Could You Please Pass That Over My Way?

From the beginning, he had been getting regular calls from Mrs. Plumber, who also managed to thoroughly irritate Dan by dropping by occasionally, sometimes unannounced. The next day, before Nathan was due at his first practice with the varsity squad, he found himself in the bathroom, nauseous and terrified. He had almost gotten himself psyched up to bail when he remembered that phone lines went both ways. Dan had insisted on giving him a cellphone "for emergencies", and Nathan decided this qualified. Making his way out of the courtyard, he pulled the phone out and dialed the number she had given him.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Plumber?"

"Nathan! I was just thinking about you. How's your first week under the same roof as Lucas going?"

"About how you'd expect."

"Still being a bit of a goon then?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to do like you told me and meet him halfway, but I don't think he's interested."

"Well, he's been an only child his whole life and is coming off a nasty divorce. You're not seeing him at his best."

"I know," Nathan said, running his fingers through his hair. "But something happened that I'm afraid might make it worse. I made the varsity squad."

"Dan must be thrilled." Mrs. Plumber's dry sarcasm was obvious even at a distance.

"Yeah, but Lucas is furious. I was starting shooting guard on JV, and that's his position on varsity."

"You're afraid he's afraid you're going after his position."

Nathan sighed. "Exactly."

He could hear Mrs. Plumber thinking. Finally she said "Have you tried talking to Dan about this?"

"No," he said, muttering "stupidstupidstupid" in his head. Of course this was the kind of thing he should be talking to Dan about.

"Well, try it. Basketball is the one thing you can always get him talking about. And he has a lot more experience with Lucas than you do, so maybe he'll have some ideas on how to connect with him. I'll try to talk to him a little the next time I'm over that way. Think that'll work?"

Nathan sighed. "Well, it's worth a shot."

"Exactly. Just remember when Yoda said 'there is no try, only do', he was full of crap. You can't do anything until you try it."

Nathan laughed, said his goodbyes, and hung up. Time to go face the music.

In the locker room, the only one who acknowledged his presence was Jake. Lucas simply turned away and his posse, after a quiet snicker, followed suit. Nathan, remembering some of the hazing stories he'd been hearing, was very careful to make sure the locker was securely closed before going out into the gym.

"Carver! Get over here," Whitey bellowed. "Next time, take a little less time with your makeup. I've got a practice to run." Lucas chuckled. "Something to add, Scott?"

Lucas quickly put on a straight face. "No, Coach."

"Good, because you're nothing to boast about right now. Carver, I'm moving you from two guard to point. Jagielski, you'll stay at power forward. Got it?" There was general assent and Nathan gave a tiny sigh of relief. Now at least he didn't have to worry about threatening Lucas' position.

Practice could have gone better. Jake was okay, and a few of the other varsity players were apparently not as invested in the get-Nathan agenda, but Lucas and a guy named Tim were determined to make sure Nathan never got the ball, which made it hard to play point guard since his principal job was to pass the ball on to whoever had the best shot, and he couldn't pass a ball he couldn't get his hands on. After about 20 minutes of this, Whitey blew his whistle. "Scott! Having a little trouble with the concept of teamwork?"

"No coach. Just playing two guard, like I should be," Lucas said, his innocent face totally belied by his tone.

"Well, stop playing it so well. You may not share anywhere else, but you are going to share on this court, understand me?"

"Yes sir, Coach sir!"

In the next 20 minutes, Lucas passed the ball to Nathan exactly once.