Marysville, Washington
Thursday, January 9th, 7:05 am
As soon as I walked through the main doors at Lincoln High that morning, I spotted Robin in the Commons. I went across to her table. She pushed a cardboard cup my way. “What’s this?”
“A sixteen-ounce mocha. Normally, I’d let you get your own, but today’s the first basketball game with you on the team. I can’t wait to see the girls win.” She drank some of hers. “They lost the game they played in December. Tonight’s game with Baker View was moved because of the snow and the match with Mount Pilchuck isn’t until the middle of the season. Olivia says that’s good because they dreaded facing you and their squad.”
“Nothing to dread.” I pulled out a chair and sat down. “With the new coach at M.P., I probably wouldn’t have turned out anyway. There was way too much politics and I wasn’t fighting to be point guard.”
“But, you’re not the point guard here,” Robin said.
“Not yet. I have to prove myself.” I shrugged. “Once Coach Norris realizes I am that good, he’ll let me show it.”
Robin laughed, shaking her head. “Don’t count on it. He’s all about teamwork. He may say that winners never quit and quitters never win, but his other mantra is that there isn’t an “i” in team. You have to work together.”
“Did he lose it when the squad did?” I asked. “My old coach would have had us running lines for the next three practices.”
“No way. Olivia said he was disappointed, but he told them that they just had to work harder on trusting one another and team building exercises. They were tougher on each other than he ever was. The same thing happened when we ran cross-country.”
I let her talk while I drank my coffee. I might not tell her but I had to admit that the coach impressed me with the way he motivated his kids. Who wouldn’t put in more effort with someone who wasn’t nagging or carping at you about your failures? I’d never heard of a coach who didn’t shout at his players.
When Vicky arrived a few minutes later, Robin passed her a cup. Vicky took a sip of her latte and then turned to me. “What did Rocky say about a riding club? Can we design some posters?”
“No posters yet, but soon. She and Grandma are visiting the 4-H office today and talking to the county extension agent. After that, they’re having lunch with the Weldons. Herb and Virginia founded the Silver Spurs back when my mom was a kid. Mom says if they’ll advise her, she can run an old-fashioned club.”
“Old-fashioned?” Vicky rolled her eyes. “What does that mean? We have to learn to ride side-saddle?”
“Not that old, but she said no whips or spurs for beginners. It also means no cliques, no bullying, no snarky, snotty crap. Mom told me that if she was the leader, I’d have to do what she said and not argue with her in front of the other kids. She wants the adult riders to be associate members so they don’t feel shut-out of what happens at the barn. I definitely can’t set a bad example.”
“Do you actually argue with Rocky?” Robin gave me the big-eye look. “I can’t imagine anyone doing that. She’s so tough.”
“She’s my mother. Of course, I fight with her. I’m not perfect and neither is she. I’m not as bad as Autumn. I don’t tell Mom that she isn’t the boss of me.”
Both Robin and Vicky laughed at that. The bell rang and we headed for English class, dropping our cups in the garbage on the way. When I saw Dani in Choir, I told her about the new riding club and she promised to come up with some potential names for it. She said that she’d popped in to visit her horse after supper when I’d gone to church to sing with the teen group.
“How was it?” Dani asked, as she organized her music. “Are you going to join the chorus?”
“It was fun. I ran into some of the kids from Salmon Pond there. One of the girls attends a puppy obedience class on Friday afternoons. I’m going to check my basketball practice schedule and see if I can take Charlie.”
“How will Rocky feel about that? I know she depends on you to do a lot.”
“As long as she doesn’t need me for the last Mommy and Me class, it should be okay. She wants me to train Charlie so he won’t be a nuisance around the barn. I’d be home in time to help untack, groom and do chores.” I slid my papers into position as the bell rang. Mr. Haller walked over to close the door as two of the sopranos pelted inside.
He didn’t wait for them to get it together. That wasn’t the Lincoln High way. I felt a moment’s pity for them, but it faded as we began our warm-up exercises. We started with hissing for fifteen seconds while he counted down, then we did it again, this time from twenty and finally from thirty. Then, we sang the alphabet song on a five-note scale. After that, it was the “do, re, mi” one from The Sound of Music.
I’d sung it like a thousand times before I transferred to this school, but Mr. Haller made us do it in rounds and that was a lot harder. At Mount Pilchuck, this would have been enough work for the day, but here it was just the first fifteen minutes and now, we were supposed to be ready to really sing. And we did!
* * * *
Since we had a game that evening, we didn’t have practice after school. I stopped by the gym to get my Lincoln High basketball uniforms. I’d wear the white and blue one tonight since we were playing at our school. The blue and gold set was for times when we visited other teams. Then, I headed home. When I arrived, Queenie raced to meet me at the back yard gate, Charlie right behind her, both dogs barking in excitement. I put down my backpack and scooped him up for a puppy kiss and hug session. “I missed you too, buddy.”
I turned my head in time to miss his nip at my nose and cuddled the tri-mix even tighter. “Did you have the lonely cobble-wobbles like me?”
No answer, of course. He was a dog, after all. Well, at least he’d be one someday. Right now, he was a collie mix puppy with the fastest tongue in the West who swiped at my cheek. I put him down and petted Queenie who acted like she had never been his age, size or a fur monster. The three of us trooped to the back door. They came in with me for snack time.
They opted for doggie cookies and I went for the frosted ones left over from Christmas. I was a good big sister. I saved a couple for Autumn. After that, I headed for my room to change. Charlie trotted behind me. He flopped on his puppy bed, cuddling with a stuffed teddy bear. Since we were alone, I sat down by him. I stroked his gold and black fur, and then whispered in his ear that I was nervous about the game tonight. Nobody else needed to know.
We couldn’t lose. I wasn’t letting that happen. This was a new team, a new school. If it was meant to be, it was up to me. I didn’t have anyone to depend on, except myself. What else was new? It had always been that way and I didn’t see changes on the horizon.
I took a deep breath. I had to be totally in control. If I wasn’t, I’d disappoint myself and my family. I’d go help with chores, eat supper and be on time for the game. No mistakes, I told myself. I’d score tonight. That was a given. The question was how many points.
I took the dogs with me to the arena barn. I had to water, muck and feed before we could go anywhere. I found Grandma already running the hose. I grabbed a plastic manure fork and the bale of pine shavings so I could get started.
“Are you apprehensive about tonight?” Grandma asked.
“No. It’s a good team. We’ll be fine.”
“I haven’t seen you play since middle school. I’m looking forward to it. Are you the quarterback?”
“That’s football, Grandma.” I laughed and felt my tension slide away. “In basketball, the point guard runs the plays the coach gives. No, I’m not anybody yet. This new guy rotates the positions all the time. I don’t know what he plans for tonight.”
“You’ll find out when we get there. I know you can handle it.”
“You bet,” I said. “It’s what McElroys do, right? We take care of the details.”
It was one thing to talk positive to my grandmother. It was another when I returned to the school. In the locker room, Coach Norris sat us down and went over the schedule. I would play the second and fourth quarters, subbing in for first string players. That was more than fair since I’d only been on the team for a week. Patricia was the point guard for the first half and Olivia was for the last half. Cedar shot me a look, but I didn’t complain. I was new and hadn’t paid my dues yet.
The bleachers weren’t full when we ran into the gym to warm up. Still it was a fair sized crowd for a girl’s game. I was pretty sure that tomorrow night’s game when the guys played Baker View would fill the place. I spotted my mom sitting next to Dave, Grandma, Grandpa and Autumn. Tom was up there too. I waved at my little sister who jumped up and called my name. She was my favorite cheerleader. I saw Vicky and Robin move up there too, boyfriends in tow. I definitely couldn’t screw up tonight, not with all of them watching.
I sat between Cedar and Olivia while the first five players ran onto the court. “Congrats on being point guard tonight.”
“I don’t know what Coach is thinking,” Olivia muttered. “You’d do an amazing job. We might even win.”
“We’ll win,” I said. “Baker’s good, but we’re better. Have confidence.”
Olivia narrowed her dark eyes and glared at me. “I’m confident all right. We need you out there for the whole game, not half of it.”
“What she said,” Cedar agreed.
I glanced at Kanisha who sat in a crunched up heap on Olivia’s other side. “What’s up with you? We’re not even up yet. Why are you nervous?”
She chewed on the end of a black braid and didn’t answer. Olivia did. “Her dad is here and he’s a major jerk.”
“Been that, done there,” I said. “It super-sucks. My mom always insisted her husbands come to my games and I used to give the jerks numbers instead of bothering to remember their names.”
Kanisha perked up enough to peek around Olivia at me. “How could she have more than one husband?”
“Grandma said she collected boys like some people do coins or postage stamps. My mom meets them, marries ‘em and then discards them. During the last divorce proceedings, the judge told her that doing the same things and expecting different results each time was the definition of insanity. Mom decided to give up on her rodeo boys.”
“All guys who do rodeo aren’t boys,” Olivia said.
“The ones who date my mother are.”
Cedar looked up at the grandstand and waved at my family. “The one with her tonight doesn’t look much like he does rodeo.”
“No, he’s her latest flavor of the month. He’s pretty decent.” I shrugged. “He won’t last. I give it six months. She’ll dump him by March.”
“That’s pretty cynical,” Olivia said. “Don’t you want your mom to be happy?”
“I love my mom, but I know her.”
“Like I know my dad.” Kanisha tossed a smile my way. “I’ll be okay now.”
“You’ll do great,” I said. “I’m counting on you to hit the basket every time like you do during practice. I’ve never seen you miss a shot.”
Her smile widened and she straightened. Olivia frowned, but before I could ask what was wrong now, the ref blew the whistle. The players circled for the tip-off. I expected Patricia to choose Zoey to represent us. She was taller than me, but no way. Patricia went up, lost the ball and Baker got possession.
Game on and we were already behind. It didn’t get much better through the first quarter. Baker scored repeatedly. Their squad was in sync and ours was all over the floor. Patricia managed to get two baskets, but Baker was up by twenty at the end of the first quarter. Coach thought I was a diva. He should open his eyes and see what his princess was doing tonight.
Second quarter, I ran out and took over for Zoey. She bumped my shoulder. “Good luck.”
“I make my own.” I glanced at the rest of the group. Okay, it was me, Kanisha, Patricia and two other girls that I didn’t know very well, Didi, and Willow. We’d practiced together, so it was going to work.
Baker had the ball when the ref blew the whistle, but that didn’t last long. I shadowed the tall brunette from the other school and stole the ball in mid-dribble. Time for a turn-around. Lincoln was winning tonight and I took the ball down the floor. Kanisha was by the basket, so I passed to her and she scored. All right! We’d catch up by half-time. I ignored the cheers and jogged partway down the court, ready to do it again.