As a result, Monday’s practice had been canceled. On Tuesday, Coach Fletcher had the girls meet him in his physics classroom, where he drew plays and game-day strategies on the blackboard. Today when Sophia arrived, there was a note tacked to the door that instructed them to report to the boys’ gymnasium.
When Sophia stepped over the threshold of the boys’ facility, she spotted Max with the ball in his hand, going up for a jump shot. His long legs were sculpted and tight, his Converse All Stars a gleaming fresh white. As Max shot the basketball around the world, Claude caught the ball and fed it back to him.
Sophia had met Claude at dinner a few weeks back, and despite Willa’s best intentions of getting them together, Sophia felt nothing for him. The best way Sophia could describe Claude was that he was average. He slouched when he walked, and as a result, his back was bent. His skin was reddish brown; he was about Sophia’s height, with long arms and buckteeth.
The girls clustered around Coach Fletcher.
“Ladies, I know this isn’t ideal,” Coach said as he opened the mesh bag of basketballs. “But we have our first game on Friday, so we can’t afford to miss another day of practice. I’ve arranged with the boys to split the gym with us.”
As the girls grabbed balls and started warming up, Sophia tried to forget that Max was in the same room, but she couldn’t help sneaking furtive glances his way. Sophia had begun to find her place among the other girls, except Patty and Opal. Once a week, Coach Fletcher had conducted trust exercises in the form of three-legged races, willow in the wind, and human knots to help them form bonds and connect.
“Let’s make two lines. Layup drills. Let’s go,” called Margaret.
She was the center, a senior, and the captain of the team. Margaret was over six feet tall and wore her straight hair pulled back into two braids. It was easy for Sophia to follow Margaret’s lead, because from their first practice, it was clear that the most important thing to Margaret was winning, and she’d do whatever it took to uplift the team.
After their warm-up drills and conditioning, the girls broke into two teams. The blue team was the starters; Sophia played on the red team and found herself guarding Patty. Sophia kept her hands up in Patty’s face, and when Patty went up for a shot, Sophia jumped and blocked it.
“Foul! You scratched me,” Patty exclaimed, holding out her arm. “And gave me cooties!”
Opal and another girl laughed, and Sophia felt the skin around her neck heat up. Was Max watching?
Sophia sucked her teeth. “You’re a liar. That was a clean block.”
“Who are you calling a liar?”
“And a sore loser,” Sophia added, and a few girls nodded.
Coach Fletcher blew his whistle as he rounded the two girls. “Enough.” He looked from Patty to Sophia. “Now, listen up. To prepare for Friday’s game, we are going to have a friendly scrimmage against the boys.”
“Let’s do this,” Margaret called out, circling the team and high-fiving each girl. Her energy was contagious.
The girls formed a circle around Coach Fletcher while he drew out a play on his clipboard. “Anna and Sophia, I want you to play guard against McBay and Collins.”
“What?” said Patty. “Why is she going in first? I’m the starter.”
“Because this is my team. I make the calls, Patty,” Coach Fletcher said frankly.
Patty crossed her arms over her chest and poked her lips out, sulking. Only Opal paid her any attention. The boys’ coach blew the whistle, and the teams met at half-court.
“Let’s play a fair game.” The boys’ coach tossed the ball in the air, and Margaret hit it to Anna. The girls ran their offense first, forcing the boys to play defense.
Max guarded Sophia. “You aren’t touching that ball,” he said, snickering, and his sloppy grin sent a tingling sensation through her chest.
“Watch me,” she said, giving him a little elbow in the ribs before stepping out of his reach. Anna spotted that she was open and swung the ball in her direction. Before Max could recover, Sophia took the jump shot.Swish.
“What did you say?” she asked, toying with Max as she hustled to get back on defense.
They played three-minute quarters, and by the third quarter, Sophia was spent because she had played the entire first half without a substitute. At the top of the fourth quarter, the boys were leading byten when Max came charging down the court with the ball. Sophia stepped in front of him to stop him from an easy layup, and he barreled right into her. She fell backward and slid on her bottom across the court.
“Es tut mir soleid. Moge Gott mit dir sein,”Max said, his eyebrows furrowed.
His words covered Sophia, and she felt as if she were floating outside of her body. When he reached for her hand and pulled her to her feet, she stumbled. Where had she gone?
“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” She wrung her fingers. “What in the world did you say to me?”
Max shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.”
