Play the Game

by Nova Weetman

  ‘Really? I thought you’d be mad,’ I said.

  She shook her head. ‘I’m not that horrible. I don’t want to train every minute of my life, Edie.’

  ‘Oh, thank god. Come on, I can already taste the lemon gelati.’

  ‘Should I text Maggie? See if she wants to join us?’ said Tess.

  Without thinking, I pulled a face. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Maggie. I did. But I wanted to hang out with my friend. Alone. Tess saw my face and laughed.

  ‘You’re not still funny about Maggie, are you?’ said Tess.

  ‘No. But I kind of just want to eat ice-cream with you,’ I said, feeling a bit embarrassed. But Tess just smiled.

  ‘Sounds perfect.’

  As we rode down to the ice-cream shop near school, we started yelling out all the flavour combinations we wanted.

  Tess started. ‘I’m going to have chocolate, mango and peach.’

  ‘What about blueberry?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, I love blueberry. Okay, so mango, peach and blueberry.’

  ‘I’m having banana. And cookies and cream.’

  ‘Gross! That doesn’t go together,’ said Tess, locking up her bike to mine.

  ‘It might.’

  We were kidding ourselves, of course. We always got exactly the same things.

  We queued up with the other ten or so school kids waiting in line. Tess went first. ‘Can I please have a triple of nougat, strawberry and vanilla?’

  I looked at her. ‘What?’

  ‘I’m trying something new!’

  But I didn’t want new. I wanted the flavours I always got. ‘A triple with mint, orange, and cookies and cream please.’

  Tess groaned. ‘Predictable!’

  We handed over our money and grabbed our cones. ‘I just know what I like.’

  ‘But you’ll never know what else you like if you don’t try something new,’ argued Tess.

  ‘I can just try yours!’ I said, leaning over and licking her ice-cream before she had the chance to stop me. Tasting the nougat, I pulled a face. ‘Yuck. See, I’d be really unhappy if I was stuck with that.’

  We sat down outside under a huge umbrella.

  ‘What if we lose tomorrow, Edie? I’m worried that Justine will be furious with us.’

  ‘She can’t be. Not if we all try our best.’

  But Tess still looked worried. ‘I’ve never heard her so determined. I hate it. I mean, I’m competitive. I like to win. Right?’

  I grinned. Tess hated losing. ‘Right,’ I agreed.

  ‘So I really don’t like it when our coach makes it sound like if we don’t win, it means we didn’t try hard enough. If the other team is better, then they’re better. We can’t control that.’

  ‘I’m sure Justine will be cool if we lose. She’s probably just trying to get us psyched up for the game, that’s all,’ I said, hoping that was true.

  Tess licked her ice-cream then screwed up her face. ‘I hate admitting that you’re right, but … nougat’s horrible! Next time, can you remind me that I don’t like trying new flavours?’

  ‘Sure, if you tell me more about Finn’s big eyes and his cute smile,’ I said, teasing Tess.

  She punched me on the arm. ‘He’s not my type. I was just trying to get you to miss a goal, that’s all.’

  ‘I would have won if the bell hadn’t gone,’ I said.

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘Maybe. Maybe not. Come on, I’m ready for bad TV and the couch,’ said Tess, tossing the last of her ice-cream into the bin.

  I woke up so early it was still dark outside. I knew I should have gone back to sleep. Today’s game was a home game, and it wasn’t until ten. But I’d just lie awake anyway, so I got up and went downstairs.

  When Mum and Dad had finally agreed to get me a mobile phone this year, the deal had been that I couldn’t have it in my room overnight. They knew if I did, I’d probably just text Tess all night. This meant that when I woke up super early, and figured Tess would also be up super early, I couldn’t just lay in bed and text her. I had to go downstairs to get my phone.

  Nervous? I texted.

  Terrified! she sent back.

  I smiled. I knew she’d be up. At least she’d still be in her warm bed. I flicked on the lights and grabbed a glass of water. I’d have my first breakfast while we texted back and forth – and then maybe even my second. I always ate two breakfasts before a game because I burned so much energy. There was nothing worse than having to play sport when you were starving.

  Making toast, I texted.

  Jam?

  I smiled. How did u know?

  She sent back a smiley face. I always had jam. Dad made this huge batch over summer and it was delicious.

  Porridge 4 me.

  So she wasn’t still in bed. Yuck! I replied.

  Brown sugar AND maple, she told me.

  We texted back and forth for a bit, killing time until we had to get ready: strap our ankles, check our nails were short enough, tie back our hair and take off our jewellery. We had to get to the court early, because Justine liked running us through moves before the game started.

  I’ll swing by soon, texted Tess.

  OK.

  By the time I’d showered and dressed, and was making sure my laces were as tight as humanly possible, Mum wandered out in her dressing gown. She went straight to the coffee machine.

  ‘Morning, Mum,’ I said.

  I got a grunt in reply. She must have worked late.

  I felt all jittery – I kept sitting down and then standing up again. Tess was right. It was just a game. A season game too, not even a final. We’d play our best, and if we lost, we lost.

  ‘What time’s the game?’ asked Mum, sipping her coffee and opening her eyes properly.

  ‘Ten.’

  ‘I’m on call, but I’ll come down and watch. Let’s just hope no-one gets injured, so I get to watch the whole game!’

  I smiled at her. I liked it when she came to my games. She always cheered really loud when Tess or I scored a goal, and afterwards, if she didn’t have to rush off, we’d go and celebrate – or commiserate.

  I heard the doorbell and I knew it was Tess. She was really early, but I was glad. It was better being together when we felt this nervous.

  ‘See you there, Mum,’ I said, kissing her cheek.

  ‘Bye, honey. Good luck,’ she said sleepily.

  I opened the door and Tess took one look at me. ‘Drink bottle?’

  ‘I’ll just go grab it.’

  I filled up my sports bottle and ran back to Tess. ‘Bag?’ she asked.

  ‘Oops, hang on.’

  My bag was in my room. I raced upstairs and grabbed it off my bed. If it wasn’t for Tess, I’d forget everything. That’s what nerves did to me.

  ‘Okay, good to go now,’ I said as I jumped on my bike and followed her down the driveway. She stopped and looked back at me, smirking. ‘Helmet?’

  I started laughing as I dashed back to grab it.

  Finally, we were on our way. We arrived at the stadium around the same time as the rest of the team. As we walked out onto the court, Justine pulled me aside.

  ‘Edie, can I’ve a word?’

  I nodded and let the others go on ahead of me.

  Justine leant down and spoke softly, so nobody else would hear. ‘Your GD has a weak ankle. I want you to target her.’

  I wasn’t sure I’d understood. ‘What do you mean?’

  She smiled at me. ‘You don’t have to look so worried, Edie. I’m not asking you to trip her over or anything, I just want you to bump her a bit. And stay on her left side. She’ll be protecting her ankle, so you need to make that a bit hard for her.’

  I really didn’t like what Justine was asking me to do. I’d be exploiting an injury, something I’d been t
aught never to do. ‘Um, isn’t that playing kind of dirty?’ I said quietly.

  Justine looked at me, surprised. I’d never questioned her before. ‘Do you want to win this game? They’d do it to you in a heartbeat.’

  I must have looked concerned still, because Justine leaned in close. ‘I’m your coach, Edie. And what I say goes. Do you understand?’

  Nodding, I felt sick. This felt really wrong.

  As Justine jogged off to warm up the rest of the team, Tess dropped back to see if I was okay. I must have looked really shocked, because she slid her arm around my shoulders. ‘Edie?’

  I didn’t want to tell Tess. It seemed like the less people who knew, the better. I decided I’d just ignore Justine and play normally. Hopefully we’d always be in the lead and I wouldn’t have to even think about her request again.

  I smiled at Tess. ‘I’m okay. Just nervous, that’s all.’

  She narrowed her eyes at me, trying to suss out if I was telling the truth. ‘You sure?’

  I nodded. ‘Absolutely! Come on, let’s go warm up.’

  The rest of the pre-game was a bit of a blur. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Justine had said. It wasn’t like netball didn’t get a bit rough sometimes, especially at this level, but I’d never been asked to go after someone just because they had an injury before. And besides, how did Justine even know about it?

  As the siren went, we stripped off our tracksuits and took to the court. I saw my opponent before I saw anyone else – she had strapping halfway up her left leg. It must have been a bad injury, and they obviously weren’t taking any risks with it.

  The whistle went and the game started. It was so fast. I still hadn’t got used to the speed of state netball, and we were down three goals before I’d even caught my breath. The first quarter passed in a blur. By the time the siren went and we could grab a drink, the Warriors were seven goals in front. Not a good start.

  Before I could run back onto the court, Justine gave me a fierce look. ‘Edie, I asked you to do something and you’re not doing it. Now either you play the way I’ve asked you to play or I’m benching you. It’s your choice.’

  I was shocked. I couldn’t believe she was going to bench me if I didn’t target the GD! I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t feel great about targeting my player like that, but I really didn’t want to miss the game. I still felt like we had a shot at beating the Warriors. Should I follow Justine’s order and bump my player, possibly making her injury even worse? Or should I let Justine bench me, and make my point? I didn’t have time to ask Tess – there were only seconds left before the next quarter started. I had to make a decision.

  ‘You’re right. I shouldn’t have come to you for advice. I did want to play Juliet, but I’m not sure I do anymore. Obviously you don’t understand my reasons. I’ll see you at school.’ I walked out of Tess’s bedroom, holding back my tears.

  As I rode home, I thought about what I’d said to Tess. It was true, I didn’t want to play Juliet anymore. I felt excited about being the Nurse. I knew Kerry wouldn’t understand – Freddy probably wouldn’t either – but I had to do what felt right.

  At least Jean was excited to see me as I walked in the house. She had a jar of cream in her hand, and she was grinning madly.

  ‘Just in time,’ she said. ‘Sit down. We’re going to age you.’

  ‘Can we do it tomorrow? I’m really tired.’

  ‘You won’t have to do a thing,’ she said, pushing me into a chair. I shrugged. If it meant I didn’t have to think about Tess or Juliet for half an hour, then maybe it was a good thing. Besides, I was sort of intrigued.

  ‘No moving,’ she said.

  I sat perfectly still and let Jean work her magic. It was actually quite relaxing, sitting in silence while she worked. I checked my phone three times, but there were no texts from Tess.

  As Jean finished, I heard Dad walk down the corridor. Before he could walk into the room, Jean yelled,‘One second, Dad.’

  ‘Righto,’ he called back. I loved that he just let us boss him around without barging in to see what we were doing.

  Jean stood back and admired her work. ‘Okay, you can come in.’

  ‘Presenting … an ugly old crone!’ announced Jean as Dad entered the room.

  Dad looked at me and pulled a face. ‘Ergh! What’s happened to you?’

  I laughed. ‘It’s called getting into character.’

  ‘Right, well, I think you’ve nailed it, Jean!’ Dad sounded impressed.

  Intrigued, I ran upstairs to see just how bad I looked. As soon as I saw my reflection I started laughing. I was so wrinkly! Jean had done an amazing job. I hoped that Kerry would let me wear this make-up for the part.

  ‘What do you think?’ Jean appeared behind me.

  ‘You’re incredible. It looks so real!’

  She shrugged. ‘You were kind of wrinkly to begin with, so it wasn’t that hard.’

  I poked my tongue out at her in the mirror. The effect was kind of weird.

  ‘So, Belle’s had to pull out of the play, and Kerry offered me her part,’ I said quietly.

  Jean eyed me seriously. ‘Are you taking it?’

  ‘Would you think I was crazy if I said no?’

  ‘No. I told you, the Nurse is a great part. And besides, I spent a fortune on that cream!’

  I smiled at her. It was nice being able to talk to my sister about this stuff.

  ‘To be honest, I’ve been getting stage fright during rehearsals. I don’t think I’m ready for Juliet,’ I admitted, hoping she wouldn’t think I was stupid.

  ‘I dropped out of drama class because of stage fright,’ she said quietly. ‘It came on all of a sudden, and I didn’t know how to deal with it.’

  ‘It’s horrid, isn’t it? I haven’t had it really bad, just frozen lines. But I hate it,’ I said, feeling strangely pleased that Jean understood. ‘Maybe you could come back to class sometime? It might be fun.’ I quite liked the idea of hanging out with my sister a bit more.

  ‘Yeah, maybe,’ she said.

  Then I had an idea. ‘Hey, can you take a photo on my phone?’

  She got me to pose, then I scrolled through my contacts until I found the name I wanted, and hit send.

  ‘You texting Tess?’

  ‘Not exactly,’I said. Within seconds, my phone beeped.

  Awesome! Does this mean you’re playing the Nurse?

  I texted back.

  Yep!

  The reply came through within seconds:

  I’m glad. I like you as the Nurse.

  Jean plucked the phone from my hand. ‘Who’s Jackson?’

  It was lucky Jean’s make-up was so thick. I’m pretty sure I was tomato red under all those wrinkles!

  All our hard work came down to one night. Opening night. It was so weird having to sit through classes just like any other day. I sat with Mel in English and she admitted she was terrified that the bottle of poison would disappear from the props area. I confessed that I was still suffering from stage fright. We were also both beside ourselves with excitement.

  Tess still wasn’t talking to me. I had no idea if she would come to the play, but I’d snuck a ticket into her locker that morning. I’d waited behind the bank of lockers and watched as she opened her locker. I couldn’t see her face as she pulled out the ticket, so I had no idea how she’d reacted, but I had my fingers crossed that she’d come.

  As I struggled through maths, trying not to look at the clock, I heard another boy from the play giggling and reciting his lines. Mr Murphy looked up from his desk. ‘If you’re in the play, just go across to the theatre. You’re not getting any work done and you’re interrupting my class,’ he said, sounding frustrated.

  Mel and I dashed straigh
t across to the theatre, where the rest of the cast was starting to gather. Everyone was chattering loudly. Kerry stopped us in the doorway.

  ‘I want four laps of the oval before you come in,’ she said, sounding like some crazed sports teacher. ‘You need to calm down!’

  We groaned, but it actually worked – I felt much better by the time I jogged into the theatre. I wasn’t exactly calm, but at least I wasn’t bursting.

  ‘Hey Edie, want to run lines for a bit?’ asked Jackson, looking even more nervous than I was.

  ‘Sure, but we still have a few hours before we open. How are you with a butter knife?’ I asked.

  He shrugged, looking confused. ‘All right. Why?’

  I led him into the kitchen, where the students looking after the café were frantically making sandwiches and cakes.

  ‘Here, you butter,’ I said to Jackson. He looked relieved to have something to do.

  ‘Thanks, Edie. I’m so nervous, I can barely think straight.’

  ‘I can tell,’ I grinned, pointing at the knife. He was holding it the wrong way up.

  We must have made about fifty sandwiches. I think it helped. By the time we finished in the kitchen, Jackson was looking a lot calmer, and I was too.

  The girls’ dressing room was in chaos. There was stuff everywhere. I finally found my costume, but I still had to do my make-up. Jean had offered to come down and do it for me, but I thought I’d be okay.

  I sat down in front of the bank of mirrors. As I reached for the wrinkle cream, my hand started shaking. I couldn’t apply it smoothly enough. I was about to call Jean when I heard someone say,‘Here, let me do it.’

  It was Zoe, the girl who’d replaced Belle. She took the cream from my hand, smiling. ‘It’s really hard doing your own make-up.’

  I closed my eyes and let her spread the cream across my face, grateful for the chance to take a breath. As she finished, I opened my eyes.