A Game Worth Watching (4 page)

“Riley,
stop,” she snapped. She didn’t want to hear any more about girls’ basketball
teams and colleges and how much he thought she deserved some bright future. His
biased opinion would do nothing except give her false hope. “I’m
not
going to
college.”

He
grew quiet and still, studying her in the moonlight. When the seconds stretched
into an eternity, she bowed her head, unable to look at him any longer. She
could only imagine what thoughts he entertained in that stubborn head of his.

He
leaned in to look at her downturned face. “You deserve this opportunity, Em,”
he said softly. “Who knows where it will take you?”

When
she lifted her eyes to his, he put on his you-can’t-resist-me puppy dog face.
“For me?”

Why
did he always have to make things so complicated? Did it really matter if she
didn’t go to college or play on some stupid girls’ team?

She
growled in frustration and jumped off the log to escape. Wrong move. Riley’s
arms shot out, trapping her between his body and the log, forcing her to face
him and the conversation.

“Will
you at least seriously consider it?” he asked. “Please?”

“The
girls’ team is horrible.” It was a fact and everyone knew it.

“Maybe
they wouldn’t be so horrible if you played for them,” Riley challenged.

“I’d
be playing with girls who have hated me and teased me since elementary school.”
Merely picturing their faces made her stomach churn.

“Since
when are you afraid of a challenge?”

Emma
injected as much pain as she could into her eyes to gain the pity vote. “I’ll
be miserable.”

He
secured her face between his hands. “I’ll support you every step of the way.”

She
stared into his eyes, ready to voice her objection with a final no and close
the topic of her joining the girls’ basketball team once and for all. But that
was easier said than done. She wasn’t talking to just anyone; she was talking
to Riley. The boy who taught her everything she knew about basketball. The boy
who looked out for her, protected her, and believed in her. The boy she’d do
anything for—even if it meant joining a stupid girls’ basketball team.

She
felt her resolve weakening.

Ugh!
How did he do that? Her decision to stay away from the girls’ team had been
ironclad not two seconds ago. She glared at him. “I hate you.”

A
smile tugged at his lips. “I know.”

They
both knew he’d get his way, and come Monday, the Bradshaw High School girls’
basketball team would have one new girl to add to the roster, but she didn’t
have to be happy about it.

***

The
next week passed quicker than a baseline-to-baseline wind sprint. Emma tried to
forget about girls and basketball tryouts and her promise to Riley to go out
for the team, but the guys wouldn’t let her.

“You
don’t have to wear a little skirt to play on the girls’ team, do you, Emmy?”
Tom had mocked her.

“You
don’t want to wear my fist in your face, do you, Tommy?” she’d responded. If
Riley hadn’t been there to laugh off their jokes and keep her in line, she
probably would have picked a fight with Tom or any of the other guys to prove
she wasn’t growing soft.

To
make everything worse, Riley insisted she spend the week getting in shape for
real practices, threatening they weren’t anything like Saturday games with the
guys. No, she’d never played on a real team before, so the whole practice thing
was foreign, but how hard could it be? Even if she refrained from basketball
and slept through the week, she’d still be the best player on the team. She
knew the game of basketball inside and out and could play it in her sleep.
Basketball wasn’t what kept her up at night and made her defensive and
irritable as Monday approached. No, her problems were so much bigger.

Take
girls for instance. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spent any amount
of time alone with one, and the thought of spending two hours locked in a gym
with a group of the drama-stricken species nauseated her. Riley wouldn’t be
there to hold her back if Lauren or one of her clones picked a fight.

Lauren.
If Emma had a polar opposite, Lauren would be it. Lauren was the epitome of the
boy-obsessed, attention-craving, high-squealing type girl Emma despised. Not to
mention the perfect blonde had made Emma’s life miserable since elementary
school. She’d spent the majority of her life avoiding Lauren only to have to
figure out how to exist on the same court with her during their senior year.
Talk about a nightmare. But before she came face-to-face with Lauren, Emma had
to ask her dad for the one thing she needed.

She
had postponed the talk with him as long as possible. Although the rush hour
before school wasn’t the ideal time, it was now or never. Procrastination
didn’t keep many options open. It couldn’t be easy being a single dad raising
five kids. Sure, Lance and Logan were out of high school, but they still lived
at home working dead-end jobs and acting like sixteen-year-olds.

Taking
a deep breath, she opened the door from the garage into the house. Lucas and
Lenny were at the table fighting over cereal boxes, Lance was pouring over the
sports section of the newspaper, and Logan was shoveling food into his mouth
with one hand and holding a book in the other. Her dad stood at the sink
attempting to wash a week’s worth of dishes. Emma walked over to him and looked
up at his weathered face.

She
often wondered what her dad had been like before. Before he had five kids.
Before he had to work two jobs to support his family. Before his wife left him.
Had he ever laughed so hard he cried? Had he ever brought home flowers to his
wife for no other reason than to say he missed her? Had he ever looked into the
eyes of his children—into the eyes of his only daughter—and felt an
ounce of love? There were so many things about her dad she didn’t know, so many
things she was afraid to ask.

“Dad?”
she said, preparing to ask the question on top of her current priority list.

He
didn’t answer. She hated asking her dad for anything, but since he refused to
let her get a job, for reasons he had yet to explain, how else was she supposed
to obtain money to buy what she needed?

Nothing
Emma owned was new. Being the middle child of five and the only girl, none of
her needs ranked as a top priority in the Wrangton household. Over the years,
she’d learned to watch her brothers’ and notice when clothes no longer fit them
so she could be first in line to snag decent clothing before it continued down
to her younger brothers. Without a job, she’d learned to scour for change
anywhere from couch cushions to gutters. Aside from Riley’s parents creating
summer cleaning and painting jobs for her, it was the only way she could earn
money. It didn’t hurt living with boys who ripped holes in their pockets faster
than they could tie their shoes. But collecting change didn’t build her savings
very fast, especially when most of it was spent on supplying her basic needs.

Keeping
her voice down to avoid detection of her brothers, she tried again. “Dad?”

“Yeah?”
he asked, scrubbing at a plate that refused to give up its hold on the
encrusted food. The sight of her six-foot-two muscular dad losing a battle with
dirty dishes was almost humorous.

“I’m…uh…trying
out for the basketball team at school, and I could really use some new shoes.”
She glanced over her shoulder at her brothers, trying to determine if they were
eavesdropping. “Nothing fancy, but—”

“What
about Lance’s old ones?”

At
least he was listening. “Those are the ones I’m wearing now and there’s a hole
in the sole.”

“What
about Lenny’s?”

Lenny
looked up at the sound of his name.

“He
only has one,” Emma muttered. “He lost the other one in the creek.”

“Logan’s?”
her dad tried one more time.

She
frowned at him. “More duct tape than shoe.”

She
saw her dad sifting through options, knowing there weren’t any except to give
in and let her buy a pair of shoes for herself. Shoes that molded to her feet
instead of the other way around. “Dad, I—”

“What
do you need shoes for?” Lance slapped the newspaper on the table and joined the
conversation. “It’s not like you’re good enough to play, even if it is for the
girls’ team.”

Lenny
and Lucas laughed, their cereal boxes forgotten.

“What
would you know?” Emma spit back. She hated how her brother made assumptions
when he’d never seen her play. “At least I’m not the one who got kicked off the
school team for flunking three classes because I was too lazy to do the work.”

The
chair groaned against the floor as Lance shoved it back and stepped toward her.
She saw his hand form a fist and wondered if he would hit her with their dad
watching. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d laid his hands on her.

She
used to love to watch Lance play basketball when he was a freshman and
sophomore in high school. He dominated the court with swift feet, a killer jump
shot, and the best defense the league had ever seen. His twisted smile let
defenders know he never lost in a one-on-one competition. Everyone said he’d go
pro. But when the school put him on probation for grades, rather than stepping
it up, he blamed the world for its unfairness and gave up. He could have been
great. Not exactly something he wanted to be reminded of, especially by his
little sister.

“Hey.”
Their dad spun away from the sink and stood between Lance and Emma before
anything could erupt between them, his eyes burning with warning. “Enough.”

Lance
and Emma glared at one another as their brothers looked on. Lenny and Lucas
were always interested to see a fight, whereas Logan hid behind his book. She
was sure he heard and saw everything, but he never let on. Logan didn’t like
conflict, even if he was the oldest.

“Go
on.” Her dad nodded toward the living room to tell Lance to get going. Lance,
for once, obliged.

“Listen,”
her dad murmured, turning his back on the boys to face her without completely
making eye contact, “I’m a little short this month.” He held his hands out to
the side in defeat. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh,
no problem.” She forced what she could of a smile. “I’ll figure something out.”

Not
wanting him to see her disappointment, she muttered goodbye, grabbed her
recycled backpack with the broken strap, and left for school, making sure she
didn’t cross paths with Lance. She hoped her shoes would last a few months
longer. Thankfully, her dad bought duct tape in bulk.

***

The
final bell came way too soon. Final bell meant school was over and practice began.
Basketball practice. With girls. If someone had asked her a month ago what her
future looked like, Emma’s answer would not have included standing outside the
auxiliary gym trying to gather enough courage to push through the door.

They
were just girls, she told herself. Evil girls. Girls who despised Emma for
existing in a world not big enough for all of them. Girls who carried the
legacy of the world’s worst basketball team ever. Girls. That’s all they were.
Nothing to be afraid of. Besides, she’d promised Riley.

Emma
pushed through the door, sucking down one last breath of fresh air, and stepped
into the gym. The panic attack started seconds later. Girls were everywhere.
Okay, maybe not everywhere considering there were only seven other girls present,
but having spent absolutely no time isolated in an all-girl environment, they
might as well have been everywhere. Emma’s heart pounded in her chest and her
breathing shortened into rapid gasps. Was suffocation a normal reaction to the
female population? The air must have been poisoned by
them
. With their designer clothes,
painted faces and decorated claws, they acted as if they owned the place. She
didn’t belong in their world. Not with her baggy shorts, messy hair, and
hand-me-down shoes, insignificant in every way except for maybe basketball.

Emma
scolded herself silently. No way would she allow these girls to hold such power
over her. She forced down a deep breath and ignored the voice in her head
telling her to run while she still had the chance.

Coach
Knowles and a handful of girls turned to stare at her as the door slammed
closed behind her.

Unlike
the rest of the girls, Coach Knowles smiled at Emma, relief on her face. “Emma,
it’s good to see you.”

Let
the torture begin.

“What
is
she
doing here?” Lauren asked, her tone filled with disgust.

Coach
Knowles ushered Emma over, unable to resist giving her the head-to-toe
assessment again. Her gaze fell to Emma’s feet and settled there. “You’re going
to need new shoes at some point.”

Emma’s
face burned as Lauren’s laughter cut through Coach’s final words. “The day Emma
buys new shoes is the day her family starves.”

Only
a rich kid would find that comment funny. Once you experience a hungry stomach
with only an empty plate to look forward to, all humor vanished. It didn’t help
to have to stare at all the top-of-the-line athletic shoes in the room and wish
for a different life. They may not be able to play basketball if their lives
depended on it, but they sure did look the part. As for Emma, she had no other
choice but to play the hand she was dealt and not let Lauren beat her down
before practice even started.

She
straightened up and addressed Coach Knowles. “You get me as is, or you don’t
get me at all.”

Coach
smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “Welcome to the team.”

The
gym door banged open and the sound of running feet thudded against the wood
floor. Emma turned, fearing more girls, and found herself face-to-face with
Riley.

“What
are you doing here?” she asked, overwhelmed by gratitude for his presence.
Maybe he’d come to take her away. Maybe he’d talked to the boys’ basketball
coach and there was a place for her on their team after all. Anything was
possible.