As I walked into school I saw a sea of people, they were saying rude things like, “You’re worthless”, “Nobody likes you” and worst of all “You could die and nobody would care.” I walked over to see who the victim was this time, it was Will. Will is autistic; he wants to play basketball, so people make fun of him for wanting to play. I can’t stand watching this so I walked over to Will and we walked away together. He mumbled under his breath, “Thanks Jake” and then quickly walked away. I guess he was scared I was going to bully him too. I guess I could see his point, I am 6 feet 3 inches, I’m pretty built, and I’m the starting point guard.

Before I knew it school was over and it was time for basketball practice. I walked into the gym and I heard “Hey, how’s our star point guard doing?” I turned around and it was my buddy Mason. I replied, “Not bad, how about you?” but then the coach came in and we had to get started with practice. The coach yelled, “Partner up!” Mason asked me to be his partner but I saw Will standing by himself, so I told him I already had a partner. I walked over to Will and asked him to be my partner. At first he didn’t answer, but then he looked around the gym and saw that everyone already had a partner and said yes. The team had already started bullying him in the first drill. They did it secretly though, the coach doesn’t tolerate bullying. I tried to stand up for Will but the team kept bullying him, it was mostly Mason. Practice was over, I was on my way out of the building but then I remembered that my water bottle was in the gym. I quick ran back to get it, when I walked in I heard someone shooting, it was Will. Will wasn’t making any of his shots; I wanted to help, so I walked over to him. I walked over only to see frustration and anger on his face.

“Hey Will, want some tips to improve your shot?” I asked him.

He looked around the gym, then at the basketball, then at the hoop, and finally at me and said yes.

“Awesome, well your first problem is that your elbow is tucked in, pull it out and it will increase the power in your shot.” I explained to him. He shot a couple; it took him a while to remember to open up his elbow. “Your other problem is you shoot flat footed, you need to jump when you shoot.” We kept practicing his shot until 9 o’clock. After we were done I grabbed my water bottle, then I turned and asked Will, “Do you need a ride home?”

“Yeah that would great, thank you.” He replied.

The drive was awkward at first but I broke ice by saying, “You’ve got a pretty good shot there!”

“Thanks, I’m hoping if I improve my skills then I might be able to play in a game.” He answered.

“I think you have a good chance, you are really improving a lot!” I told him.

“I hope so!” he replied.

“So which one is your house?” I asked.

“It’s the first one on the right, the tan one with the big truck out front” he explained.

“Okay well we are here, Goodnight Will.” I said

“Thanks Jake” he says

“No problem it’s just a ride” I said.

“No I meant for everything. You’ve been a real friend to me and I appreciate it a lot” he said with sincere eyes.

“Oh yeah, you deserve to be treated better. Hey what do you say, want to be partners tomorrow?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’d like that, good night Jake” he answered.

“Good night” I said.

The next day during practice Mason asked me to be his partner. I told him I already had a partner, Will. He just scoffed and asked why I’m always partners with Will. “Because he is a good person, unlike some people I know.” Practice ended and I gave Will a ride home after we practiced late again.

Today is Friday; it’s the big day, the day of the state championship game. We play the Lakeville High Huskies, they are undefeated so far. When we played them during the regular season we lost 80-86. They are our biggest rivals; no one in my town likes them.

We lost the jump ball, but Jack stole the ball and scored the first bucket. By half time we were down 46-53. In the locker room coach gives us a speech about teamwork, trusting each other and most of all about how we shouldn’t get upset at our teammates no matter how bad they mess up. He looked directly at Mason when he said that.

During the second half we made a huge comeback, now we are tied 55-55. There is about 3 minutes left in the game, coach calls a timeout and looks at the scoreboard and says, “Will, let’s go you are in!”

“What?! Coach it’s the championship game, we need GOOD players in the game” Mason exclaimed. The coach ignores him and tells us to work our hardest, and that he knows we can win. There is 30 seconds left, everyone is yelling at me to not pass it to Will. Mason is open on the block but Will is wide open on the elbow too. It wasn’t a hard decision for me, I faked a pass down to Mason then I passed it to Will. He looked at me shocked, I mouthed elbow out and he shot the ball. The buzzer went off, the ball spun around in the basket for what seemed like an eternity.