Grace on the Court

by Maddy Proud

  Grace and Stella looked at each other and laughed at their self-obsessed friend.

  That afternoon, Grace – despite having a high-tech map – got lost on the way to her maths class. She had told Mia and Stella to go ahead without her as she quickly went to the bathroom. But she soon regretted her decision when she found herself in desperate need of Stella’s expert map-reading skills. Grace went up and down the same corridor three times, getting more and more frustrated by the minute. It was her only proper class for the day and she was now probably going to miss it.

  “Don’t worry, everyone gets lost on their first day,” someone said behind her.

  Grace turned around to see Sebastian King standing in front of her. Sebastian was Tyler’s best friend and the lead singer in his band. When Grace and Sebastian had been younger, they’d got along quite well – often playing ‘marks-up’ in the backyard – but those days were long gone. Nowadays, he mostly ignored Grace when he was over at the Parkers’, heading straight for Tyler’s room or the garage. The main thing Grace remembered about Sebastian lately was that he had braces and always seemed to have food stuck in them. Ew.

  “I’ve literally walked up and down this hallway three times but I can’t find 24B,” said Grace, ignoring the fact that she hadn’t spoken to Sebastian in what felt like years.

  “Ahh, the notorious 24B. You’d think it would be next to room 24A and before room 25, but nothing is ever that simple at Linwood. It’s around the corner, second door on the right,” Sebastian offered.

  “I wish someone had told me that before I spent half an hour looking for it. Everyone seems to have got the memo except me. Thanks, Seb.”

  “So, how’s your first day going?” Sebastian asked, before Grace could walk away.

  “Um, okay, I guess. You know – as good as first days can be when you spend half the day getting lost,” Grace replied.

  As they spoke, Mia came racing up to Grace. “Where have you been? Mrs Adams sent me out to find you. Hurry, let’s …” Mia’s voice trailed away when she noticed Sebastian.

  “I better get going,” said Sebastian. “I guess I’ll see you around, Grace. Have a good one.”

  Sebastian flashed Grace a big, toothy grin. Grace wondered when he’d got his braces off – they’d certainly done a good job. His smile now looked fit for a toothpaste commercial.

  “You too, Seb.”

  Grace turned towards the classroom but Mia grabbed her arm and held her back for a moment.

  “Please tell me I’m dreaming and you were not just talking to the Sebastian King?” she whispered urgently. “What’s going on? I need a full rundown.”

  “What are you talking about?” Grace asked. “It’s just Seb.”

  “What do you mean ‘just’ Seb? Geez, Gracie, you’re a dark horse. Sebastian King is totally the hottest guy at Linwood. Do you know how many girls want to go out with him?”

  Grace looked at her best friend and shook her head. “Ew, Mia, he’s like my brother. Don’t you remember how annoying he was when we were kids?”

  “Yeah, but he’s not your brother,” said Mia, with a sly smile. “And he didn’t seem so annoying just then … He was too busy flirting with you to even say hello to me! Boy, these last few years have treated him well,” Mia said, pretending to swoon.

  “He was just being nice!” Grace practically shouted, wanting the conversation to end. She began to walk off in the direction Seb had pointed her.

  But Grace could tell Mia was not happy with that answer. “I don’t believe that for a second and neither do you. Sebastian’s notorious. Even the teachers love him! I’ve heard he’s allowed to get away with pretty much anything. How could anyone resist that smile, right?”

  Grace rolled her eyes, wondering where Mia seemed to be getting this ‘inside information’ from. “Come on, aren’t you supposed to be taking me to class?”

  “Okay, okay, but we’re going to talk about this later – and you’re going to tell me all the details,” said Mia, grinning.

  The first week of high school flew by. Every class seemed to have the same structure, with all the teachers wanting their new students to feel welcome by playing countless ‘get to know you’ games. If Grace had to answer one more question about her favourite colour or movie she might burst.

  Fortunately, the teachers seemed to be going easy on the Year 8s – there wasn’t too much homework yet. By Friday of the first week Grace had managed to make all of her classes on time and had only had to refer to her map twice. Her mind was buzzing with all the new information and names she had to remember. But mostly, she couldn’t stop thinking about that afternoon’s netball trials. She’d lost hours of sleep during the week stressing about how she would perform. Thank goodness she’d practised over summer: she couldn’t believe the day was already here. Though she was glad the teams would be formed early, as it meant they’d have plenty of time to train together before the first game …

  “So, what do you think, Grace?” Mia and Stella both stared at her from the opposite side of the lunch bench.

  “Sorry … what?” Grace had zoned out – she had no idea what they had been talking about for the last ten minutes.

  “Should we have a sleepover next weekend to work out what to do for the Friday at Five competition?” her friends asked.

  Local radio station Nova FM had just announced they were holding a competition: the group that made the best fan video would win VIP tickets to Friday at Five’s concert in Adelaide later in the year. The British boy band was almost more popular than One Direction, and all their songs went to number one. Grace owned every one of their albums and had posters of them on every wall of her bedroom. Now they’d finally announced an Australian tour and were holding a competition with one lucky group from each state winning VIP tickets to the concert in their home city.

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe we could finally see them live!” said Grace.

  “I know – and VIP tickets!” said Stella.

  “We have to win those tickets, guys. We just have to,” said Mia.

  The school had been buzzing with the news, and Grace had already heard some intense fights between friends as people teamed up. Luckily this wasn’t a problem for Grace, Mia and Stella.

  “Yes, definitely! You guys can come to mine if you want … we just got a new laptop so we can use that for YouTube research,” said Grace.

  “Sounds perfect. I already have an idea for what we could do,” said Mia excitedly.

  “This should be interesting,” Stella joked, turning to Grace as they both burst out laughing, knowing that no doubt Mia’s idea would be as crazy as she was.

  . . . . .

  Before Grace knew it, school was over for the day and it was time to change into her sports uniform. As they changed, she and Stella started speculating about the other players who might be trying out – they knew some really good players from other primary schools were also now at Linwood with them.

  “Would you two stop stressing? You’re starting to really annoy me!” Mia complained.

  “I just hope I make the A team,” Grace confessed.

  Mia and Stella looked at each other, then back at Grace.

  “You cannot be serious. You’re the best player here by a mile,” said Mia.

  “Yeah, you could have the worst game of your life and still be better than everyone else,” added Stella.

  Grace just shook her head and continued getting dressed. Her nerves were at an all-time high. She knew she was annoying Mia but she couldn’t help it – netball meant so much to her. For Mia, she knew, it wasn’t such a big deal – it was more about spending time with her friends. Mia wouldn’t care whether they were in the As, Bs or Cs – as long as they were all together.

  Once the girls were dressed they headed outside, excited to hit the court. About forty girls had turned up – a big turnout, according to the coaches. They would have the chance to fill four teams for the first time in the school’s history, apparently. As the coache
s ran through the instructions, Grace scanned the crowd. She started to relax a little when she saw that she knew most of the girls from primary school competitions and other representative teams. There was only a handful she didn’t know.

  She wasn’t so thrilled to see a group of girls from Bellevue Primary School. Oleander and Bellevue had been rivals as long as Grace could remember. There was never a grand final that wasn’t between the two schools – and it was often tight. In last year’s grand final Oleander had won by just one goal.

  “Everyone to the baseline. Run a few warm-up laps and do your stretches and whatever else you need to get yourself ready. We hit the court in fifteen minutes,” said Mrs Peters, one of the selectors and the A-grade coach.

  This is it, Grace thought to herself as they ran onto the court. Grace broke into a stride easily, but a few of the girls around her seemed to be struggling. Their heavy breathing was noticeable – Grace guessed they hadn’t trained much over summer.

  Once they were warmed up, the girls gathered around Mrs Peters again to hear who would be on the court for the first trial. Grace’s name was called out.

  Phew, she thought – better to get it over with fast. And even better: she would be playing goal defence, her favourite position.

  She was going to be standing against goal attack Sophie Shaw, an accurate shooter of similar height to Grace. But Grace had grown up playing with Sophie at Oleander, so she knew her style of play.

  The whistle blew for the game to start and the girls sprang into action. Grace felt like the extra training with Angus had paid off – she felt fitter than she had ever been. More than a few of the other players were sloppier on the court than she remembered – obviously a bit rusty after the summer holidays.

  Grace grabbed intercept after intercept and drove the ball out of the defence area as if there was no one on court to block her path. By the time the whistle blew to end the first quarter, Grace was happy with how she’d played and felt a little better about her chances.

  The girls slouched over to catch their breath.

  “Wow, Grace, I didn’t think you could get any better. You sure showed me,” said a gasping Sophie. She patted Grace on the back good-naturedly. “I. Can’t. Breathe.”

  Mia and Stella ran over to Grace. “Um, what were you stressing about? That’s the best I’ve ever seen you play!” Mia exclaimed.

  “Great job, Grace, you were amazing,” said Stella.

  Grace often found it hard to accept compliments, but she thanked her friends and smiled to herself. She did think she’d played well. She was slightly embarrassed now about how worked up she’d been beforehand, but happy to discover that all her hard work with Angus had paid off.

  In the second fifteen-minute period, it was Stella’s turn on the court. Mia and Grace cheered her on from the sidelines. Stella was up against Amber Burns, the leader of the Bellevue girls. Amber was a great defender and the battle between her and Stella was fierce. Stella barely missed a goal and Amber was everywhere, taking intercepts from one side of the court to the other. It was great to watch and it looked like a lot of fun too.

  At the end of their round, Stella walked over to Amber and congratulated her on her performance. But Amber just gave Stella a nasty glare and then strutted back to her posse.

  “That’s the last time I try to be nice to her,” muttered Stella, joining Grace on the sidelines as Mia jogged off for her trial.

  Grace had always envied Mia for her laid-back attitude to netball. Mia never stressed out about how she would perform, and she always played well. It was no different that afternoon: she was like the Energizer bunny, running around as if she could just keep going forever. She was all over any loose balls and seemed to be free to receive every second pass. Grace high-fived Mia as she ran off the court, looking like she hadn’t even broken a sweat.

  The Bellevue girls were obvious standouts as well. But they were clearly still feeling sour about their grand-final loss – they refused to say a word to the Oleander girls during the entire trials. Their “accidental” bumps and knocks on the court didn’t seem so accidental when the girls saw the look on their faces as they walked past one another.

  “Cheats,” Amber muttered as she shoved past the girls at the end of the trials, on their way to the changerooms.

  “Excuse me?” Mia hissed back.

  “How much did you pay the umpire to pick me up for stepping? My feet didn’t move!” Amber complained, referring to the game-changing decision that gave Oleander the ball before they scored and won the game.

  “Grace’s dad filmed the game and we re-watched it. You moved your left foot as you passed the ball, when you’d actually landed on that foot,” said Stella matter-of-factly but ever so innocently.

  “Yeah, right. Whatever. I know I didn’t and so do you. Cheats,” Amber sprayed as she walked off, stopping any attempt at a rebuttal from Mia or Stella.

  “Oh my God, she makes me so mad! I just want to shake her! She’s so not as good as she thinks she is!” Mia screamed.

  “I know, and she definitely did step!” said Stella.

  “I don’t understand why she hates us so much. We couldn’t control the umpire’s decision,” said Grace. “Anyway, let’s just forget about her. She’s not worth it.”

  “Totally. Let’s talk instead about how Grace managed to get even better over the summer … how did you do it?” Stella asked in awe.

  “I wasn’t that much better. I just got fitter from running around with Angus all day,” said Grace, playing down how hard she’d trained over the break.

  “Well, I just hope we all get in the As,” said Stella, as the three girls picked up their bags and made their way through the school gates.

  “Fingers crossed!” Grace replied. “Do you guys want to come over for dinner? Mum’s making lasagne!”

  “Ohh, yes, please. You know I can’t resist your mum’s lasagne,” said Mia.

  “Nah, Mum’s on her way to pick me up,” Stella said glumly. “The prison awaits.”

  “So, how was your day, girls? What new and exciting things did high school have to offer?” Mrs Parker asked as she dished out two steaming plates of lasagne.

  “Mum, you can just ask how the trials went,” groaned Grace. She knew her mum was purposely avoiding the subject because she knew how nervous Grace had been.

  “I don’t think Grace would’ve learnt a thing at school today. She was too busy stressing – just for a change,” said Mia sarcastically.

  “Oh, Gracie, I’ve told you not to overthink it. How did you go, anyway?” asked Mrs Parker.

  “She was amazing, as usual,” said Mia.

  “I was okay, Mum. Mrs Peters seemed happy. Mia and Stell were great, but of course Stella was angry at herself for missing a whole three goals.”

  “That poor girl, she’s too hard on herself. She could shoot blindfolded while standing on one leg. Now, since you guys had such a big day and trialled so well, I’ll let you eat in front of the TV this one time. But don’t tell your father, Gracie!” Mrs Parker joked. Grace’s dad always insisted they eat as a family at the dining table, but he had footy training on Friday nights.

  “Your secret’s safe with me!” Grace laughed back.

  “Thanks Mrs Parker, but do you think we’ll be able to hear the TV above all the noise?” asked Mia.

  From the back of the house came the sound of guitars being tuned and banging drums.

  “Actually, yeah, why are the Kings practising tonight, Mum? It’s not Wednesday,” Grace said, frowning. She couldn’t wait to relax and eat dinner in front of the TV, but Mia was right – they’d struggle to hear it over the noise of her brother’s band.

  “Oh, they have big plans for this year, apparently – they’re going to start getting together twice a week. Who am I to stop them when they play so beautifully together,” said Grace’s mum.

  “Wait … does that mean Sebastian King is currently in your house singing his sexy little heart out?” Mia whispered to Grace
, while Grace’s mum had her back to them.

  “I guess so,” Grace replied, not impressed by her friend’s enthusiasm.

  “Why have I never been here before when they’ve practised?” Mia moaned.

  “Well, we used to have training on Wednesdays and that’s when they usually get together. Maybe they did that on purpose so you wouldn’t be here to drool over them,” Grace teased.

  “They sound so good! Even better than I remember,” said Mia.

  The “Kings of Linwood”, as they had named themselves, had won last year’s Battle of the Bands competition run by high schools in the area. They had performed a bunch of songs at the local hall for a crowd of high school students. It wasn’t as big a deal as it sounded. Grace had heard people say they probably won because of their looks. Grace thought it was more likely because of the lack of talent in their competition. But she had to admit they were getting a bit better. They had used the $1000 prize money to buy a few new amps and other equipment to help with their sound and they were slowly starting to bring everything together. For a group of four fifteen-year-olds, she guessed they weren’t too bad.

  “Let’s go and watch them play!” Mia pleaded.

  Grace shook her head, wondering how much longer Mia was going to keep up this boy-obsessed act. “Are you crazy? The new Riverdale episode just came out; I’ve got a date with the couch!” said Grace.

  She couldn’t think of anything worse than watching her brother and his band strut around pretending they were superstars. Plus, she was exhausted from the trials. She just wanted to put her feet up and relax.

  “Pleeeeeeease,” Mia begged.

  “Hey, I’m not stopping you. Go for your life!” Grace teased, knowing full well her friend wouldn’t dare go and watch them by herself. Despite all her bravado, Mia was still the same old Mia who wouldn’t know what to say to a boy if she was stuck alone with one.

  “Grrr, you’re so annoying. Fine, let’s watch Riverdale . . . I just hope Archie takes off his shirt this week!” Mia’s focus instantly shifted to their favourite TV show.