Play the Game

by Nova Weetman

  Mum looked closer at me, taking in the lip gloss. ‘Who with?’

  That wasn’t a question Dad had asked, and I’d sort of been hoping that Mum wouldn’t, either. But in my experience, Mum always managed to ask the questions I didn’t want her to.

  ‘A friend,’ I said, pretending to concentrate on doing up my sneaker.

  ‘Do I know this friend?’ she asked.

  ‘Um.’ I was about to say no, but then I realised that she did. ‘Yes. You do.’

  ‘Is it Tess?’ Mum asked, laughing.

  I really didn’t want to be having this conversation just before Finn arrived, so I shook my head. ‘Nope. Not Tess.’

  ‘Well, does this friend have a name?’

  Dad doesn’t usually ask for details. Mainly because whatever I’m up to, I’m usually up to with Tess, and he trusts us. I could see I was going to have to tell Mum. Finn would be here any minute, and she’d meet him anyway.

  ‘His name’s Finn. He’s Maggie’s brother. You stitched up his eye once in emergency.’

  ‘Maggie from the team?’

  I nodded, impressed that she’d remembered.

  ‘I stitched up his eye – last year? Football injury?’

  I nodded again, amazed that she could remember every procedure she’d done in emergency, no matter how minor.

  ‘His mum was with him. She held his hand the whole time,’ she said, like that made a difference. ‘Is Maggie going too?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ I said, trying to keep it vague.

  ‘So it’s a date?’ said Mum with a slow smile.

  ‘No. It’s the football club disco. I’ll be home just after eight.’

  ‘Honey, I know I stitched up his eye, but I’d sort of like to meet Finn again before you go,’ said Mum. ‘Even if it’s not really a date.’

  And just as she said that, the key turned in the front door and I heard Jean come in. She was talking to someone. A boy. And it didn’t sound like Matt, her boyfriend.

  ‘Edie?’ called my sister.

  ‘In here,’ I said.

  Jean walked in with a huge grin on her face. ‘Look who I found outside.’

  I’m pretty sure I blushed as Finn stepped out from behind Jean. He looked really cute. Normally he was in clothes as scruffy as me, but tonight he was wearing a shirt. He smiled at me, and then introduced himself to Mum.

  ‘Remember me?’ he said.

  She nodded and smiled. ‘You look a bit happier than you did last time we met.’

  ‘It healed really well. Look, there’s not even much of a scar,’ he said, stepping closer to show Mum his face.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. But Mum seemed quite keen to check out her handiwork. Jean nudged me. ‘What?’ I whispered.

  ‘He’s cute,’ she whispered back.

  I rolled my eyes at her. I knew this would happen.

  She reached over to rub something off my face. ‘Hey!’ I pulled away, annoyed.

  ‘You’ve got lip gloss on your chin, Edie.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, feeling like a little kid playing dress-ups. I let her rub it off and even gave her a grudging smile. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Well, you two have a good time,’ said Mum warmly.

  ‘Have fun,’ called Jean.

  I pulled the front door shut before she could say anything I’d have to punish her for later.

  As we stepped outside, away from the house, I started to ask,‘Does Maggie know I’m …’

  But Finn shook his head. ‘No. Actually, I was going to ask you about that. She said she had training.’

  ‘Yeah, we do.’

  Finn looked at me strangely as I unlocked my bike and pulled my helmet on, wondering why I’d even bothered brushing my hair.

  ‘But you’re not going?’

  ‘No,’ I said.

  ‘Because you love dancing so much more than netball, right?’

  ‘You discovered my little secret.’

  Finn laughed. ‘Awesome. If you dance anything like you shoot, we could take out the best dancer award!’

  ‘Unlikely,’ I said. I just hoped it would be dark enough that nobody could actually see me dancing.

  The football club had been decorated with streamers and lights, and they’d even hung a huge mirrorball from the ceiling. I recognised a few faces from school, but most of the kids were a year or two older than me, so I didn’t really know anyone well. Finn, however, kept stopping to say hello to people. After he’d introduced me about a hundred times, I decided to disappear to the food table.

  Halfway through my third party pie, Finn walked up. ‘Sorry, you must be a bit bored,’ he said.

  ‘No, just hungry!’

  He laughed. ‘I’m glad you came.’

  ‘Yeah. Me too. My mum’s a health nut – I never get to eat party pies!’

  A new song came on and I recognised it as one that Jean loved. Suddenly everyone seemed to be dancing. Finn looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I knew I couldn’t avoid dancing all night, but I’d been hoping to stretch it out just a little longer.

  ‘May I have this dance?’ he said in a silly voice, holding out his hand.

  I felt really strange. I’d never had a boy hold my hand before. Well, not since prep, when we got paired up to walk to the library and I got stuck with Jimmy Jones. This was much nicer than that. I was almost a bit sad when we got to the dance floor and Finn let go.

  It was actually pretty dark, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to how anyone was dancing. They were all just having a good time. I tried to move with the music, pretending I was in a drama class and we were studying movement. It actually worked. I discovered I really liked dancing – especially with Finn, who was totally into it.

  ‘I thought you said you couldn’t dance,’ he said loudly into my ear.

  Then he grabbed my hand and spun me around and around until I bumped into him, and found myself standing super close. He looked down at me and smiled. Flustered, I stepped back, pretending to lose myself in the music.

  We must have been dancing for about half an hour when a slow song came on. I automatically went to leave the dance floor, but Finn grabbed my hand and pulled me back. All around us, couples were dancing, and I was a bit nervous that Finn was expecting me to slow dance with him. Instead, with a laugh, he stretched out our hands in a sort of tango, and started pulling me around, dipping me back and swinging me out. It was silly and fun, and it made me like him even more.

  As the song finished, Finn tipped me back, his arm around my shoulders. I couldn’t help but look into his face. And he was looking right back. I think I could have stayed like that forever, but then he slipped, and almost dropped me. Looking a bit embarrassed, he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me awkwardly back to my feet, then let go of me and jumped back.

  ‘Sorry, Edie,’ he said, blushing.

  Before I could think of something to say, a man grabbed the microphone and tapped it. ‘Is this thing on?’ he shouted loudly.

  Everyone yelled back,‘Yeah!’

  Finn leant close and whispered in my ear. ‘That’s our coach.’

  I nodded. I still hadn’t quite recovered from having Finn’s arms around my waist.

  As the coach started talking about the past season, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I sneaked a look – it was a text from Tess. How are you feeling? I felt awful. Here I was, on a date that I’d lied about, and my best friend was checking on me in the middle of a training session. Worrying about me. Maybe Tess was right. Maybe boys and state netball just didn’t mix.

  I sent off a quick reply – Ok. Missing training. – just in time to hear Finn’s name being called. Everyone around us cheered. Finn had just been named the best and fairest player on his team. I had no idea this was one of tho
se nights, where awards were given out. I’d thought it was just a social thing. I was thrilled for him as he walked up onto the stage area where the coach was. I felt my phone buzz again, but this time I ignored it. I wanted to hear Finn’s speech.

  ‘Thanks, Coach. I’ll pay you later,’ he grinned, making his teammates laugh.

  Then Finn’s eyes found mine and he smiled as he said, ‘I wasn’t expecting this. I’d sort of had my heart set on winning the best dancer award, but I guess this will have to do.’ There were more cheers, and then he said, more seriously, ‘It’s a great team and I feel lucky to be part of it. We’re going to nail it next year, boys!’

  The room erupted and Finn gave his coach a huge hug. His words made me feel even worse. Here I was at a disco when my whole team was doing extra training just to get ready for Saturday. I tried to shake off the thought as Finn jumped off the stage and walked back towards me. As he moved through the crowd, everyone slapped him on the back, congratulating him. ‘So that’s why you wanted me to come,’ I said, smiling. ‘To show off your trophy.’

  He nodded. ‘Absolutely. Look at this thing!’ He held it up. It was a huge gold statue of a footballer taking a mark, and his name had been engraved on the plaque at the bottom.

  ‘Pretty impressive,’ I said.

  ‘I bet you’ve got heaps of these at home,’ he said, looking at me.

  I shrugged. ‘Only fifty or so. Not that many.’

  He laughed. He had a great laugh. ‘I can see I’m not impressing you!’

  I handed back his trophy. ‘If you’d won best dancer I would have been more impressed,’ I said with a smile.

  ‘Uh oh. If you don’t want to get stuck helping with clean-up, we should go,’ said Finn. I looked around and realised that the disco was coming to an end. ‘Unless, of course, you want some more party pies?’

  I grinned. ‘I’m good, thanks.’

  While Finn said goodbye to some people, I walked out onto the balcony. It was a perfect night. Warm, but not too hot, and almost dark. The fairy lights across the front of the clubhouse looked beautiful. I wondered if Tess was on her way home or if she was still at training, and for a second I wished I was with her. But I’d pushed the thought aside by the time I heard Finn say, ‘Can you take my trophy in your basket?’

  The trophy didn’t quite fit in my basket – it kept threatening to jump out whenever we rode over any bumps. As I stopped to secure it for the millionth time, Finn rode up next to me and softly said, ‘So, will you come to the next disco?’

  ‘Only if you’re winning a trophy.’

  He smiled at me and said, ‘That can be arranged.’ Then he looked really serious for a second. ‘Thanks for coming, Edie.’

  ‘I never thought I’d admit to finding dancing fun!’

  ‘So you had fun?’

  I smiled and got back on my bike.

  ‘You never did tell me how you managed to get out of training. I thought your coach was super strict!’ said Finn.

  I didn’t really want to go into it, but I figured I owed him an honest answer. After all, I was asking him not to tell Maggie. ‘I said I was sick.’

  Finn raised an eyebrow.

  ‘I know it wasn’t the best thing to do, but I was just so tired of training all the time. Of course it’s important, and I really enjoy it, but I want to be able to do other things too,’ I said, hoping he’d understand.

  He nodded. ‘Yeah, I get that. But that’s the thing with a team sport. The team’s only as good as everyone in it. You can’t play state netball part-time.’

  ‘Are you saying I should have gone to training?’

  He laughed. ‘I’m glad you came to the disco. Otherwise, who would have eaten all the party pies?’

  ‘But if I’m playing in a team, then I should be a team player. Right?’ I said, feeling like I’d messed up. The problem was, I just didn’t know if I could commit to state netball the way that Tess and Maggie had. But did that mean that I wasn’t a team player either?

  I heard my phone vibrate again and knew it would be Tess checking in. I didn’t want to keep lying to her, so I figured it was best if I just pretended I’d been asleep, and answer her in the morning. That was the problem with lying. Once you started, the lies just got bigger and bigger.

  ‘I’ll race you home!’ yelled Finn as he started pedalling. I chased after him, refusing to be beaten again. ‘You owe me an ice-cream if I win!’

  The poor old trophy was only just managing to stay in the basket as Finn and I sped along the road.

  My house wasn’t far, and I’d only just caught up with him. I’d have to ride even faster if I was going to beat him. Checking that there were no cars behind us, I sped up and managed to overtake him on the outside. But he was pedalling even faster now, and it wasn’t long before we were alongside each other. I looked over and he grinned at me. I couldn’t believe what a great night I’d had. At least I didn’t regret going, even if I did feel a tiny bit guilty. Which was lucky. I would have felt even worse about lying to Tess if I’d had a bad time.

  As we reached my house, I cut in front of him and rode up the driveway, touching the door a second before he did.

  ‘You owe me a triple scoop!’ I said, puffing, a massive grin on my face.

  ‘Baby cone,’ he laughed. He doubled over. ‘Oh god, I’ve got a stitch!’

  I was about to invite Finn in for a drink of water when Mum opened the front door. She looked like something awful had happened.

  ‘Mum?’ I asked, worried.

  ‘I’m glad you two are back. Edie, you have a visitor. She’s waiting in your room.’

  Tess. I sagged, wishing I didn’t have to go inside and face my best friend. Finn was looking at me, concerned. I smiled weakly, and gave him his trophy.

  ‘I’d better go,’ he said.

  ‘Yeah.’

  Mum disappeared back inside. I think she knew we didn’t want to say goodbye in front of her.

  ‘Do you want to do something on Saturday? Maybe see a movie?’ asked Finn.

  ‘Um, maybe,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, that’s okay, don’t worry about it …’ He turned to go.

  I realised it sounded like I was trying to get out of it, but I wasn’t. I was just distracted, knowing that Tess was waiting for me. ‘No, no, I do want to go to the movies, but I have a practice game on Saturday. I’m not sure what time we’ll be back.’

  He looked so relieved. ‘Okay, then! Monday after school?’

  ‘Training.’

  He laughed. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll find a time. Maybe next year, when the season’s finished!’

  I slumped. If it wasn’t so true, it might be funny.

  ‘I’d better go. I think Tess’s upstairs.’

  He nodded. Just as I was about to walk away, he leant over and kissed me gently on the cheek. The kiss was so soft that as I watched him ride off with his trophy tucked under his arm, I wondered if it was all in my imagination.

  But then he called back over his shoulder, ‘Okay, you can have three scoops – and maybe even topping!’

  I laughed. He was sweet. And funny. And he’d kissed me on the cheek! Wishing I could savour the moment for a bit longer, I turned to go and face Tess.

  Trudging up the stairs to my room, I checked my phone. There were three more text messages from Tess. The first one was reassuring me that I wasn’t missing much. Then she was checking in again to see how I was. And the last one said she’d bring me some chocolate. I groaned. If only I’d texted back that I was going to sleep. Then she wouldn’t be here, and I could go to bed dreaming of Finn instead of facing a grilling from my best friend.

  I took a deep breath and walked into my room. Tess was sitting on the edge of my bed, still in h
er training clothes, eating chocolate. The chocolate, I guessed.

  ‘Tess …’ I started, then stopped. I didn’t know what to say. She looked up at me and I was surprised to see she didn’t look angry. Actually, it was worse – she just looked sad. ‘You got better quickly.’

  ‘Um, yeah …’ I sat down next to her, wondering if Mum had told her where I’d been.

  ‘Didn’t think you liked dancing, Edie.’

  Well, that answered that question.

  ‘I’d already said yes to him when Justine called the extra training session.’

  ‘To who?’

  I took another deep breath. ‘Finn.’

  Tess jumped up off the bed and looked at me like I was nuts. She might not have been angry before, but she was fast heading in that direction. ‘Are you kidding me? You went out with Finn?’

  ‘Yeah. To his football club disco.’

  ‘Does Maggie know?’

  I shook my head, wondering what Maggie had to do with it.

  ‘So you lied about being sick so you could go on a date.’

  I really wished Tess would sit back down. This was starting to feel a little like an interrogation. ‘It wasn’t a date,’ I said, sounding a bit pathetic.

  ‘So you lied about being sick so you could go out on not a date. That’s worse, Edie.’

  When she put it like that I couldn’t really blame her for being angry. I probably would have been too. ‘I’m sorry, Tess. I didn’t mean to lie to you.’

  ‘Yeah, you did.’

  ‘Okay. I’m sorry. But I knew you wouldn’t understand.’

  ‘You’re right, I don’t. I would never lie to you.’

  Now I felt really awful. This wasn’t about playing netball. This was about the fact that I’d lied to my best friend.

  ‘You lied to me about Jenny Potter’s birthday party,’ I said, sounding totally pathetic.

  Tess pulled a face. ‘I was seven! It’s hardly the same thing.’

  I nodded. ‘I know. I’m really sorry, Tess. I just really wanted to go to the disco.’