Alice Henderson On Debut

Twenty

After getting introduced to the coaches and staff and checking our names off on a list, we're split up into smaller groups to get to know each other better. The girl from the four-wheel-drive ends up being in our group and I'm curious about where she's from and why she's even here. She doesn't look like she'd be into sports, let alone play cricket. We've been asked to say our name and tell everyone something interesting about ourselves. So far, we've met Hannah, who's originally from New Zealand, Nicki, who doesn't have a big toe on her left foot, and Shari, who went on X Factor Junior last year and got through to the second round.

Charlie says, "G'day. I'm Charlie and I can play the ukulele."

"Charlie," our coach, Karen says. "Is that short for Charlotte?"

"Nope," Charlie replies. "Just Charlie with an 'e'. I was the oldest so I got the family name."

"Even though you're a girl?" Nicki asks.

"Yep. All the first borns in my family get called Charlie."

"Weird," Shari mumbles and gives a look to the girl with the black hair, who hasn't introduced herself yet. I get the feeling they know each other already.

"I'm Alice," I say. "And I'm, um." I stumble. I'm not really that interesting, and I'm drawing a blank on what I should say. Karen prompts me. "Do you have any pets, Alice?"

"Oh, yeah," I reply. "An old red cattle dog called Blue."

Charlie laughs but no-one else does. Then it's the black-haired girl's turn.

"I'm Paris," she says. "And yes, I am named after the City of Love."

Charlie nudges me and rolls her eyes and I stifle a giggle. Karen says, "That's interesting. Is it a place that's important to your family?"

"My parents have been holidaying there every year since their honeymoon," Paris replies.

"Geez," Charlie says. "If I was named after my family's favourite holiday spot I'd be called 'Camping in the back yard'."

I laugh out loud and some of the other girls do too. Paris looks at Charlie blankly and says, "That doesn't even make sense."

Karen looks down at her clipboard. "Okay, we'll jump in with the other half of your team so we can get to know them." She looks up and signals to our other coach, Brad, who brings over the other girls who will be part of our team. I hope I remember everyone's names by the end of the week, but at the moment, it's a little overwhelming.

"Okay," Brad says. "We should take you on a tour of the facilities you'll be using for the next week, and show you where you'll be spending most of your time, and then we'll get in some training."

As we head off towards the cricket oval, Charlie grabs my arm. "This is going to be so cool."

I watch as a couple of the girls race ahead to be with Paris. It's no different to school. Someone's always going to be the popular one, and that's obviously Paris. Besides, I just want to play cricket, and having made a friend like Charlie will make this week fun.