Read Online Boot Camp by Eric Walters - Free Book Online

seventh cousin, twice removed,” he said.
    Kia and I laughed.
    â€œI just wish my father would occasionally play something else besides jazz,” I said. “But he told me I could play whatever I wanted…when I had my own car.”
    â€œSounds about right,” Sergeant Push-up said.
    The music stopped and everybody started to cheer.
    â€œExcuse me,” Sergeant Push-up said. “It’s time to get down to a little business.” He walked to the front of the stage and talked to Jerome, who handed him a microphone.
    â€œOkay, everybody, time to stop sitting around and start playing some ball!”
    Another cheer went up from the crowd, and we all got up and started to move.
    â€œDo I see people walking?” Sergeant Kevin yelled.
    If he did, he didn’t now, as everybody started to move twice as fast. Nobody wanted to do push-ups to start the day.
    â€œBefore we start to play we’re going to make a few changes to the teams,” JYD said.
    There was a grumbling sound as people reacted and looked around. Some people would be happy to be with new people.
    We all sat in rows with our “old” teammates. Jamal sat at the end of our line, separated by an open space on the floor. He was, in his mind, already gone, and the open piece of gym floor wasn’t the only thing that separated him from us.
    I wondered how many changes there were going to be. I really wanted Kia to stay on my team, but I knew there was a chance we’d be separated. That was the price I’d have to pay to not be on the same team as Jamal…not that he was bothering me that much. It was Kia he was driving crazy. Probably as crazy as she was driving him. Funny, I thought the two of them had a lot incommon—not that I’d say that to either of them. If we had played together—really played together as a team—we could have done well. The easiest thing would be if they just traded Jamal for somebody else. The only bad part about that was that I thought he was good. We’d probably be trading down for somebody with less talent but a better attitude.
    â€œWhen we set the teams, we try to balance the teams as much as we can but sometimes we don’t do it right,” Jerome said.
    â€œMistakes happen,” Johnnie said from the back, and we all turned slightly around. “The biggest mistake you can make is not correcting what’s wrong. Most people can’t admit their mistakes and refuse to get on with making it better.”
    â€œWe’re going to make some slight adjustments,” Sergeant Josh added. “If I call out your name, you stand up and we’ll tell you what team to join.”
    This was good. If he was just calling out a few names, it was more likely there wouldn’t be more than one per team—better odds that Kia and I would stay together…unless one of us was the person being traded.
    Sergeant Kevin called out a name, and a player at the far end stood up. He called out a second player who also stood.
    â€œThe two of you change teams,” he said.
    Of course I recognized both guys, but neither had seemed like a real standout. Both of those teams had done okay in the drills.
    He called out two more names, and two more players switched teams. It did look like one change per team. That would probably mean one change for our team. What if it wasn’t Jamal who moved? What if it was Kia…or me? Things would get pretty interesting if Kia and Jamal stayed on the same team, especially without me there to sort things out if they got nasty. Then again, if I wasn’t there I wouldn’t have to sort things out. It was up to the two of them to work it through.
    Sergeant Kevin called out another name, and the guy sitting right in front of me got up. If I was right and they were only trading one player per team, that meant Jamal was going nowhere…and neither were we. I turned around to say something to Kia but thought I had