CHAPTER 9
PLAYING IT SMART
Usually, when a player messed up that badly, teammates said at least something supportive to her.
Not this time. On their bus ride back, no one said a word to Yasmin, except for Heidi and Coach. Heidi slipped into the seat next to her as Yasmin stared out the window and stewed.
As the bus headed back across town, Coach told them all they’d done a great job. Then he lumbered to the back of the bus and sat across the aisle from Yasmin and Heidi.
“Don’t beat yourself up. I know you meant well. It’s all right,” he said in a low voice, so the rest of the bus couldn’t hear. “Next game, let’s work on impulsive moves and playing it smart.”
Yasmin closed her eyes and nodded. She knew that for the next few days, she’d be replaying every single mistake she’d made on the court that day— every misfire, every bad move.
“I’ve messed up lots of times,” Heidi said quietly, after Coach had gone back to the front of the bus.
“Probably never this badly,” Yasmin said. “I really didn’t need another reason for anyone to hate me.”
At practice the next Monday, Coach called the team together before warm-ups.
“Time to change our starting lineup!” he called. Yasmin froze. “Why?” she blurted.
“So that everyone gets a chance to play,” Kelly snapped.
“We rotate twice a month,” Coach said. “So, we’re changing it up today, and we’ll give the new starters time to practice together. Sound good?”
The girls who were now going to be starting cheered. Yasmin tried to hide the fact that she wanted to sink through the floor.
“This isn’t how it was at my old school,” she whispered to Heidi. “Our best people were the starters.”
Heidi shook her head. “Not every school is the same. It’s nothing personal. You just happened to start here right when we had a rotation.”
Yasmin wanted to believe that it wasn’t personal, but she couldn’t quite make herself. As the new starting center, point guard, shooting guard, and forwards practiced together, Yasmin went up to Coach.
“Are you sure this isn’t because of what happened at the last game?” she said.
“No, it’s nothing personal,” he said, echoing what Heidi had told her. “We do this regularly.”
That only made her feel a little better. She couldn’t imagine what her old team would say if they saw her on the sidelines now. She ran through her drills robotically, still trying to focus on her three-point shots. She hoped no one was laughing at her as they watched her practice them.
After practice, she dragged herself back to the locker room, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. As she walked in, she saw someone near her locker.
The person was slipping a piece of paper inside.
“Hey!” Yasmin called.
The girl turned. It was Kelly. She hurried away and was out of the room before Yasmin could say anything else.
“I saw it too,” Heidi said, coming up behind Yasmin.
Yasmin ran to her locker, opened it, and found the paper. This one said, Hope you enjoy your trip back to your home country.
“Go tell Coach,” Heidi said. “I’ll back you up and tell him I saw it too.”
“He won’t believe me,” Yasmin said. “I told you, he loves Kelly. He’ll think we’re lying.”
“Then tell your parents,” Heidi said. “You have to. She can’t get away with this. What if she does that to someone else?”
Yasmin took a deep breath. Heidi was right—this was more important than worrying about whether the team would hate her.
“Will you come with me?” she asked Heidi.
Heidi nodded. “Of course.”