Bad-Luck Basketball

by Thomas Kingsley Troupe

  It wasn’t like he didn’t have a good reason for deciding to skip the game. After what had happened at practice the day before, Brandon was pretty sure that his bad-luck curse was real. And since the Clovers only had one chance at getting into the play-offs, they needed all the good luck they could get.

  On top of that, no one else seemed to have noticed the date of Friday’s game — Friday the thirteenth.

  That settled it. Brandon knew he had to skip the game. He wouldn’t even be able to go watch his teammates play. He had to stay as far away as possible. Taking a deep breath, Brandon knocked on Coach Hanson’s door.

  “Come in!” Coach hollered from the other side of the door.

  Brandon pushed the door open and stepped into Coach Hanson’s office. The space was small, as if it had once been a custodian’s closet, but Coach kept it neat and organized. Team photos from past seasons decorated the small desk, and a thin shelf overhead held a few well-worn coaching books.

  Coach Hanson looked up as Brandon entered the office. “Brandon,” he said with a smile. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. “You’re a little early. Practice doesn’t start for another twenty minutes.”

  “I know, Coach,” Brandon said. He stood for a moment, twisting the strap of his backpack nervously. “I just need to talk to you about something.”

  Coach Hanson set down the clipboard he was holding and looked at Brandon. “What can I do for you?” Coach asked.

  I should just tell him I’m bad luck, Brandon thought. And that I’m afraid of losing the big game for the Clovers. If we don’t make the play-offs, it’ll be all my fault.

  Instead, he pushed ahead with his plan. “I won’t be able to play in the game on Friday,” Brandon said quickly. He had to get the words out before he could change his mind. “Some family stuff came up.”

  Coach Hanson sat back in his chair, making it squeak slightly. He rubbed his temples with his fingers and shook his head. He clearly wasn’t happy about the news.

  “This is terrible, Brandon,” Coach said. “We really need you.”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” Brandon replied. He did feel bad. But not bad enough to risk cursing the rest of the team with his bad luck.

  “I’m sorry if that sounded rude,” Coach said, shaking his head. “I apologize. I do hope everything is okay. Family matters always come first, of course.”

  “Of course,” Brandon said. He felt his stomach turn. He already regretted his decision to lie to the coach. It’s for the good of the team, he reminded himself.

  “We’ll have to switch our lineup around quite a bit,” Coach Hanson said, mostly to himself. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then grabbed his binder and flipped it open. As Brandon watched, Coach put a slash through Brandon’s name on the roster.

  “I’m sure the team will be fine without me,” Brandon said, trying to make himself feel better about his decision.

  With everything that had happened since he’d walked under that stupid ladder, it wasn’t hard to believe that statement to be true. At least with him out of the way, no one would twist any more ankles, get hit in the head with the ball, or who knew what else.

  “Well, we’ll manage,” Coach said, “but it’s hard to be a team when a big part of it is missing. I know we’ve had kind of a rough season, but seeing you guys work together on the court always made me think this was the year we’d finally get to the play-offs.”

  Brandon’s stomach flipped again. He needed to get out of the coach’s office before he felt any worse about his lie. Or broke down and came clean. He knew Coach would try to convince him to play.

  “Well, I need to head home,” Brandon said quickly. “Sorry again, Coach.”

  “Take care, Brandon,” Coach said. “I hope everything is okay. Make sure to wish us luck on Friday, would you?”

  Brandon nodded. “Yeah,” he said, taking another deep breath. “Of course. Well, good luck.” With that, he closed the office door behind him, leaving the coach alone to figure out what to do with the team.

  As he walked home, Brandon told himself he’d made the right choice. All that mattered was that the Clovers won their game on Friday. And in order for that to happen, Brandon knew he couldn’t be there.

  CHAPTER 5

  IT’S TRUE!

  Brandon didn’t bother going to practice that night. If he wasn’t going to play on Friday, there really wasn’t any point. Instead, while the Clovers were back at school preparing for the big game, Brandon shot some hoops at the public park near his home.

  The rest of the park was empty, so Brandon had the court all to himself. He drove the ball back and forth between the hoops, mixing up his shots. He did layups on both sides of the hoop, jump shots from the edge of the key, free throws from the line, and even sank several three-pointers in a row. He definitely didn’t play like someone cursed with bad luck.

  Maybe it’s just when I’m around the others, Brandon thought as he shot the ball up toward the basket. It bounced off the rim, hit a curb, and flew out into the street. Two seconds later, a car drove past, knocking the ball down the road and out of sight.

  “Nope,” Brandon said with an unhappy groan. “Still got it.”

  He went after the ball and found it two blocks away, flattened and limp in the gutter. So much for one-on-none practice.

  * * *

  Later that night, Brandon ate dinner with his parents. Nobody asked how practice had gone, so he didn’t tell them he’d skipped out. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to tell them when they wanted to go to the game on Friday.

  When he was almost done eating, the phone rang. Brandon recognized Jeff’s number and excused himself to take the call.

  “Hey, Jeff,” Brandon answered.

  “What’re you doing?” Jeff asked.

  “Just finishing dinner, what —” Brandon started to say.

  “No,” Jeff interrupted. “I mean why are you skipping out on the big game tomorrow night?”

  Brandon paused, not sure what to say. He doubted his friend was going to buy his excuse as easily as Coach had.

  When Brandon didn’t speak up quickly enough, Jeff jumped back in. “It’s this bad luck garbage again, isn’t it?” he asked. “You believe in that stuff now?”

  “How can I not?” Brandon snapped. “You saw what happened the other day! The lights went out, and people were smacking into each other in the dark. How does that happen?”

  Jeff laughed like he couldn’t believe how ridiculous he sounded. “Dude, there was a power surge! It had nothing to do with you!”

  Brandon wasn’t so sure. It seemed like bad luck followed him no matter where he went lately. To prove his point he asked, “So how did practice go? Anything bad happen without me there?”

  Jeff was quiet for a few seconds. “Well, not really . . .” he began.

  “See?” Brandon cried. “You guys had a normal practice without me and my bad luck there to mess things up.”

  Jeff groaned. “So any time something bad happens, you’re going to blame yourself? That’s stupid!”

  Brandon didn’t think so. “I can’t be the reason the Clovers lose tomorrow,” he insisted. “Do you know how awful I’d feel?”

  Jeff groaned again. “So what? You’re done playing basketball now?” he asked. “You walk under a ladder and that’s the end of it?” He laughed, making Brandon feel a little foolish.

  “No,” Brandon admitted. “I’ll play again. Maybe once this dumb curse finally wears off. Whenever that is.”

  “So how will you know?” Jeff demanded. “When strange things stop happening?”

  Brandon thought about the basketball he’d managed to destroy after school. “I’ll know,” he said, deciding to keep the poor basketball’s fate to himself. “Trust me.”

  “Whatever, man,” Jeff said. “You’re making a mistake. But you’re clear
ly not going to listen to me. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

  When Brandon hung up, he felt even worse than he had before. He’d thought he was doing the right thing skipping the game. But if that’s the case, why does it feel so wrong? he wondered.

  CHAPTER 6

  BUSTED

  After school on Friday, Brandon went home and headed to his room. He dropped his backpack onto the floor and flopped facedown on his bed.

  As expected, his mom came up a few minutes later and poked her head in through the doorway. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I don’t feel good,” Brandon said. He kept his face in the pillow. “I feel like I might throw up.”

  His mom came in and put a hand on the back of his head. “Are you feeling nervous about the big game tonight?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Brandon admitted, happy he didn’t have to lie about that, at least. “I don’t think I’m feeling well enough to play.”

  His mom frowned. “Oh, no. This is the biggest game of the season, honey.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Brandon mumbled, his voice muffled against the pillow. “But I don’t want to barf all over the court.”

  In no time, his mom had brought him a glass of ginger ale and some soup. Brandon felt so bad about faking sick that he started actually feeling sick. He lay in bed, staring out the window as the sky grew darker.

  I wonder how the Clovers are doing so far, Brandon thought.

  The anticipation was driving him nuts. A few hours later, the phone rang. Brandon wanted to answer it, but needed to keep up the sick act.

  “Brandon!” his dad called from downstairs. “Jeff is on the phone for you!”

  “Okay,” Brandon croaked, hoping he sounded sick enough. He picked up the phone and hit the talk button. “Hello?”

  “Dude. You’re not going to believe it!” Jeff exclaimed. “We won! I bet you wish you hadn’t made up an excuse not to play tonight.”

  A moment later, Brandon heard a click as someone hung up the other phone. His dad had still been on the line.

  “You there?” Jeff asked. “Aren’t you excited?”

  Brandon felt his stomach drop but tried to focus enough to respond. “Yeah,” he managed. “Yeah, I’m here. That’s awesome.”

  As Jeff recounted the game’s highlights, Brandon only half heard him. He was excited that the Clovers were going to the play-offs, but there was a more pressing issue on his mind at the moment. Dad was on the phone when Jeff said I made up an excuse to skip the game, he thought. I’m busted. More bad luck.

  CHAPTER 7

  PLAY-OFF BOUND

  Brandon was right. His dad had heard what Jeff said on the phone, and as a result, Brandon spent the rest of the weekend grounded. And as if that punishment wasn’t bad enough, on Monday he had to confess to Coach Hanson that he’d lied to him, too.

  “I can’t say I’m happy about you lying to me, Brandon,” Coach Hanson said when Brandon told him the truth. “You’re a part of this team, and that rule applies all the time. You don’t get to pick and choose when you want to play. We needed you Friday.”

  “I’m sorry, Coach,” Brandon said. “I was just trying to do what was best for the team. I didn’t want to drag everyone down with my bad luck during the big game.”

  Coach Hanson shook his head. “Brandon, the only thing that’s going to bring us down is poor playing,” he said. “Bad luck has nothing to do with it.”

  “Does that mean I can come to practice today?” Brandon asked.

  “Of course,” Coach said. “As long as you come ready to play. And, Brandon? I’m glad you told me the truth.”

  * * *

  When Brandon arrived at practice that afternoon, none of his teammates said anything about him missing Friday’s game. It seemed like the only ones who knew the truth about why he’d skipped were Jeff and Coach Hanson.

  During practice, the Chesterfield Clovers were like a completely different team. They were more alert and had more energy than ever before. It was like their win on Friday had shot new life back into the team.

  No one mentioned the bad-luck business. Even Kevin kept quiet about it. When Brandon hit a sweet jump shot, Kevin came over and slapped him on the back.

  “Nice shot, B!” Kevin said.

  It’s good to be back, Brandon thought, smiling. The energy in the gym was electric. It felt like the bad luck was gone for good, and Brandon couldn’t have been happier.

  All week long, the Clovers played like a team. Everyone hustled big time during drills, running as hard and as fast as they could. They all concentrated and listened as Coach made suggestions and tweaks to the team’s lineup and defensive strategy.

  By the time they finished practice on Thursday, the Clovers felt ready for their first big play-off game the next night.

  Before they left, Coach gathered the team around the bench. “Bring it in, guys,” he said. “I just want to say, you’re all looking great out there. Last week we proved how badly we wanted this spot in the play-offs. This week, you’re showing me that making the play-offs isn’t enough. You want to win this thing.”

  The Clovers whooped and hollered with excitement.

  “Here’s the thing, guys,” Coach said. “Spring Hill isn’t expecting Chesterfield to be much of a challenge tomorrow night. We’re smaller, and they think we’re an easy win for them. They’re just expecting us to show up.”

  “Oh, we’ll show up all right,” Jeff said. “You can count on that!” Tony and Drew both grinned and high fived him.

  “That’s what I like to hear, boys,” Coach said. “Let’s use their low expectations to our advantage. We’ve got a rough road ahead of us, but if you guys keep the same intensity and spirit that you’ve shown over the past week, they’ll never know what hit ’em!”

  CHAPTER 8

  BAD-LUCK BUS RIDE

  On game day, the entire student body was pumped up about the Clovers’ spot in the play-offs. There was a pep rally in the gym after lunch, and everyone cheered louder than ever before.

  When school was finally over, the team met in the gym for the bus ride to Spring Hill. As they boarded the bus, Brandon could hardly contain his excitement. They were going to the play-offs!

  The bus ride was noisy as everyone talked excitedly about the upcoming game against the Spring Hill Hornets. They’d faced them in the past and had come close to beating them once, but ended up just a little short.

  “But we’re a different team now,” Drew said. “The Hornets have no idea what they’re in for!”

  As the bus headed out into the wooded countryside, Brandon peered out the window. There were trees all around, and the sky was starting to grow dark. He knew from past games out in Spring Hill that they were still about twenty minutes away.

  Twenty minutes away from the play-offs, Brandon thought. It’s a good time to be a Clover.

  Suddenly, without warning, the bus lurched and jerked to the right. There was a loud grinding sound, and the bus driver groaned. He slowed the bus down and pulled over to the side of the road. Brandon could smell bitter, metallic smoke.

  “Why are we stopping?” Tony asked.

  The rest of the players looked around in confused concern. The bus driver pulled the lever to open the front doors and stepped outside. The entire team moved to the front of the bus to see what was happening.

  Coach Hanson joined the driver outside, and together they carefully opened the bus’s hood. As soon as they did, a large plume of black smoke rose from the engine compartment.

  “Is the engine on fire?” Brandon cried.

  At the word fire, the whole team quickly scrambled out of the bus. When they got outside, they saw Coach Hanson shaking his head and looking disappointed.

  “I’ve got some bad news, guys,” the coach said. “The bus isn’t on fire, but it’s definitely not getting us to the game. No
t tonight, anyway.”

  Brandon felt his heart sink, and he closed his eyes. It felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach.

  We were so close, he thought. But now the Clovers were stuck.

  CHAPTER 9

  OF ALL THE LUCK

  Brandon knew they had to do something and they had to do it fast. The game started in less than an hour. “Guys,” Brandon said. “Come on. We can’t let this beat us!”

  Kevin, naturally, stepped forward and started in on Brandon again. “That’s great coming from the guy who brought us bad luck,” he said. “This never would’ve happened if —”

  “I’m tired of being the excuse you come up with,” Brandon interrupted. “We’re a team, and we need to start acting like one, even when things go bad. We’ve been doing great in practice and showing Coach we’re not the same team that started this season.”

  “He’s right,” Jeff said, and Brandon tried not to smile. “We have come a long way. Too far to give up now.”

  “Right,” Kevin said. “But did anyone else notice that we won our last game without Brandon there? It was like the bad luck took a break or something.”

  Brandon cringed, certain the rest of the Clovers would agree with Kevin. But surprisingly, no one else did.

  “We can stand around arguing about bad luck and superstitions all night, Kevin,” Brandon said. “It’s not going to help us get to the game. And if we don’t show up, we forfeit. The Hornets will win by default. We’ve worked too hard to let that happen.”

  “So what’s your bright idea?” Kevin asked sarcastically.

  “We can cross through the woods here and cut the time it takes to get to Spring Hill in half,” Brandon said. “If we hustle, we can make it. I know we can.”