Out of Bounds by Elena Delle Donne

Author:Elena Delle Donne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

8

The Coach’s Daughter

This will be our last week of volleyball,” Mr. Patel, our gym teacher, announced the next day.

A few kids cheered, and some of them groaned—including me. I really liked playing volleyball in gym class. I was pretty good at it and I thought it was fun.

“Those of you who like volleyball should consider joining the team,” Mr. Patel went on. “This season is already underway, but you can play in the spring season.”

I liked the idea of joining the volleyball team—and then I remembered that the basketball travel team played in the spring. I’d joined the travel team for the first time last year, and the coaches all encouraged me to do it again this year. My coach had said that it was important to keep playing if you were serious about the sport. That meant summer basketball camp, too, which I had attended for the entire month of July, followed by a one-week intensive in August at the community college.

Mr. Patel divided us into teams, and I ended up on one with Hannah, Natalie, Blake, Dylan, and Jacob. When gym was over, after our team had won three straight games, Mr. Patel stopped me on the way to the locker room.

“You should really consider joining the volleyball team, Elle,” he said. “They could use you.”

“I’d like that a lot,” I replied. “But you know—basketball.”

“I understand,” Mr. Patel said. “Do what makes you happy, Elle! Follow your bliss!”

Right after gym, I headed to lunch. Spring Meadow is a small school, and most of us have known one another since kindergarten. Since I started playing basketball in the third grade, I have sat at lunch with the same five girls: Avery, Natalie, Hannah, Caroline, and Patrice.

Avery, of course, is my best friend. Natalie and Hannah are best friends with each other. Natalie wears glasses, and over the summer she’d dyed a streak of her hair bright pink. While Natalie is outgoing, Hannah is more of an introvert. Hannah’s dad, Mr. Chambal, is the one who records our games that Coach Ramirez plays back to us on Mondays.

Then there’s Caroline. Even though I’ve known her for years, I didn’t really know her that well. Her best friend is someone from her town, and she doesn’t do a lot of school activities except for basketball. I only recently learned that it’s because she spends a lot of time helping to take care of her brother Pete and her other brother, Sam.

Finally there’s Patrice. She kind of looks like a mini version of her mom, Coach Ramirez, except Patrice wears her black hair long and pulls it into a ponytail. She’s always been quiet and shy, so I don’t know that much about her. I couldn’t tell you who her best friend is, or even if she has a best friend at all.

What I knew about Patrice I mostly knew from the court. I knew that she worked really hard and she always did her best, even though she wasn’t our best player.

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