Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 Ms. Adolf asked Nick McKelty to take off his shirt and give it to me. "You may wear the official team jersey," she said, handing me his sweat-soaked shirt. As much as I hated my baggy T-shirt, the thought of wearing his stinky, soggy shirt was way worse. "Thanks anyway," I said to Ms. Adolf. "I'd rather be kissed by an orangutan." Before she could answer, I ran onto the court. "Okay, everybody huddle," Heather Payne said as soon as I joined my teammates. "Actually, I think huddle is a football term," Katie Sperling pointed out. "Fine, then everyone clump together," Heather said.

The whole team laughed. Even I knew that clump wasn't a sports term. "We have to get serious here," Heather said. "It's 30 to 26. We're behind by four points. That means we have to make three more baskets to win." "And we can't let them score again," Ashley added.

"So are we ready to launch our Secret Weapon plan?" Heather asked. "I am, that's for sure," I said. "Wait a minute," Katie interrupted. "What's a Secret Weapon?" "You'll see," Frankie said, with all the confidence in the world. "Hank, take your position." As I ran to my place down by the basket, I realized that Frankie had all the confidence in the world, but mine was dripping out my toes. I looked up at the stands, and boy, were there a lot of eyeballs staring at me. I found my family in the crowd. My dad looked worried. My mom seemed to be chewing on her fingernails. My sister was reading a book, probably her favorite, 100 Lizard Facts Everyone Should Know. Papa Pete waved at me and mouthed "You can do it!"

I hoped he was right. The referee blew the whistle, and the game started up again. In a great move, Frankie stole the ball as it was being passed from one PS 91 player to another. He dribbled it down the court, then fired a pass to me. It was coming fast. I planted my feet and put my arms out. "Don't you dare drop this, Hank Zipzer," I said to myself. I'm not sure, I might have even said it out loud. That's how hard I was concentrating. "Don't pass it to Zipper Teeth!" I heard Nick McKelty yell from the bench.

Bam! The ball smacked me right in the chest. Quickly, I wrapped my hands around it before it hit the floor. It wasn't the prettiest catch in the world, but it worked. I pivoted and saw Heather Payne waving her arms wildly at me. I knew what to do. I passed her the ball. She caught it, and in one move, shot that ball right through the hoop. "Will you look at that?" Sammy Perez shouted into the microphone. "Hank Zipzer makes the assist. Where did he come from?" "That's my grandson," Papa Pete yelled from the stands. "And don't you forget it!" Frankie and Ashley ran up and high-fived me so hard that I nearly fell over. "Let's do that again," Frankie said. And we did, once Ashley stole the ball from the other team and chucked it over to me. Ms.

Adolf couldn't believe what she was seeing. She just stood by the side of the court with her whistle hanging off her lower lip. She was so shocked, she couldn't even blow it. "Okay, folks, we have a tie game on our hands," Sammy's voice blared. "We've got thirty-six seconds on the clock. Who's going to get that trophy? Stay tuned to find out." Did he say "Stay tuned"? I wondered who Sammy thought he was talking to. We weren't on TV. The coach of PS 91 had called a time out. With his team surrounding him, he was talking up a storm. I saw him point at me. That felt great, until I realized that he had figured out that I was the Secret Weapon.