Chapter 5

DAY TWO

After school, Annie, Emma, and Megan found themselves back in the locker room. It seemed unusually quiet. Then Annie realized that even Sarah and Dani were silent. They weren’t making fun of anyone. They weren’t laughing. In fact, they weren’t even talking to each other.

Megan and Emma noticed too. “They can’t be as nervous as I am, can they?” asked Megan.

“Well, they should be!” whispered Emma, afraid of being overheard. “Did you guys see them yesterday? Sarah was awful. It didn’t even seem like she cared!”

“It seems like they care today,” said Annie, lacing up her shoe.

When they were all ready, Annie and her friends headed out into the gym. Coach Jackson greeted them. “Good afternoon, girls!” she said. “Grab a ball and shoot around for a few minutes.” She smiled.

Emma leaned over and took a ball from the blue wire cage by the gym door. She passed it to Megan, who was standing under the basket nearby.

Megan caught the pass, took one dribble to get out from underneath the rim, made a short shot, and missed.

Annie glanced at Coach Jackson, who was watching Megan over her clipboard. Fortunately, Megan didn’t notice that the coach was watching.

Over the next fifteen minutes, the rest of the girls trickled in. Soon, the gym was full of yelling girls and bouncing basketballs. Today, Sarah and Dani were actually out of the locker room on time.

After they ran laps, the girls gathered in the middle of the gym. All of them were out of breath. Running laps always made Annie’s muscles feel good

Coach Jackson smiled at them. “We’re going to do a drill now to test your endurance,” she said. “I call it Dig Deep.”

She showed the girls how the drill would go. Then it was time to begin.

Soon, it was Annie’s turn. She sprinted up the sideline, shuffled across the half-court line, and ran backward down the other sideline. Then she shuffled halfway across the court. She ran as fast as she could up the middle of the court toward the opposite basket. Finally, she caught Coach Jackson’s pass and dribbled in for a layup.

Annie was concentrating so hard that she forgot to be nervous for a while. It was the most tiring drill she had ever run. But she made all of her layups, and she didn’t trip once.

Megan made two of her three shots, but dropped the coach’s pass on the last run. Annie saw Sarah point and laugh with Dani. But Megan didn’t seem to care.

The rest of Tuesday’s tryout was much better for Annie.

She felt confident. Her passes hit their marks and her shots went in.

The girls smiled and joked together as they changed after the tryout. When they left the locker room that night, they were all in a better mood, even though Megan’s tryout hadn’t gone well.

The next day was the first round of cuts. Last year, all three girls had made it through the first round — but they’d been cut at the second round.

Annie was terrified that the same thing would happen this year.