Alice Henderson On Debut

Ten

Adam and I avoid each other over the next few days, to the point where we don't even eat dinner at the same time, which annoys Dad. I spend most of my time when Adam's not at work at the indoor centre, even though I'm not rostered on, and when we're at home together, we don't even look at each other.

Mum's banned all talk of cricket in the house, I guess in an attempt to stop any arguments before they start. I also snuck into Adams' room when he was at work to steal one of his cricket magazines, just to see if the article for the cricket camp was in there. It was. Seeing it made me so angry, because it was a whole double-page spread so there's no way he could've missed it. And what made it worse was the registration cut off was only a week before the scout match.

By the end of the week though, Adam and I had come to a sort of truce, thanks to sitting on the lounge next to each other and watching the second Test together. We didn't speak to each other at all for the first two days but by the third we were back on speaking terms thanks to our mutual dislike of one of the new commentators. Adam made me laugh by impersonating him during a lunch break and I cracked up laughing, which broke the tension. I threw a chip at him, he threw one back, and we were back to normal.

The fourth day of the Test is rained out, so Adam and I spend most of the morning in the pool playing pool cricket. Adam gets sick of me having to get in and out to collect the ball every time he hits it, so we decide to practice our diving. I stand at one end of the pool, ready to throw the ball and Adam stands at the edge of the pool, ready to dive in. It used to be heaps of fun when I was younger, but now it's just a way for Adam to show off. I hardly ever get the chance to do any catching anymore. Besides, I still feel bad for hitting sixes off him in the game on the weekend, so I guess I can cut him some slack.

Adam read somewhere once that in order to impress scouts and potential coaches, you need to be really good in at least two of the three areas of cricket, which are batting, bowling and fielding. Being a bowler and a number ten bat means he needs to impress with his fielding. I'm sort of an all-rounder, so I have all my bases covered which I think annoys Adam a bit since he's the one trying to become a pro cricketer.

I toss the ball up to the middle of the pool and Adam dives in sideways, bombing into the centre and splashing water everywhere. He resurfaces and brushes the water off his face and tosses the ball back. As he climbs out of the pool he says, "Can you throw it low so I have to dive lower to the water?"

I shrug and do as he asks, but he's not ready so the ball hits the water without him even taking off. He gives me his 'don't be stupid Alice' look but I just stand and wait for him to dive in and get the ball. Adam tosses the ball back and just as I'm about to throw it again, Mum sticks her head out the kitchen window. "Adam, can you come inside please?"

The way Mum says 'please' at the end of that sentence means that Adam's in trouble for something.

"Righto," Adam calls back. "Couple more," he says to me. "This time, throw it properly."

He tosses the ball back but I deliberately don't catch it. Instead, I head over to the gate and grab my towel from on top of the fence.

"I thought we were going to do a couple more?" Adam asks.

"I'm over it," I say. Plus, I want to see what he's in trouble for.

As I walk past the kitchen on my way to the shower Mum says, "Alice, this involves you too." I turn and head back to the kitchen where Mum's staring down at a pile of crumpled paper in front of her on the bench, her arms crossed and her lips pursed. This is going to be good.

Adam wanders in behind me, drying his hair with his towel. "What's up?" he asks. He sees the paper on the bench and his face drops. He decides on attack as his defense. "You went through my stuff?" he asks.

"Everything in this house is my stuff, Adam." This is serious. I can tell because Mum's pulling out the big guns straight away.

Adam shifts on his feet. "Can't anyone have any privacy in this house?"

"Privacy? Yes. Lying, though, is not on," Mum replies.

"Lying? What did I lie about?" Adam asks. His voice is rising and his face is going red. I'm itching to know what's on those bits of paper.

"Are you writing a love letter?" I joke and as I go to take some of the paper from the bench Adam steps in front of me and Mum slams her hand on top, reminding me never to play Snap with her. Mum and Adam are eyeing each other and it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable now. "What's going on?" I ask.

Mum sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly. "Do you want to tell Alice, or do you want me to?"