Boy21 by Matthew Quick Page A

finish practicing.
    Wes sits down next to us, notices what we’re reading, and then whispers, “You guys don’t have to do this.”
    I can tell he’s touched by the way he’s looking at me, so I give him a smile. I hold up my fist and he gives me a pound.
    “It’s a really good book,” Wes says, and then pulls out his copy. “Surprisingly good.”
    When Terrell, Hakim, and Sir see us reading
Harry Potter
they just shake their heads.
    During the second session Boy21 picks up his game, but not too much. I actually think he plays just well enough to make the team, but not well enough to challenge me for my position.
    My ego wonders if all his and Coach’s talk about how good he is might just be inflated hype, but there’s something deep down inside me that knows Boy21’s still holding back.
    He’s not going one hundred percent and doesn’t get physical with anyone.
    He’s simply coasting without making any mistakes.
    He’s
in
the game, but he’s not
playing
the game.
    After she changes in the locker room, Erin sits alone in the stands for a while watching us, but then halfway through practice I look up and she’s gone.
    I don’t like her watching me practice because it makes me nervous, but I already miss her.

22
    WE PRACTICE, WE GO TO SCHOOL , we do our homework, we read
Harry Potter
… and that’s really all Boy21 and I do.
    When he asks why we don’t see Erin anymore, I say, “Basketball is my girlfriend now,” which makes him laugh, and I guess it does sound pretty funny.
    We finish reading the first Harry Potter book a few days after Wes does.
    Before Friday-afternoon practice, while shooting around in the gym, Wes says, “So what did you think of
Sorcerer’s Stone
?”
    “If one of your friends had magical powers,” Boy21 says, “would you want to know about it?”
    “Like Harry does?” Wes says, moving his shoulders back six inches and scrunching up his face. “
Real
magical powers?”
    “Powers that not everyone else has,” Boy21 says.
    “Hell yes, I’d want to know,” Wes says.
    “What if it meant you’d never see them again? Not everyonegets to go to Hogwarts, right?” Boy21 starts rubbing his palms against his sides.
    “Why you askin’ me this, Russ?”
    Boy21 rolls the back of his head across his shoulders.
    Wes cocks his head sideways at me, but I only shrug.
    “You guys want to come over my house tonight and watch the movie version of the book?” Wes asks. “My mom got it for me on Netflix.”
    So that night the three of us watch the movie version of the book, which is pretty good. Lots of magic, castlelike buildings, and friendship.
    After the movie Wes takes us into his room and plays his favorite rap group, N.E.R.D. The music is very funky, not like the straight-up gangsta rap music I usually hear in the neighborhood, although there
is
a lot of cursing.
    (I don’t really listen to music much, maybe because I have no iPod. Music is okay, but I don’t go crazy for any one type.)
    “Do you guys know what N.E.R.D. stands for?” Wes asks.
    “What?” I say.
    Boy21 says, “No one. Ever. Really. Dies.”
    “You a fan, Russ?” Wes says.
    Boy21 nods and smiles.
    “You seen the Seeing Sounds Game on their website?” Wes says. “Retro.
Badass futuristic funky.
”
    Wes punches up the N.E.R.D. website on his computer and then hits the right link. The Seeing Sounds Game has an outer-space theme.
    No wonder Boy21 likes this group.
    A giant gorilla chases the group members across a moonlike landscape.
    “It’s an old-school video game. You play as one of the group members,” Wes says, and then he and Boy21 take turns playing.
    When they finish messing around on the N.E.R.D. website, Wes suggests we form a Harry Potter book club. He wants to read each book and watch each film in between readings. I always thought that book clubs were for rich women, but it feels good to be included in something other than basketball.
    We both agree to join him and pick up copies