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The following weekend, Piercehaven was to play at Vinalhaven. Emily realized fairly early in the week that there was some rivalry between these two island schools.
“Will you guys get host families or will you have to sleep in the gym?” Emily asked Victoria on Monday morning.
“We get families.”
“Ah, so hosting is more of an island thing than a Piercehaven thing?”
Victoria gave her a dirty look. “It was a Piercehaven thing first. They copied us.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Emily asked.
Victoria looked confused.
“I think she’s right,” Tyler piped up. “At least that’s what people always say.”
“I see. Do you ever wonder what they say on Vinalhaven?”
“They say, ‘Come one, come all, tourists, we love you!” Tyler said, trying to sound seductive, and the whole class laughed.
After the laughter died down, Emily asked, “Do you ever wonder why tourism is bigger on Vinalhaven than here?”
“No,” Tyler said. And the matter was closed.
Despite the fact that Vinalhaven was less than ten miles away by boat, the teams had to take the ferry back to Camden, then take a bus to Rockland, and a ferry out to Vinalhaven. And the students complained about this impending journey all week long.
“Why can’t you just have a lobster boat shuttle you guys out there?” Emily asked Chloe one morning.
Chloe shrugged. “Dunno. This is just the way it’s always been done. It sucks.”
“Well, maybe it’s not worth it to play Vinalhaven. Isn’t there an easier school to play?”
Chloe shook her head. “We have to play them. We have to beat them. Every year. It’s almost as important as the state game. Besides, we only have to do it every other year. On the other years, they have to come to us. So it’s kind of worth it, knowing they will get their turn.”
Thomas shook his head. “There’s something wrong with you, Chloe.”
Despite all the hubbub, Emily did manage to get some work out of the students that week before they left Friday morning at ten. Kyle and Emily watched the backs of the red jerseys file down the hallway, a whole collection of white numbers walking away from them. “It’s like, why even bother having school on Fridays?” she said.
“Wait till baseball,” he said. “They leave even earlier because the games start earlier in the day.”
“Baseball? What about softball?”
“We don’t have a softball team.”
“Why not?”
Kyle shrugged. “Not enough interest I guess. On Piercehaven, it’s basketball or nothing.”
“But don’t the girls complain? That the boys get something they don’t?”
“Occasionally we’ll get a girl on the baseball team. That’s about it.” He turned to go back into his room, which now held only one student.
Emily turned to go back to hers, which held zero. She didn’t know the first thing about sports, but somehow, this new knowledge of how the Piercehaven spring season worked niggled at her. What if a girl wanted to play a sport just for fun, or just for exercise? Was crazy-intense-life-or-death basketball really her only choice? Or what if a basketball player wanted to do something else, just for a change of pace? They probably weren’t allowed, she thought. Because they play basketball year-round. She’d already heard that girls were told they couldn’t go skiing, as it might hurt their knees, or snowmobiling, as it was bad for the back.
Both teams returned to Piercehaven still undefeated, but there was worry that their number one ranking might not last. Emily hadn’t known, but Piercehaven’s season schedule had come out a little lopsided, with all of the “hard” games on the backside.
“Is that really a big deal?” she asked Chloe. “Now you’ll go into the tough games confident, right?”
“Or cocky. Valley’s good. They come here this weekend, but we should be able to beat them. But then we have to go to Rangeley, and they’re undefeated too. That’s who we played in the Southern Maine finals last year. We almost didn’t beat them.”
“Don’t let Milton hear you say that,” Thomas said.
“I wouldn’t. Obviously.”
“So how about if you just focus on Valley right now, and not worry about Rangeley yet?”
“Because Milton is already ‘Rangeley this, Rangeley that.’ He’s freaking out.”
“I’m sorry.” Emily didn’t know what else she could say.
And it wasn’t just Chloe. She could see the stress etched in each of the player’s faces. Not one of them looked healthy that week. Of course, the weather could’ve had something to do with it. The infamous winter had finally sunk its talons into Piercehaven, with wind chills ranging from ten below to thirty below. The thermometer in Emily’s car that morning had read negative fifteen, and when she got out of the car, she had to walk into the wind to reach the school door, and for a moment was worried she wouldn’t make it without dying.
As she graded poems from her creative writing students, she wondered if it was possible for an entire island to have seasonal affective disorder. Later, she mentioned that thought to James, who said, “You haven’t seen anything yet. The island still has basketball. Wait till March.”
Emily had to host two Valley students, so she had to go to the games. She probably would’ve gone anyway, especially since the gym/cafeteria was so much warmer than her house.
She hadn’t asked James to go to the Seacoast Christian games with her, as she was still kind of stunned by his response to her invitation to the Camden Christian game, but she was feeling a little braver this week, and she did invite him to the Valley games.
And much to her surprise and delight, he accepted.
He even came to pick her up, and they went to the game sort of acting like a couple. The gym was, of course, packed, and she was elated to be able to sit smushed up against James’s warmth. She was also elated to learn that James was not, unlike seemingly every other island resident, a screaming fanatical fan at basketball games. He sat there quietly watching, even though it was a close game. The only thing he said during the whole first quarter was, “Wow, this might be quite a barn burner,” and he said it mostly to himself.
The first quarter ended with the score tied at eight. These were not the same girls she’d seen play before. They were still talented of course, but they seemed unfocused, almost frantic. Each starter had made a turnover in the first quarter, and Hailey already had two fouls, a fact that almost sent Milton into cardiac arrest. He had benched her and put junior Hannah Philbrook in. Someone behind Emily had said, “Oh, no, Milton, don’t put her in. She’s too slow.” Then the other side of that conversation had said, “She certainly has chunked up this year.” Emily was mortified and prayed that Hannah’s parents were nowhere nearby.
Hailey was back in during the second half, and she scored two quick hoops to get them ahead. But then she was called for another foul and taken out of the game again. The fans went ballistic, many of them screaming obscenities at the refs. Emily wondered how much refs got paid. She figured however much it was, it should be more. She leaned toward James. “Was that really a foul?” she asked. James shook his head. This time, Milton put Victoria in, and she looked terrified.
At the end of the half, Piercehaven Lady Panthers were down by six points.
Emily and James stood to stretch, but didn’t abandon their spots, for fear of losing them.
“I’d like to be a fly on the wall in that locker room,” Emily said.
“No. You wouldn’t,” James said.
“How can he get away with hollering at them like that?” she whispered.
“Shh.” Then, as if only trying to redirect her, “Would you like a hot dog or soda?”
“No, thank you.” She didn’t want anything. Plus, the concessions line stretched out into the hallway.
Minutes later, the girls returned to the court to deafening applause. No one had any doubt about their Lady Panthers. They would get it together in the second half.
Only they didn’t. Jasmine traveled on the first possession.
On the second possession, Hailey scored, but was called for a charge. Her fourth foul.
“Did she foul that time?” Emily whispered.
“I don’t think so,” James said. “I’m not sure what these refs are up to, and I’m a little concerned about where they’re sleeping tonight.”
“People wouldn’t actually harm the refs, would they?”
“Harm, I don’t think so. Harass? I’m pretty sure.”
“Is that why the Sheriff’s here?”
“Among other reasons, yes.”
“He’s always here?”
“For every game, yes.”
“Always the same guy?”
“He’s the only cop in town, remember?”
“Isn’t that kind of dangerous? What if he needs to call for backup?”
James looked at her. “Not much happens around here.”
“Has anyone ever actually tried to assault a ref at a basketball game?”
“Of course.”
The Valley point guard brought the ball up the floor, closely guarded by a red-faced MacKenzie. At the top of the key she made a quick pass out to the wing and then cut for the hoop. MacKenzie got caught by a screen, leaving the point guard wide open under the hoop, where she scored.
Milton was on his feet. “MacKenzie!” he screamed.
Chloe grabbed the ball and inbounded it to MacKenzie, who headed back up the court.
“MacKenzie!” Milton screamed again. “You wanna tell me when you’re going to start playing in this game?” His voice cracked on the word game, and in that second, MacKenzie stopped walking and looked at him.
Chloe ran by her, leaving her alone, suspended halfway between the baseline and half-court, just standing there, dribbling, her face deadpan. The gym became eerily silent. There was only the slap, slap, slap of ball against cafeteria tile.
Emily ripped her eyes away from MacKenzie’s face so she could look at Milton. He stood still, hands on hips, glaring at her. It was a terrifying staring contest, and it made Emily physically sick to her stomach. She looked back at MacKenzie, who looked at the ceiling, still expressionless.
“She’s only got ten seconds to get across half court,” James muttered.
“Let’s go!” someone shouted from behind them.
MacKenzie stopped her dribble then.
“Get on her!” the Valley coach cried out, his words echoing in the silent gym.
A Valley player ran toward MacKenzie, but MacKenzie stuck one hand out, using the same commanding presence she used on her own teammates, and the Valley player stalled.
“I said, get her!” the Valley coach repeated, but his players didn’t move.
Every eye in the gym was on young MacKenzie. Every eye watched her lower the arm she’d used to halt the defense. Every eye watched her bend over and calmly set the ball on the floor. And every eye watched her turn and walk, calmly, her shoulders and chin high, the length of the court and out the gym doors.
Chloe was the first to move. She sprinted toward the ball, jolting the Valley player into action, who raced her there, but Chloe beat her out, dove on the ball, and immediately called for a timeout, which was granted.
At first, still no one else moved, and then both coaches called their players off the floor. Emily started to stand up, but James caught her hand and pulled her back down. “What?” Emily asked.
James nodded across the gym, at MacKenzie’s mom, who was extricating herself from the bleachers.
“What just happened?” Emily breathed.
“Not sure. But I think our little MacKenzie just took a stand.”
