‘No,’ Bryce said quietly. ‘Leave it for now. C’mon.’
I stared at him, speechless.
‘Mitchell, c’mon!’ he called.
The others had raced over to a set of ascending stairs in the corner of the room. I could hear footsteps approaching.
‘Is anyone there?’ a voice called from beyond the open door. Bryce, Bubba and Becky had reached the first landing, where they hid in the darkness. I hurtled over to the stairs. The walking footsteps quickened to a steady jog.
I bounded up the stairs two at a time, but on the last step I missed my footing. I reached out. For a moment I felt myself falling backwards with nothing to grab onto.
Then someone grabbed my hand. I clung to it with all my might and heaved myself upright. Becky had caught me.
We stood, frozen, as the kid who’d been calling out entered the room. There were scuffling noises and the scrape of a chair.
Then the light went out.
I felt a tug and we were moving again, up the stairs. Silently, we tiptoed up another flight of stairs to a bigger landing. From here, light started to filter through, breaking up the blackness. We made the final flight of stairs and pushed open a door at the top. We stumbled into a room full of mops and buckets, reeking of disinfectant. Pushing open another door, we burst into a corridor.
It was the school on Wetherhood Street. We ran to the end of the corridor and across the ovals, then scrambled over a low fence.
I never thought I’d be so relieved to be on a pavement, with houses and a road. I don’t think any of us looked back. I certainly didn’t.
We thought we would give Luci the fright of her life when we walked through the library’s main entrance. But, as she told us later, she got an even bigger fright when she heard strange voices coming from behind the panels in the library. Fortunately, she didn’t respond. Had she done so, she would have found herself talking to a couple of Hoods.
I tossed and turned in bed for hours that night. When I fell asleep, I dreamt that I had fallen down a flight of stairs into a circle of Hoods. They were holding basketballs and chanting spooky words. The circle got tighter as they closed in. Then they started tossing basketballs at me. I woke up sweating and gasping for breath.
On Tuesday morning there was still nothing new on the Legends noticeboard. We didn’t seem to be playing much sport. It was already the last week of the Legend of Basketball, and only three sessions were left.
Thursday was the big competition at the Kent Street stadium. Wednesday was the last proper practice session for the squads, and today were some after-school games for anyone who turned up.
Most of the Legend kids did show. Rat was there, but he still looked pretty miserable.
‘Hey, Mitchell, how many Legend points is that quiz worth?’ he asked, as Bubba joined our discussion.
‘Twenty per cent, I think.’
‘That’s not much, is it?’
‘You didn’t go so well on it, huh?’ I asked him.
He shrugged, looked up at me, then shook his head. ‘Nah, not so well.’
Bubba looked thoughtful.
‘Well, say you get seventy per cent for the games on Thursday, and the nearest kid to you gets sixty per cent. Then you only need to get half your quiz right, and that other kid, say, gets nineteen out of twenty for his quiz–’
‘Thanks for clearing that up for us, Bubbaman,’ I said, giving Bubba a gentle shove. Rat walked off, shaking his head.
Players from the firsts and seconds were mixed into two different teams, and we played a couple of games. Mrs Cartwright was refereeing, and doing a lot of bossing and talking. She’d take five minutes to explain a double dribble to someone and then even longer to explain a foul.
‘You gotta be grateful that we haven’t had any tech fouls yet,’ said Bubba, giggling at his own joke.
Of course, Fisk was on the other team. Rat was on the bench, and I don’t think Mrs Cartwright, who was making all the substitutions, even noticed him. He didn’t seem that interested in playing, anyway.
When he did finally come on, he hung about under the rings, occasionally getting the ball, but immediately passing it off to someone else. Mrs Cartwright kept ordering him to move this way and that.
‘I thought you said this guy could play,’ I said to Bubba.
‘He can! He’s up to something,’ Bubba said. ‘Or else the coach is.’
Fisk was getting more confident.
‘So, the little man can shoot but he can’t play, huh?’ he teased, staring at Rat. Rat just shrugged. Fisk was throwing his weight around. He charged into Bryce, sending him, and his glasses, flying. Mrs Cartwright’s whistle screeched, and we all settled in for another lecture on charging. But Bryce copped it for blocking. I couldn’t believe it. Mrs Cartwright lectured us for about seven minutes. Bryce walked off before she had finished.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ she boomed across the gym. Bryce shook his head slowly and kept on walking.
‘You’re out of the Legends, you hear me? OUT!’
The girls had stopped their game. Everyone stared at Mrs Cartwright.
‘Anyone else want to walk out?’ she screamed. The gym was silent.
‘Should someone take his place, Mrs Cartwright?’ a small voice piped up. For a moment I think the kid thought he was about to get kicked out too.
‘No. The team’s better off without individuals like Bryce Flavel,’ she snapped. ‘Now, where were we?’
Luci and Becky caught up with me after the session.
‘Mitch, we’ve decided to go and see Mrs Waite. This has got to stop. This teacher is weird. You can come with us if you want, but we’re going now.’
I told them I had to go home and that I’d talk to them about it tomorrow.
The Wednesday session went much like the afternoon before. Some of the kids in the thirds and fourths mucked around on the outside courts. They would be playing their games in the afternoon. The only thing different was that Mrs Cartwright was now simply coaching. Mr T was doing the refereeing. At least the games went more quickly. Mrs Cartwright talked at us, but nothing she said made much sense. We just went back out and did what we felt was right.
Rat seemed uninterested in basketball. Again, he spent most of the time on the bench.
Finally, I decided to approach Mrs Cartwright.
‘Excuse me, Mrs Cart–’
‘What?’
‘Well, I think you should have a closer look at Rat, here. He’s a legendary player. Really. I saw him shoot on the court–’
‘Really? A legend, is he?’
Mrs Cartwright was shouting at me, her face red. There was white spittle on her lips. All movement in the gym had stopped.
‘A Sandhurst legend? He should be playing with Wetherhood, that’s where he should be,’ she bellowed.
Rat was slowly walking out of the gym. ‘Rat, no!’ I shouted. ‘Don’t go! You’re one of us. We need you on the team.’
Mrs Cartwright had tensed. I reckon Fisk would have been looking pretty hopeful, too. Mr T seemed about to step in.
‘Off you go, Daryl,’ she said, so softly that I think only I heard her. It was as if she were willing him to go. She nodded. ‘This is not your place,’ she added, quietly.
It was the weirdest thing to say.
Rat stopped. He just stared at her, his bottom lip quivering.
‘I do think, Mrs Cartwright, that perhaps –’
Mr T’s voice trailed off as he watched Bubba move over to where Rat was standing. Becky and Luci joined him. Then I followed. Other kids joined us. I looked up at Mr T. Then he did the most awesome thing a teacher can do. He walked over and joined us.
‘You’re one of us, Rat,’ Bubba said, putting a hand on Rat’s shoulder. ‘She isn’t,’ he added, firmly.
No one moved.
‘Right,’ Mrs Cartwright called. ‘Let’s get back to it, then. You’ve all made your point.’
‘Strength in numbers. Works every time,’ sai
d Becky. ‘Hey, Rat? We mean it, okay? You’re in the Legends. You’re a part of it now. And you’re coming around to Bryce’s house next Friday night. Do you hear me?’
I think that was the first real smile I’d seen Rat crack since he’d been here.
Five o’clock arrived. Normally, I’d wish that a Legends sport training session would go on forever. But basketball was different.
‘Good luck tomorrow, everyone,’ Mr T called. ‘With or without a football trophy, we can still be the holders of the quad trophy set! Soccer, football, netball and, if you guys get it right, basketball, too.’
He smiled at us, then looked across to Mrs Cartwright. ‘Isn’t that so, Mrs C? Do the kids know how the competition works? Did the details go up on the Legends noticeboard?’
Mrs Cartwright looked annoyed.
‘Why don’t you tell them? Then I won’t have to bother with the notice,’ she replied.
‘Like she bothers anyway,’ I whispered to Bubba.
‘Right,’ said Mr T. ‘There are four sections, as you know: firsts and seconds for girls, and firsts and seconds for boys. If you finish on top of your section’s ladder, you earn the maximum four points for Sandhurst. If you finish second on the ladder, you earn three points, and so on.’
‘Okay, so third gets two points and last gets one point,’ said Bubba, nodding.
‘Exactly,’ said Mr T.
‘Is there anything else we don’t know?’ Fisk asked, looking straight at Mrs Cartwright.
‘Time to leave, everyone. Hurry up. I’ve got to lock up,’ was all she said.
‘Hey, Rat!’ I caught up with him as he took off for the exit.
Rat turned around and looked at me. ‘How come you’re not really putting in?’ I asked. ‘I thought you were a gun at basketball.’
He looked to see if anyone was listening. ‘You know that Fisk kid I played against at lunchtime last week?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, the lovely Travis Fisk? What of him?’
‘He said he’d –’ His voice trailed off.
‘Yes?’ I prompted him.
‘Ah, doesn’t matter what he said. He can’t touch me. We’re on the same team, now.’
‘Don’t count on it,’ I warned him. ‘That hasn’t stopped Fisk before.’
‘Well, I didn’t want him to notice me. And Mrs Morris – I mean, Mrs Cartwright, she doesn’t give me a chance either. Anyway, that big kid thinks I can shoot and nothing else.’
‘What did you just call Mrs Cartwright?’ I asked.
‘Nothing. She just reminds me of someone,’ he mumbled. ‘Anyway, I’ll be on my game tomorrow. You’ll see, Mitchell.’
That was the first time he’d used my name.
‘Cool. So fireworks tomorrow?’ I said.
Rat looked at me and smiled. ‘There might be a few sparks flying,’ he said.
‘Hey, by the way, Rat, do you know anything about a tunnel that links up a couple of schools around here?’
He never even flinched. He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Nope. Do you?’
‘A bit,’ I said, and walked off.
Just before nine o’clock Luci rang to say that she and Becky had finally seen Mrs Waite.
‘So what did she say?’
‘Not much,’ said Luci. ‘Just that she was aware of some concerns with the Basketball Legend program and was sure the Legend of Athletics would more than make up for it.’
‘What about Bryce? Did you tell her about him?’
‘Yeah. But she said that a student should never just walk out on a teacher and that Bryce was lucky the matter was going no further.’
‘So you got nowhere?’
‘Yeah, basically. Though we did see one interesting thing. There’s a picture of Mrs Waite with Fisk and his dad on her desk. She caught Becky staring at it, and mumbled something about it being a present from Mr Fisk. Oh, and she gave us the quiz results.’
‘She gave them to you?’ I was shocked.
‘Yep. Told us to put them up on the Legends board.’
‘Kids never put stuff up on the Legends noticeboard. Never!’
Luci didn’t reply.
‘Well?’ I asked.
‘What?’ Luci was laughing.
‘How did I go? What did Fisk score? How about Rat? And Bubba?’ The words tumbled out.
‘You got seventeen. Fisk got twenty, and so did Bubba. Rat – oh Mitch, Rat only got seven.’
‘Geez, yeah, that’s really low. He’s going to have to give us more than sparks tomorrow.’
‘What?’
‘Doesn’t matter. What about Bryce?’
‘Sixteen, I think. Not sure.’
There was another pause. ‘Well, aren’t you going to ask how I went?’
‘Oh, yeah. Luci, how did you go?’
‘Thought you’d never ask. I got seventeen and so did Becky. Mia got nineteen. I can’t believe how some kids have scored twenty for that quiz! I mean, Bubba, well, he’s just a freak. Don’t tell him I said that, Mitch, but you know what I mean? He just has to smell a number or a score or something and it’s locked away in his head forever. Mitch?’
‘Yeah, Luci?’
‘I’ve gotta go now. See you tomorrow.’ The phone clicked.
A few minutes later the phone rang again. This time it was Bryce.
‘I think Mrs Cartwright kicking me out of the Legends comp was the best thing that could have happened,’ he said.
‘Yeah? Why?’ I asked.
‘I’ve been back down.’
‘Bryce! To the tunnels? You idiot!’
There was a pause. Dad was walking past and giving me a strange look.
‘Sorry, Bryce. Well, did you find anything interesting? Bump into anyone I know?’
I had calmed down, and Dad had moved on to the kitchen. ‘Bryce, was the cup still there?’ I whispered.
‘It was. And now it’s back in our library, hidden safely.’
‘Well done, Brycey. But you should have told us. We would have come with you.’
‘No, I couldn’t put you guys through that again. As it was, I almost got caught. This time there were kids coming from the Hoods school, so I raced back along the tunnel and out through our library. But there were some old Hoods school photos in the Hoods hide out that I should have grabbed. And something else, too.’
‘What do you mean, Hoods photos?’ I asked. ‘And what was the something else?’
Dad walked past again holding a mug of hot chocolate. He pointed at the mug, then at me with his eyebrows raised. I nodded, giving him a thumbs up for good measure.
‘Mitchell, there were a couple of basketball notes from the Legends noticeboard, and the Sandhurst team sheets.’
‘Yeah? They were probably down there planning tactics for tomorrow’s game,’ I said.
‘Mitch?’
‘Yeah?’
‘The notes were in Mrs Cartwright’s scrawl. It was definitely her handwriting.’
Now, that did make me wonder.
‘So, what are you thinking, Bryce?’
‘Not sure. But it could be that Mrs Cartwright doesn’t want her team, Sandhurst, to win tomorrow. Then again, maybe Sandhurst isn’t actually her team.’
‘Bryce?’
‘Yes, Mitchell?’
‘You’re spooking me.’
‘That’s what Becky said.’
‘She did? You rang her, too?’
‘Yep. Don’t worry. I’ll catch you tomorrow.’
‘Okay. Bye,’ I said.
It was only after I’d put the phone down that I realised I hadn’t told him his quiz score. He probably wasn’t that interested anyway.
I looked at the Legends noticeboard when I walked into school, just out of habit. There were two new notes as well as the quiz results. One note, from Mrs Waite, was typed. It provided details of the day’s schedule for students walking to the basketball stadium. A note had already been sent home about it. The Legends kids (the firsts and seconds) would be leaving at 12:30p
m after an early lunch.
The second note, scrawled in pen and finished off in pencil, gave the scores for the matches between the thirds and fourths.
‘It’ll be great to see Jack again,’ said Bubba, as we headed across the road to the stadium.
‘Yeah, hopefully he’ll be playing in the Ascot firsts,’ I said. ‘Then again, maybe we’d be better off if he was in the seconds.’
The huge stadium was already filling up with spectators. There was a section for each school. I had visited the stadium a few times before, but had never actually played there. It had four full-sized courts, electronic scoreboards, and benches for the teams.
A huge pack of kids was straining to get a look at something on a noticeboard just inside the entrance.
‘Here you go, boys. I took the liberty of photocopying a few draws for you,’ Mr Bronsen said, as we stood there trying to get a look.
‘Cool, thanks Mr Bronsen,’ I said.
He gave me a stack of copies and told me to hand them out to the Sandhurst players as they arrived.
THE BASKETBALL DRAW
BOYS-Firsts
Scornly v Sandhurst
(Crt 1)
1:00pm
Wetherhood v Ascot
(Crt 2)
1:00pm
Ascot v Sandhurst
(Crt 1)
2:30pm
Wetherhood v Scornly
(Crt 2)
2:30pm
Ascot v Scornly
(Crt 1)
4:00pm
Wetherhood v Sandhurst
(Crt 2)
4:00pm
BOYS-Seconds
Scornly v Sandhurst
(Crt 1)
1:45pm
Wetherhood v Ascot
(Crt 2)
1:45pm
Ascot v Sandhurst
(Crt 1)
3:15pm
Wetherhood v Scornly
(Crt 2)
On the Buzzer Page 4