Netball Dreams (6 page)

When I woke up, the house was quiet. Everyone was asleep. I felt as if I were the only person awake in the world.

I rolled onto my back. My star and moon stickers glowed on the ceiling. Inside I felt heavy and empty. Not a good feeling. Not a good dream.

I wasn’t used to caring about sport like this. Life was better when I didn’t have to worry about letting my team down.

I sat up and turned on my light, trying to shake the dream from my mind.
Never
mind,
I said to myself.
It’s not about winning.
It’s about joining in and having fun.

And I had been doing that. I was on a team with friends. But it was no fun being hit in the nose or dropping the ball. It was no fun if I stopped everyone else from winning.

I slumped back on my pillow with the light still on. I thought about Becky, Angie and Claire. I thought about Callum, Mickey and Brad. They were such brilliant friends to me. I really didn’t want to let them down … again.

And lying there, in the cold light of the lamp, I realised what I had to do.

It was a strange plan. But maybe it would work.

I couldn’t always catch a ball. But here was something I
could
do – a way to help my friends win the grand final.

For the rest of the week, I sat and watched. No more playing netball for me.

That was part of my plan.

Sitting and watching was harder than I expected. Especially once my nose felt better. But that was a secret. I told everyone I couldn’t play because my nose still hurt.

Sometimes I had to sit on my hands and cross my ankles under the bench. Otherwise, if the ball came near, my feet would try to jump up and my hands would try to catch it.

Each time they took a break, Becky would bring me drinks and check how I was doing. But I didn’t tell her about my plan.

Angie kept glancing over as me as she played. I’m not sure why. She did it so often that sometimes she even missed the ball.

The third time she did it, Callum called out,‘Angie! Keep your eyes on the BALL.’

She glared at him like she wanted to start yelling.

Normally, I would have called out a joke or tried to cheer them up. They didn’t need to fight. But instead I stayed quiet and sat out.

Then, during lunchtime on the day of the grand final, Angie walked over. ‘Come and play,’ she said quietly. ‘I won’t throw hard. Promise.’

I looked down at my knees. I could hear the rest of the team calling to each other as they played. ‘I’ll see how I feel,’ I said.

‘We need you, Alex.’ Angie’s voice had pleading sound to it.

But I just shrugged. Angie would understand once I helped them win the grand final.

I couldn’t give up now.

I had made it through the first part of my plan. Now it was time for the second part – my grand-final plan.

‘Alex, are you in here?’

It was Becky, looking for me. But I didn’t want to be found. I was hiding in the girls’ toilets.

That was my grand-final plan.

Once my team couldn’t find me, they would have to start playing the grand final without me. Perfect! Without me to mess up, they would win for sure.

But I hadn’t counted on Becky finding me before the game.

I was sitting on the lid of the toilet, hugging my legs tight. Becky’s shadow moved under the toilet door. I heard puffing as she tried to peer under the door.

‘Alex, open the door!’ Becky’s voice sounded funny from leaning low.

Without making a sound, I reached out and undid the lock. Maybe if I told Becky my plan, then she would help me hide.

But as the door swung open, a surprise awaited me. Becky wasn’t alone.

Behind her stood the whole team, even the boys!

I let out a giggle and pointed. ‘Hey, you’re in the girls’ toilets!’

But no-one was laughing. Not even Mickey. Angie’s eyes were flashing, like when Callum told her what to do.

Suddenly I felt as if I had been caught doing something wrong.
Was my grand-final
plan a bad one?

Suddenly I was scared. In front of me, crowded into the girls’ toilets, stood my favourite friends in the whole school. I didn’t want to make them angry!

In my mind I thought about my plan, and about how I always dropped the ball and made mistakes. I knew I could help them by sitting out.

But when I spoke, all that came out was a stammer. ‘I’m just … you see … I …’

Becky held my hand. ‘Come and play, Alex,’ she said kindly.

‘Yeah,’ said everyone behind her.

I fiddled with the lock, feeling silly and shy. ‘But I’ll just drop the ball and make you lose.’

That was the truth, after all.

Angie rolled her eyes. ‘Alex, we NEED you!’

‘No you don’t. You –’ I wanted to explain that they were better off without me. But I didn’t get the chance.

Everyone started talking at once. It was strange. No-one seemed angry about my bad ball skills. They all had good things to say about me.

Everyone seemed to think I did heaps of things to help the team – things that no-one else did.

When everyone had finished talking, I just stared at them, surprised.

‘Think about it,’ said Becky. ‘Who stopped Angie and Callum from fighting at the start?’

‘And whose idea was it to make us think of our basketball coach’s tactics?’ said Callum.

I started to smile.

‘And who thought of our name? And made the poster?’ asked Claire.

I giggled. ‘I’ve been busy, haven’t I?’

Then Mickey spoke up from the back. ‘Yeah, and you say those dumb jokes.’

I put my hands on my hips.‘No, I don’t!’ I smiled. ‘My jokes are clever and funny.’

Everyone groaned.

And suddenly, I knew exactly what I had to do.

I had to join the team again, and play in the grand final. We would be a bunch of friends playing netball together. The Dream Team again.

So that’s exactly what I did.

At first I felt scared of that nasty gremlin ball. I hadn’t played netball since I was hit in the nose.
What if that happened again?

But I couldn’t worry for too long. I didn’t have time. Soon I was racing around, sticking to my player like glue.

We were playing against the best team, the one with the girls who played on a team outside of school. They kept grunting and growling at each other, as if playing the grand final made them angry.