Full Court Press Read online

  Kendall paused and cocked her head. “In sports, it’s not called a clique. It’s called a team.”

  Carmondy hadn’t meant her comment to be offensive but it dawned on her that the other girl was totally right. It had been uncalled for. “Yeah, sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”

  “I’d think you would know that if you’ve ever played on a team before.”

  Carmondy had put thought into the team dynamics at her old high school. There wasn’t any cohesiveness, they didn’t particularly get along, and they didn’t know each other very well off the court. “The only teams I’ve ever played on haven’t been very team-oriented. I guess that’s something I really need to work on.”

  “Yep, at least if you want to be a part of this team. Good luck.” Kendall went back over to the other girls. She actually sounded sincere.

  As tryouts started, Carmondy was blown away. She had never been around so many talented players. She was used to carrying her team, but now she was at the bottom of the food chain. During the conditioning, she kept up just fine. She was in the front of the pack for most of the time, but she had a hard time keeping up during the drills and an even harder time during the two-on-three or scrimmaging. Everyone on the team was in a rhythm except her. They knew exactly when to pass and when to expect passes, seeming to speak to each other without using words. It was baffling to Carmondy, who found the ball flying at her when she was looking in the other direction and being yelled at for not passing the ball when it was called for. She didn’t know the offense, so she just kind of went with the flow, even though she knew she was getting it wrong. She was pretty much on a level with the freshmen, even though she was a senior.

  Throughout practice, the boys up in the balcony would cheer for the players they liked. They didn’t use their names, just the numbers on the practice jerseys the coach had given them. Her number was fifteen, and she heard a very distinct voice cheering for her, especially during sprints when she was kicking everyone else’s asses. It was Anderson, of course. She wasn’t sure if she liked the attention being drawn to her but in the end, decided that it couldn’t hurt.

  By the end of practice, her body was only moderately tired but her brain was fried from trying to sort out the plays and positions. She took a big gulp of water as they crowded around the coach to see what he had to say.

  “Nice first practice, ladies. I see a lot of potential here. I’ll have the results for varsity and JV posted in about half an hour if you want to stick around. The boys were cheering for you, and it would be a nice gesture if you hung around and cheered for them. Make sure to stretch sometime tonight so you’re not too sore in the morning. You are free to go except numbers 32, 28 and 15. I would like to talk to you, in that order. 28 and 15, if you don’t mind putting the balls away, the guys are coming onto the court.”

  The coach and number 32, Kendall, went to the corner of the gym while Car and number 28, a red-haired girl, gathered up the balls and walked them to the storage closet.

  The boys began flooding into the gym as soon as the majority of the girls were out. Car found herself trapped in the closet, trying to put the girls’ balls in the rack while the boys were trying to squeeze past her to get to the boys’ basketballs.

  Car was trapped between a guy wearing way too much cologne and another who had apparently already started sweating. The closet was way too small for this.

  “Get out! Get out!” She shooed the boys out and then handed them each a ball, satisfied when they walked off. Rather than trying to get out of the closet again and get trapped, she just continued handing out balls to guys since they came one after the other.

  Anderson appeared in line and laughed. “No wonder! I couldn’t figure out why the line was so orderly. Normally we all just dive in and wrestle for the balls. Whatcha doin’ in there?”

  “I got trapped.” She handed him a ball and another to the guy behind him. “The coach wants to talk to me.”

  “Cool, cool.” He squeezed into the closet with her as more guys came for balls. He smelled nice.

  “What are you doing? Go away.”

  “This is my practice. My closet.” He leaned against the wall. “Anyway, if you don’t make the team, you can always be our ball girl.”

  A blond-haired boy she didn’t know looked excited. “Yeah! I want a hot ball girl! We can all do her on those long bus rides.”

  Anderson laughed, and Car gave a disgusted shake of her head.

  The boy was pushed out of the way abruptly, and Beck appeared in front of the closet.

  He shot a weird look at Anderson as he took a ball from Car and walked away without acknowledging her.

  “Isn’t he just full of sunshine?” she asked sarcastically. His long basketball shorts swayed from side to side as he casually dribbled his ball between his legs. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he hadn’t spoken to her.

  “Oh yes, you caught him on a happy day. Hey! Stop drooling.”

  She snapped her head back. “What? I’m not drooling.”

  “You were staring.”

  “Was not. Gross.”

  “Whatever. Don’t let me catch you looking at him,” he joked. “I want to do the new girl first. He can have my sloppy seconds.”

  Her jaw dropped as he smacked her ass lightly before walking out of the closet. “Hey!” She charged out of the closet and meant to give him a piece of her mind but she found herself surrounded by a bunch of insanely tall boys, all looking at her.

  She shot him a dirty look, but he just smirked back at her before turning to swish a three-pointer.

  Number 28 was walking away from their coach so she headed his way. When she reached him, he looked down at her paper as if looking for her identity.

  “Ms. Hamilton?”

  “Yep.” Sir? Should she call him sir? He was young, early thirties, and it seemed weird calling him sir. The rest of the girls had just called him ‘Coach’ or ‘Winters’.

  “What I observed during today’s preliminary practice was that you have next to no understanding of the word team. I understand that you are new here, and I don’t expect you to know our plays but this is more than that. You have no chemistry with this team, no non-verbal communication.”

  She nodded. Non-verbal communication sounded hard.

  “However, as I’m sure you know, you are extremely quick and fast. You beat my fastest girl from last year on almost every sprint. Your cardio is fantastic. I would love to have all my girls on your level. I could really use a power forward with your speed right now. A big part of our game plan is our fast break, and you would be an amazing addition to that line up. You have skills and talent but that is only about half of this game. The other half is teamwork; knowing your teammates and them being able to trust you, as well. I keep teamwork on a very high pedestal for this team.”

  “I understand,” she said.

  “So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to post you as varsity. We have two weeks before our first game and within that time, I want to see some serious improvement from you. I encourage you to make friends with the girls on and off the court. I want to see you putting an effort in during practice. I want to see you on Sundays for group shoot-around with the boys, and I would also like to see you enroll in my PE class second period. What do you have then?”

  “It’s just an elective. I’m sure I could switch.”

  He nodded. “Many players do switch. It’s pretty much an unspoken basketball class for varsity players. I think it will do you some serious good to scrimmage with lots of other players. Now, if I see enough improvement, I will put you on the starting line-up for our first game.”

  Car’s heart rate shot up.

  “But, if I don’t see as much improvement as I want, I will bump you down to JV for playing time. I really don’t want to do that because your skill level is above that and it’s not fair to the other JV girls either, but I will if I have to.”

  She nodded again. “I understand. I’m going to
work really hard at the teamwork thing. It’s new to me, but I’m going to do my best.”

  “Good, that’s what I want to hear. I would also suggest sticking around for the guys’ practice like the rest of the girls. It will give you a chance to get to know them and you can observe the boys’ team. They have amazing team skills. Now get lost.” He smiled as he dismissed her.

  * * *

  Carmondy headed upstairs to the balcony with the rest of the girls. If Coach hadn’t mentioned it to her, she probably would have just gone home, but she figured it was only fair that she stayed. Like he said, it would give her a chance to examine teamwork and bond with the other girls at the same time.

  The girls all looked at her when she reached the balcony. She waved awkwardly but then did her best to put the awkwardness aside and be confident. “Hey, guys. Good practice, huh?” She approached them casually.

  After a moment, Kendall nodded. “Yeah, you gonna watch the boys? Come on over, sit down.”

  Carmondy was excited. This was the core group of girls, the backbone of the girls’ team.

  “Have you met the girls yet?” Kendall asked. “This is Torie and Sydney. They’re posts, obviously, and that’s Alli, a wing.”

  They all nodded at her politely but looked more interested in the practice going on below them.

  “So how did you like practice?” Kendall asked her.

  “Good, I liked it a lot. I was a little lost with the plays and stuff and my teamwork leaves a lot to be desired but Coach talked to me, and I’m going to work on it. I’m really excited to play with you guys.”

  Alli said, “So he’s putting you on varsity then?”

  “For now, he said, but if I don’t improve he’s gonna swing me down to JV for playing time.”

  Alli nodded and shrugged. “You’re pretty good from what I saw, just the teamwork thing like you said. I almost cracked your skull with a pass, I remember.” She was speaking to Carmondy but her eyes were still on the boys.

  “Yeah, I’m gonna enroll in his PE class and he said something about Sunday shoot-arounds.”

  Torie nodded. “Yeah, a lot of varsity players enroll in that PE class once the quarter gets rolling. If we have to take an elective, it might as well be PE, right?”

  “For sure.”

  “And the Sunday shoot-arounds are real casual,” Torie continued. “We come in, the guys too, and just hang out, shoot some baskets, maybe get a couple half-court games going.”

  “You’re like...hella fast though!” Alli exclaimed out of the blue.

  “Yeah.” Car nodded slowly while the other girls laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast.”

  “Like...what’s your mile time?” Alli prodded.

  “Five minutes and 25 seconds.”

  “That’s awesome!”

  Torie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, awesome.” She looked at Carmondy. “I know she sounds like a ditz but she’s really not, just really...excited and says ‘like’ a lot. She’s one of the best posts in the league.”

  “Good to know.”

  “So, I saw you talking to Anderson Davies earlier, right?” Torie said nonchalantly.

  “Possibly, I’ve talked to him a couple times today.”

  The girls all looked at her.

  “What?” Carmondy asked.

  Sydney shrugged. “It’s nothing, just…I mean, it’s Anderson Davies.”

  “Uh, yeah, you say his name like he’s a god or something.”

  “Well, he sort of is. I mean, not to us because we’re b-ball players, we play it cool, but to everyone else in the school...can you say sex god?”

  Torie leaned toward her excitedly. “So, is he, like, interested in you?”

  “I think. He’s a guy...and I’m a girl. Is this a problem or something?” She looked around.

  “No, not at all, just...” They all looked at Kendall, who rolled her eyes.

  “Chill, guys, I don’t care.” Kendall looked at Car. “Me and Andy dated last year, but it didn’t work out. We’re not compatible, but we’re still friends. You can go after him if you want, seriously.”

  A huge tension seemed to release from the air.

  “Oh, no. Anderson is cool and everything but...no. I’m not into him like that.”

  “You sure? Cause I think he’s into you,” Kendall said.

  “Or maybe he’s just into the new girl,” Carmondy pointed out.

  “Very possible,” Kendall agreed. “Well, either way, he’s free game, even if you’re just lookin’ for some fun. I really want to see someone play him.”

  They all laughed.

  “What’s the deal with...?” She almost said ‘Beck’ but decided she didn’t want to use his name. Instead, she looked down at the court and found his jersey number. “Number 21? He’s very...I don’t know what.”

  “Yeah, that’s Beck Nicholson. He’s something. He does a lot of girls but he usually limits himself to those whose IQs are below 25. He doesn’t say much at all, except for when he’s on the court. Then he’s very vocal. You like him or something?” Sydney asked.

  “No. No way, I was just wondering because I saw him a couple times today and I have yet to see him smile. Is he mean or just extremely stoic?”

  “Oh, he’s an asshole all right, an asshole with a dirty mouth. But he and Andy are best friends. Who knows why? I don’t think Beck is a bad person. He wouldn’t kill a puppy for fun or anything, but he’s definitely not nice. Super-hot though, huh?” Kendall said.

  Carmondy nodded slowly, watching him move across the court gracefully, even for his large size. “Yeah...his hair...I just want to...”

  “Yeah, yeah, we know.” Sydney laughed. “I’m sure he’d have sex with you if you wanted. He’d do anyone with a nice pair of legs. But if you’re looking for the morning-after cuddle...well, don’t hold your breath. He isn’t the kind to stick around afterwards.”

  “Get in. Get out. Get gone,” Carmondy said automatically.

  “Pretty much, but if that’s what you’re looking for, he’s perfect.” Sydney shrugged.

  “Nah, I’m not really looking for anything right now,” Carmondy assured them. “Especially not a jerk.”

  All the girls nodded knowingly.

  They watched the rest of the boys’ practice together, and Carmondy soon realized what they meant about Beck being vocal on the court. He still looked stoic but he communicated. You had to in basketball. He called for the ball, called out plays, called ‘help’ when he was helping in the key and even encouraged his teammates during scrimmage and sprints. He was a completely different guy than she had seen during school. She wanted to know this guy, be his friend and get some posting tips from him, but off the court he was not approachable at all.

  Once the boys’ practice ended, the girls started to disperse. They didn’t hang around for the coach’s talk.

  Carmondy gathered her stuff from the locker room and left through the back door that opened directly into the parking lot. Since the last time she’d been outside, half a foot of snow had accumulated, and it continued to come down.

  She scurried to her Jeep, trying to keep as dry as possible. She heard a goodbye and turned to wave at Torie before unlocking her car door and getting in.

  She drove through town toward her house, figuring her driveway wouldn’t be too bad. The six inches of snow wasn’t going to bother her Jeep that much. She could always put her chains on if she needed to.

  She passed a couple of snowplows going in the other direction and when she arrived at the bottom of her driveway, she groaned. The snowplows had piled all the snow they had scraped off the road right in front of her driveway. She eyed the snow bank and hit the gas, hoping to make it through. She got a few feet in but the snow mound stretched a good fifteen feet up her driveway. She backed out and tried again, getting a few more inches but that was it. There was no way she was getting through that bank.

  Why the hell did the plows pile all the snow there?

  She drove into the snow bank again to
get off the road and grabbed her cell phone off the seat. She dialed her dad’s cell number and told him her predicament. Neither he nor her mother was at home, so nobody could come down and get her. Since it was so late, and she had to be back at school so early, he told her to get a room in town for the night. She started calling hotels, but found there was a convention in town. There were no vacancies anywhere.

  Frustrated, she went to Subway and ordered herself a sandwich

  She parked her Jeep and began to eat. She didn’t want to drive two hours to get back home the long way, so she didn’t know what she was going to do. She couldn’t sleep in her car. She would freeze. If she were back home, she would just crash on a friend’s couch but she didn’t have any friends here. The girls on the team weren’t really in the friend-zone yet and even if they were, she didn’t know where any of them lived.

  She did have one number but she really didn’t want to consider that option. She finished her sandwich and sighed, trying to decide between a two-hour drive or a phone call and hopefully a couch to sleep on? Why not? She didn’t have anything against Anderson and a couch wasn’t a big deal. The worst that could happen would be that he said no and she would have to make the drive. She picked up her cell phone and found his number near the top of her contact list.

  Anderson answered quickly. “Ha! I knew it would only be a matter of time, baby. Did you enjoy our practice?”

  “Uh huh, yeah, your practice was great.”

  “I know. So what can I do for you?”

  “Actually, I have a big favor to ask.”

  “Well, we just met today but I guess I’m up for it, pun intended. Your place or mine?” His tone was amused.

  “Yeah, that’s the thing, I can’t get to my place. The snowplows blocked me out.”

  “Ah, so my place then?”

  “I know it’s like totally weird to call you but I don’t know anyone here and every hotel is full. I just need a couch to crash on for the night.”

  “Right, it’s fine, sweetheart. You don’t need to make up an excuse to get me into bed, really.”

  “Anderson, I’m just looking for an empty couch. Is it a yes or no?”