed back under the library, or so I thought.
‘This is creepy,’ said Becky, who was out in front with Bubba.
Luci didn’t say a word, instead grabbing my hand in a vice-like grip.
‘I’m not going to be left alone down here,’ she whispered.
We set off, our bodies bent, even though there was e
nough space for us to stand up straight. Bubba’s torchlight occasionally revealed black marks on the walls. The air smelt damp and musty. I began to think about all the earth and the cement and the bricks crushing in . . .
I decided it was better to chat.
‘How much further, Bubba?’ I felt Luci squeeze my hand.
‘Not far, Mitch. Cool, hey?’ For someone freaked out by spiders, Bubba was handling the tunnel amazingly well.
‘Yeah, actually, it’s not so bad,’ I said quietly and squeezed Luci’s hand back.
About three or four minutes later, we came to another flight of stairs, this time heading up. We climbed to the last landing. There was nothing now, but a shorter flight of stone steps that went up to the roof.
‘Um, just had a bit of a thought, guys,’ Becky said. ‘What if Miss Javros saw us come into the library? What if she goes down to the sports section and finds one kid there instead of five?’
There was silence in the tunnel.
‘Good point, Beck,’ Luci said. ‘But there’s not much we can do about it now. Let’s get out of here. Bubba?’ Luci’s breath was coming in short, shallow gasps. Bubba shone his torch onto his watch.
‘Something on television you’re missing, Bubba?’ Becky asked.
‘Hang on about ten seconds, and –’
We heard a tapping noise above us. Luci jumped.
‘What’s that?’ she said.
‘That’d be Jack, I reckon,’ said Bubba, doing some tapping himself. There was a creak and then a shaft of light broke through, blinding us as it widened. We covered our eyes.
‘Mitchell? Bubba?’ It was Jack’s voice.
We scrambled up through the hole in the roof, which was actually a hole in the floor.
Jack grinned.
‘C’mon, we haven’t got much time.’
It was hard getting used to the light, but we struggled after Jack. It must have been the study room that he’d mentioned. We raced to the door, across a small courtyard and through another door.
‘Hey!’ a loud voice called. ‘Come back here at once!’ But we kept on running, charging through a room with beds in it. Obviously a dormitory.
‘Go through that door, quick!’ yelled Jack. ‘Hurry! It’s Mr Hastings. Just go!’
I could see the ovals through the windows ahead of me.
‘Jack, you okay?’ I asked.
‘I should be in the dining room,’ he panted. ‘Go!’
Luci and Becky were way out in front. I grabbed Bubba’s arm and together we raced across the ovals.
‘What the devil’s going on?’ a voice boomed behind me.
Poor Jack was in strife, that was for sure. Still running, I glanced behind me. A tall man wearing a dark suit stood next to Jack in the dormitory doorway.
We didn’t stop running till we got back to school. We took a few moments to catch our breath then, as calmly as we could, walked upstairs and into the library.
‘Hey, Jimmy!’ I called. Jimmy jumped. He looked at the spot where the sliding wooden panels were hidden, then back at us. Then did the same routine again.
‘It’s okay. I’ll explain,’ I said. ‘Thanks for putting all the stuff back.’
‘I got into trouble from Miss Javros. She thinks I made the mess,’ he whispered, looking around.
‘What did she say?’ Luci asked, looking back at Miss Javros who was piling up some books at the front desk.
‘She said, “Why is it that this part of the library is so messy?”’
‘So you told her about the tunnel, then?’ Becky said. For a moment I think Paisley felt guilty that he hadn’t.
‘Well, no. I thought that–’
‘Hey, you did well, Jimmy.’ Becky gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Jimmy looked pleased with himself. Maybe it was the first time anyone had said something nice to him at school. The smile was still on his face as we left.
A small crowd had gathered around the Legend noticeboard next morning. The squads for basketball were up, but only the firsts and seconds. Yesterday’s note had been torn off – a sliver of paper stuck under the drawing pin was all that was left.
‘Geez, will you look at that?’ said someone in front of me. He was pointing to another note near the bottom of the board.
Basketball Quiz
for Legend participants only — at lunchtime
Library
Friday (boys)
Monday (girls)
I couldn’t believe it. Normally the quiz was held in the last week of the competition after we’d had time to research the sport. Normally you were told what you had to study.
‘How long do you reckon before someone gets rid of Cartwright?’ another person asked.
‘And what if your name’s not up? What do you do?’
It was Nick again, the kid who had nearly missed out on being a Legend contestant.
‘Well it looks like you missed out, after all,’ Mazis laughed at him. ‘Hey, did four-eyes get in?’ He was referring to Bryce. He had got in, on the bench in the seconds. I was in the starting line-up for the firsts, but there was a name there I didn’t recognise.
‘So, who’s Daryl Ratzasis?’ I asked.
‘Beats me. Probably Mrs Can’t-be-right’s kid,’ someone else joked. For a moment I thought that Bubba hadn’t made it. I just wasn’t used to seeing his real name. I don’t think I’d ever called him Liam, all the time I’d known him. But I remembered his surname – Diapolous. He’d be rapt to have made the seconds.
BOYS
GIRLS
Firsts
Seconds
Firsts
Seconds
Grady M
Monotti J
Chan K
Watson P
Fisk T
Voh L
Rankin L
Smith A
Ratzasis D
Mazis R
Tompkins M
Westman D
Green C
Westman M
Tan R
Dawson B
Belugo W
King A
Stanton C
Kelly T
Rutovski A
Flavel B
Thornton C
Wu L
Stokes J
Diapolous L
Petroni T
Timms F
‘Ready for another game of twenty-one, Grady?’ Fisk hissed in my ear. I pulled away. ‘Lunchtime today. Same place as before, when you fluked all those three-pointers, remember?’
‘Nah, maybe I’ll go and do a bit of study instead,’ I said.
‘Like hell you will. You’re playing me one-on-one, Grady.’
‘Travis, when are you going to realise–’
‘And I’ll tell you a little secret, after I’ve cleaned you up.’
He walked off before I had a chance to reply.
‘So, what’s your little secret, Travis?’ I asked. I’d decided to meet Fisk on the outside basketball courts, after all.
‘After I beat you, Grady, remember? Here, you go first.’ He threw the ball at me.
‘Same rules as last time?’ I asked, taking my place at the free-throw line.
‘Yep.’
I looked hard at the ring, took a few bounces, then tossed the ball up. It caught the front edge of the ring, teetered a moment, then dropped in for three points.
A little kid grabbed the ball and tossed it to Fisk. Like last time, a crowd had gathered to watch. It was like a shootout in one of Dad’s classic westerns. Fisk stood a moment, then threw the ball in a high lob. It hit the backboard and rebounded through the ring.
‘Oh yeah, that’s right, five points if you score without hitting anything but net,’ he said to me.
‘Well, it’s three all then, ’cos yours hit the backboard,’ I said. Fisk looked confused and was about to argue, but then obviously realised that was an argument he couldn’t win.
Something caught my eye as I took my second shot, and the ball missed the ring. Fisk
hit another three-pointer. Mazis was fiddling with something under a tree nearby.
‘Got a problem, Grady?’ Fisk asked.
Again as I was about to throw, a tiny red light hit my eye, and again the ball went wide. This time I scrambled in and managed to grab the ball before it bounced a second time. I nailed the shot, but only scored one point for it.
The red lights didn’t flash again. But Fisk had enough of a lead to go on and win.
21 – 19
‘I think you peaked too early, Grady,’ Fisk sneered. ‘Like about seven months too early.’
‘The only way you can win is by cheating,’ I said. ‘Like scoring twenty out of twenty in the soccer quiz.’
He stopped laughing and walked towards me. The moment had arrived. I knew eventually that it would come to this. The circle of spectators edged closer.
‘What did you say?’ Fisk asked, his voice gravelly and menacing.
‘You heard me, Fisk. How did you score twenty in the soccer quiz?’
‘Cos I’ve got brains, stupid. Not like you.’
‘Well, that’s not what I heard,’ I said.
‘And what did you hear?’
I was being pushed into a corner. I didn’t want to dob Jimmy Paisley in. Fisk had cheated, but I had no proof. Time to back off.
‘It’s just that getting twenty out of twenty is an awesome score, and you’re never in the library, and–’
‘There’s only one thing stopping me from knocking your lights out, Grady. You know what it is?’ He didn’t wait for my answer. ‘It’s because I don’t want to do anything that’s gonna stop me from winning the Legend this year. No one’s gonna beat me. In basketball. In athletics. Swimming. No one, you hear me?’
‘You reckon?’ a sharp little voice piped up behind me. Fisk and I both turned.
‘And who the hell are you, you little runt?’ Fisk asked.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
‘Daryl. Daryl Ratzasis. Rat, for short. Can I play you, twenty-one?’
‘With you?’ Fisk scoffed. ‘You wouldn’t make the ring. Buzz off, squirt.’
On the Buzzer Page 2