Juniper laced up her bright white high tops.
The girls on her junior varsity team chattered happily in the locker room. Their energies were high because it was game day. They slapped high fives and made stupid jokes about the boys in their class.
Only Juniper was silent and worried. She’d practiced. She’d done the drills. She’d memorized the plays. But she just couldn’t shake the feeling that she hadn’t done enough. That whatever she needed to be, she wouldn’t be it.
“Try not to choke today, Jackson,” Veronica said. She threw a dirty towel at Juniper that landed on her shoes with a wet plop. “We all know you’re only starting because your dad’s the coach.”
A couple of the other girls snickered. They weren’t quite brave enough to laugh out loud.
Juniper turned toward her locker and ignored Veronica. Her parents had taught her to ignore anyone that was being a bully. Still, Juniper had to bite her tongue hard.
Mila’s high voice cut through the room. “Shut up, Veronica,” she said. She stood with her hands on her hips right in front of Veronica. She looked like a ferocious elf. “Juniper’s already a better player than you’ll ever be.”
Veronica raised her eyebrows. “We’ll see about that,” she said.
Juniper thought it was nice of Mila to stick up for her. Mila probably didn’t realize that Juniper thought Veronica was probably right. Veronica wasn’t the only one who believed that Juniper started because of her dad. Juniper actually believed it herself.
Veronica probably deserved to start in Juniper’s place. Juniper had potential. But at this point, Veronica was more aggressive.
Juniper wanted to prove herself. She wanted to show everyone that she wasn’t just starting at center because of her dad. Or because she was the tallest girl on the team. She wanted to prove that she deserved to start.
After warm-ups, the buzzer sounded. It was time to play the game.
On the opening jump ball, Juniper easily tipped the ball to the Panthers forward, Sarah. Sometimes being a giraffe was helpful.
Sarah passed to Mila, who dribbled down the left wing to set up their offensive play. Juniper set herself up in the low post area.
Sarah was about to come and screen Juniper’s defender so that she could get an open shot near the free throw line. The buzz from the crowd gave Juniper a needed boost of energy.
Sarah screened for Juniper, who moved swiftly on her long legs. Mila passed Juniper the ball. Juniper caught it, squared up, and shot. She felt that rare magic of movement in every part of her.
Swish.
The Panthers were two points up.
“Great shot, Juniper!” her dad shouted.
Juniper could feel warmth spread through her. There was no better feeling in the world than making her dad proud.
“Hustle back, now,” Juniper’s dad said. “Hustle back and play some defense!”
The first and second quarters went by in blur. Juniper made two more shots and blocked three. After one of her nice plays, she also managed to smirk toward the bench at Veronica as she ran down the court. Juniper knew it wasn’t a mature thing to do, but she couldn’t help it.
The opponents, the Spartans, were tough. Only two points separated the teams when the buzzer for halftime went off. Juniper had only come out of the game once for a rest. Her legs were wobbly with exhaustion. Her heart, though, was light.
In the locker room, Juniper’s dad stood in front of the team. “Great job out there, girls,” he said. “But they’re still killing us under the basket.” He drew some X’s and O’s on the board to show the girls how to improve their play.
“Juniper,” he said, “I really need you to step it up out there on defense. Their center is tossing them in left and right. Maybe we’ll try a zone defense.”
“Oh no,” someone said off to Juniper’s right.
Juniper looked up sharply. The Panthers had not practiced their zone defense very much. This would be a new challenge for everyone. Juniper felt guilty about that.
It was her fault they had to change the defense. She’d been too slow. This had given the Spartans some easy points. She knew her dad was right to single her out but still wished he wouldn’t.
He continued to draw diagrams to demonstrate the defensive change. He put an exclamation point by the circle that represented Juniper. “Use those long arms!” he shouted.
Veronica and a couple of her minions chuckled. Someone whispered, “Sasquatch arms, he means.”
Juniper could feel the anger spread through her like a hot coals. She couldn’t help that she was tall. Plus, she had been working hard out there.
Her dad could have talked about how great Mila was passing. Or, how Sarah had stolen the ball three times. But his focus was on her, and this made her feel bad for the other players.
They all put their hands together and shouted, “Go Panthers!”
Juniper felt hot and angry. She couldn’t let go of her frustration.
The buzzer sounded. The starters jogged out onto the court to begin the second half.
The Spartans threw the ball in.
Juniper’s body was filled with bottled-up anger. She set herself up under the basket, trying to remember the defensive plan and what she was supposed to do. She didn’t know where to stand. Her mind whirled with black X’s and O’s.
She began to think about the halftime speech. It was like when he looked at her, he saw only disappointment. In her anger, she completely forgot that he’d been giving her some good advice, too.
The Spartans point guard drove to the hoop. In an instant, she scooped the ball up into the basket before Juniper could help out and go for the block.
Juniper hadn’t been paying attention to the game. Now the two teams were tied up.
Juniper rushed down the court to sounds of her dad yelling. “Come on, Juniper,” he said. “Play hard!”
After that, the game felt like total chaos to Juniper. The Spartans racked up six more points in just a couple of minutes. Juniper felt like she was running in mud. She felt like she was always two seconds behind the play. As she slogged down the court after she’d failed to block out yet another rebound, she heard her dad shouting for a timeout.
The ref blew his whistle.
In the huddle, Juniper’s dad got right in her face. “What’s going on out there, Juniper?” he said. He sounded furious.
Juniper could feel the rest of the team’s eyes go wide.
“I … I don’t know,” Juniper said. She realized she was nearly crying.
“That’s not good enough,” he said. “Go sit at the end of the bench.” He pointed his finger at Veronica. “Get in there, Veronica,” he said. “Show Juniper how to be aggressive.”
Juniper felt humiliated.