Dangerous Play by Emma Kress

Author:Emma Kress
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

* * *

I look toward the Greenville game. I’ll prove myself to the team. Win them back.

Saturday, we count cows on the way to Greenville. Once we’re beyond the curving streets with short driveways and clipped lawns, beyond the trailer park hidden off the thruway, beyond the columned mini-mansions by the lake, it’s like falling back in time. Cows lounge against hillsides, the afternoon sun lighting them against the browning grass.

I can’t imagine growing up here—the closest house miles away, the chores that come from living on a farm, the food coming from your land instead of the supermarket.

We pull into the school, but I don’t let myself look at the girls. I don’t let myself wonder whether they’re stronger from lifting hay bales. If we win this one, we’re off to the sectional semifinals. That’s further than our team has ever gone. We’ll be back on track.

We take our laps. We run our small drills in our small groups.

In the locker room, Coach talks, but her voice buzzes around my ears. I only hear the slamming of the ball against the backboards. Again and again.

Finally, we race out of the locker room, the sound of our cleats matching the beat of my heart.

We shake hands with Greenville, and I train my eyes on their hands instead of their faces. They’re calloused and tanned.

I call tails. The coin flips and lands on heads.

I don’t let it rattle me. Nothing will get between us and this win. It belongs to me, to us. Like our uniforms, our sticks.

I sink into the national anthem, letting it drum through me as it builds to the finish.

Right away, Quinn steals the ball. She passes it to Bella, who drives it long to Sasha. Sasha leans low, her whole body pushing it toward the goal. It slips between the goalie’s legs.

The triplets hug and run while the rest of us cheer. I run up and knock sticks with Sasha. She smiles. Maybe this is us getting back to normal.

After that, Greenville wakes up. No more cakewalks to the goal. They score on us: 1 to 1. Their sweeper is big and fast—she drives the ball hard anytime it comes near.

We get another goal. Then, so do they: 2 to 2.

We hold it steady to the half.

Coach is jittery on the sideline. It’s all she can do to contain herself. “I’ve heard some people in AA say ‘You can eat an entire elephant one bite at a time.’”

Liv nudges me with her foot.

Quinn drops her braid to raise her hand. “I don’t want to eat an elephant, Coach.”

Coach flaps her hands like little wings. “Oh, shut up, Dobson. You know what I mean. Just take it one pass, one push, one drive at a time and you’ll make one goal at a time right to the finish.”

She’s right. We just need one goal for the win. Ava and Dyl can hold them off, and we can put one in. It’s that simple. And that hard.

I run in place.

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