It's the B team’s last game. It’s the last quarter, and we’re down by ten; the score 14-24. The other team’s three passes it in to their point guard, who starts dribbling down the court. All of the girls on my team are ready. We get on our girls as the point crosses the half court line. Lucy, our point, immediately gets right up on her, not letting her get past. Lucy is doing well, but soon, the opponent’s point guard starts to push past her. It makes me mad. I want to win this game, and I know that if we push ourselves, we will. As the rival point guard continues to dribble back and forth, I see an opportunity. I decide to seize it. Turning to Mariella, my best friend here in Colorado, I whisper,

“Get ready to rebound if I brick the lay-up!” She nods, and I take off, Mariella right behind me. I run straight for the point, and she turns her head just in time to see me barreling at her. Lucy has her trapped, and so I keep running straight towards her. Her eyes widen in fear, and I watch her dribble get shaky. She freezes slightly, and as I run right past her, I snatch the ball, making sure not to travel. I soar down the court, taking my two steps and easily sinking the lay-up. Coach Ralls stands up and cheers super loud, and I smile. We run back down as the other team passes the ball in again, and then we’re on defense again. Their point guard dribbles down again, folly confidence shining on her face. Lucy again gets right on their point, pinning her in place. I wonder if my move will work again, and I know that there is only one way to find out. This time, not only do I tell Mariella, but I also tell Scarlett and Mila, our team’s other players on the court, to be ready. Once Lucy has their point right where I need her to be, we take off.

“Break!” I yell. We all start running, me at the point once again. She watches me sprint towards her, but there is nowhere for her to go. As I fly past her, I once again grab the ball. I bound down the court, my long ponytail flying out behind me, a free, powerful feeling overtaking me. Scarlett is running in front of me along with Mariella. I know that it’s a guarantee that Mariella would make the shot if I passed it to her, and Scarlett might miss. Still, I also know that it’s Scarlett’s last game ever at our school because after this season, she moves to Paris. I want her to be able to play the best she can. With this in mind, I pass her the ball. She takes a dribble, steps twice, and makes the basket!

“Yeah, Scarlett!” I call as we run back. Before they pass the ball in, though, the opponent’s coach calls a time-out. We all run, cheering, back to Coach Ralls. She has a smile on her face, but also that crease in between her eyebrows that shows that one; she’s thoughtful, or two; she’s furious. I’m hoping it’s the former, because when Coach is furious, the most logical thing to do is run for cover.

We all form a huddle around Coach and brace ourselves in case she rants.

“Okay, Ladies. At the beginning of this game, you were playing sloppy. I was annoyed, and you all knew that. I want you to give these five a hand for bringing this game back from the dead,” she pauses to let us cheer, “So now I want to talk about That Genius’s move,” she uses the name printed on the back of my warmup jersey. I smile and look her dead in the eye as she asks,

“Harriet Abbey, where did you get the idea to do that?”

“Are you mad?”

“No! It was awesome! But where did the idea come from?”

“I just… wanted to get the ball, and so I went and got it. The lay-up was pretty easy to sink. It just kind of happened, you know?” Coach Ralls stares at me, her head cocked, and then nods sharply. She turns to the rest of the girls.

“Okay. If we can get Harriet to do this move again and again, we can win this game. Harriet’s going to stay out as our three, and Mariella, you’re a post. Tessa, you are going to go out there, get Harriet’s passes, and swish some threes. Vivienne, you’re on to keep those girls from driving- but Vivienne! Don’t lean. And last but not least, Kendall. You’re my point guard. Go out there, be tough, and don’t let them steal the ball. Ladies, they’re going to try to shut Harriet down, and you can’t let that happen. Okay, ladies, who are we doing it for?” I lean in and yell,

“For the Lord on three!” Every other girl on the team joins me,

“One, two, three, for the Lord!” Then Mariella, Tessa, Vivienne, Kendall, and I saunter out onto the court. The other team steps out onto the other court. They cross their arms over their lime green jerseys, sneering at our white ones.

“Green possession!” the refs call. We run down to play defense.

“Tessa, be ready,” I whisper. She nods and then we press back on our girls, making sure to be in between the basket and them. Kendall traps their point, a different girl than Lucy faced. She’s smaller, but faster. It looks like she’s going to pass Kendall.

“Help her, ladies!” I yell. “Break!” Tessa and Mariella streak ahead, while Vivienne looms over everyone else and makes them shrink away in fear. Kendall backs away from the point to give me space.

“Don’t let her dodge me, Kendall!” Kendall nods as I run towards the point, who tries to swerve but ends up running into Kendall. Quick as lightning, I sweep the ball into my arms, dribble once, and pass to Tessa. Mariella is at the basket ready to rebound. Tessa squares up and lets out a deep breath before shooting a perfect arch. It circles the rim once before going into the basket! The other team’s fans shout out in dismay, and the players on their team are getting annoyed and anxious.

I decide that this time, I want to drive to the basket. I want to make another basket and get myself on that stat sheet. When the point guard starts to get around Kendall, I dash for her, grab the ball, dribble down, and make a lay-up. It takes me about forty-five seconds to do all this, and I see Coach smiling at me as we sprint down the court again. Yes, I think. I did it! I look over at Mariella.

“Ready to make a three and impress all those boys up there?”

“You know I don’t need any boys, Harriet.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Okay… you can have Hayden if I can have Dillon.”

“Hayden? Why would I want Hayden?”

“Puh-lease. I’ve seen the way you look at him,” she turns away, not giving me a chance to respond, “okay, here comes the point!” I narrow my eyes at the little girl. It’s 23-24 and there is one minute on the clock. We just need to make a lay-up… but I want Mariella to make the three. She deserves the chance. I nod at her and then speed for the point. Without giving her a chance to process what is going on, I grab the ball and dribble until I can pass to Mariella. She looks at me and I yell,

“Make a three!” She nods, smiles, and jumps two feet high in the air, the ball shooting up high and then coming back down into the basket with a satisfying swish. Every one of our fans is on their feet, cheering and yelling as the buzzer goes off. We just won 26-24, and it’s amazing. We line up, running past the other team and smiling over and over until we get back to our side, and then we let ourselves free and start whooping and cheering and crying. This is our last game, after all, and we just came back from a near disaster. I’m sure that this moment will live on in stories and memories throughout the generations that go through this school. Before Coach starts talking to us about how we did, the refs come up to us.

“Harriet Abbey?” one of them says.

“Y-yes?” I respond.

“Never before has somebody done something that obvious and yet so effective in all the years I have reffed. I just was talking with some of the official leaders of all the basketball associations, and that’s a new move right there. We’ve decided to add it to our league… but what to name it? We want to name it after you. The Harriet Defensive Charge, or something…” I smile, shaking my head,

“No, no. It’s the ‘That Genius Maneuver’ after my warmup. People don’t need to go around amazed by Harriet Abbey. They can be amazed by the elusive, no-named ‘That Genius’.”

“So, that Genius Maneuver?”

“No! The ‘That Genius Maneuver’. Remember the ‘The’; it’s very important.”

“Okay, we got it. See ya, That Genius!” They wave and walk away. I stand in amazement before turning to Coach Ralls.

“Did you know?” I gape. She silently shakes her head, and then starts clapping. All of a sudden, the refs grab the mic, and tell the audience everything they had told me.

“In conclusion, you should be very proud to know… That Genius!” My teammates put me up on their shoulders, and I smile and wave at the crowd. I see my sisters, Luka (age ten) and Kandace (age two) clapping and cheering from the bleachers. I look up and see all the boys, Hayden Elliot and his gang included, grinning at me from the loft above the gym. I raise my eyebrows at Hayden, and to my surprise, he blows me a kiss and then smirks. It surprises me because he calls me ‘Antagonist’ on a daily basis. He and his friend Quinn August then walk away. It looks like they're coming down! I turn away from the loft and give the crowd my thanks before sliding down from my friends’ hands. We wave at the crowd yelling “Go Eagles!” before running in towards Coach.

“Okay, Ladies, this is going faster than I thought it would,” she says. “I won’t take much more of your time. I just want to say that it was an honor to be your coach this season, and you played amazing tonight. I’m so proud of you. Now go and be a light towards those who need it, Eagles!” We cheer, giving each other hugs and exchanging high-fives. Then, we run out into the crowd, spreading out through the gym and saying hi to our family and friends. I ask my parents if I can go out with my friends and our Coach in the big athletics van to party, knowing that it’s not something that should be missed. To my relief, they say yes, and so does Mariella’s mom! Her dad grudgingly accepts this as well. Coach had already given us a little speech that morning…

“So I know that after this game a lot of the A team players are going to have dates. So will some of the B team players. I’m fine with them coming to our little afterparty, but be smart, ladies. You are in middle school, for heaven sakes.”

I look back on that now, and immediately have a huge desire to go find Hayden. The way he looked at me makes me wonder if I could be one of the B team players that Coach had talked about. I’m an eighth grader. I’m not too young for love. I grab Mariella and whisper,

“Let’s go find ourselves dates.” She nods and grabs my hand. We run out with big smiles on our faces. I search the room, wiping sweat off my face. Mariella drifts away, and I see Dillon Wells’ hand in hers. I squint, trying to find Hayden, when a pair of arms wrap around me from behind.

“Hayden!” I breathe. I grab onto his hands as he whispers in my ear,

“You were pretty awesome tonight, Antagonist. You wanna be my girlfriend?”

“Come to the team afterparty with me and we’ll see.” He agrees and we walk out to the van. Mariella and Dillon are sitting in the very back on one of two benches. Hayden and I sit on the other one. As the bus starts to move, I see Dillon clasp Mariella’s hands in his, and she looks over to me, the is this actually happening look present on her face. I smile and sigh happily, Mariella’s happiness just as important as my own. I know that she has it harder than I do, and whenever her dreams come true, my dream of her being super happy for once in her life comes true, as well.

“You really care about your friends, don’t you?” Hayden asks me.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Does that mean that if I’m your boyfriend you’ll care about me?” At this Mariella turns to Hayden and responds for me.

“She’ll treat you like a prince!” I laugh and smile at Hayden. He raises his eyebrows and then slips an arm around my shoulders. We pull into the parking lot of The Village Inn.

“I thought you were going to treat me like a prince!” I laugh,

“This is Coach treating you, and besides, you aren’t my boyfriend yet. You have to stay true to me tonight before we are official.” Hayden nods and walks with me down the steps and into the restaurant. Coach Ralls has set up all the tables into a big, long one. I notice Darla is on the arm of her homeschooled neighbor, Lionel Hughes. I smile at how cute they look together. Hayden and I sit next to each other, and Mariella and Dillon are across from us. They are laughing about something on Dillon’s phone. Hayden puts his arm around me as the waitresses bring us menus, and I can’t help but notice every single muscle that presses against my back. Hayden is not super buff, but he is strong. He’s tall and lean, and he has a witty side that compliments his good looks and confident nature. I smile up at him, and he smiles back, his amazingly perfect teeth shining in the bright lights.

Throughout the night, our basketball team recounts our favorite memories. We laugh and talk and cry, and I’m so happy that I’ve really found a home here. As you know, six months ago I moved here from Chicago, Illinois, where I had lived my whole life. I had to leave my best friend, Sierra McDunn, the most amazing friend ever. But now, I’ve found some friends who come pretty close to Sierra’s level- Mariella (definitely my Colorado bff), Darla (my book writing buddy), Scarlett (the one I can share everything with), and so many more. And now, with Hayden’s arm wrapped around me, I have a boyfriend! Who knew that life could be this great again? I never thought I could be this happy here. I lean into Hayden and close my eyes. This is the life.

…..

“Thanks, Hayden,” I say as he leans down to peck my cheek.

“Anytime, Antagonist.” Hayden opens my front door and walks me in. It’s been two weeks since we started dating, and every other day, Hayden’s pulled strings and taken me out. I look into his sparkling eyes and say,

“Tonight was awesome.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Are we still on for this weekend?” I groan and shake my head.

“My fam is headed to Texas this weekend. It’s our yearly visit. Sorry.” Hayden shushes me,

“Family visits are important. Well, when you get back, we can continue like normal.” I agreed. I had no idea how wrong I was.