Nothing But Horses (25 page)

Coach eyed her, then nodded. “Hi. Are you
part of a greeting committee?”

“No. We’re from Centennial.” She stepped
around him and met me, look for look. “Did you choose Madison as
the lead for the spring production to influence me? Did you think
I’d take it easy on you next week?”

Patricia ranged up beside me. “We chose her
because she’s the best singer in Community Theater. You don’t think
much of her or us if you’d decide it was all about you.”

“And you don’t need to take it easy on us
next week,” I said. “I cleaned your clock last year. I’m on a
better team this year. Like my grandpa says, we’ll teach you to
suck eggs. If you’re nice, we may let you score once or twice.”

“You can try to stop us, but you won’t
succeed.” Aspen didn’t even look at the girls who stood shoulder to
shoulder, behind her. “We have a secret weapon.”

“What?” I asked.

“Him.” She clenched her fist and pointed her
thumb at our coach. “We have him. He’s on our side. We’re breaking
your streak next week and he’s going to help us.”

“How do you figure that, young lady?” Coach
Norris glowered at her.

“Your team doesn’t have any heart or spirit
or passion for the game,” Aspen told him. “I thought they might
grow spines when you chose Sierra for the Yankees, but you’ve
ground her down too. You might as well tattoo “Welcome” on their
foreheads because we’re wiping our feet on them next week. We
couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks. We’ll bring you flowers
when we come to Lincoln.”

She turned and walked away, her gang covering
her back. Patricia flicked a glance at me. “What do you think?”

“We’re toast if they’re as tight on the court
as they are in the stands.” I heaved a dramatic sigh. “Well, let’s
go see if we can take Pine Ridge.”

Gretchen came up and hooked her arm through
mine. “It’s okay, Sierra. We never beat Centennial or Stewart Falls
Academy. It won’t be your fault when we lose next week.”

“You’re talking like losers,” Coach Norris
said, his jaw beginning to jut forward. “Winners never quit and
quitters never win. We’re the Lincoln Yankees. We don’t stop.”

“Hello, Coach.” Olivia eased up on the
conversation. “Weren’t you here? Aspen is right about us. We’re a
one-trick pony wonder team. We have Sierra, but none of us play
full out. We’ve seen what happens to her when she does and we know
better than to try.”

“Is that what you all think?” Coach Norris
stared at the whole squad as if he’d never seen any of them before.
“Are you afraid to try?”

“It’s not your fault, Coach,” Kanisha said,
giving him an earnest look. “We’re just little girls. My grandma
says we have to remember to be humble, obedient and sweet if we
want people to like us. We need to give everyone what they want.
Only Sierra doesn’t care about that. She’s on the team to win, no
matter what because she isn’t scared to try something new.”

I waited until I was in the gym, sitting
between Kanisha and Cedar before I said, “You two don’t actually
believe that horse-radish, do you?”

“Horse-radish?” Cedar tilted her head. “If
you mean crap, why not say so?”

“My mom has been preaching that I need to be
patient and tolerant with folks who are a waste of time, space and
oxygen, not tell them. My shrink says that means using more
appropriate language, not swearing like a Navy sailor on shore
leave.”

“Good luck with that.” Kanisha turned to look
at Coach where he talked earnestly with Patricia and the first
string. “Okay, this was Gretchen’s idea. She got it from Dr. D.
It’s called reverse psychology. We don’t think that Coach actually
wants us to lose. He’s just mad at Principal Gallagher telling him
how to run the team.”

“So, we talked it over and came up with a
plan. We decided to tell Coach that we’re afraid to play our best
because we think he’ll be mean to us like he is to you,” Cedar
said, “and we don’t have your guts. We care too much about keeping
him happy.”

“And he decides he
is
happy if Lincoln
High wins. It all becomes his idea and he gets to be the man, the
hero.” I heaved a sigh and shook my head. “This is major
manipulation of the worst kind.”

“Which is why you weren’t part of it,”
Kanisha said. “You’re too honest. You say exactly what you think
and if people can’t handle it, too bad, too sad.”

“Even when you say “sir” to Coach, you still
don’t pull any punches,” Cedar agreed. “It’s why you end up running
lines. Remember that prompt Mrs. Weaver had us write about a couple
days ago?
“If a
ray of
light
falls into a pigsty, it is the ray
that shows us the muck and it is the ray that is offensive.”
You may not like it, Sierra, but you’re the ray.”

“Okay, I’m starting to understand why all of
you did this.” I glanced across the gym and spotted the Crusaders.
“Tell me one more thing. How did you get Aspen Watson
involved?”

“We didn’t.” Olivia leaned around Cedar.
“That set-to in the parking lot wasn’t planned by us. It was all
because Madison, the singer you call Ms. Incredible really is
Aspen’s best friend.”

“No way.” I gaped at Olivia. “I had no
clue.”

“Yeah. They’ve been tight forever. If she
thought you and Patricia were going after her, setting her up to be
the laughing stock in the Community Theater spring production,
Aspen would definitely attack. Madison is the chink in Aspen’s
armor.”

“Oh, wow.” I watched our first string run out
to the floor and Patricia signal Zoey to step up for the tip-off.
“This just keeps getting worse and worse. No wonder, Aspen’s out
for blood. Mine.”

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Pine Ridge, Washington

Thursday, January
30
^th
, 5:30 pm

It was a hard fight. Pine Ridge had a
different strategy than the other teams we’d played this past
month. They doubled up or triple-teamed me all through second
quarter. I had at least two or three guards covering me the whole
time I was on the floor. I could barely breathe, much less pass the
ball. It was so annoying. It took us a while to adapt, but by
fourth quarter we were back on track. We decided to use P.R.’s plan
against them. Zoey and I would keep our opponents busy trying to
contain me while the other three Yankees ran the court.

It helped even the score, but we were still
tied up until the last minute. I feinted, got around the wing in
front of me and fired the ball off to Olivia. She made it to the
three-point line and shot from there. Loud screams and dancing from
our J.V. cheerleaders when the ball sank through the net.

Thirty seconds left.

Kanisha stole from the Pine Ridge forward,
dribbled down the court, passed to Cedar who scored another two
pointer. The ref blew his whistle, the buzzer sounded and the crowd
hollered. Oh yeah, we won all right, but only by five points.

While we slapped hands with the other team, I
decided not to say anything about Gretchen’s psych trip. Nobody
might realize it, but the tension between the squad and Coach
Norris actually had been holding us back. Tonight, we were rocking
and rolling. Everyone played ball, really played ball.

Coach Norris waved for us to follow him to
the locker room that Pine Ridge set aside for us. When we arrived,
we found pizzas and bottles of water on a small table. “Eat up
before the next game starts.”

“When did you do this, Coach?” Patricia
asked. “How could you get a delivery from Parthenon’s when we were
playing and you were watching us the whole time?”

“The Pine Ridge coach called me yesterday and
reminded me that there aren’t many restaurants up here.” Coach
Norris smiled at us. “If we left the school grounds, there wouldn’t
be time for the squad to order, be served and eat before we had to
be back here.”

We dove into the food and I nabbed a couple
huge slices of my favorite combination pie. Coach made the rounds
while we ate, commenting on the game and telling everyone how great
they’d done. He finally made it to me. “Good job tonight,
Sierra.”

“Yeah, we nailed it all right. We’re going to
have to step up during practice next week to beat Centennial.”

“We will.” Coach sat down next to me. “I’ve
been hard on you.”

“It’s made me a better player,” I said. “I
never worried about working with the team before. I was just out
for me and improving my stats.”

“Mount Pilchuck went to State last year.”

“Yeah and we lost in our second game,” I
said, finally realizing that was partially my fault. How could we
win when nobody wanted to work together and we were all out for
ourselves? “Like you tell us, there’s no “i” in team. Centennial
and S.F.A. went all the way to the finals. I bet their coaches have
told them for years not to be heroes and to work together.”

“This is a tough season for me.” Coach Norris
rested his hands on his knees. “It’s the first year I’ve coached
girls’ basketball, Sierra. I’ve always had the boys. I know how to
talk to them, how to motivate guys.”

“You’re ahead of me,” I said. “I’ve always
figured all guys are lying, cheating dirtbags because those are the
kinds that my mom has married. Dave will be my fifth stepdad and I
actually like him. I don’t want to screw up with him.”

“Oh I have faith in you, Sierra.” A faint
smile crossed Coach’s face. “You’ll make mistakes, own up to them
and try again. So, what am I? A lying, cheating dirtbag?”

“Nope. You don’t lie. You’ve always been
straight with me. And you don’t cheat, not with us or anybody else.
You call the refs on it when you think they’re unfair, but
otherwise, you let them do their jobs. And you’d have to stoop a
long way before you became a dirtbag. You won’t because it’d
diminish your sense of self.” I got up. “This is too touchy-feely
for me. I need more pizza. Want a slice?”

* * * *

We returned to the gym in time to watch the
guys warm up. The bleachers were full and once again, that wasn’t a
major surprise. The boys always had bigger crowds than we did. I’d
asked Dave if he thought it was because of gender, that people
would rather watch the guys play basketball. He told me that he
figured it was the down economy. Parents were afraid they would
lose their jobs if they left early to attend their kids’ games. So,
they opted to look at the big pictures in their lives, rent, food,
utilities and came to the evening matches.

I had to agree that made sense. Mom had
offered me a shopping trip for my birthday next month. I’d told her
to buy hay instead. I didn’t need a new coat from the mall even if
I really wanted a green Carhartt winter jacket. I could keep
watching for an acceptable second-hand one at the thrift store.
Autumn asked what I wanted and I told her that I needed carrot cake
and vanilla ice-cream, along with her and movie tickets to the next
cartoon flick at the theater in Marysville. I knew she, Mom and
Dave would do a little better than that, but I wasn’t holding out
for a trip to New York City and Broadway shows. At Shamrock Stable,
the horses came first and all of us knew it.

The game started and so did the battle. Jack
scored the first basket, but that was the last easy shot. From then
it was a fierce exchange of turnovers, stealing and rebounds. The
score was tied up at half-time and remained that way through most
of the third quarter when Bill shot a three pointer. Pine Ridge had
possession at the end and that meant they started out with the ball
at the beginning of fourth.

Their forward headed down the court and Jack
stole the ball. He passed to Bill who dribbled halfway to our
basket. Blocked, he sent it to Harry, one of the wings and the guys
struggled to get close enough for someone to score. An amazing
turnover and one of the P.R. players headed to the far end. It was
like a dance. Back and forth, nobody scoring and the clock kept
ticking. Finally, amid lots of yelling and shouting, P.R.
scored.

They were ahead by two points and there was
less than a minute on the scoreboard. Jack finagled the ball and
started dribbling. Harry was in position to catch the pass, move up
the court until he could get the ball to Bill. A little farther and
here came the P.R. flock. Bill sent the ball back to Jack just in
time. He shot from the three point line and nailed it. Pandemonium
ensued as the cheerleaders cut loose and the crowd yelled.

Time!

Game over!

I saw the coaches shaking hands with each
other while the teams congratulated one another. When the Lincoln
guys started toward us, Vicky ran to Jack. She gave him a towel,
along with a big kiss that elicited more shouts from the crowds. I
saw the cheerleading coach shake an admonishing finger, but it
didn’t look like there would be a P.D.A. detention in Vick’s
future.

“Wow.” Olivia bumped me with her hip. “That
was a game. I’d have paid money to see it.”

“Who wouldn’t?” I glanced across the gym at
the other team. “How much do you want to bet we face them again at
the State competitions? They’re tough.”

“And smart,” Olivia agreed. “Nobody else
tried to take you out or played
divide and conquer
on the
court.”

“I hope we don’t have a game the night they
face Centennial or Stewart Falls. I want to watch those games.”

“You and me both, sister. You and me
both.”

We stood up and started moseying after the
other players toward the back hallway door. It took a bit of
finesse since the audience was headed in the opposite direction.
We’d barely reached the exit when Aspen caught up with us. “Feel
like a little one-on-one, Sierra?”

“Bring it,” I said. “When and where?”

“Here and now.”

“I’m not busy.” I shrugged. “You have a
ball?”

“I’m getting one.”