Chapter Seventeen
GJ
There were a handful of games throughout the season that we—both the team and the fans—looked forward to.
Any game against Point Brook was an immediate sellout, whether home or away.
Before Theo, people mostly came to the big-name games because they wanted to see the best of the best play, even if we got pummeled.
But now, people actually expected us to win against the big-name schools.
Having fans who were optimistic about the season was always a good thing, but it also meant each game got bigger and bigger.
East Hill, one of the schools we’d been preparing all semester to play against, was one of those games we were expected to win. There was no way they were going to make it easy, but I’d never minded a challenge.
We kept up a good pace throughout the first quarter. It wasn’t our strongest scoring—we were up against some really intense defense—but we were holding our own.
“Keep pushing, ladies! Pressure! Pressure!” Coach Darlene yelled from the sideline, putting her hands up to her mouth to help her voice carry.
I fought off an annoyed groan as a shooter from East Hill fired off another perfect jumper. I took it back—their defense and offense were really good, and the small lead we had over them was quickly slipping away.
“Maybe we really do need Ellie out here. That sophomore is kicking our fucking asses,” Mags bitched as we took a breather at the end of the quarter.
It was a general statement directed at everyone, but I was kind of glad to be included—it felt like the closest Mags would ever offer to an olive branch.
“Yeah, this is a lot. I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep up.” Gemma’s cheeks were bright red, and her forehead was slick with sweat.
“You guys are totally killing the vibe. We’re doing fine,” I said. “We’re just giving the fans something to talk about.” I draped my arm over Mags’s shoulder, and she scowled, brushing me off. “Ball up top, baby!”
Mags looked as over it as she always did with me. “I kind of miss the depressed version of you.”
I threw my head back with laughter. “Who needs smear pieces when I have teammates like this?”
We got into position and went again, keeping our attitudes up.
Or at least, I was—it was easy when I had Leah out of the corner of my eye.
It’d been impossible to keep a smile off my face; she had me riding on the most insane high.
If I wasn’t with her, I was thinking about the next time I’d get to see her.
The game moved quickly—I wasn’t completely out of the woods yet, but I was back to basketball games moving in the blink of an eye instead of feeling like I was wading through sludge. I felt about as back as I ever had, almost to the point of not even thinking about it anymore.
Just as Anna was about to pass me the ball to shoot a three-pointer, all of the momentum suddenly stopped.
I heard the crowd before I saw what happened; up in the stands, people rose to their feet to look down at what happened.
The cheerleaders had their hands up to their mouths in surprise; Leah looked shellshocked and earnestly scared.
“Oh fuck.” Gemma gasped.
“Nia?” Ellie called out, her already pale face as white as a sheet of paper. She stood up from the bench along with the rest of the players who’d been sitting out.
I turned to look and saw players hovering around and checking in on each other, mostly from East Hill. One of them was holding their head and looking at their coach, most likely hurt.
Nia was still out on the floor, sprawled and unmoving. I ran over to her and squatted down. Her nose was gushing blood, and her eyes were only the tiniest bit open.
“Can you hear me?” The crowd was so quiet that it was hard to believe they were even still there.
I was careful not to touch her or move her, maintaining a slight distance just in case she’d hurt herself beyond what we could see.
“Ouch,” Nia finally said as she blinked her eyes open. She lifted her hand to touch her face, and I stopped her just as she was about to coat herself in blood. “What?”
“You might not want to touch it yet. Wait for a tissue. Or twelve.”
She groaned. “Is everyone staring at me?”
I snorted. “Yeah. You look good, though. Badass.”
“I always look badass.”
“Agree to disagree,” I said, making Nia laugh. She stopped, wincing.
“My head is killing me.”
I cracked a smile even though it was weird and hard to see her like that. We’d had some injuries last season, but nothing that included visible blood. I didn’t think of myself as particularly squeamish, but I was starting to think that maybe I was. “Yeah, I bet.”
Coach Darlene put her hands gently on my shoulders to tell me that she was there, along with the medical staff. She offered a hand to help me stand up from the floor.
“Good work, captain,” she said softly. “Go talk to the rest of your team.”
I nodded as she took my spot on the floor, and the medical staff started their exam.
I headed back over to the team. Everyone who’d been on the court had gone over to the bench to see what we were going to do next.
I accepted a water bottle from Gemma. “She got knocked around and probably has a broken nose, but no formal diagnosis yet.”
“I’m assuming she’s out?” Mags asked.
“Yeah, I don’t think she’s coming back. Broken nose is one thing if the bleeding stops, but I think she hit her head on the way down.”
Gemma winced. “Ouch,” she said softly.
“We’ll figure it out. She’s being taken care of.”
We took a moment of heavy silence, worried about Nia, and then also thinking about ourselves. An on-court injury was scary for a multitude of reasons, one of them being the reminder that we weren’t actually superhuman.
I turned to look at Nia again. She’d been moved to a stretcher, and the crowd politely and supportively clapped as she was moved off the court.
“Love you, Nia!” Gemma called out behind her.
Coach Darlene walked back over to us and took a deep breath. “Okay. First, is everyone okay?” We nodded. The energy was way down—injuries had a way of killing momentum—but we were capable of playing. “I know that was hard to see, and it’s hard to lose a starter. But we’ll see this one through.”
“For Nia,” I said.
She nodded. “For Nia.” She turned to Ellie. “Ellie, you take over for Nia. How’s your passing been?”
Ellie glanced over at me. “Okay?”
“She’s good.” I looked over at her, and when we locked eyes, I nodded.
I’d never considered myself much of a coach, but I could see the difference in Ellie’s playing.
I didn’t credit myself as much as I credited how badly she’d needed a cheerleader to remind her she’d earned her spot on the team.
Theo had always been that person for her, so losing her had been a change. I understood.
“I’ll take it,” Coach Darlene said. She ran over the play with us and how we’d approach the game moving forward now that we were down Nia.
It would be me, Ellie, Anna, Mags, and Gemma.
Ellie had obviously played with us on the court before, but she didn’t get as much play time as the rest of us since we were all starters.
It was a tough spot to be in against a tough team.
And getting back into the swing of things after an injury was always a challenge.
But I was optimistic. Ellie had great chemistry with us, and the only reason she wasn’t a starter was that we were fortunate to have a stacked lineup; she’d absolutely be leading the team next year.
“This works for everyone?” Coach Darlene looked at all of us, and we nodded. “Okay. Make me proud.”
We grabbed our waters for one last sip before we had to get out on the court. I rolled out my shoulders and jumped to warm myself back up.
“I’ve never played more than a quarter, and we have basically three left,” Ellie said, turning to look at me.
“This is the kind of thing we’ve been preparing for,” I responded, putting my hands on her shoulders.
Anna looked over at me. More than ever, we had to rely on each other. The rhythm we’d been building all season was going to be tested by a major change, and Anna and I couldn’t afford to be out of rhythm. I couldn’t be a dickhead—our team couldn’t afford it.
“We’re good?” Anna asked, the weight evident in her question. There was nothing backhanded about it, no aggression—purely checking in to make sure I’d be able to play in line with her. She’d proven to be the hardest person in the world to have any type of beef with, even when I was really trying.
I nodded, holding my hand out for her to dab. “We got this.”
Anna twisted her lips in a smile as she slapped her hand against mine. “Hell yeah, we do.”
We went back out onto the court, ready for whatever East Hill might have in store for us. Ellie and the sophomore eyed each other up immediately, but Ellie’s expression never wavered. She might’ve been the sweet one on our team, but she could be a fucking monster on the court.
The game was set back into motion, and we played through, figuring out a flow. There were a few shitty passes and a few bad calls almost immediately, almost to the point that it felt like maybe the game was going to be a wash. But it wasn’t over until it was over.
“Breathe, Ellie,” I reminded her as we jogged together to the other end of the court.
Eventually, after a tough start to the second quarter, things clicked.
I was worried halftime might kill what we had going for us, but the third quarter breezed by.
There was something almost beautiful about the way we were playing together, a genuine trust and mutual respect between obvious between each other.
The game was close until the very end, but we just barely edged by with a win. When the final buzzer went off, Gemma practically leaped into Mags’s arms. “Thank god!”
“Really nice work out there,” Anna said and glanced over at me, smiling softly.