Read Online Play the Game by Nova Weetman - Free Book Online Page B

concentrate on the game, and the pizza, and pretend
that I didn’t find him super cute and wasn’t sneakily stealing looks in his direction.
    Each time the Vixens scored a goal, Tess and Maggie would cheer, and sometimes Finn,
if he remembered. I was pleased my best friend had found someone as obsessed about
netball as she was. Because as much as I loved it, I was beginning to wonder if I
could commit to it in quite the same way that Tess had.

    It was dark by the time we rode home. I hadn’t said much since we’d left Maggie’s.
Tess was raving about the Vixens game, and how keen she was to try out one of their
plays at our next training session. But I was still thinking about Finn. Now that
I knew I probably wouldn’t see Freddy much anymore, I’d just assumed I wouldn’t like
another boy for a while. I’d sort of thought netball would take over my life and
wouldn’t leave room for anything else. But Finn was cute. And funny. And easy to
talk to, once I got over how embarrassed I was.
    But he was also Maggie’s brother. Maybe Tess was right. I had to put him out of my
head.
    ‘See you in the morning, Edie,’ said Tess, giving me a hug.
    ‘Don’t forget that essay for English,’ I reminded her.
    She groaned as she rode off. English had never been her favourite subject. ‘I might
be sick tomorrow!’ she called back.
    When I walked into the house, Jean was lying on the couch, watching TV and laughing
hysterically.
    ‘Hi,’ I said.
    ‘You have to watch this. It’s hilarious!’
    Jean never asked me to watch anything with her, so I was a bit surprised. She moved
her legs to make room for me on the couch. It was a prank show, and she was right,
it was pretty funny. Within minutes I was laughing my head off, too. Then her phone
rang. She flicked off the TV and said, ‘I think Dad wanted you,’ which was her code
for telling me to disappear. I went to find Dad. His study door was shut, but the
light was on.
    ‘Hey, Dad,’ I called through the door, not wanting to disturb him if he was working.
He often worked late. He wrote for heaps of online publications, based in all different
time zones, so if he wanted to Skype or chat, he’d often have to do it at some crazy
hour. But tonight he surprised me and opened the door, popping his head out. ‘Hey,
kiddo. How was training?’
    ‘Good. Except I have a bad blister. But I also have udder cream,’ I said, holding
up the small jar of grey-looking cream.
    ‘As in,“udderly disgusting”?’
    ‘No, as in a cream designed to stop the chafing on a cow’s udders.’
    ‘Ew. You’re not really going to put that on your foot, are you?’
    ‘You know what, Dad? I think I am.’
    ‘Well then, let’s hope it’s “udderly fantastic”.’
    I managed a groan and an eye roll, which Dad was pretty used to by now. He was known
for his bad puns and jokes.
    ‘There are some leftovers in the fridge if you’re still hungry.’
    ‘Thanks, Dad,’ I said,‘but I just want a bath and bed.’
    ‘You must be “udderly exhausted”!’
    Fearing the jokes would never end, I shuffled off to my room to check my emails while
the bath filled. There was a whole bunch of emails about some netball dinner, but
the one I opened first was from Kerry. It was a group email with the dates for Romeo
and Juliet , and a photo of the cast. I stared at the photo for exactly ten seconds,
honing in on Freddy and Belle at the front of the group, until I couldn’t stand it
anymore.
    Now I’d probably never discover what it felt like to play Juliet – and to make it
worse, I’d have to sit in the audience and watch Freddy and Belle kiss. I’d tried
not to think about Freddy too much since deciding to drop out of the play, but seeing
his photo just brought it all back. Now he and Belle would spend all their spare
time together, and I’d barely get to see him at all. As happy as I was to be playing
state netball, Kerry’s email just reminded me of all the things I’d had to put