Play the Game

by Nova Weetman

  I shut my door and phoned Tess. The phone had barely even rung when Tess picked it up.

  ‘Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!’ I screamed into the phone.

  ‘Ahhhhh!’ she screamed back. ‘No way!’

  ‘I know! I mean, I can’t officially say anything until next Monday, because the list hasn’t been posted yet. But Kerry sort of unofficially told me after rehearsals.’

  ‘Oh, right,’ Tess sounded surprised for a moment. ‘Wait, so you got Juliet?’

  ‘Yep! I’m so excited! I’m dying to find out who got the other parts. I wonder if Freddy will be Romeo? God, I hope Kerry doesn’t cast someone else. I’ll be working with the male lead practically 24/7. What if it’s not Freddy?’

  Tess laughed. ‘Not that you’re doing the play to be with him, of course.’

  ‘I’m really not, Tess,’ I said, frowning. This was huge news for me. Even though I knew she was only teasing, I was hurt that she wasn’t taking it seriously.

  She must have caught my tone. ‘Sorry, Edie. That’s awesome news. I know you worked really hard on the audition. And I’m sure you’ll be fantastic. I’ll come to every performance!’

  ‘Thanks. I’m nervous already!’

  ‘More nervous than you were before the netball tryouts?’

  ‘Oh god, way more,’ I babbled. ‘Imagine kissing Freddy in front of hundreds of people! And the whole school!’ I suddenly felt the butterflies in my stomach start up. I knew it would be weird to kiss Freddy on stage – I’d just have to remember I was acting!

  ‘You’ll be fine,’ Tess said, sounding distracted.

  Sometimes Tess could be a bit funny about my crush on Freddy. I think it was because of what happened between her and Josh. They’d gone to the school dance together, but then he’d started hanging out with Becky Sanchez, and dropped Tess like a hot potato. I really didn’t like Josh after that.

  That was around the time Tess had decided to throw herself into preparing for the state tryouts to make sure she’d get selected. I admired her dedication, but I hadn’t been able to practice with her as much as she’d wanted, which I think bothered her a bit.

  I steered the conversation away from the topic of Freddy. ‘Jean offered to do my make-up, and help me with my lines!’

  ‘Really? Is she feeling okay?’ Tess knew exactly what my sister was like.

  ‘It might have been the nail polish fumes. She’ll probably change her mind. And besides, that was the first conversation I’ve had with her in weeks,’ I said.

  I lay back on my bed and stared up at the netball posters on the wall. The Vixens stared back at me. Jean said it was freaky having posters of sports players in my room, but that was just because her walls were covered with pictures of singers and actors. Jean wasn’t into sport.

  ‘I was hoping we’d find out about netball today,’ said Tess quietly.

  ‘It’s only Monday!’

  ‘I know. But I hate waiting!’

  I laughed. ‘Just try and concentrate on your English project instead.’

  Tess groaned. ‘See you in the morning.’

  On Friday night, after forcing down some weird chicken dinner that Dad had read about in a magazine, I was lying on my bed reading over Romeo and Juliet when my phone rang. Of course it was Tess.

  ‘Hey, did you get a text message?’ asked Tess, sounding like she was bursting with excitement.

  ‘Huh?’ I had no idea what she was talking about.

  ‘Check your phone,’ she said, and hung up on me.

  As soon as she hung up, I noticed that I had a new message. Actually, two messages. One was from Tess, asking if I’d heard anything about netball tryouts. The other was a message telling me to be at the State Netball Centre at 10 am on Saturday.

  My phone rang. ‘Well?’ demanded Tess, before I could say anything.

  ‘Tomorrow morning?’

  Tess’s squeal almost blew out my eardrum. ‘Yes! Oh, thank god you got one too! I reckon we’re in!’

  ‘You don’t know that. It might just be a callback. Or they might want to tell us in person that we didn’t make it.’

  ‘I have a good feeling. Wow, you’re going to be super busy with the play and playing state! And I’m not going to sleep at all tonight,’ said Tess dramatically. I’d had enough sleepovers with her to know it was probably true. Once she got excited about something, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  ‘So Juliet, see you in the morning. I’ll swing past and pick you up?’

  I couldn’t believe how good it sounded to be called Juliet.

  ‘Sure. See you then. Get some sleep!’

  As I hung up, I kept picturing Freddy’s face, and that gorgeous grin. Tess wouldn’t be the only one not getting any sleep tonight.

  By the time we got to the netball centre, I was starving. Neither of us had managed to eat breakfast – we were too nervous.

  ‘Wish I’d brought some toast with me,’ I said.

  ‘I can’t even think about food. What if …’

  I didn’t want to have another ‘what if ’ conversation, so I started running towards the stairs. ‘Last one to the top buys the hot chocolates on the way home,’ I yelled, trying to distract Tess.

  Tess followed half-heartedly, but it was clear she wasn’t trying. ‘Edie, you still haven’t promised me that you’ll play even if I don’t get picked,’ said Tess.

  I wasn’t sure that I wanted to play without Tess. But now didn’t seem the right time to bring that up.

  ‘Come on, doors are open.’

  I held out my hand and she grabbed it, squeezing hard.

  ‘Hey, what did your mum say about Juliet?’ Tess asked.

  ‘Shh,’ I said, suddenly feeling a bit funny that I’d told Tess when I didn’t really mean to. ‘You can’t mention it to anyone.’

  She laughed. ‘I haven’t. I won’t, I promise!’

  She took a huge breath, smiled, then reached out to open the door. ‘Let’s do this.’

  There weren’t that many girls walking into the stadium, which made me wonder if they were staggering the announcements. ‘Where is everyone?’

  Tess looked around, frowning. ‘I don’t know. It’s weird, isn’t it?’

  ‘Girls? Here for the state team announcement?’ called a woman from behind a desk.

  ‘Yes,’ we said in unison, then started giggling. Talk about nervous!

  ‘Names?’We told her and she crossed lines through both our names.

  ‘Just through those doors,’ she said, pointing at a room behind her.

  Tess was still giggling as we walked in. I nudged her to be quiet – everyone else was looking deadly serious. A few more girls filed in behind us, and Tess leant over and whispered,‘Is it good or bad that there are only this many people?’

  I shrugged. I had no idea what it meant.

  ‘Okay girls, let’s get started,’ said a woman at the front of the room. ‘I’m Kathryn Fraser, the convener of the junior state teams. As you may have guessed, you are the girls who have made it through. Congratulations.’

  There was a long silence in the room. Then a few people started squealing and talking and laughing.

  Tess called out,‘Really? We’re in?’

  Kathryn Fraser smiled and nodded. ‘Yes, you’re really in.’

  It took a second for us to process what she’d said, then suddenly Tess and I started jumping around like we were five. ‘We’re in! We’re in!’

  As I hugged my best friend, I couldn’t believe my luck. First Juliet, now state netball. What a week!

  ‘I know you’re keen to celebrate but I just need to tell you about training and give you an information pack to take home to your parents,’ said Kathryn. ‘We train twice a week and games are played across the state. Playing netball at this level i
s a big commitment, so you need to understand what it will mean for you.’

  ‘It will mean extreme happiness,’ called Tess, making everyone laugh.

  ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Kathryn warmly.

  My bestie squeezed my hand. She looked like she was about to burst with excitement.

  ‘We start training properly next week but you’ll meet your coach and the rest of your team Monday night, here at the centre. At six on the dot!’

  Wait, Monday night? I put my hand up. ‘Um, excuse me, but what nights do we train?’

  ‘Mondays and Wednesdays.’

  ‘Every week?’ I asked. I could feel Tess staring at me, no doubt wondering what the problem was.

  Kathryn nodded. ‘Every week.’

  I felt sick. This couldn’t be happening. There were seven days in a week – how could training fall on exactly the same two nights as rehearsals? It wasn’t fair. I couldn’t possibly do both. But how could I choose which one to give up? I was so busy trying to work out how I could do both of the things I loved that I didn’t hear the rest of Kathryn’s speech. Suddenly everyone was leaving, and Tess had me locked in another bear hug.

  ‘Can you believe it? State netball!’

  ‘Yeah,’ I said, not really listening.

  Tess pulled away to look at me. ‘Edie? What’s up?’

  I sighed. ‘Training is on exactly the same nights as rehearsals.’

  Tess sagged. She totally understood – I knew she would.

  ‘Oh, Edie, I’m really sorry. I know what playing Juliet meant to you. But Kerry will understand. I’m sure they can cast someone else.’

  ‘Cast someone else?’ I repeated, confused.

  ‘Well, yeah. They can’t do Romeo and Juliet with no Juliet,’ she said, looking at me like I’d lost my mind.

  I stared at her, shocked. She didn’t understand. Not at all. She expected me to pull out of the play, assuming I would want to play netball as badly as she did. And I did. But I also really wanted to play Juliet.

  ‘It’s not that simple, Tess. I love acting, and I’ll probably never get another chance to play Juliet.’

  Now it was Tess’s turn to look shocked. ‘Wait, you’d choose the play over playing state? You can’t be serious!’

  I lowered my voice. There were still a few girls talking to Kathryn and I didn’t want them to overhear our conversation. ‘I don’t know. I love netball. And I love drama. How am I supposed to choose?’ I whispered.

  Before Tess could answer, Maggie raced up and hugged Tess. ‘We made it! We’re going to play state netball together. This is so cool!’

  Tess smiled back at her, but I could tell she was still processing what I’d just said. ‘Isn’t it great? I’m so glad you’re in, too, Maggie. Let’s go celebrate! Hot chocolate?’

  ‘Sounds good!’ Maggie turned to me and smiled. ‘Coming, Edie?’

  Before I could answer, Tess jumped in. ‘Edie has other things to celebrate.’

  I felt horrible as Tess and Maggie walked off together, chattering excitedly. Why couldn’t Tess understand how hard this was for me?

  Normally we made all our decisions together. We did everything together. The chance to play state netball alongside my best friend was a dream come true. How could I even think about passing that up?

  But playing Juliet was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, too. I’d worked so hard to nail the audition, and I still couldn’t quite believe I’d landed the lead role. The thought of turning it down made my stomach twist – but could I risk losing my best friend in the whole world, just so I could play Juliet?

  ‘Leave-in conditioner, that’s what you need,’ said Jean as she sat behind me, combing my hair. She kept hitting pockets of knots and just about ripping my head off.

  ‘Ow!’ I yelled for the millionth time as she hit another clump of knots. She ignored me, and kept chattering away about all the hair products I needed to use.

  This wasn’t the way I’d usually choose to spend a Sunday afternoon. I felt like I was four again, with Jean using me as a hair model. It was all Tess’s fault that I was sitting here. Usually on Sunday afternoons we’d hang out, maybe see a movie or make scones with her mum and then scoff them all.

  But she couldn’t understand how I could even consider choosing acting over netball, and now she wasn’t answering my texts. How was she going to react when I told her I’d decided to do the play?

  ‘If you’re going to play Juliet, you need perfect hair,’ said Jean, reaching the end of the combing torture. At least Jean was happy with my decision.

  ‘I really don’t think the audience will be looking at my hair. Surely they’ll be more concerned about whether I know my lines and can make the character convincing,’ I said. Jean always managed to bring everything back to hair.

  ‘When I was acting, I always found it made a big difference if I felt like I was the character. Your hairstyle is part of that,’ said Jean quietly.

  I was surprised. Jean never talked to me about acting. This was the most time we’d spent together in years.

  As Jean started styling my hair, she said, ‘Have you worked out what you’re going to say to Tess yet?’

  I sighed. I had no idea how to break the news to Tess.

  ‘Obviously not,’ said Jean. ‘That’s going to be a fun conversation.’

  I tried to turn around to glare at her, but she kept a fierce grip on my hair and kept pinning it up.

  ‘Ow, that hurts!’ I screeched.

  ‘Not as much as it will when Tess stops talking to you,’ said Jean. Honestly, I already felt sick about having to tell Tess, I didn’t need Jean making me feel even worse.

  ‘Can you stop?’ I asked crossly.

  ‘Sorry. It’s just that you two have played netball together for like, forever.’

  ‘Yeah, I know. But I can’t just play because of Tess,’ I said defensively, wishing at least Jean would understand.

  ‘But you have up until now,’ said Jean.

  ‘No I haven’t!’ I said angrily. ‘I love netball. I play because I want to, not because Tess wants me to.’

  ‘Really? I always thought you played because it’s easy for you. And you want to hang out with Tess.’

  I thought about what Jean had said. Was that true? Did I just play because my friend did? Because I didn’t really have to work hard? But I did love netball, though.

  ‘I would have played state but it clashed with acting,’ I said, sounding defensive again. ‘And it’s not wrong to do something with your best friend. You do. You spend all your time with Rosie.’

  Jean laughed. ‘Yeah, but only because Rosie wants to do the same things I do. She’s not making me run around a netball court all week!’

  I felt awful. Was that the reason I hadn’t joined the regional team? Because I only wanted to play if Tess did?

  ‘Edie, you started drama classes because of me, didn’t you?’ said Jean.

  ‘Sort of,’ I said, embarrassed that it had clearly been so obvious. ‘But I stayed after you dropped out.’

  ‘Good. You can’t just do things because your friends do. Or worse – your big sister!’

  I groaned. ‘Do you understand why I want to do the play?’

  Jean shrugged. ‘Sure. You’d rather have hot-looking hair than be all sweaty and disgusting. And acting is the bomb!’

  I smiled. It was so weird having a conversation like this with my sister, when we couldn’t even see each other’s faces.

  ‘Why’d you stop acting, Jean?’

  Instead of answering me, Jean handed me the mirror. ‘Take a look, Edie.’

  It was amazing. I couldn’t believe how different I looked. All my hair was pinned up in little sections and you could actually see my face, which was usually hiding
behind a mess of long, unruly knots. ‘Wow,’ I said, seriously impressed.

  ‘Yeah, you look okay,’ said Jean, sounding surprised. ‘It would help if you didn’t have such a high forehead.’

  I glared at her in the mirror and she shrugged. ‘I’ve got it too, don’t worry. It’s Mum’s fault.’

  ‘Where did you learn how to do this?’ I asked.

  ‘I can’t tell you that! I’d have to kill you,’ said Jean, laughing.

  My phone beeped, interrupting our sisterly moment. Jean raised an eyebrow. ‘That’ll be Tess.’

  I read the text. One word.

  Decided?

  ‘I have to go and see her,’ I said, even though I was dreading the conversation.

  ‘Why? It’s so much easier giving bad news in a text. Just message her,’ said Jean, examining her forehead in the mirror.

  I was willing to take make-up and hair advice from Jean, but I wasn’t about to extend that to friendship counselling. ‘Thanks for the hair,’ I said, touching all the hairpins and wondering how I was ever going to get them out.

  ‘Good luck,’ sang Jean with a huge smile. She was obviously enjoying my pain.

  I left Jean preening herself and called out to tell Dad I was riding over to Tess’s. I heard a muffled ‘Okay!’ from the study as I opened the front door.

  It wasn’t much fun pulling a bike helmet on over about two hundred hairpins, but I managed. Tess’s house was a ten-minute ride from mine. I tried to rehearse what I was going to say when I saw her, but I kept imagining her face when she realised I was giving up my spot on the netball team. I wondered if anything could prepare me for how she would react.

  I dumped my bike with all the other bikes on the front porch and rang the doorbell. Within seconds, I could hear feet running down the hall, and then yelling. It was probably the twins. They always fought over who got to open the door. When the door swung open I heard a sigh. ‘It’s only Edie,’ said Jacob, turning away. I was around so much I didn’t even register as a real guest.

  ‘Hi to you too, Jacob,’ I said to his disappearing back.