1. In and Out
By Jaden Friedman
In Jacksonville, Florida Kenny woke up to the sound of birds. It was his first
day of school. Kenny was a smart kid, but he didn’t care for school. Kenny always
took the bus for school. When he walked to his locker he saw Donald and Donald
walked up to him and said to his friends and him, ”I know who the stupidest kid in
the grade is, it’s Kenny Johnson”
Donald’s gang of friends cracked up and told everybody in the school except
Kenny’s friend Paul. Paul was a very athletic kid, who likes to play hockey and soccer.
He got bullied by Donald’s gang for being friends with Kenny.
After school Kenny and Paul met up and decided to go to the best candy store
in the world: Mega Candy. When they walked into Mega Candy, they saw Donald and
his gang of friends signing up for the three point contest. Kenny wanted to sign up
also but, he never played basketball before. So Kenny decided he he would sign up,
but he knew he had to practice a lot. When Kenny was about to sign up, Donald
looked behind him and said, “Oh look who came to sign up” in his mean and scary
voice.
After signing up for the contest at the candy store, Kenny and Paul walked
home to practice for the contest. Kenny had an old rusty hoop his dad bought him
2. before his death. Paul taught Kenny how to have good ball handling skills. He also
taught Kenny how to do a crossover and a fadeaway shot. The practice was over for
his first time. Then Paul had to go home to do his homework and Kenny had to eat
dinner and do his homework. Kenny finished his homework quickly, and decided to
watch Henry Gordon and the Flaming Armadillos take on Juan Carlos and the
Jumping Gorillas on Thursday night basketball presented by McDonalds, State Farm,
Subway, and Taco Bell. One hour later Kenny had to go to bed.
The next day Kenny went to school. He saw Donald pushing Paul in the
hallway. Kenny went over and punched Donald in the stomach. Kenny and Donald
got into a huge fight. Kenny and Donald both had to go to the principal's office. Kenny
had detention for an hour after school. Then Kenny had to go home to practice. The
contest was in one week. Kenny practiced now at the Basketball center 10 minutes
away from Kenny’s house. Kenny was practicing on his three point shooting and his
formation. Kenny stayed at the basketball center until 6: 00 and then he had to go
home and do his homework. Kenny had a lot of homework, so when he finished his
homework he had to go to bed. The next day Kenny woke up late, so he had to eat a
quick breakfast and run to catch the bus. Kenny saw Paul at his locker. Kenny had to
go to Spanish ,but before he took another step, he saw Donald and his gang of bullies
were picking on Kenny.
Kenny had P.E today. Today they were playing basketball. Donald was in
Kenny’s P.E group. Kenny and Donald were the team captains. On Kenny's team he
had Gabe, George, Bob, Sally, Mark,, and Sammy. Donald chose all the popular kids in
the school. Donald decided to guard Kenny. In the end Donald’s team beat Kenny’s
team, but Kenny was getting to be a better basketball player. They only lost by 2
points
3. The next morning when Kenny woke up he realized that the contest was in
three days! When he woke up on Thursday morning he had a lot of time to practice
basketball. The bus was going to leave in an hour, so Kenny practiced releasing the
ball quickly and three point shots at the neighborhood hoop. The neighborhood hoop is
for everyone in the neighborhood to share and to play basketball. Kenny took 15
shots and made 11 of his 15 shots. It was his best day he ever played. When Kenny
got on the bus he sat next to Zeke. Zeke is not Kenny’s friend, but he plays a lot of
basketball. The bus got to school really early, so Kenny and the people on his bus had
to wait in the burning sun, It was 98 degrees fahrenheit when the bell rang. Kenny
saw Paul at his locker. He wants to say something, but last time he got hurt and got
detention. He decides he has to stand up for Paul. He tells Donald to stop picking on
everyone and he grabs Paul and they walk down the hall together. Kenny had a
great day at school and he got an A+ on his Spanish test.
When Kenny woke up, he shot out of his bed and said, “ The three point
contest is tomorrow”. Kenny was so distracted at school because the three point
contest was tomorrow. Kenny was now becoming a really good basketball player.
Probably he is as good as Donald in three point shooting but not in skills. Kenny got
to leave school early because the three point contest was in Miami. Three hours later
his hotel was a very nice hotel because it had a basketball court in the basement of
the hotel. When his family finished unpacking he got to go to basketball lounge to get
Lebron soldier 5 basketball sneakers. When got back to the hotel he went to play
basketball with his brother Greg and his Dad, Jay. Kenny was doing a three point
contest against Greg. Greg played for the Florida Bulls (the best basketball team in
Florida). Kenny is feeling really nervous for the contest.
When Kenny woke up he had a bottle of apple juice to drink. Also he had a
waffle and bacon. He was so pumped up for the contest. He ate breakfast at 8:00
and the contest was at 7:30 pm. Kenny went back up to get dressed because he had
to practice basketball at !0:00. Kenny got to play at the American Airlines arena.
That is where the Miami Heat play. Kenny was so excited to play at the American
Airline Arena. Kenny loved the Heat especially Lebron, Wade, And Ray Allen.
When Kenny arrived in the American Airlines Arena. When he got there he
practiced shooting shots all around in the three point contest. When the contest
came Kenny was excited, but a little nervous.
When the host, Mark Brown, came up he said, “I am now going to discuss the
rules of the contest. Three point shooting. No toes in front of the line. moneyball at
every rack at the end of the rack. Those are the rules for the three point contest.”
There were 65 kids participating. Kenny went first and got a score of 20. He
got to move on to the the second round. 45 people got eliminated in the first round..
Kenny did even better in the second round. He got a score of 23. He made all his
4. moneyball shots. !0 people got eliminated that round. Donald was at the top of the
leader board and Kenny was trailing behind him. In the quarterfinals it was a faceoff
round. Kenny had to go head to head against this kid named Jack. Jack lived in
Tampa Bay. Jack got a score of 25 but, Kenny made his last money ball to beat Jack
and move on to the semifinals. Donald won both of his games and he was in the
finals.
If Kenny won he would make it to the finals. Kenny had to play Phil. Phil lived
in Tallahassee. Phil was on fire he got a 26. But Kenny was on fire more. He had 28
points and made it to the finals. Kenny screamed with joy because he was so happy
that he made it to the finals. There was a coin toss. Kenny won the coin toss and
Kenny decided to go second. Donald went first and he had 28 points. Then It was
Kenny’s turn. The pressure was on. Kenny was knocking down shots at the end there
was 1 second left and Kenny had a moneyball in his hand. He shot it. It had a perfect
spin on it. It was going in and it went in and out. The crowd was devastated.
When Donald won he was being a bully and he said to Kenny ‘you suck and I
am the champion.”
Kenny went into the stands and found his parents. His family was so proud
of him for entering the contest and participating in the contest.
Then the host came up to Kenny and said. “You had a great day today. Since
you came in second, you get 400 dollars and Donald gets 1,000 dollars.”
Kenny was so happy. that he participated in the three point contest. Then he
left and went back to Jacksonville.. When Kenny gets back to school he is now proud
of himself and he says something to Donald.
5. Two Months later
Kenny tries out for the travel basketball team and makes the a team and
donald apologies for being mean to Kenny and they are teammates on the a team.
They were friends for ever.
