Boot Camp by Eric Walters Read Free Book Online

she veered over, cutting me off! I hit the brakes and steered hard to the right to avoid rear-ending her cart. She slowed down as she got to the curve, and I went wide to avoid contact. I put the pedal to the metal, shooting by her, keeping the accelerator down until the last second, braking and steering into the curve. At least that would be the end of Kia.
    I pushed down on the pedal, moving through the straight section and then braking at the next curve and—
BANG
! I was jerked forward in my seat—she’d smashed into my rear end and bounced me forward! If I hadn’t had both hands firmly on the wheel she might have forced me right off the track.
    Whether it was an accident or on purpose, she wasn’t getting by me. I picked up speed. I glanced over my left shoulder—she wasn’t there. I looked over the right—she was just back and off to one side. She was smiling! I’d wipe that smile off her face.
    I hit the last corner, braking at the last second, cranked the wheel and slid into the corner. As soon as I started to straighten out again, I pushed the pedal to the metal and surged forward. There was another long straightaway, and I pushed the cart probably harder than I should have but as fast as I needed to in order to stay in front of her.
    Up ahead were two tight curves. I stayed hard on the accelerator until the last moment, started to brake and—
BANG
—she bashed into me again, jerking my head forward. Unbelievably she started to pass me on the outside. I let my cart go wider and wider until there was no room to pass. The two carts touched, and Kia’s cart shot off the track and onto the grass.
    She bounced and bumped and slowed down dramatically. I pressed down on the brakes and slid to a stop…was she okay? She came to a stop in a cloud of dust. Quickly I undid my shoulder strap and jumped out of the cart, racing toward her and—she started to drive away! She continued across the grass, slowly moving, cutting the corner of the curve until she edged back onto the asphalt. Then she quickly accelerated and was gone before I could even react. I raced backtoward my cart. I knew she’d be waiting at the finish line—a smug smile on her face—a smile that wouldn’t last through the next lap, when I was
really
going to show her how to go-cart.

Chapter Six
    â€œGood morning, everybody,” Sergeant Push-up said.
    He almost sounded cheerful. Maybe he was going to be easier on us today—or maybe he was just looking forward to us doing a million more push-ups.
    We were all standing spread out along the baseline. Kia was just beside me. Two down from her was our good friend—we’d found out his name was Jamal. I’d watched as people came in. Lots of different people seemed to know each other. They talked and laughed and played around. Jamal was like us and he didn’t seem to know anybody.
    â€œIt’s good to see that we’re all here on time this morning,” Sergeant Push-up said. He casta look at Jerome, who looked down at his feet. I knew it was just an act, but Jerome was a pretty good actor.
    â€œBefore we start the warm-ups, Jerome will say a few words,” he said.
    Jerome walked to the front. “Thanks,” he said. “Glad you all came back today. I was hoping we hadn’t scared any of you away. The first thing we’re going to do today is divide you all up into teams. Each team will have seven players and those players will be teammates for the remainder of the week.”
    I looked down the line. I had been checking out the players yesterday—figuring out who was good and who wasn’t. I knew some of the best basketball players in the world came from the Washington area and I’d been nervous about playing against them. Coming here I’d wondered if we would be good enough, if we could compete. Now I wasn’t so worried. There were a couple of players who looked like they were