Swish

by Elena Delle Donne

  “You guys did it! You beat the Wolves!” he said.

  “Yeah, I guess we did,” I said. “And you guys will too.”

  Blake’s smile faded. “Oh man, I guess we have to now, right?”

  “Don’t think about it,” I said. “Just play your best. Do it for Bianca.” I smirked.

  “Very funny,” Blake said. “See you later!”

  Then he ran off.

  I jogged to the hallway to grab something from the snack table. It’s run by parents and there’s usually fruit, chips, protein bars, and stuff like that. I noticed that the hall was really crowded. I had to wait for, like, ten minutes just to get a protein bar.

  Back in the gym, I spotted most of my team, still in uniform, sitting up near the top bleacher. My volleyball friends were hanging out near the bottom, so I grabbed them and brought them up with me to sit with the team.

  I felt a little disappointed to see that Amanda wasn’t there, and I made a mental note to reach out to her later. But now, the boys’ game was about to start.

  “Wow, there sure are a lot more people here than there were at our game,” Bianca remarked from her perch on the bleacher behind me.

  I turned to face her. “I was thinking the same thing!” I said. “What’s the deal with that?”

  “People care more about boys’ sports than girls’ sports,” Jenna chimed in. “It’s a fact.”

  I thought about this. The words of the sportscaster popped into my head: Pretty good, for a girls’ team. To me, that felt like proof that Jenna was right.

  Kenya motioned to the boys’ team warming up on the court. “I agree with Jenna. Did you know that the boys all got new uniforms this year?”

  “The basketball team, you mean?” I asked.

  “Every team,” Kenya said. “And the girls haven’t had new uniforms in like, eight years, my mom says. She was pretty upset about it. But when she asked the school about it, the school just said there was no budget for the girls’ uniforms.”

  I frowned. “That doesn’t seem right.”

  “Maybe we’ll get some next year,” Summer said hopefully.

  Avery sighed. “I guess there’s not much we could do about it, anyway.”

  Then the middle school cheerleaders ran out onto the court.

  “Take it to the limit! Take it to the top! We’re the mighty Nighthawks, and we can’t be stopped!”

  “ ‘Top’ and ‘stopped’ don’t rhyme,” Tiff muttered behind me.

  Bianca looked at her. “Is that what’s really bothering you? What about the fact that the boys have cheerleaders, and we don’t?”

  “I never really thought about that before,” Tiff said. “Isn’t it just the way things work?”

  “It’s just another example of what I’m talking about,” Kenya said, and I nodded in agreement. Why hadn’t I noticed all this before? Or maybe I had, and I just didn’t want to admit to myself that things were so different for girls.

  Then the buzzer blared, and the game started. As I watched, I tried to figure out if there was some way that the boys’ game was more exciting than ours had been.

  Were they scoring more? Not really. They did get called for traveling a few times, just like we did. Both teams committed fouls, just like we did. Yes, it was a pretty close game, but ours had been pretty close too.

  The boys entered the fourth quarter with a four-point lead. The Spring Meadow fans started to get pumped up, stomping on the bleachers with their feet, when they realized that the Nighthawks might beat the Wolves. The cheerleaders were chanting nonstop.

  “Go, fight, win! Go, fight, win!”

  The Wolves scored at the start of the quarter. Then Blake made a layup. The Wolves scored again. The Nighthawks scored twice, lengthening their lead.

  When the final buzzer rang, the Nighthawks had won with a score of 42–38. The crowd went crazy! Nighthawks fans ran out of the bleachers and swarmed the court. Me and my friends slowly made our way down to join them.

  “The curse is over!” somebody shouted.

  “The curse was over!” Bianca yelled into the crowd. “We beat the Wolves a couple of hours ago!”

  But nobody heard her over the cheering. Kids were lifting up some of the boy players onto their shoulders.

  “Nighthawks! Nighthawks! Nighthawks!” everybody was chanting.

  “Um, where was this when you guys won?” Jenna asked.

  “Nobody was here to do it,” I said.

  Avery tried to change the mood. “Hey, should we go out and celebrate our victory today?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Nah, Dad is swinging back here to bring me home,” I said. I didn’t really feel much like celebrating. I mean, I felt happy that both Nighthawk teams had won their games. But I was still feeling bummed about Amanda. And this whole thing with the boys’ teams being treated better was messing with my mind.

  Before I left, I found Blake.

  “Awesome game!” I said, high-fiving him.

  “Thanks,” he said. “You guys broke the curse for us.”

  “There was never any curse,” I told him. “Today, we were just better than them.”

  He grinned. “Yeah.”

  I said good-bye to Blake and headed outside to meet my dad.

  “Thanks for picking me up,” I said.

  “No problem,” he replied. “You can repay me by helping me make dinner.”

  I wiggled my eyebrows. “Does that mean you are going to give me your secret sauce recipe?”

  “Never!” Dad joked. “But if you pay attention, you might learn a few things.”

  When we got home, I showered and walked Zobe before I settled in to the kitchen to help Dad. Beth was there, hanging with Mom, and Dad threw me an apron.

  “Can you chop some carrots for me, Elle?” he asked.

  “Sure,” I replied, moving over to the cutting board. “Diced, or in coins?” I had learned a few things from Dad by helping him cook.

  “Diced, please, Elle,” he said, and I got to work.

  Dad turned on the TV. “I want to check the local weather report. I heard that a cold spell is coming.”

  The local news station came on, and I heard someone say, “And now for our Sunday Sports Spotlight with Rob Robertson.”

  I looked up to see the same sports guy who had said, “Pretty good for a girls’ team.”

  “Him again,” I mumbled, and tried to tune him out as I chopped.

  Then I heard Dad say, “Hey, look, it’s the Nighthawks!”

  I looked up to see Blake’s team on the screen, in their game against the Wolves!

  “Today we’ve got a story about a local rivalry,” Rob was saying. “Fans sent in footage of the middle-school game between the Spring Meadow Nighthawks and the Wallton Wolves. The Nighthawks have not beaten the Wolves in more than twenty years, according to the legend, but today that curse was broken by the middle-school boys.”

  “What?” I shrieked at the screen. “Are you kidding?”

  Everyone got quiet.

  “So congratulations to the Nighthawks on their big win!” he finished.

  I felt like throwing carrots at the screen, but I controlled myself.

  “He must have received the fan video and didn’t check the facts,” Mom said, standing up. “I am going to e-mail the station right now.”

  “No,” I said.

  Mom looked puzzled. “No?”

  “I’m going to do it,” I told her. “It’s my team he just disrespected.”

  “Good for you, Elle,” Mom said. “Just try not to be angry when you write. Stay calm and you’ll get your point across.”

  “I’ll try,” I promised, and after I finished chopping the carrots, some onions, and a bunch of parsley, I went up to my room and got out my laptop. I found the contact form on the News 12 website and started typing.

  Rob Robertson just said that the Nighthawks boys’ team broke the curse when they beat the Wallton Wolves. But he was wrong. The girls’ team broke the curse in the game ri
ght before the boys. Can you please tell him he had a mistake?

  I typed in my name and address. Maybe they would read it, and fix things. Maybe I would never hear back from them. Either way, I was glad I had stood up for the girls’ team.

  I felt even better after dinner, when I checked my laptop and found a reply from News 12.

  Thank you for letting us know about the Nighthawks girls’ team. We checked with the league and you are correct. We received several reports from people who were at the boys’ game and so we assumed that they were factual. Rob will be making the correction during his report tomorrow. Congratulations on breaking the curse!

  I jumped up. “Mom! Dad!” I ran downstairs with my laptop and showed them, excited.

  “Nicely done, Elle,” Mom said.

  “Yes, good job,” Dad said. “I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks,” I said. I felt like I had won a battle.

  Then I thought about all the other things my friends had mentioned that day, like the uniforms, and the cheerleaders. Did I feel like taking on more battles, I wondered?

  I already knew the answer. I was ready—and I knew where to start.

  6 Dream Big

  Ms. Ebear, can I talk to you?”

  She looked up from her desk at me through her black eyeglasses—hipster glasses, Avery calls them. I just think they look cool.

  “Sure, I’ve got a few minutes, Elle,” she said. “What is it?”

  I silently thanked Jim for agreeing to drive me and Blake in a few minutes early that morning. Both boys had complained about being tired, but tough. This was important.

  “I don’t know if this is a bullying issue, exactly,” I began, “but me and some of the girls have been wondering why the girls’ teams don’t get treated the same as the boys’ teams.”

  I told her about the uniforms. And the cheerleaders. And how everybody goes to the boys’ games, but almost nobody comes to the girls’ games. When I told her about how the news station had reported that the boys had broken the Wolves curse, she looked shocked.

  “Wow, Elle, I can see why that would upset you,” she said. “You make some really good points about the disparity between the two athletic programs, and the support they get.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. I guess I’m just wondering what to do about it.”

  Ms. Ebear frowned thoughtfully, tapping a pencil on her desk. “I think the first thing you might want to do is bring some of the girl athletes together. Don’t try to take this on all by yourself. You have connections to both the volleyball and basketball teams, right? Start there.”

  I knew that some of my friends still thought that the volleyball team had “stolen” me away from basketball, so I wasn’t sure if they’d be thrilled to be working together. But it was worth a try. This was something we could all get behind.

  “What kind of things do you think we could do?” I asked.

  “You could always petition the school for new uniforms,” she replied. “But as far as getting more people to support the girls’ teams, you might want to start a booster club.”

  I knew what that was. My mom was part of the high school football booster club, although that was mostly parents. They raised money for the team, fed the boys when they traveled, and stuff like that.

  “So if we started one, we’d be, like, supporting each other?” I asked.

  Ms. Ebear nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. The basketball team could go to volleyball games, or softball games, and vice versa. You could decorate players’ lockers like the cheerleaders do for the boys.”

  “Maybe we could ask the cheerleaders to cheer for us,” I added.

  She grinned. “That’s the spirit, Elle! I think you’re going to know what to do.”

  Some kids started coming into the room as homeroom neared.

  “Listen, you might need an advisor for your group,” she said. “I’d love to help but I’m really busy right now with the Buddy Club. Maybe ask one of your coaches?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Thanks for your help.”

  “No problem, Elle,” she said. “I’m glad you asked.”

  And that is exactly why Ms. Ebear is my favorite teacher of all time!

  When lunchtime came around, I brought up the idea to the girls on the team that I sit with: Avery, Natalie, Hannah, Caroline, and Patrice.

  “A booster club,” Avery repeated. “I like that idea.”

  Caroline nodded. “Me too. And I know we can definitely get Pete to be in it,” she said.

  I laughed. “I think he is our unofficial booster club right now anyway.”

  “So wait, we need to get together with the girls from the other teams?” Natalie asked.

  “I thought we could start with the volleyball team, and then see if some of the other teams want to join us,” I said. “Like cross-country, and track.”

  “How are we supposed to meet?” Hannah asked. “Our practice days are different than the volleyball practices.”

  “But we both have Saturday free,” I said. “Ms. Ebear said we need an advisor, so we can’t meet in the school until we figure that out. I was thinking we could just, like, maybe hang out on Saturday afternoon. Maybe at the diner?”

  There are a few diners in and around Wilmington, but whenever you say “the diner” everybody knows what you mean: the River Queen Diner in North Creek. It’s enormous, and they make the best cheese fries around.

  Avery started making notes on her phone. She loves to organize things, and to my relief she swept in and started taking charge.

  “Let’s meet at the River Queen at two p.m. Saturday,” she said. “Caroline, you talk to Bianca, Tiff, and Dina. Elle, you talk to the volleyball team. Patrice, you can tell Amanda.”

  We just kind of sat there for a minute, thinking we could do it after lunch. But Avery had other ideas.

  “What are you waiting for? Go! Everybody’s here right now,” she said.

  I jumped up and saluted. “Yes, sir!” Then I bounded over to the volleyball team table.

  Kenya, Summer, and Jenna were sitting with the rest of the team: Maggie, Taylor, and Lauren, the girl I had filled in for. They were all laughing loudly at something.

  Jenna spotted me. “Hey, it’s Elle! Please tell me you’re coming back to the team.”

  “Yeah, we miss you, Ace,” Maggie said.

  “I miss you guys too,” I said, sitting backward on a chair next to her. “But it feels good to be playing basketball again. I just really love it.”

  Summer looked at me. “You have to follow your truth, Elle.”

  “So what’s up?’ Kenya asked.

  “I want to start a booster club for the girls’ sports teams,” I began, and before I could say anything more, Kenya spoke up.

  “Awesome! We’re in!” she said. “This school really needs it.”

  The girls all high-fived me and then one another, cheering. Those volleyball girls had more positive energy than any other group I’d ever seen.

  “Saturday, two o’clock, at the River Queen,” I told them.

  “Cheese fries!” Jenna cheered.

  I headed back to my table to report to Avery and the others. On the way, I saw Patrice talking to Amanda. Until she joined the basketball team this year, Amanda wasn’t really into sports. She plays clarinet in the school band, and at lunchtime, she sits with the band kids. She was smiling and listening to Patrice, and I was glad to see that she looked happier than she had after the game yesterday.

  “The volleyball team is in,” I reported when I sat back down at my lunch table.

  Natalie gazed over at Kenya and the others, who were pounding their fists on the table and chanting, “Cheese fries! Cheese fries!”

  “They sure are loud,” Natalie remarked, and she rolled her eyes at Hannah. My worry that our two teams were going to be able to work together returned. Natalie and Hannah had been a little jealous of my friendship with the volleyball girls. Even Avery had questioned it.

  But Avery said, “Maybe we need
to make some noise right now. That’s the whole point.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, and I started to feel really excited about our plans.

  “I’m glad you’re running the meeting, Elle,” Avery said.

  “Me?” I wasn’t used to being the one in charge of things. How was I supposed to run the meeting? Couldn’t we just hang out and talk it out?

  Avery saw the look on my face. “I know a great app for making agendas.”

  I nodded. “Thanks. I can’t do this alone!”

  * * *

  The rest of the week was focused on practice and schoolwork, because I knew I had a busy weekend ahead: a game on Sunday, a booster club meeting on Saturday afternoon, and on Saturday morning, the Buddy Club was getting ready for the takeover of the Valentine’s Day Dance.

  Going to the Buddy Club meeting meant that I was going to miss out on a training session with Dad and Zobe, but Dad had understood.

  “I’ll go over the lesson with you on Sunday night,” he promised as he dropped me off at the school. Zobe whined in the back seat when I got out of the car, and I patted him on the head.

  “I’ll miss you, boy. Be good in school!”

  He replied with a loud woof, and I laughed.

  I made my way to Ms. Ebear’s classroom, where I found all the kids from the Buddy Club, and a few extra ones. Katie, Gabrielle, and Dylan were busy cutting out paper hearts from construction paper, and Cole, Emily, Faith, and Satoko were writing messages on them with markers. They’d already finished a whole bunch of them, which I saw overflowing from two paper bags.

  “Wow, you guys did so many already!” I exclaimed.

  “We got a lot done on Wednesday,” Ms. Ebear said, taking a sip of coffee. “I think we’re ready to start putting them on lockers. Can I get a locker team going?”

  I raised my hand, and so did Dylan, Katie, and Gabrielle.

  “Great!” Ms. Ebear said. “Katie and Gabrielle, you do the sixth-grade lockers. Dylan and Elle, take the seventh grade. Then you can both tackle the eighth grade together. Come back here when you run out.”

  Ms. Ebear handed Dylan and Katie each a roll of masking tape, and she gave me and Gabrielle a bag of hearts. I riffled through them as Dylan and I made our way down the hallway.