As she drove along, Tipper kept to the speed limit, but Jessie could see she was gripping the wheel. “I should have searched the office for a note or something,” Tipper told the girls. “If Tom or Frank took our bags, they probably left a note.”
“Maybe Mr. Fowler would, but Tom is so forgetful, I don’t think he would remember to do that,” Jessie pointed out.
When Tipper and the Aldens arrived at the Greenfield High School gym, they were disappointed. Frank had only delivered the Blue Stars’ bags. The Fast Breakers’ bags were nowhere to be seen, and the game was starting very soon.
“Finally!” Patsy Cutter said with relief when she saw Tipper and the Aldens. “The whole team was wondering where you guys were. They’re in the locker room waiting for their uniforms and basketball sneakers. The Blue Stars are already out on the court warming up. What happened, anyway?”
“I’ll tell you in a minute,” Tipper said. “Ask the girls to meet me in the hallway outside the gym, okay? I need to speak to everyone without the Blue Stars around.”
“There’s not enough time,” Patsy said. “We have to change.”
Tipper took a deep breath. “I just need five minutes, Patsy. Please bring the team out to the hallway.”
When Patsy passed back through the gym with the girls, Courtney and the Blue Stars were already warming up. They stared at the Fast Breakers. Why were they still in their street clothes? Weren’t they going to warm up before the big game?
Tipper stood in front of her team in the hallway. “There’s been a mix-up with the uniforms and sneakers,” she began. “We’re just waiting for Tom to show up. I’m counting on him to get here any minute.”
“Are we going to forfeit the game?” Patsy asked. “We can’t play without our uniforms or basketball sneakers. What’s going on?”
Tipper shook her head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel as if someone is making these mix-ups happen.”
At that moment, Courtney came out. “It’s less than half an hour to game time.”
“We know, we know,” Patsy said miserably to her old coach.
“Never mind us, Courtney,” Tipper said. “We’ll be there.” Tipper Nettleton wasn’t about to let this upset her girls. “Now listen. Remember the drills we did? I want you to take a couple of basketballs, then go to the outside court and warm up. Patsy and Jessie will coach you. The second the bags get here, zoom into the locker room, change, and get ready to play. We’re going to win, right?”
There was a long pause.
“Right!” Jessie and Violet shouted.
“Right!” the others finally joined in as they followed Patsy and the Aldens outside.
Inside the gym, the bleachers were packed. Buzz and the Aldens noticed that only the Blue Stars were out on the court.
“Where are the Fast Breakers?” Henry asked Buzz.
“I’m going to find out,” Buzz said. “Something’s wrong. Tipper knows how important the warm-up is. Her players will be tense for the game if they don’t practice first.”
“I’ll come with you,” Henry said.
They found Tipper by a pay phone in the hallway. She was waiting nervously for a woman to finish a call. “Buzz, Henry — thank goodness you’re both here. We may have to forfeit the game. The duffel bags with our uniforms and sneakers haven’t arrived. Did either one of you see them the last time you were at the sports center?”
Henry’s mouth dropped. “The team doesn’t have its uniforms?”
“Oh, no! That’s an automatic forfeit,” Buzz said. “Do you want me to go back to the sports center to look for the bags?”
Tipper shook her head. “It’s too late for that. I’m trying to reach Tom Hooper. He put some of the paint equipment in the closet at the sports center where I’d stored the duffel bags. I’m hoping he’s on his way here with the bags.”
At last the person using the pay phone hung up. Tipper dropped some coins in. She quickly punched in Tom Hooper’s home number. She shifted from foot to foot.
Tipper put down the receiver. “Tom’s not there. How can I break this to the team? They’ve practiced so hard. Hey, why are you smiling, Buzz?”
Buzz looked over Tipper’s shoulder and kept on smiling. “Look who’s running down the hall! And check out what he’s got in his hands.”
Tipper whirled around. Tom Hooper was stumbling down the hall as best he could with a heavy duffel bag in each hand.
Tipper broke into a run. She grabbed the bags from Tom. “Thank goodness you’re here! We were looking all over for you. I figured you had the bags. Where were you?”
“I went to Warwick High School,” Tom confessed, looking a little confused. “When I asked Courtney where the game was, she said, ‘The high school gym.’ So I went to my old gym at Warwick High by mistake. That’s where Courtney and I used to go to high school. Isn’t that funny?”
No one was laughing.
Poor Tom. It took him a while to notice everyone’s panic. “Uh-oh, does this mean you might forfeit the game?” he asked.
“Not if I can help it,” Tipper answered. “Now you and Buzz go outside. Tell the team to hurry to the locker room and change. They’ve only got a few minutes to get out on the court.”
The national anthem was already playing when the Fast Breakers finally appeared in the gym. Some of the girls hadn’t quite pulled up their socks. Some sneakers were untied. But each of the girls stood tall and faced the Blue Stars across the way. The big game was about to begin.
The Fast Breakers lived up to their name. When the starting buzzer went off, Patsy tipped the ball to Jessie. A tall Blue Stars player stayed on Jessie like a shadow. Jessie remembered all her training with Tipper.
“Look, she’s passing the ball to Violet!” Soo Lee said from the bleachers.
“It’s Aldens all the way!” Henry shouted. He was proud that his sisters got the ball so early in the game.
Violet was surrounded by Blue Stars players. The Aldens could see that she was nervous.
“Good, she’s passing the ball back to Patsy,” Buzz said.
“Do you think Patsy is going to shoot now?” Henry asked Buzz.
“I hope not,” Buzz answered. “She’s too far away. She should pass it to Mary Kate. She’s a lot closer to the basket.”
Though Patsy was some distance from the backboard, she seemed about to shoot. Then she caught a glimpse of Tipper on the sidelines.
“Great! She’s passing it to Mary Kate, and . . . it’s in!” Buzz screamed. “Mary Kate scored the first two points!”
“Go, girls!” Henry shouted out.
“The Blue Stars are fantastic, but they’re all over the place,” Buzz pointed out at half-time. The Fast Breakers were ahead by six points. “Tipper’s girls are like a drill team. They know all their teammates’ steps plus their own. Way to go!”
“Can we go down and see the team?” Benny asked Buzz.
“You bet,” Buzz said. “Here, I’ll help you get through the crowds.”
Down on the court, Buzz, Soo Lee, and Benny waited until Tipper finished her half-time pep talk. “You girls just keep playing the second half like the first. I know the Blue Stars are rough and tough, but they’re getting tired. If I know Courtney, she’ll keep playing the same few players.”
“I’m not tired at all,” one of the Fast Breakers said.
“Neither am I,” several of the other girls mumbled.
“Hey, Aldens, how do you think we’re doing?” Tipper asked.
“Incredible!” Henry answered.
“You’re the best ones,” Benny answered. “Even though you were late.”
The whole team laughed when they heard this.
“Well, we’re not going to be late for the second half,” Jessie said. “Wish us luck.”
“Good luck!” Buzz and the Aldens yelled.
The huddle broke up. Buzz and the Aldens returned to the bleachers.
The second half began. The game was never even close.
“The Blue Stars look as if they’re running through Jell-O,” Buzz said when the game was in the final minutes.
Soo Lee pulled Buzz’s arm. “I don’t see any Jell-O.”
Mr. Alden and Henry laughed.
“They have rubber legs,” Buzz explained to the little girl.
This made Soo Lee even more confused.
Benny knew what Buzz meant. “You know how when we get tired, we get floppy legs, Soo Lee? Like that.”
“The Blue Stars are tired,” Henry said. “Courtney doesn’t rotate players the way Tipper does. So even their good players are making a lot of mistakes.”
Henry was right. As the second half of the game went on, the Blue Stars made more mistakes than baskets. The Fast Breakers were on a streak. By the time the final buzzer went off, the score was 32–22. The Fast Breakers fans broke into a roar.
“Look, Soo Lee!” Benny said, pointing to the Fast Breakers down on the court. “The Fast Breakers have rubber legs, too. They’re jumping up and down like rubber balls!”
“You were the best, Jessie,” Benny said when everybody went down to congratulate the team.
“And you were the best,” Soo Lee told Violet.
“The team was the best!” Buzz told his sister. “It was almost like those old Greenfield-Warwick games. They were great, but you girls were even better. Congratulations, everybody. Now go out on the court. The mayor is going to present your trophy.”
The Fast Breakers stood straight and tall in a line in the middle of the basketball court. Flashbulbs went off all over the gym as proud parents and friends snapped picture after picture of the winning team.
Everyone quieted down when they heard the scratchy sound of a microphone.
“I am pleased to present the league trophy to the coach of the Fast Breakers, Tipper Nettleton,” the mayor announced to the excited fans.
Tipper waved and smiled at the crowd. The mayor handed her the league trophy in one hand and the microphone in the other.
Tipper waited for the crowd to quiet down again. She looked at the crowd and held up the trophy. “I’m going to hand this over to my players to hold one by one. This league trophy doesn’t belong to me, but to each of the Fast Breakers. They’re a great team.”
With that, Tipper gave the trophy to the first girl in the Fast Breakers lineup, who passed it to the next girl. The crowd applauded loudly as each girl held it up for the crowd.
The trophy reached Patsy Cutter, who was the last girl in line. But Patsy wouldn’t take it. Finally the other girl gave up and handed the trophy to Tipper instead.
When the team went to the locker room to change, Patsy just got her things and left. Why wasn’t she staying and celebrating with her teammates? In the excitement of their victory, the girls forgot about Patsy and just kept hugging and cheering. They were the champs! |