Play the Game (12 page)

Tess took a step back. ‘Edie, you’ve been playing with the Sapphires long enough to
understand what makes a good team. Imagine if everyone could just come and go when
they got a better offer. It would be a disaster.’

‘It’s not like that, Tess,’ I said defensively. But she was right. It was like that.

She looked angry. ‘You can’t just swan back into the team because you changed your
mind.’

‘But you’ve only just started training!’ I said.

‘So what? The rest of us actually
want
to be here. Just because you don’t have to
train like I do to be a good player, doesn’t mean you can just do what you want,’
she said coldly.

I couldn’t believe the way she was looking at me. ‘Tess, you don’t understand. State
netball versus Juliet was an impossible choice. But I’m not playing Juliet anymore. And
I really do want to be on this team. I want to play netball with you!’

‘Look, I get that you love drama – so much that you were willing to give up your
spot on the team. But we’re not just sitting around waiting for you to come back,
Edie. It’s not all about you.’

I noticed that some of the other players had started looking over at us, obviously
wondering what was going on. I spoke as softly as I could, hoping Tess would take
the hint. ‘It’s not like that, Tess. I just want to play netball with you.’

Tess pulled a really weird face. It was sort of cross and confused and surprised,
all at once. ‘You should have thought of that yesterday.’

As much as I hated to admit it, I knew she was right.

Feeling like I didn’t belong, I started walking towards the exit, trying to hold
back the tears. I’d almost made it to the doors when Tess ran up and threw her arms
around me.

‘Can you wait till we’ve finished training?’ she asked. ‘We can hang out,’ she added.

‘Really?’ I said, sounding so eager that she laughed. ‘Of course I’ll wait. Totally.
I love waiting,’ I babbled, relieved that my best friend had finally forgiven me.

Tess smiled and I followed her back towards the court, sitting down to watch the
team finish their drills. I’d messed up everything. Acting. Netball. Even my friendship
with Tess – almost. But I could live without playing Juliet and without playing state
netball, so long as Tess and I were still besties.

After training we rode back to Tess’s house. We didn’t say much on the way – it was
like we were storing it all up until we could talk properly.

‘Are you hungry, Edie?’ asked Tess’s mum as we walked into the kitchen. It was warm
and full of amazing, familiar smells. I was so happy to be back there.

‘Starving!’ I said. While Tess’s mum served up two huge bowls of pasta I texted Dad
to tell him where I was. My parents were used to me hanging out at Tess’s house all
the time. So long as they knew where I was, they never minded.

As Tess and I ate, she eyed me curiously. ‘So? Are you going to tell me what happened?’

I kept my eyes down, concentrating on twirling my pasta around and around my fork.
‘Um, okay. It turns out Kerry wasn’t telling me I had the part of Juliet. I was actually
cast as the Nurse.’

‘Oh,’ said Tess.

‘Yeah. Giving up state netball to play Juliet made sense to me …’

Tess finished my thought, ‘… but when you found out you were only cast as the Nurse,
you didn’t think that part was worth it?’

Hearing Tess say it so bluntly made me feel even worse. I thought about Mel, and
how upbeat she’d been, despite missing out on a part altogether.

Tess slurped up her spaghetti, flicking sauce everywhere. She laughed and wiped her
mouth, then eyed me seriously. ‘But isn’t that just what happens with acting? It’s
like netball. You take what you get and …’

‘… you don’t get upset!’ I finished the saying for her. It was something our Sapphires coach used to say before we had set positions, when
we’d all complained about having to play in positions we hated. Tess was right, but
it wasn’t just the part that was bothering me.

‘I also didn’t want to have to watch Belle kiss Freddy every night,’ I said quietly.

Tess looked at me, spaghetti sauce around her mouth. ‘Thought you said it wasn’t
about being with Freddy?’

‘It wasn’t, but I still don’t want to watch him with someone else.’

Tess shrugged. ‘I think if you want be an actor as much as you say you do, then you
should just play the part you were given.’

I groaned and slumped down on the table. ‘But I don’t want to. Besides, it’s probably
too late. Just like netball!’

At the mention of netball, my friend shot me a very pointed look.

‘I know, I know. I can’t expect the world to wait while I work out what I want to
do,’ I said.

‘No, but you can commit to something and stick to it,’ said Tess, sounding wiser
than my dad on a good day.

I rolled my eyes, and Tess laughed. ‘Ring Kerry and tell her you’ve changed your
mind. Take the part.’

But no matter what Tess said, I didn’t want to play the Nurse. I was embarrassed,
I was disappointed, and I really didn’t want to play a part that supported Belle
in
my
lead role. Of course, that didn’t mean I couldn’t be involved at all.

‘You know what? I’ve got an even better idea!’ I said.

Tess leant forward, intrigued. ‘Do tell,’ she said.

I shook my head. ‘You’ll have to wait and see.’

Stretched up on a ladder, I banged the hammer down hard, securing the ivy across
Juliet’s balcony.

‘Is that straight?’ I yelled to Jackson, who was helping me fix the last of the set
for the balcony scene in between rehearsing his role as Friar Lawrence.

‘Almost, just up a bit more on the left,’ he called back.

I reached out and straightened the ivy, then grabbed a nail from my tool bag and
hammered it in.

‘Perfect,’ he said, holding the ladder so I could climb down.

I jumped off the bottom step and checked out my work. ‘That looks okay, doesn’t it?’
I asked, suddenly nervous.

‘Okay? It’s going to steal the show!’ said Jackson with a smile.

‘Really?’ I asked, pleased that he was trying to make me feel good, but worried he
wasn’t objective. After all, it was his hard work too. Whenever he wasn’t needed
on stage, he’d been helping me. But he nodded. ‘Yep. Really. It just needs a second
coat of paint,’ he said, pointing to the spots where you could see the timber through
the pale pink.

‘Ergh,’ I groaned, pulling a face. I didn’t have time for another coat of paint.
But Jackson had already grabbed the tins and brushes, and was starting to mix the
paint with a stick. ‘It won’t take that long,’ he said. ‘Not if I help you.’

‘No way, Jackson. You know you don’t have time.’

All the cast were supposed to be on stage for the dress rehearsal. We opened the next
night, and everyone was working like crazy, trying to finish all the last-minute
details. Mel and I had been practically living at the theatre for the last two months,
trying to build all the sets and get them painted and perfect. Tess and I had hardly
seen each other in weeks. She was just as busy with netball training, and playing
games all around the state on the weekends. We weren’t even seeing each other much
at school, because all my lunchtimes were spent finishing off the set. But we were
texting each other heaps, and I was just hoping that by the time the play was finished,
she wouldn’t have completely forgotten who I was.

‘Mel could help me but I don’t think she’s in until later,’ I said. Then I had a brilliant
thought. ‘You know what, it’s okay. I know someone who loves painting!’

As Jackson headed for rehearsal, I sent Jean a hurried text:

Need you to paint something bigger than a fingernail!

While I waited for her to respond, I mixed the paint, then poured it into the trays.
A second later my phone beeped. One word:

Theatre?

I laughed. Sometimes my sister was a winner.

Yep.

I knew she’d come. Even though Jean said she was too busy for drama, I knew that
she still loved it just as much as I did. When I’d told my family that I’d pulled
out of the play, Jean was totally onto me. Mum and Dad had no idea that I’d thought
I was playing Juliet. But Jean knew. And she’d called me on it.

She’d also told me that I should have taken the part of the Nurse, because that’s
what it is to be part of a play. But when I explained about Belle, and watching her
and Freddy kiss every night, she sort of understood. She thought I was mad volunteering
to design, build and paint the sets, though. She couldn’t understand why I’d choose
to wear overalls and get all dirty, instead of having all the glamour of being fussed
over on stage. And to be honest, if someone had told me a few months back that this
is what I’d be doing, I would have laughed.

But I’d had a ball hanging out with Mel and getting to know her. Tess was still a
bit funny about me having a new friend that she didn’t know, but then, I felt the
same about Saskia and Maggie.

I’d also discovered how much I loved designing things. And I
really
loved wielding
a hammer. Now that it was all coming together, I could finally see where all our
efforts had gone.

And as it turned out, I shouldn’t have worried about how I would feel watching Belle
and Freddy together. Belle’s mum had gotten a big job overseas, so her family had
to move pretty much straight away. I’d felt a bit stupid for a moment – if I’d just
stuck with the play, I might still have had a shot at being Juliet. But I was having
so much fun working on the sets, I didn’t really regret my decision. And besides,
Zoe, the new lead, was doing an amazing job.

As I started rolling the pale pink paint onto the bottom of the balcony set, Jean
walked in, wearing ratty old jeans and one of Dad’s scruffy T-shirts. I laughed –
I’d never seen her look like that.

‘Nice outfit,’ I said, handing her a roller.

‘Thanks. Wore my best clothes for you,’ she said.

She watched how slowly I pushed the roller back and forth. ‘That’s going to take you
forever.’

Jean started rolling fast and straight. I couldn’t believe how quick she was. ‘Where
did you learn that?’

She shrugged. ‘I have hidden talents.’

I laughed. And tried to copy her style, but I was never going to be as neat as her.
After I’d slopped paint off the wall and onto my overalls, the floor and my hair,
Jean groaned. ‘Have you got something else you could be doing?’

‘Heaps.’

‘Then leave this to me.’

‘Thanks, Jean,’ I said.

‘You owe me,’ she shrugged. ‘Maybe I can wear your nice green jacket on Saturday night.’

I laughed. ‘Yeah, we’ll see.’

As I ducked off to the toilets to go and de-paint myself, I almost crashed straight
into Jackson. He was in costume and looked ridiculously cute, even in his long, black
flowing robes.

‘Nice,’ I said, noting the outfit.

‘Been in a paint fight?’ he fired back, touching the end of my nose and showing me
the pink paint that came off on his finger. I blushed. Great – now my whole face
would look pink!