by Lisa Gibbs
It worked! When the whistle blew, Prani’s opponent leapt across to block a pass to Eve but Prani quickly threw the ball the other way, to Lily. Lily was ready for it and sent a strong pass down court to Sienna, who had come out from the goal circle to receive it. Sienna passed straight to Eve for a quick, easy goal that let the Harrington team know the Gems meant business.
Prani high-fived Lily on her way back to defend the Harrington centre pass. When the whistle blew, she saw the movement of the Centre player’s arm and launched herself across the path of the ball. She just managed to tip it away and out of court. It was the Harrington team’s throw-in, but they were already acting a little less confident.
At the next centre pass, Prani looked towards Eve and noticed her Centre opponent move closer to Lily this time. She wasn’t going to be fooled again. Prani pretended to adjust her shoelace and then stood up with her front foot now pointing towards Eve. On the whistle, she threw a chest pass to Eve and then raced down the court to be ready for the return pass. The Harrington Goal Defence and Centre, annoyed to have missed the centre pass, doubled up on Eve. Eve could barely see Prani past their waving arms and threw a high pass that sailed down court towards her.
Whoa, that’s really high! Prani shifted back but the baseline was right behind her. It looked as if the ball would go out, but Prani was determined. She leapt up, reaching for the sky, and her fingertips just managed to pull in the ball. Twisting around in the air, Prani landed facing Sienna in the goal circle and passed the ball to her too quickly for the defenders to intercept it. Sienna immediately shot a goal.
The Harrington players were not happy. This was a game they had expected to win. They hurried the ball back to the centre circle and before the Marrang Gems knew what was happening, Harrington had scored their own goal.
The game continued relentlessly. Both teams were determined to win.
At one point, when Prani walked with the ball to the centre circle, ready for the centre pass, she saw that the Harrington Goal Defence and Wing Defence had blocked Eve and Lily in the middle of the transverse line, and that the Harrington Centre was standing smugly right in front of them both.
It was clear that any attempt by Prani to throw a pass to Eve or Lily was not going to get through. Hmmm, this won’t work, Prani thought.
She confidently stepped into the centre circle and planted her feet apart, side by side. It was the secret signal that she wasn’t going to use one of the set plays.
I hope Kasey or Maia see this. I need them to come forward. I want to show Janet that we know when not to use the set plays.
When the whistle blew, Prani looked from side to side but Kasey and Maia were too slow in realising what was needed. No one was there for her to pass to.
Oh no, this is awful!
After three quick seconds, the whistle blew.
‘Held ball,’ said the umpire.
Prani’s face reddened. She didn’t dare look at Janet. She just handed the ball to the Harrington Centre and stood back to defend the pass, but before the Harrington Centre released the ball, the whistle blew for half-time.
Prani walked off court slowly. Their experiment hadn’t worked.
‘Prani!’ squealed Maddy with delight. ‘You did your twisty thing!’
‘It was so good, Prani. We got that goal because of you. Well, and you too, Sienna,’ Lily said, turning to Sienna, ‘since you’re the one who shot it.’
‘I’m just glad I caught it,’ said Sienna. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to pull that off, Prani!’
Prani looked up at her friends in surprise. Nobody seemed to have noticed that the break from set plays hadn’t worked. The twist had felt good but things had gone wrong at the end.
What now?
‘Maddy, you can come off the bench and … hmmm, let me see …’
Here it comes.
‘Isabella, it’s your turn to sit out. Sienna and Eve, you stay in goals. Maddy, you’re in Wing Attack, Lily in Wing Defence, Maia stays in Goal Defence and Kasey in Goal Keeper.’
‘What about me?’ asked Prani, in a small timid voice.
‘You stay in Centre,’ said Janet. ‘And everyone remember to watch for the signs!’
Prani stood up in surprise and ran onto the court. She barely noticed the first Harrington centre pass and subsequent goal. She was still trying to work out what was happening. Obviously Janet wasn’t disappointed in her or she would have taken her out of Centre, or off court to watch the set plays.
Prani took the ball back for the centre pass. As she walked to the centre circle, she looked around nervously. She spotted Maddy, in Wing Attack. Maddy raised her eyebrow slightly and when Prani glanced down, she could see Maddy’s forefinger pointing in the direction she planned to run. Prani didn’t acknowledge that she saw it, but when she stood in the centre circle, her right foot was slightly forward, pointing to Maddy.
On the whistle, Maddy dashed out and Prani threw her the ball. As Prani ran down into the goal third, she saw that Sienna, in Goal Shooter, was having trouble getting out for the set play.
Prani turned back and called for the ball. ‘Here, Maddy!’
Maddy saw what was happening and smiled with gratitude to Prani as she passed her the ball. Prani then fed it into Eve, who missed the goal but caught the rebound. The ball went through on the second try.
‘Yay!’ The Marrang Gems cheered.
The game continued, tight, hard and fast. It felt like a grand final, with each goal answered by a goal from the other team. Then, once again, as Prani was heading back to the centre circle, she realised that Maddy and Eve were hemmed in by the Harrington Goal Defence, Wing Defence and Centre.
Prani knew that the best option was to go with no set play, but last time she had tried that they had lost the ball. She hesitated for a moment.
What do I do?
The Harrington Centre looked at Prani with a satisfied smirk and that was all Prani needed.
This has to work. I so want to beat you!
Prani stepped into the centre circle and planted her feet apart, side by side.
Come on, Lily and Maia. I need you!
Prani’s leg jiggled nervously. It seemed like ages before the umpire’s whistle blew.
Finally … Brrrp!
Prani immediately heard yells coming from either side of her.
‘Here, Prani!’ called Lily from her left.
‘Here if you need!’ called Maia from her right.
They were both there! Prani grinned with relief and threw the ball to Maia.
Maia took the pass and waited for Maddy to break away from the Harrington Wing Defence, before sending her the ball at the top of the goal circle. Eve and Sienna were both covered, so Prani ran down the sideline to help out.
‘Here, Maddy!’ she called.
In her haste, Maddy threw the ball wildly.
Oh no, it’s going out!
‘Go, Prani!’ yelled Maddy.
Prani knew she had to go for it. She leapt into the air, her arm stretched out so far over the sideline that she was starting to feel off balance. She could feel herself falling, but still she reached out. Her fingertips connected with the ball, and she twisted her body in the air, flicking the ball back to Maddy just before she came crashing down.
Maddy pulled the ball in and snapped it straight onto Sienna, who popped it through the ring for a goal.
The final whistle surprised them all.
‘We won!’ yelled Sienna. ‘Fifteen goals to fourteen!’
‘Prani, you star! Twist and flick,’ said Maddy, laughing as she helped Prani up from where she had tumbled onto the ground.
Prani grinned, so relieved that it had worked.
‘Twist and flick? That sounds like something from Harry Potter – Wingardium Leviosa!’ joked Sienna.
‘Well, she does play like magic when she’s relaxed,’ said Maddy.
‘It’s true, Prani, you’re awesome when you don’t have too many rules!’ said Eve.
Prani
looked around her in amazement. Her relaxed approach had worked. She couldn’t believe it. A two-twisty game!
The girls stayed to watch the two Harrington teams play each other in the final. It was a fast and impressive game, but the Gems all agreed that, now they were back in form, they could have won the grand final.
‘Can we come back next year, Janet?’ asked Maddy.
‘Sure,’ said Janet, smiling.
‘Yay!’ said Prani. ‘We’ll need to learn some more set plays so we can really smash them next time.’
‘I can’t believe you just said that, Prani!’ said Janet.
‘I know. I can’t either!’ said Prani, giggling. She bounced off the other girls, who were laughing and talking as they headed to the cars. The fun Prani was back. And now that the netball tournament was over, Prani’s birthday party next weekend took centre stage in her mind. First up was her secret plan for an extra-special birthday cake.
In the muddle of everyone getting their things into the cars, Prani cornered Maddy.
‘Hey, Maddy,’ Prani said, ‘Mum and I realised we don’t have any cool birthday candles for my party next weekend. Do you have any spare at home you can bring?’
‘Yep, I think we’ve got some,’ said Maddy.
Prani then went to find Sienna. She asked her the same thing.
‘Okay, Prani, we’ve got some really funny ones at home,’ said Sienna.
One by one, Prani drew each of the Gems apart to secretly ask them the same favour. She had a plan!
The girls all climbed into the same cars they had travelled in on the way to the tournament. Just as they were about to close the doors, Prani jumped out of her car and dashed across to the other two cars.
‘Wait! Wait! I forgot to give you this – it’s my playlist for the drive back.’ She quickly synced it to Sienna’s iPad and then to Lily’s phone.
‘Now we can dance to the same music on the way home!’ said Prani.
‘Dance?’ asked Lily. ‘How can we dance in the car?’
‘Be creative,’ Prani called over her shoulder. ‘There are no rules that say you can’t dance sitting down!’
For the first part of the drive, Prani and Kasey sat quietly, staring out across the passing fields. Prani was relieved that the tournament had finished with a fun game and, even better, a win. She smiled as she remembered how they had mixed things up when the opposition centre had shut down their set-play options.
Set plays are good … as long as you can relax and change things when they’re not working.
And they had worked that out as a team.
Her team.
The Marrang Gems.
Somehow her teammates had seen that she hadn’t been happy and that she needed to break out every now and then. Like now. Time to have more fun together!
Prani grabbed her iPod and put the playlist on shuffle.
‘Chair dancing!’ yelled Prani.
Prani and Kasey immediately started waving their arms in time to the music.
‘Tone it down, girls.’ Radha laughed. ‘You’ll distract me while I’m driving.’
Dutifully, the two girls toned down their movements and instead began acting out the words of the song. They shook their hands and stamped their feet in an energetic rhythm.
Sienna, Eve and Maddy’s car pulled alongside them and the girls laughed when they saw Prani and Eve’s antics. They studied them for a bit and then Prani saw them hunch over Sienna’s iPad. A moment later, they straightened up and flashed the screen across at them with the promo shot of the song Prani and Eve were dancing to. They had picked it!
‘Yay!’ Prani and Kasey cheered and then gestured to the other girls to have a turn. Their song was harder to pick and it was only when Sienna, Eve and Maddy started simultaneously rocking their heads to the fast beat of the chorus that Prani and Kasey realised which song they were dancing to.
All the way home, as the three cars travelled together down the highway, the girls danced to their songs on random rotation. They couldn’t dance too vigorously for the sake of the adults driving, so they came up with creative moves to give clues to their teammates in the other cars.
‘Wow, that trip home was so much faster than the trip there,’ said Lily, when they got back. She saw Prani’s guilty look and added, ‘Especially because we had your music to dance to, Prani!’
‘Yes, you’re officially appointed Entertainment Officer for next year,’ said Maddy.
‘As long as you turn up on time,’ teased Sienna.
‘I will,’ promised Prani, smiling. ‘And make sure you all come to my party on time next week!’
‘Yay! I can’t believe it’s finally my party!’ Prani bounced up and down, waving her arms as if they were windmills. ‘Nani, these are my friends!’
Seven girls smiled at Prani’s grandmother, who seemed to be cooking three things at once. The kitchen smelt amazing. Maddy’s stomach growled. She knew exactly how incredible the food would taste.
The whole team had been looking forward to meeting Nani, and hoped to hear the funny way she changed words around. Prani often entertained them at training with a perfect imitation of her beloved nani’s accent.
Now, at Prani’s birthday party, they stood in a cluster near the huge dining table. Prani pointed at each of her friends as she introduced them. Nani smiled in response then waved the girls over to the kitchen.
‘Come, see what you think. We will have an Indian feast soon.’
Maddy, familiar with Prani’s family, hurried over to peek happily into the pots and dishes. When the other girls hesitated, Nani beckoned to them again.
‘Come, May and Eyesabella. You too, Sani.’
Maia, Isabella and Sienna grinned in delight at Nani’s mix up of their names, and followed Maddy over to the bubbling pots. They sniffed appreciatively.
‘Come, now, and eat,’ said Radha, smiling.
The girls sat down at the table as Radha and Nani placed the steaming dishes in front of them.
‘Radha and Nani, this looks amazing!’ said Maddy.
‘Wow,’ Maia said. ‘Thank you so much!’
‘I can’t wait to try all this,’ said Eve. ‘I’ve never had Indian food.’
Prani’s mother and grandmother smiled. ‘Enjoy,’ said Nani.
‘Prani,’ said Radha, ‘don’t forget to show the girls how they can use the naan bread to scoop up the food if they want to.’
The girls tried everything: samosas, dahl, butter chicken and rice. Prani divided her time between eating and opening birthday presents.
Just as they all began to sit back in their chairs rubbing full bellies, Lily tossed small bags of cheese-flavoured, crunchy Twisties onto the table. ‘We have to have Twisties for our Twisty!’ she said.
Nani turned to see what the fuss was about. ‘Oh, I like those … um … Turneys!’
Maddy collapsed laughing.
‘Not “Turneys”,’ she said. ‘They’re “Twisties”!’
‘Now you must prepare Prani’s cake,’ announced Nani, and she ushered the girls back to the kitchen bench and plonked a large cake with chocolate icing in front of Prani.
‘Oh, here are the birthday candles you asked me to bring, Prani,’ said Maddy, and she pulled out a packet of six sparkly candles.
‘Hang on, you asked me to bring candles, too,’ said Sienna. She put five candles on the table, each with a smiley or funny face on them.
Prani smiled in delight but everyone else looked confused.
‘Me too,’ said Maia.
By now there was a pile of birthday candles of every shape and colour on the table.
‘That’s a lot of candles,’ observed Kasey. ‘What’s the plan, Prani?’
Prani giggled. ‘Thanks for bringing them, everyone. I needed them so that you could help me decorate my cake.’
‘Huh?’ said Eve. ‘But why so many candles? You only need 13 that match.’
‘Why 13? And why do they have to match?’ asked Prani, her eyes twinkling misch
ievously.
‘Well, you know, it’s kind of a birthday-cake rule to have the same number as your age and have matching ones so it looks good,’ said Eve, hesitantly.
‘But it’s my birthday, and I don’t like rules. I want a mix of all of the candles!’
‘Hang on, you like some rules. You ended up liking the set plays at the tournament!’ Lily reminded her. ‘And if you put all the candles on, it will bury the cake.’
‘True,’ Prani acknowledged. ‘Okay, let’s pick 13 random candles from the collection and see how that looks.’
The girls all dived in and picked out a motley collection of candles. Isabella grabbed Smarties from a nearby bowl and scattered them between the candles on top of the cake. When they had finished, they all stood back to admire it.
‘It looks amazing,’ said Eve. She couldn’t take her eyes off the cake. It looked crazy, colourful, busy and festive. Suddenly she had an idea that she knew Prani would love. She ducked over to the dining table and grabbed one of the packets of Twisties. Opening it up, she tossed a handful over the cake while the other Gems laughed. ‘Like Lily said, we need Twisties for our Twisty!’
‘I love it!’ Prani squealed. She smiled happily at everyone.
The birthday cake was voted the best ever. It was not only decorated by all of them, but it was delicious as well.
‘Thith hath been gweat!’ said Prani, munching on cake and spraying crumbs everywhere.
‘Prani, don’t speak with your mouth full!’ said Radha.
Prani looked at the cake crumbs around her and burst out laughing, this time snorting through her nose as well. This sent the rest of the Gems into peals of laughter.
Prani looked around her with eyes shining. She wished this day didn’t have to end.
Maia Anderson
Maddy Browne
Isabella Contesotto
Sienna Handley
Eve Lee
Prani Patel
Lily Scott
Kasey Taylor
Prani Patel
