Alice Henderson On Debut

Fourteen

"Bowl or bat?" Charlie asks.

We're sitting under a covered area near the library, eating packets of chips we bought from a vending machine in the common room. She's so far shown me the gym and the cricket oval where we'll be training with the cricket nets at the side. I'm kind of impressed that she knows where everything is already but she said she just went for a wander around once she got here since she had nothing better to do.

I finish eating a mouthful of barbecue chips and reply, "Bat, but I can bowl a bit too."

"All-rounder then," Charlie nods. "Cool."

"What about you?" I ask.

"Wicketkeeper batsman," Charlie replies and upends her packet to tip the crumbs into her mouth. She crumples up the empty packet and looks around for a bin. She spots one over near the corner and wanders over. "Not much competition for them," she says as she heads back over and sits down.

"Do you have a competition out where you're from?" I ask.

"Nope. I just jump in with the boys mostly."

"Yeah, me too."

Charlie sighs. "Sucks, doesn't it? Not being able to play in a girls' team."

"I guess." I fold up my chip packet and shove it under my foot so it doesn't blow away. "What do you think the other girls will be like?"

Charlie shrugs. "If they're anything like us, they'll be alright." I look at her and she laughs. "I went on a camp last year, same as this only for soccer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's the only way I get to play or train properly with other girls."

"What about school?" I ask.

"I do distance education. Tried the boarding school thing once and hated it."

"Really?"

Charlie nods. "I just don't like wearing dresses and none of the girls' schools let you wear pants. You can't play sport in dresses."

I laugh.

"So how'd you get a spot on this camp?" Charlie asks.

"A scout got me a place."

"Wow. You must be pretty good then."

I shrug. "I guess. What about you?"

"I got a remote sports scholarship. Sometimes living in the middle of nowhere comes in handy." Charlie grins.

"Do you like living out where you do?" I ask.

Charlie considers my question and then says, "It's okay. I kinda miss people though, you know?"

"There's no school out there?"

"There's a primary school but no high school. I'd have to go to Roma and to tell you the truth, I kind of like doing school in my own time. No set schedule."

We hear voices, and then a couple of girls, a little older than Charlie and I walk around the corner. "Hey," one of them says as they walk past. "Hey," Charlie replies.

"Do you know them?" I ask when the girls are out of earshot.

"No," Charlie says. "But they'll be the Brisbane squad we'll be training with."

"What squad?"

"You didn't read the information?"

I shake my head. When I saw the article in Adam's magazine, I was too angry to read it, and I really didn't want to know anything about a camp I thought I'd missed out on. Plus, I didn't get a proper information pack since I was added so late.

"The whole point of the camp is for us to train with the new T20 women's team from Brisbane."

"Holy cow, really?"

"Uh-huh," Charlie nods. "Man I can't wait til Tuesday."

"Me too." The T20 men's competition is why Adam's so desperate to get into a club team in Brisbane. He thinks it'll get him noticed to play in the national league in the future. "Do you think we'll get to spend much time with them?"

"No idea," Charlie says. "But I do know that they're staying on the top floor of our dorm, so we'll get to see them at dinner." She stands up. "Speaking of dinner, I wanted to show you the indoor nets before we run out of time."

I stand up and follow her as she walks off in the same direction as the other girls.

"Wait til you see the bowling machines in here," Charlie says. "They're going to blow your mind."

Dinner is roast meat and vegetables, something Charlie obviously loves judging by the amount of food she's piled onto her plate.

"At home," she says in between bites of a bread roll, "we only get one roast choice on Sunday. Getting beef, chicken and pork all at once, man, I'm in heaven." She rolls her eyes skywards and I laugh at her melodramatics. "And have you tasted the gravy?"

"It's amazing," I agree. I look around at the other girls starting to arrive in the dining room. Charlie and I were waiting at the doors right on seven, so we were the first and only people for about half an hour. Now the sound of chatter is bouncing off the walls. There must be about twenty people with us now, all wearing light blue shirts and shorts, which I guess is some sort of training uniform.

A couple of adults file in and smile at Charlie and I as they walk past. Charlie's mopping up the gravy on her plate with a second bread roll when Oona sits down beside us with her dinner. "How's things, girls? Settling in okay?"

Charlie just nods because she's got a mouth full of food.

"Good, thanks," I reply.

Oona eats some food and then says, "I dropped your schedules off in your room. Tells you everything you need to know. After your orientation your coaches will look after you, but I'm here any time you need anything, okay?"

"Thanks," Charlie says, and leans back in her chair. It's like she hasn't eaten in a month the way she's acting.

I look over to where the girls from the other squad are all talking and laughing and joking with each other. They obviously know each other well to just click like that if this is their first day on camp.

Oona nudges me with her shoulder. "That'll be you on Tuesday," she says, smiling.

I hope so. The thought of training and playing cricket with other girls instead of with boys is kind of exciting.