I could hear Uncle Charlie calling me from the shed as I shoved my gear into my bag for Game 2. His honey jars were the least of my worries – I needed to take Amira to school and hopefully see Jamila before I had to head over to Punchbowl Park.
As soon as we got inside the gates of her school, Amira pulled me towards the monkey bars and I saw Jamila standing beside them, waiting at the bottom of the slide for Jehad. My heart almost burst out of my chest.
‘I’m getting better,’ Amira said. ‘Watch me now, Tariq.’
I had just taken a deep breath to apologise to Jamila, when her brother came flying down the slide, clipped my knees and knocked me to the ground. I face-planted into wet bark, and Jehad landed right on top of me. For a little kid, he really packed a punch. I’d heard jokes my whole life about watching out for a Lebanese girl’s brothers, but I’d never imagined an eight-year-old could have been such a threat. I caught my breath and stood up, just in time to see Jamila heading off in the direction of the girls’ high school.
There was no time to go after her and still make it to the Park in time for kick-off. Jamila was on my mind throughout the game against the D Team. I was back to square one with her, with no idea how to convince her that I was just an idiot who ran his mouth.
I scored our first try in the comp, but we still lost 14–6 against the boys from Greenacre and Parramatta, who completed their sets and played the ball much faster than us.
‘Do what you did in the game at training next week, and you’ll be co-captain again with Aaron,’ Mr Archie said. Aaron’s face fell a little but he didn’t object. ‘You both being captain means you need to spend some time together outside of the comp, though. Have you done that yet?’
Aaron and I shook our heads.
‘Tomorrow, then,’ he said. ‘I don’t care what you do, but spend Saturday getting to know each other and figuring out some strategies for this team.’
‘Tomorrow?’ we both repeated in unison. Mr Archie smiled to himself and walked away. We stood in silence, not looking at each other.
‘You can come over to mine,’ Aaron said finally. ‘Mum has a thing on, so we’ll have the house to ourselves.’
He didn’t seem that happy to be hosting me and I wasn’t really happy being his guest, but I’d just gotten a chance to be captain again. If it meant I had to be in Aaron’s territory, then so be it.
Hunter and his team played on the other side of the Park, but there was only one toilet block, which meant we were bound to run into each other. Sure enough, when Riley headed into the building, a few boys from Team A followed him inside.
‘Did you see that?’ PJ asked.
‘It’s not our problem,’ Huss said, scrolling on his phone. ‘They’re not going to do anything to him here with everyone around.’ He then turned to Matt and Lee. ‘Go check on your mate in the toilets.’
‘We should go,’ Ibby said. ‘I’m going whether you boys are in or not.’
Leaving anyone alone in the bathroom with a bunch of bullies wasn’t right. I went with Matt, Lee, Ibby and PJ to the toilet block, to see Riley surrounded by three of the A Team boys.
‘You guys need to stop whatever you’re doing and apologise,’ Matt said. The boys laughed and gave us the finger.
Oh my God, white people and their apologies…
It didn’t work like that in our neighbourhood. If you did something stupid, either you got punched in the face or you got punched in the face, and these kharas were in our neighbourhood.
Ibby grabbed one of them by the collar. ‘I’m not white and I don’t apologise. I smash people’s heads in. Next time you touch Riley, you’re going to regret you came to Punchbowl.’
Ibby and PJ ran off the bullies while I turned to check if Riley was okay. He was squatting against the wall, shaking. I helped him up just as Hunter showed up with a few more of his mates and blocked us from leaving.
‘If it’s not the worst team in the world,’ Hunter announced. ‘We’ve got Noodle Boy here with the white-headed freak and a bunch of mozzies.’
PJ turned to Ibby and snapped his fingers like he’d had an amazing realisation. ‘That’s who the ranga reminds me of!’
‘Who?’ Ibby asked, playing along. ‘Wait, wait. Don’t tell me. Let me guess. The short, ugly one in Mulan?’
‘You’re close,’ PJ said. I swear these guys had an encyclopaedic knowledge of kids’ movies thanks to Bob. This could take a while.
‘I wanna play,’ Lee said with a grin. ‘Is it Lord Farquad from Shrek? No wait, he’s too tall.’
‘It’s the hunchback guy, Quasimodo!’ PJ pointed at Hunter. ‘Spit image, ay?’ We all exclaimed in agreement.
‘But Quasi’s got a good heart,’ Lee added. ‘This guy is just rotten on the inside and out.’
Hunter blinked a few times, his face now as bright as his hair. ‘You pussies watch princess movies!’ he cried.
‘Each and every one of those princesses could kick your arse, ranga,’ I shot back.
He focused on Riley as the weakest target. ‘At least I don’t look like you. You freaking look diseased.’
‘Just piss off,’ I said as Aaron made his way into the toilet block.
‘Or what, mozzie?’ Hunter said. ‘Why don’t you do us all a favour and go back to your shithole country and take that freak with you?’
Before Ibby, PJ and I could put his head through the wall, Aaron grabbed him by the shirt. We held off the other guys and I waited to see if Aaron was really serious about cutting himself off from Hunter.
‘You’re being a prick and you need to stop,’ Aaron said, holding Hunter to the wall.
Hunter’s face twisted in a sneer. ‘Your dad would be so disgusted to see you side with them.’
Aaron went nuclear. It took all of Ibby and PJ’s strength to hold him back as Riley tried to get him to calm down. Hunter and his boys took advantage of the commotion to creep out the door, but not before Hunter threatened us with his connections to people who could do dangerous things.
‘Does he know you boys are from Punchbowl?’ Lee asked, scratching his head. ‘His connections are probably your cousins.’
‘Your dad would be really proud that you stood up to Hunter,’ Riley assured him. ‘They’re just trying to get under your skin.’
Aaron was washing his face. ‘Did they do anything to you?’
‘Nah, the boys walked in just in time.’
Lee cleaned his glasses on his shirt. ‘Look, mate, they’re probably jealous of the benefits of your hair. You can push in line and get disabled parking.’
Riley finally cracked a smile. ‘And don’t forget the pension.’
‘Ayyy!’ PJ hollered, picking him up off of the ground in a massive hug. ‘Did Ghostbusters just crack a joke about his hair?’
‘I knew you would come around,’ Matt said to me quietly as the boys laughed. ‘Thanks for helping out my mate.’
‘I know I made your life hell before,’ Aaron was saying to Riley. ‘I’m really sorry. I was picking on someone I didn’t expect to fight back because –’
‘Because you were a dipshit,’ Ibby interrupted.
‘Yeah, I was,’ Aaron agreed.
Riley laughed a little.
‘What?’ Ibby asked, looking surprised. ‘He was. You were. But you’re cool now because you stuck up for him.’
‘Bullies like Hunter think they’re all tough and strong around their mates,’ I told Riley. ‘But if we found him on his own, I guarantee you he’d shit his pants and run the other way. He only comes after people when he’s got them outnumbered.’
‘And you won’t be outnumbered again,’ PJ put in. ‘You’re part of the F Team.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Lee said, ushering us out of the toilets. ‘This is all really emotional and stuff, but this place stinks and I’m about to pass out.’
All of us coming together for Riley felt good. And really, considering how this whole experience had started, it felt strangely appropriate that we should truly come together as a team not on the footy field, but in the stinking toilet block in Punchbowl Park.