by Nova Weetman
Tess surprised me by plonking down on my bed and looking at me seriously. ‘But you didn’t have to lie to me. I might not understand why you’d rather go to a disco than training, but it’s up to you. I just hate that you lied to me.’
I threw my arms around Tess and gave her a huge hug. ‘I’m sorry.’
She finally hugged me back. She didn’t hug me as long as she normally would, though, so I knew she was still angry with me. She stood up and headed for the door, then stopped and said,‘Edie, I would never miss a training session. Not for anything in the world. I don’t get it. Do you even want to play state?’
‘Of course I do. But I also want to have a life.’
‘Do you think you’ve been playing good netball?’
I thought about it. ‘Yeah,’ I said, sounding unsure, even to myself.
Tess walked back and sat down on my bed. ‘Edie, I know you’re a natural netballer, but sometimes it’s like you think you don’t have to work at it. That was fine when we were playing with the Sapphires, but this is state. You can’t just cruise in and out when you feel like it.’
I thought back to what Finn had said as we rode home, about how a team is only as good as the players in it. ‘But I’m not letting anyone down.’
‘Aren’t you? You’re not playing as well as you could. You know you’re not,’ Tess said, looking sad.
‘But I love playing netball with you. It’s great,’ I said.
Tess smiled. ‘Yeah, but I love playing netball full stop. Sure, it’s more fun with you, but I’m not just doing it to hang out with my bestie.’
I wondered if that was the real reason I was playing state netball. Did I only join the team because of Tess? Before I could say anything, she nudged me gently.
‘Remember how annoyed I was when you got picked for regionals and I didn’t, and you turned it down?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I didn’t want to play without you.’
‘That’s the difference. I would never have turned it down, even if you didn’t get picked. This is what I want to do – I want to play professional netball. We were picked to play for our state, Edie. We could go all the way.’
I’d never thought about it like that. I’d kind of just gone along with it because I loved netball, and I loved my best friend. But she was right. This was the big league.
Tess stood up and walked towards the door. As she left, she lobbed the half-eaten chocolate bar back to me. I caught it with one hand. ‘Nice catch,’ said Tess.
‘Nice throw,’ I said, feeling guilty.
I knew she was right. Just because I’d always managed to skate through without much practice, I’d assumed I could get away with the same thing at state level. But of course I couldn’t. Tess had committed everything to playing state. So had Maggie, and the others. But not me. I’d lied about being sick just so I could go out with a boy. We hadn’t even played a game yet and I was already complaining about how hard it was. I had to make a choice. Was I willing to give up everything else and really commit to state netball? Or should I drop out and let someone else take my place – someone who really wanted it?
I stared out the window, thinking of Finn. He’d sounded really disappointed when I’d called to explain I couldn’t go to the disco with him. He said he understood about training, but I still felt bad. I probably wouldn’t get to hang out with him anymore, unless I ran into him at Maggie’s. And that made me a bit sad, because he was cute and funny and I really liked him. But I’d decided that for now, I had to give state netball a proper chance.
‘I know it’s not all about winning, but I really love it when we do!’ said Tess, leaning against my shoulder. We were in the back row of the minibus, coming home after our practice game, and we were pretty knackered.
‘Plus, it means Justine’s in a good mood, and she won’t call any extra training sessions,’ said Maggie.
As pumped as I was about the amazing game we’d just played, I was distracted by the row of new blisters that had sprung up on my feet.
‘I might need some more of that udder cream, Mags.’
Tess laughed. ‘You and your blisters.’
‘I think it’s because I never stop moving. Unlike you, down in goal, slacking off and waiting for us to feed you the ball …’ I was deliberately winding Tess up. Sometimes I played Goal Shooter, but since joining this team, Justine had kept me in Goal Attack and I loved it. I’d always hated being stuck in the goal ring, waiting for the game to come to me. Now I was much more active in getting the ball down. It was just my feet that didn’t like it. The rest of me was fine.
Tess leant across, making sure Maggie couldn’t hear, and whispered to me, ‘Are you still happy to be in the team?’
Since I’d confessed that Finn had asked me out and I’d really wanted to go, Tess kept checking in to make sure I was happy with my decision. I was. Mostly. I knew that the next time I saw him, I would probably regret not going to the disco. But for the moment, at least, netball was taking up all my spare time.
‘Yeah, I am. Means I get to ride on a minibus with you every second Saturday,’ I said, smiling at her.
‘And if we keep winning like we did today, we’re going to blitz the finals,’ said Tess.
‘It wasn’t a real game today, Tess. I don’t think practice games count,’ I said.
Maggie frowned. ‘And first up, we have to beat the Warriors.’
I groaned. ‘Talk about a rough draw!’
Just about everyone in our team had a story about the Warriors. They were legendary. The club had been premiers for years now, and nobody had even come close to beating them. As if reading my mind, Tess shook her head. ‘They haven’t played us yet,’ she said, sounding determined.
‘True,’ I agreed. ‘But I’ve heard their defenders are ruthless.’
‘So am I!’ said Tess in her most ferocious voice, making both Maggie and I laugh.
After Sapphires games Tess and I usually went to each other’s houses to hang out and relive every second. We’d decided to keep the tradition alive, and it was Maggie’s turn today. I was trying to come up with an excuse, because of the whole Finn thing, which Maggie knew nothing about. As the bus pulled up outside the stadium, and we said goodbye to the rest of our team, I blurted out, ‘Um, I told Dad I’d help him clean out the study.’ I knew as soon as I’d said it that it probably wouldn’t fly.
Tess raised an eyebrow and gave me her special yeah, right look.
‘Just for a bit, Edie?’ pleaded Maggie, not knowing the real reason I was trying to get out it.
Tess came to my rescue. ‘Actually, I just remembered the boys are at a party this afternoon, so maybe we could go to my place instead? Avoid brothers,’ she said, winking at Maggie. I silently thanked her, hoping Maggie would agree, but she just laughed. ‘My brother is out too!’
‘Oh, well then, let’s just go to your house, Mags. It’s much closer. Edie?’ said Tess, raising her eyebrows at me.
I nodded. ‘Okay, just for a bit, then I really have to help Dad with that thingy …’
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see Finn. I did. But I still felt bad for ditching him. And besides, I didn’t want to be reminded of how cute he was when I couldn’t do anything about it.
But as we rode up to Maggie’s house, chattering on about the game, someone rode up the path in front of us. As he jumped off his bike and took off his helmet, I saw that it was Finn. My stomach sank. He was wearing his footy shorts and club top, and he was all splattered with mud.
‘What are you doing home?’ asked Maggie, sounding cross.
‘Nice to see you too, Mags. Hi, netty girls,’ he said, not looking at me. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be in your way. I just came home for a show
er, then I’m heading out.’
Clearly he didn’t want to see me at all. I tried to focus on the conversation about how we were going to beat the Warriors, but Finn kept dashing back and forth past the lounge room, making it a bit hard to pretend he didn’t exist. Suddenly, to my horror, I realised Tess and Maggie were staring at me.
‘Sorry, what were you saying?’ I said, pretending to yawn like I was just so tired I couldn’t keep up.
‘Maggie was asking how we could beat the Warriors. And I said we could shut down their centre passes,’ said Tess.
I nodded. ‘Hmm. It could work, but it probably won’t be enough. I think we’ll need more than one trick up our sleeves.’
Tess shrugged. ‘Okay, shut down their attackers?’
Maggie laughed. ‘Justine’s been trying to get her teams to beat the Warriors for ages. I’m sure she’ll have some secret weapon to roll out!’
‘Ooh, I like the sound of a secret weapon!’ I said with a smile.
Finn peeped around the corner and said, ‘I’m off. Don’t have too much fun without me.’
I laughed without thinking. Finn looked straight at me and smiled. ‘Glad someone appreciates my jokes. Thanks, Edie.’
I know I was blushing a bit – I was really pleased that things weren’t too weird between us. But I was also a bit relieved that he was leaving, because it meant I could concentrate totally on our game plan.
When Tess and I first started playing netball, we couldn’t practice shooting on the school courts, because the goal rings were too high. We could barely even throw the ball that high, let alone get it through a ring. But now we spent most of our lunchtimes shooting goals. Nobody else ever bothered trying to use the court, because we were always there.
‘Thirty-nine,’ I said, counting Tess’s goal. ‘Forty …’
‘Do you think I can make it to a hundred?’
‘I hope not, otherwise I’ll never get a go!’
‘You still haven’t told me all the goss about Finn,’ said Tess, shooting another goal.
‘Forty-one, and there’s nothing to tell. He asked me out. I said no.’
She shot three more goals, then I added, ‘But I still think he’s cute. And it was pretty weird seeing him the other day. He is cute, isn’t he?’
My question obviously threw Tess, because she missed goal number forty-five.
‘Finally,’ I said, grabbing the ball.
‘That’s cheating,’ said Tess. I smiled and shot my first goal.
‘He is pretty cute, those big eyes and that smile. Even the way he’s always joking,’ said Tess. ‘He’s kind of dreamy.’
‘I know what you’re doing. But it won’t work. I’m going to beat you,’ I said, shooting goal number two.
We’d been practicing like crazy ever since we found out we were playing the Warriors on Saturday. Whenever we weren’t training or sleeping, we were shooting. I practically started dreaming about netball manoeuvres. I could tell Tess was pleased that I’d started taking netball more seriously. And actually, I’d noticed a huge change in my game.
‘Nine,’ said Tess.
As I ran off to grab the ball, which had rolled under the trees, I saw Freddy and Zoe from drama, in full costume, doing a photo shoot in the playground. It must have been for the poster or something. It looked like Zoe was dressed as Juliet – I wondered what had happened there.
Tess obviously noticed them too. I heard her say ‘Wow!’ behind me.
Wow all right. They looked amazing. Zoe made a stunning Juliet, and Freddy looked perfect as Romeo. Freddy saw me watching and waved.
‘You okay?’ said Tess, grabbing my arm.
I looked back over as they moved into another position and tried to imagine what it would have been like to be in the play. ‘I’m okay,’ I said, surprising myself. It was true. There was a little twinge of regret, of wishing I was the one getting photographed in that dress, with Freddy holding my arm. But then, here I was, out in the sun, shooting goals with Tess and preparing to play the biggest game of our lives.
‘Ten!’ I said, as I got another goal.
‘I want you to go hard on Saturday. I want you to be tough and I want you to be ruthless,’ said Justine, looking even more intense than normal.
‘Um, isn’t that what we always do?’ asked Tess from where we were standing at the back of the group.
Justine fixed her with a stare. ‘I want more. We’re going to beat the Warriors. I don’t care how.’
I nudged Tess and pulled a face, making sure Justine couldn’t see. She made it sound like we were going to war, not playing a netball game.
‘Righto, I’ll see you on Saturday. Early,’ said Justine, dismissing us.
Justine had trained us so hard that even Tess looked exhausted. She was the colour of a beetroot, and I looked like a rosy red apple. We grabbed our stuff and headed for the door.
‘I never thought I’d say this, but it is just a netball game,’ Tess said softly to me as we walked outside.
I nodded, totally agreeing. ‘I know. It was pretty strange. She must really want to beat them.’
‘Yeah, but it’s not like any of us slack off. We play our best, every single week. I hate being made to feel like I could play harder than I do,’ complained Tess. It was the first time I’d ever heard her criticise Justine. Normally she just went along with everything she said.
‘Well, I plan on slacking off when I get home. I’m exhausted!’
We rode home slowly and quietly. Neither of us could even be bothered saying goodbye properly. We just grunted tired farewells and rode off in the directions of our houses.
I couldn’t even be bothered rummaging around in my bag for my key, so I just rang the doorbell and hoped someone would answer.
After what seemed like ages, Jean opened the door with a face covered in pink goo.
‘Ergh, what happened to you?’ I said, pulling a face.
‘Face mask,’ she said, through narrow lips, and I realised she couldn’t open her mouth properly because the goo had dried. If I’d had more energy I would have tormented her about that, but tonight I just wanted to lie down.
I could smell something yummy in the kitchen. ‘Hey, honey,’ called Mum. ‘Dinner will be ready soon.’
‘Okay! I’m just going to have a bath, Mum,’ I called back. Normally I’d have gone and said a proper hello, but tonight there was no room for manners. I doubted I could even make it up the stairs.
‘Have you got any of that salt stuff for the bath, Jean?’ I asked. ‘I’m aching in every muscle!’
She mumbled something through her half-closed mouth, and I thought I heard the words ‘upstairs’ and ‘cupboard’.
I ran the bath and hunted around in the cupboard for the bath salts, but before I could find them, Jean barged in, pushing me out of the way.
‘Jean,’ I whined, sounding about five.
She was washing her face madly, trying to get the goo off. I just wanted to have my bath in peace! Finally, she looked up at me, her face all red and blotchy. ‘Ew, is it meant to look like that?’ I asked, wondering why she did these things to herself.
‘It’ll settle down,’ she said, sounding like she did this every day. Then she opened the top cupboard and pulled out a small bottle of green liquid.
‘Two drops in your bath and you’ll feel like a million dollars,’ she said in a silly voice.
I laughed. ‘Thanks. You really should go into advertising!’
I opened the bottle and smelt it. It was sort of minty – much better than sports rub and sweat, which is what I currently smelled like. I put two drops into the bath and ushered my sister out.
‘I’ll be a while,’ I said, locking the door behind her.
‘Mum’s cooking lasagne,’ she said through the door, knowing that would get me out in a hurry.
The bath was hot and full and I could have almost fallen asleep in it, but I was starving, so I didn’t last as long as I’d have liked. The green stuff must have done something, though, because by the time I dried off and put on my old track pants and hoodie, I felt, and smelt, well, probably more like a hundred dollars than a million, but certainly better than I had before.
‘She’s alive!’ said Jean as I walked into the kitchen. The rest of my family was sitting at the table, obviously waiting for me. That was the problem with training nights. Either everybody else ate before me, and I’d have to heat something up when I got home, or, like tonight, they were all sitting around waiting for me, probably as hungry as I was. Actually, nobody could be as hungry as I was.
‘A huge serve for me, thanks, Mum,’ I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. I hadn’t seen her for a few days.
‘Do I look peachy?’ asked Jean as I sat down next to her.
‘Yeah, like one that’s been left on the tree for too long,’ I said, making Dad laugh.
Jean rolled her eyes. ‘You wait. By tomorrow, my skin will be radiant.’
‘It was radiant before you put the mask on,’ said Mum, joining in the argument.
‘How was training?’ Dad asked me, keeping Jean’s goo from derailing our nice family dinner.
With a mouthful of lasagne, I nodded, and gave him the thumbs up.
‘Game of chess after dinner?’
I swallowed. ‘I think I’ll be in bed. Sorry, Dad. Big game Saturday, and I’m exhausted.’
Poor Dad. We used to play chess all the time, before netball took over my life. Then Jean piped up, ‘I’ll play Monopoly with you.’
Dad laughed. ‘Only if I can be the car.’
‘I’m in too,’ said Mum.
Normally I loved an all-in family game of Monopoly. We were ruthless, and shamelessly tried to bankrupt each other. But that night, I barely made it through dinner.
‘I can’t practice anymore,’ I moaned as Tess met me after our last class. We’d been planning on shooting goals for a couple of hours, just like we had every other night this week, but I was exhausted. I expected Tess to be snippy with me, but she surprised me. ‘Yay, me neither! Let’s go get ice-cream instead.’
