Challenging the Boys

Chapter 4

I thought about what coach had said all day.

ALL BLOODY DAY!

No! No way was I giving up. I was going to find a way to play one way or another! Even if I had to change school to do so I was going to do it!

After thinking long and hard about what I was going to do I decided I was going to go speak with the principal  and see what solutions he would give me.

Maybe another point of view would help me figure out things better.

We got home, Becca had noticed as soon as we met at the parking lot that something was wrong. I hadn't joined her at lunch in the end because I felt like I needed some time alone to think.

So I went in the only place that always took my mind off everything bad that happened in my life.

The Gym.

I took a ball and started to jumpshots in the hoop, not really caring about anything happening around me but just focusing on the shots I took.

One, two, three. I kept on going until l had made more than fifty. Than the bell rang, reminding me that school wasn't yet over and that I had the afternoon classes to attend. Not that I actually did any attending, I sat silently in my seat, not listening to anything the teachers said, because I was too caught up in my own thoughts.

Becca obviously had noticed my change of mood from before to after lunch and wasn't at all happy about it. She wanted to know who or what had made me mad to try and fix it. It was something we tended to do when the other one had some problems, we called it "Twins mode", we had been like this since .... forever.

I remember this one time when a boy in 2nd grade had put a gum into Becca's hair, which she had to cut off short, I might have gone into "twins mode" and when he left the classroom after art class to go wash his hands I followed him and punched him in the nose, making it bleed. He didn't go around telling anyone, because he didn't want the other boys to laugh at him because he had been hit by a girl. On the other side though he never bothered Becca or me again.

"Are you going to tell me what happened today that got you all hot and bothered? Or am I going to have to pull it out from you? 'Cause I will find out in one way or another." She said using a voice that was meant to scare me but that didn't work.

"Coach said there is no female basketball team." I said, not looking her in the eyes. Every time I thought about it it made me wanna curl up in a ball and cry.

I couldn't stop playing!
I wasn't going to stop playing!
No matter what the others said.

I seemed to be repeating those words over and over in my head. Like if I kept on telling myself that, it would eventually turn true and I wouldn't have to stop playing.

"O my god! Mel I'm so sorry!" She said coming towards me and embracing me in a hug. "I know how much this means to you, how much it meant to dad. What do you have in mind? Do you have a plan to keep on playing?" Her face filled with concern.

"At the moment I only want to speak to the principal and see what he thinks about it, then I will speak to mum and find a solution. I can't stop playing! I won't stop playing!"

I ended the hug and went upstairs to my room leaving her alone in the living room.

I went to my desk and switched on my computer. I wanted to look into other opportunities for me to continue pursuing my sport.

I could just play AAU, but the closest sports center was more than two hours away, and I couldn't drive for more than four hours every time I wanted to practice.