I was surprised, even though I knew that Natalie had promised to talk to her.
“Thanks,” I said.
“If you come back to the team, it’ll be different,” Bianca promised. “I mean, we won’t be best friends or anything, but . . . it’ll be cool this time. Okay?”
“No name-calling?” I asked, and she shook her head.
I knew this wasn’t easy for her to do. But I also felt like I could believe her.
“Thanks,” I said, and then I decided to deal with the whole reason why she’d been mad at me in the first place. “You know that I never asked to play center, right?”
“I know,” she said. “It just killed me not to play it anymore. But I’m over it. I just want us to play our best. And win.”
“I’m still not sure if I want to rejoin the team,” I told her. “But thanks. This helps.”
“We need you, Elle,” Bianca said, and then she walked away.
Natalie ran up to me. “How’d it go?”
“Good,” I replied. “Thanks for talking to her.”
“No problem,” Natalie said. “You should come celebrate with us, Elle. We’re getting pizza.”
Amanda had walked up, and she overheard. “Yeah, my mom can give you and Blake a ride home. He says he’s coming too.”
I smiled. “Sure. I’ll text my mom.”
“Nighthawks! Team meeting before you head out for pizza!” Coach Ramirez yelled.
Instinctively, I moved toward Coach with the others before I stopped myself. I wasn’t part of the team anymore. But I was starting to think that I could be a Nighthawk again. I went over the last few weeks in my head.
Trying out new things . . . check!
Bianca problem solved . . . check!
Realizing I could have fun playing basketball if I didn’t put pressure on myself . . . big check!
Working things out with Coach Ramirez . . .
The team meeting broke up, and Avery ran over to me.
“I heard you’re coming for pizza. Awesome!” she said.
“Yeah,” I said, and I glanced back at Coach Ramirez as we jogged out of the gym.
I’d have to talk to Coach. It had worked for Patrice, so maybe it would work for me, too.
And if things went well, then maybe, just maybe, I could be one of the Nighthawks again!
About the Author
Photo by Todd Rosenberg/The Players’ Tribune
Elena Delle Donne has been a professional women’s basketball player since 2013, when she was selected by the Chicago Sky second overall in the WNBA draft. She was the 2015 WNBA MVP and won a gold medal with the USA’s women’s basketball team in the 2016 Olympics. She is the global ambassador for the Special Olympics and became the first national ambassador for the Global Lyme Alliance. Elena also plays host to De11e Donne Academy, a basketball camp that runs throughout the year, where she mentors and coaches girls ages five to eighteen. She now plays for the Washington Mystics. Visit her at elenadelledonne.com.
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Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
Also by Elena Delle Donne
Hoops
Elle of the Ball
Full-Court Press
Out of Bounds
My Shot
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2019 by Elena Delle Donne
Jacket illustration copyright © 2019 by Cassey Kuo
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Delle Donne, Elena, author.
Title: Digging deep / Elena Delle Donne.
Description: New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2019] |
Series: Hoops ; 4 | Summary: Twelve-year-old Elle, still unsure about quitting the basketball team, fills in for an injured volleyball player and is surprised at how much less pressure she feels.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018045654|
ISBN 9781534441248 (hardback) | ISBN 9781534441262 (eBook) | Subjects: | CYAC: Volleyball—Fiction. | Basketball—Fiction. | Middle schools—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Sports & Recreation / Basketball. | JUVENILE FICTION / Girls & Women. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.D4558 Dig 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018045654
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