A Game Worth Watching (30 page)

“Good
idea?” she shrugged. “But I can’t stay here forever, Riley.”

“Why
not?”

“Because
I can’t keep hiding from my family. You deserve your privacy, and your parents
don’t need another teenager around the house.” She pointed to herself. “Especially
not this teenager.”

“You’re
always welcome here, you know that.”

She
held out her hand for her sweatshirt, but instead of returning it, he grabbed
her hand and stood. “You promise if things get bad you’ll come back?”

“I
don’t promise anything.” The last thing she wanted was to burden the Ledgers
when they’d already done so much for her over the years. “Besides, they’re my
family. They won’t hurt me.”

“They
already have,” he said, his voice low and fierce.

“Physically,
I mean.”

“Sometimes
it’s not the physical stuff that inflicts the deepest wounds.”

She
couldn’t refute his comment, especially not with the way he looked at her,
seeing through her tough exterior to the pain and fear she’d always tried to
hide from him.

Riley
cupped her face in his hands. “Do you want me to come with you? Just to make
sure everything’s okay?”

She
shook her head. As much as she wanted him beside her, she couldn’t allow him to
be there. It was impossible to know what kind of reaction her homecoming would
elicit, and if things went badly she didn’t want him there to witness it. She
had to protect him somehow and subjecting him to her family wasn’t the way.
“I’ll be fine.”

He
crushed her against him in a hug like the last thing he wanted to do was let
her go.

***

Logan
had said their dad wanted Emma home, but he had a funny way of showing it. In
the twelve hours since she’d returned to the house, nothing had changed. There
were no apologies, no forced conversations, and no family meetings on how to
better treat each other. Only silence and rejection met her.

She
walked into the kitchen the morning following her return. It was the first time
since Riley had pulled her out of the house a week ago that she was in the same
room with her dad and all four of her brothers. Their talking stopped as soon
as she entered. She wasn’t under the illusion they were talking about her. She
sat at the table and poured herself a bowl of cereal. Her dad remained at the
counter, his coffee mug in his hand but not drinking from it. Lance hunched
over his food, not even glancing in her direction. Not that he was capable of
regret or anything. Logan peered at her over his book as if to say, “Well? What
did you expect?” Even Lucas and Lenny were unusually quiet.

She
pushed away from the table and approached her dad. She wasn’t an idiot; she
wasn’t going to confront him or anything. The last thing she wanted was to look
in his eyes and see the truth all over again. She approached him with the sole
purpose of asking, one last time, for him to come and see her play. Even if he
only stayed for five minutes, it would be enough to convince her there was hope
for her family. “Dad, I—”

He
cleared his throat, set his mug on the counter, and took a step away from her.
“I, uh, have to be to work early. Logan, make sure your brothers stay out of
trouble today, please.” Without another word, her dad left. Left her standing
there as he walked out of the house—away from her.

Her
dad’s rejection made her eyes sting with tears, and she slumped against the
counter, unable to remain standing without support. Was this how it would be
from now on? Her dad unable to remain in the same room with her? She looked at
her brothers, sure she would see them smirking, but Lenny and Lucas stared
quietly down at their bowls, and Logan was watching Lance, who was watching
her. It had been a while since she’d seen anything but hatred in his eyes, but
now, she saw what appeared to be fear. Fear, maybe, because he realized his
outburst had done more damage than expected.

Lance
tore his eyes away, and in that moment, something changed within her. She’d
been treading water for years, waiting for her family to love her, to accept
her, to give her some indication they cared about her. Only now did she realize
the spark of hope she’d nurtured for so long hadn’t been keeping her afloat, it
had been drowning her. No matter how much she tried to deny it, her entire
family had abandoned her years ago. Her mom fleeing in the middle of the night,
her dad’s inability to meet her eyes, her brothers preferring her absence.
She’d lost them and they weren’t coming back. All this time she’d been alone,
without her family’s love and without their acceptance. She’d endured years of
their ridicule and rejection, yet she’d survived.

Maybe
Riley was right, maybe she was strong enough. Strong enough to be defined by
something other than her family. Strong enough to tread her own path.

She
took a deep breath, her hands gripping the edge of the counter. She didn’t know
what to do, so she did the only thing she could.

She
left.

She
left by the same path Riley had led her a week ago to take her away from her
family. She bounded down the porch stairs, hit the yard at a sprint, and turned
right at the sidewalk, knowing, for once, her destination.

Yes,
something had changed within her—something she couldn’t explain—but
she knew it was time to take action. She was tired of living her life based on
the limitations others set for her, tired of feeling trapped by a family who
seemed determined to hold her down, tired of standing on the sidelines of a
life she was supposed to be living.

She
was ready.

Ready
to light her world on fire and watch it come alive, rather than waiting,
hoping, for things to get better.

Knowing
the Ledgers were early risers, even on Saturdays, Emma wasn’t afraid of waking
them when she pounded on their front door moments later.

She
smiled like a girl when she heard Riley’s voice on the other side of the door.
“I got it.”

He
opened the door, pulling a sweatshirt on over his head and matching her smile.
“Hey, Em. What’s up?” If he was surprised to see her alive and unharmed after
her family reunion, he didn’t show it.

“I
need your help,” she panted, still trying to catch her breath after running.

His
eyebrows pinched together in confusion. “My help for what?”

She
wrung her hands together in excitement, ready to demonstrate the kind of
strength she never thought she had. “It’s time my two worlds collided.”

Boys.

Girls.

For
the better part of two months Emma had fought to keep her worlds separate, but
now, with the rematch against Evergreen looming in the near future, she decided
to change the game plan. Basketball may not have been the most important thing
in the world, but it was the only thing she had. She could wait for eternity
for things to change with her family, for hope to peek through the years of
pain and shine light on the future, but for all she knew she would wait in
vain. Basketball was here and now, and it was time she stopped detesting the
girls and embraced them as teammates—not in the literal sense, of course.

Emma’s
toughness on the court had not appeared overnight, nor was it the result of
playing one-on-one with the boy down the street. Resentment yielding to respect
from a handful of neighborhood boys determined to make or break her was what
had formed Emma as a basketball player. Each time the guys tripped her, elbowed
her, fouled her, or humiliated her, she picked herself up and plunged back in,
determined not to let them beat her. If the guys had helped her, they could
help the girls too.

The
Bradshaw girls’ team was good, but if they wanted to beat Evergreen, they
needed to up their game. It was time to turn the girls into real players. Of
course, they’d never listen to her. At least not without a little incentive.

Ever
since the stupid slumber party, the girls had shown up religiously to the court
on Saturdays to watch Emma and the guys play hoops. Huddling together on the
aluminum bleachers, they whispered and giggled with their eyes and ears focused
on the guys, no doubt trying to pick up on the gossip frequency of male
bonding. Emma had never given the girls an opportunity to integrate. They were
spectators, not players.

Until
now.

They
perched on the bleachers like birds on a telephone wire, gawking at the court
and all the guys like they had for weeks. Emma usually ignored them and
pretended they didn’t exist, but not today. Today, she walked over to stand in
front of the girls and spoke loud enough for all of them to hear. “You girls up
for a game?”

Madison
flinched upright as if on high alert, while Lauren and the rest of the girls
froze.

“If
we’re going to have a shot against Evergreen, we need to learn how to play
smart, no matter how rough things get on the court,” Emma said. “The guys are
willing to help us out, so what do you say?”

“Is
this some kind of joke?” Lauren asked.

“No,
no joke. I promise.” If she’d ever been a boy scout she would have signaled the
sacred promise, but since she hadn’t, her word would have to do. “I want to beat
Evergreen just as much as the rest of you, and I’m willing to do whatever it
takes.”

“We’re
waiting on you, pretty girls,” Tom hollered from the court.

Madison
stood and hopped off the bleachers. “I’m in.”

“Wait.”
Lauren reached out and grabbed Madison’s arm before connecting her hateful eyes
on Emma. “What’s the catch? You’ve ignored us since the day we showed up here,
and now you suddenly want to include us? Why should we care?”

Madison
whirled around to face her best friend. “Shut up, Lauren. Emma’s the best
basketball player I’ve ever seen, and if she’s willing to help us beat
Evergreen, well, then,” Madison broke free from Lauren’s grip and clamped her
hand down on Emma’s shoulder, “I’m in.”

Madison
joined the guys on the court and received a round of high-fives. It didn’t take
longer than a minute for the rest of the team to join her. Girls were too easy.
Dangling a guy on the end of a rope was all the motivation they needed. Emma
couldn’t help but smile and shake her head. Lauren, watching her friends
abandon her and join the guys on the court, finally gave in too.

“Here’s
the deal,” Emma said, gaining the attention of the guys and girls scattered
across the court. “We play. Real basketball. Girls against guys. Girls, I
expect us to win. Guys, bring all you’ve got.”

Emma
took the ball at the top of the key, hoping her plan to collide her worlds
didn’t blow up in her face. The last thing she wanted was to have the guys
showing off and the girls playing damsels in distress. Riley matched up
opposite Emma. She started to protest, knowing he had so much to offer the
other girls, but he shook his head. “You’re the biggest threat on the girls’
team. I’m not leaving you half-defended.” He winked at her. “Besides, I can
still teach you a thing or two.”

She
matched his smile. Oh, this will be good, she thought.

Emma
slapped the ball to initiate the game and watched the girls freeze, like they’d
forgotten everything they’d learned in the past two months. She thought she’d
have to wait for an eternity for them to break out of their trance, but then
she saw the blur of a figure sneak through the defenders. Passing the ball into
the key, Emma watched Ashley snatch it from the air, spin toward the basket,
and sink a jump shot before any of the guys could react. Riley glanced at Emma
as if to ask, “What was that?” but Emma just smiled and said, “That’s my girl.”

The
girls snapped out of their catatonic state, and the guys received a reality
check by the freshman’s single act of awesomeness. With the girls two points up
and the guys looking to score, Emma’s two worlds collided in a game of
basketball. No cheap shots, no showing off, and no pride divided the teams.
Emma shouted instructions to her teammates, telling them where to move, when to
pass or shoot, and what to watch out for to prevent the guys from controlling
the court. She stopped the game a few times to show the girls how to pin a
defender behind them, how to spin off a screen, or how to read the defense, but
otherwise they played. Emma heard the guys whisper instructions to the girls on
various plays, and she saw the girls obey. Sometimes. At other times, the girls
stuffed the advice into their back pockets to use later so they could execute a
move of their choice to show the guys they did, indeed, have their own skills.

For
years, Emma had played basketball with the guys. They taught her about
strength, strategy, and how to stand strong. They taught her about teamwork,
loyalty, and trust. But when she found herself on the opposing team—the
girls’ team—Emma spotted an indefinable difference. Maybe girls played
with less aggression and more grace, or maybe it was their confidence that
forced them to play more like a team and less like a one-man show. Whatever it
was, playing on a girls’ team was different. No way was playing with girls
better, but it wasn’t necessarily…bad.

The
game lasted for hours. By the time Madison snapped the final pass to Shiloh who
went head to head with Ben and beat him with his own move, they’d all lost
track of the score, but it didn’t matter. Emma watched her teammates move on
the court, and she knew they were ready—ready for a rematch against
Evergreen and for a second chance to prove to everyone they weren’t a bunch of
losers.

Emma
turned her back on the guys and girls, unable to prevent the smile growing on
her lips. Who would have thought these girls—these whining, crying,
drama-stricken girls—could actually play a decent game of basketball?

She
settled herself on the bleachers, expecting the girls to disappear, but they
surprised her and stuck around. For once, more interested in basketball than
boys.