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“Like, in a couple of hours.”
    He pushed up his glasses and squinted at me. “I think we’ve gone over this. I’m not going to make the team, Owen.”
    â€œI know,” I said, nodding. “But we want to make sure you do okay.”
    â€œWe practiced on the weekend,” he said. “You told me to just stand there.”
    â€œI know, but—”
    â€œYou said that would be enough.” He was starting to look worried.
    â€œSure, but—”
    â€œYou think I’m doomed?” he asked, sounding just like that Jason kid on his brainiac team.
    â€œOkay, never mind the practice,” I told him. “Do you think you’ll be able to block the shots the way you did at Sunset Park?”
    He held his books tight against his bony chest. “I think so.”
    â€œThen you’re cool. All you have to do is show up, stand there, and when it’s over, you’ll never have to worry about basketball again.”
    At least that’s what I thought.

The Intersection of Sets
    When I met the Masters team during afternoon break, I was in bad shape. Any ideas I’d had about surviving tryouts had been destroyed by Owen.
    And, more importantly, my confidence in my Masters skills had been seriously damaged during the practice session with Beaumont. I’d been useless.
    But then I found out I had even more to worry about.
    â€œWe have a problem,” Sara said.
    â€œAnother one?” I asked. “Maybe our fund-raiser should be selling ‘We have a problem’ T-shirts.”
    â€œVery funny,” Nitu said. “But we do need to talk about the fund-raiser.”
    â€œOkay, let’s meet tomorrow, at our usual—”
    â€œIt’s my dad’s birthday tomorrow,” Nitu interrupted. “Remember? We rescheduled our regular meeting for today.”
    â€œYeah, and we have to figure out the fund-raising
today
,” Jason said, nodding. “We talked to Mr. Wills this morning, and if we’re going to set up any kind of a booth at school, we need to give forty-eight hours’ notice.”
    Forty-eight hours? That
was
a problem. The registration had to be paid by Monday!
    â€œBut they didn’t give us any notice that they wouldn’t pay the whole fee,” I reasoned.
    â€œRussell,” our math whiz said, resting a hand on my arm. “They don’t care.”
    â€œOkay,” I said, trying to think of an alternative. “Let’s not have the fund-raiser at school.”
    â€œWhere else are we going to do it?” Nitu asked, hands on her hips.
    It was my turn to shrug. “We don’t even know what ‘it’ is, yet.”
    â€œWhich is why we all need to meet after school
today
,” Jason said. “We have to get this figured out.”
    â€œYou guys know I have basketball tryouts.”
    Jason took another look at my Nikes, and this time he didn’t look impressed at all.
    â€œRussell,” Nitu said, shaking her head. “Don’t you see how important this is?”
    â€œOf course I do,” I told her. “Obviously, it’s moreimportant to me than the tryouts, but there’s nothing I can do. I was told to be there.”
    â€œWhat are we supposed to do?” Sara asked.
    â€œHave the meeting without me,” I told them. “Just like we planned.”
    â€œWithout you, but
with
Arthur?” Nitu asked, raising an eyebrow.
    â€œHas he told anyone whether he’s joining the team?” I asked, dreading the answer.
    They all shook their heads.
    â€œWell, if he wants to, we can’t leave him out of the meetings.” Which was too bad. “And who knows? He might have come up with some great ideas.”
    â€œLike having his father pay off the principal so he won’t demand forty-eight hours’ notice?” Jason asked, rolling his eyes.
    â€œVery funny,” I said. “Look, Arthur was probably just being