Read Online Game Changers by Mike Lupica - Free Book Online

goes wrong …”
    He put his hands out, like he was helpless to explain it to Ben any better than that.
    Just the two of them out here behind the house. But really trying to be friends now. Be boys . Doing what you did at their age, trying to understand stuff.
    Ben said, “So you get scared sometimes. It happens.”
    â€œ All the time.”
    â€œ No , it doesn’t. If it did, you’d be throwing picks or fumbling snaps on every play.”
    Shawn was the one taking a deep breath now, the air then coming out of him in a big blast, saying, “The bigger the play the smaller I play. Maybe you didn’t notice as much last year, because we won all those games at the end. But believe me, I noticed.”
    â€œEverybody gets scared out there,” Ben said. “Even pros get scared. I read one time that this guy Bill Russell, played for the Celtics about a hundred years ago, used to boot before every single game.”
    Shawn tried to smile. “Whoa, I’m not that bad. I’m not booting.”
    â€œYou’re not bad at all!” Ben said. “You gotta find a way to have fun. This is supposed to be fun.”
    â€œYou’re not listening. It’s not fun for me.”
    Ben looked at him, this kid who seemed to have it all.
    â€œSo we gotta figure out a way to make it fun,” Ben said.
    If Shawn heard, he didn’t let on, just got up off the bench and came over to where Ben was sitting.
    â€œYou said we were friends now, right?” he said.
    Ben grinned, stretched out his arms, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Well, yeah .”
    â€œI’m not so good at being friends with guys. But when somebody is your friend, you can trust the guy, right?”
    â€œRight,” Ben said.
    â€œSo if I tell you something and you swear you won’t tell anybody else, you won’t. Right?”
    â€œSwear,” Ben said. “Like they say in the movies, I don’t talk even if I’m caught behind enemy lines.”
    But Shawn wasn’t kidding and Ben could see he wasn’t kidding.
    â€œSwear on your heart?”
    Ben went along, kept his own voice serious, put his hand over his heart and said, “On my heart.”
    â€œI don’t want to play quarterback,” Shawn O’Brien said.
    Ben said, “Come on, man, you made one lousy pass.”
    â€œNo, you don’t understand,” Shawn O’Brien said. “I never wanted to play quarterback in the first place.”
    Ben stared at him, hoping he didn’t look as surprised as he felt. Knowing he’d heard right, but not quite believing. Shawn had never wanted to play quarterback.
    Really?
    â€œYou ever tell your dad that?” Ben said.
    What came out of Shawn O’Brien now wasn’t much more than a whisper.
    â€œI can’t,” he said.
    â€œYou can’t ?”
    â€œMy dad always says this is his dream backyard,” Shawn said. “He tells everybody that. But his real dream is me . Notjust me being a quarterback. Me being even a better quarterback than he was. It’s the most important thing in the world to him. No, no way I can tell him this. Ever .”
    Ben McBain liked to think he was pretty good, at least in sports, at anticipating what was going to happen next.
    Not this time.
    â€œThat’s why you have to help me,” Shawn said.
    â€œHelp you with what?” Ben said.
    Completely lost.
    Shawn said, “You have to help me be a quarterback.”

Not fair.
    That was Ben’s first reaction once he was back on his bike. First reaction and second and third as he took the long way home, going through town, giving himself some time to cool down, trying to figure out what had just happened.
    But as fast as his bike was, it couldn’t outrun this:
    How totally unfair it was for him to be in this situation.
    Forget about the guy not loving football the way Ben did. Forget that . Forget that he