Jack looked out the window of his mom's company sedan and watched the sun rise from the east. He checked the back seat to see if Ox had nodded off again. Sure enough, Ox was sleeping on the way to school again. Jack knew that if he was trying to work a part time job the nights he wasn't practicing that he would be exhausted too, but Ox somehow would wake up from his morning car naps to be more energized than Jack would be any time of the day. All Jack had to do was think of another grueling practice with Mr. Roderick and he would automatically regress to being tired.
Mr. Roderick had the Davis basketball team practicing four nights a week and they would round out their week with a skills camp on Saturday. Jack enjoyed Saturday's the most because he didn't have to run quite so much and after Mr. Roderick saw his shooting skills he had elevated him to the sixth man on the team. Jack would theoretically be the first man off the bench in a game. Ox of course was the star player on the team and played center. Josiah earned the starting strong forward position and Keevan was the team's starting point guard. The other two starters were the best defensive players on the team. They were identical twins and one was named David and the other Derrick. Most of the boys on the team couldn't tell David and Derrick apart. Both boys had closely shaved heads and were just as dark as Ox, but were very clean cut. Jack heard Keevan and Josiah making fun of them at one of the skills camps because the twin's dad was a preacher.
Jack still had amnesty with Keevan and Josiah, but every so often one of them would bump him or call him a name. Ox was usually close by and Jack would shrug it off as an incidental occurrence. The last week though had been different. All the boys on the team knew that the season would be starting and that they needed to get ready for their first game of the year.
Davis was scheduled to play the third place team from last year's season. Jack still hadn't found out the name of the team or what part of Denver they were from. All he knew was that they were the third place team and Mr. Roderick didn't let the team forget it. The game was scheduled for Friday night and would be played at the Davis gymnasium. Jack was excited, but also nervous about playing. Ox told him that he probably wouldn't play too much because Mr. Roderick made sure that his starters could play the whole game without tiring out. Jack still felt awkward about it and when his mom invited Greg and Amanda to come, he was even more nervous.
Greg had handled Jack's decision to play for Davis better than Jack anticipated. He stopped talking to Jack about basketball all the time and instead focused on asking about school work and industrial arts. Greg was fascinated to learn that Jack's school had a class devoted to teaching students about computers and other career oriented concepts. Amanda on the other hand was wrapped up in Jack's basketball team. She was fascinated by the the team's ability to be a team while segregating themselves from each other. She did not understand why Ox and Jack didn't try to be closer friends with the twins or the other bench players and she was constantly amazed at how Keevan and Josiah consistently ostracized themselves from the other players.
Jack smiled as he thought about Amanda's questions and interest in his basketball team. His mom was pulling up to the school forty five minutes before classes started as usual and dropping the boys off at the cafeteria so they could go get a hot breakfast. When Ox and Jack found out that the school gave out free breakfast to any student that showed up, they decided to take advantage of their early arrival. It also benefited Ox because his math teacher came to the cafeteria almost every day and helped Ox get through his math homework.
The car came to a stop and Jack's mom looked back at Ox and silently chuckled.
"Do you want to get him out of the car?"
"Let's go Ox...we're at school."
"Aight...I's up...Le's go."
Jack and Ox got out of the car and waved to Jack's mom.
"Did you remember your bus tokens?"
Jack gave his mom thumbs up. He still couldn't believe that she made him take the public bus home, but it was the only way to make things work with his mom's busy schedule. She had already received a promotion at work and was scheduled to attend managers training the next summer if she could maintain her current record of exceptional work. Jack was happy for his mom, but missed all the time they used to have together in Parsons. He looked over at Ox who was still shaking off some of the early morning cobwebs and knew that even though he didn't have as much time with his mom he had found a new best friend.
"Whatcha think they'll have for breakfast today?"
"Not sure country boy...dem fools is always mixin' up somein' different."
"Did you finish your math last night?"
"Come on now...I's got help every mornin' here."
Ox smiled as if he was holding an evil secret.
"You've only got help cause your teacher thinks you need it."
"Dat's cool by me...I's tryin' to get into algebra next semester."
"Really?"
"Really!...I's smart country boy...I jus' don't like to show it."
"I never said you weren't...I'm just surprised...that's all."
"And how be dat science class goin'?"
"Fi...ne...why do you ask?"
"Cause I seen you stressin' out bout' it wit' Amanda."
"That's her science class Ox...your crazy man."
"You crazy bout' dat girl...I's tellin' da truth!"
Jack turned completely red and didn't know if he wanted to hit Ox in the arm or laugh giddily.
"We are friends Ox...that's all we are...she's always liked talking to me."
"Den why's you so red?"
"You caught me off guard...that's all..."
"You's think I's aint seein' notin'...but I's sees lots."
"Okay Ox!...let's go in and get some food."
"Whoa!...now country boy angry...you's like her!"
"Of course I like her Ox...but she's not gonna like me back...and I'm not gonna give Alan another reason to hate me."
"You aint gotta worry bout' dat fool...he gonna git shut down by da Ox!"
"We've gotta worry about our game on Friday...not on Alan."
"Mr. Crazy jus' tryin' to git all you fools worried bout' some team we kill last year...dem ain't dat good."
"Well they're probably better than me and I might get put in the game."
Ox opened the door to the cafeteria and both boys walked into the smell of hot maple syrup and pancakes.
"I's gonna ask for two helpins'."
"Stop thinking with your stomach Ox...seriously...what if they put me in the game."
"Den you's gonna shoot lights out and bring down da rain."
Ox hurried off to the cafeteria line following his nose. Jack watched Ox sweet talk one of the cafeteria workers into giving him two trays of food. Jack couldn't sweet talk a cinnamon roll, but Ox had this way of being polite and innocent with adults. After both boys made it through the line they sat down to eat.
"You really think I'll play well?"
"Jus' do what Mr. Crazy taught ya...stay in front of yo man and git open for a shot..."
Jack remembered everything he had learned the last several weeks and how his hard work had paid off. He had beat out two other boys to claim the sixth man spot. He had proven that he could run to Mr. Roderick's standard and that he had the stamina to keep trying. He knew that Ox was right about doing what he had been taught, but he still didn't know if he had the confidence to do all the things he had done in practice.
Ox scarfed down another pancake while Jack kept cutting his pancakes into smaller pieces. He didn't know what he would do if he was put into the game, so he started thinking about how Ox was about to demoralize the team they would face on Friday. Jack tried hard to forget about his own anxiety and ultimately resolved to focus on Ox and less on himself and hopefully things would work out.