Chapter 9

Chapter 9 WHERE'S THE REFEREE? BECAUSE THAT FASHION IS TOTALLY OUT OF BOUNDS! Basketball was taking more and more of Po's time. Po played on a mixed ability team. That meant every player on his team used a wheelchair during practice and games, even though some of his teammates didn't use wheelchairs otherwise. Woodsword was one of several schools in the state with a mixed ability team, so Po got to travel to nearby cities for weekend games. Po liked being on a team. In fact, he was the star player. But it didn't leave much time for trying other things. He worried that he would let

his teammates down if he took time away from basketball to be in the school play, or run for class president, or— SWOOSH! Po sank another basket from the three-point line. His teammates all cheered, and Po forgot his worries for a moment. He was happy to be right where he was. Practice ended a few minutes later. Po checked the time and saw that it was once again too late to join the Minecraft

crew. They would all have disconnected by the time he got to the lab. But if he hurried, he might get to hear about what he'd missed. Po looked over at his teammate Ricky. A flash of color caught Po's eye. Ricky was wearing a necklace. That wasn't too unusual. While nobody was allowed to wear jewelry during a game, the rules were less strict at practice. But Po could swear he'd seen the necklace before. Not in a jewelry case… but in an aquarium. "Hey, Ricky," he said. "Where'd you get that necklace?" Ricky smiled. "You like it?" "Sure," Po said, starting to get a bad feeling.

"But… that's coral, isn't it?" "It sure is," Ricky said. "I'm from Puerto Rico, so it's like a little piece of home. I bought it from a kid in my math class." Po frowned. He couldn't be sure, but it looked just like a piece of coral from Doc's experiment. But why would anyone sell off a piece of their science project? He wanted to ask for the seller's name. But their conversation had drawn attention. Several of their

teammates came over to admire Ricky's jewelry. "Looks good, Rick," said one of them. "It'd look better on me!" said another. "I can hook you guys up," Ricky said. "Maybe we can get a team discount." Po's stomach soured. He was pretty sure that plucking coral from seawater and putting it on a string wasn't good for the environment. He tried to say so. But he was totally drowned out by the team's excitement.