Netball Dreams Read Online Free Page A

my hand. ‘Come and play, Alex,’ she said kindly.
    ‘Yeah,’ said everyone behind her.
    I fiddled with the lock, feeling silly and shy. ‘But I’ll just drop the ball and make you lose.’
    That was the truth, after all.
    Angie rolled her eyes. ‘Alex, we NEED you!’
    ‘No you don’t. You –’ I wanted to explain that they were better off without me. But I didn’t get the chance.
    Everyone started talking at once. It was strange. No-one seemed angry about my bad ball skills. They all had good things to say about me.
    Everyone seemed to think I did heaps of things to help the team – things that no-one else did.
    When everyone had finished talking, I just stared at them, surprised.
    ‘Think about it,’ said Becky. ‘Who stopped Angie and Callum from fighting at the start?’
    ‘And whose idea was it to make us think of our basketball coach’s tactics?’ said Callum.
    I started to smile.
    ‘And who thought of our name? And made the poster?’ asked Claire.
    I giggled. ‘I’ve been busy, haven’t I?’
    Then Mickey spoke up from the back. ‘Yeah, and you say those dumb jokes.’
    I put my hands on my hips.‘No, I don’t!’ I smiled. ‘My jokes are clever and funny.’
    Everyone groaned.
    And suddenly, I knew exactly what I had to do.
    I had to join the team again, and play in the grand final. We would be a bunch of friends playing netball together. The Dream Team again.
    So that’s exactly what I did.

    At first I felt scared of that nasty gremlin ball. I hadn’t played netball since I was hit in the nose. What if that happened again?
    But I couldn’t worry for too long. I didn’t have time. Soon I was racing around, sticking to my player like glue.

    We were playing against the best team, the one with the girls who played on a team outside of school. They kept grunting and growling at each other, as if playing the grand final made them angry.
    Angie and Callum met them head on. When the other team played rough, they did too.
    This was sport at its toughest.
    Then, when I was in a gap, Angie threw me the ball. It was a gentle throw, too slow. Someone from the other team jumped up and snatched the ball in a flash.
    ‘Grrr!’ growled Angie. She thumped her leg with her fist, angry at herself.
    But I didn’t want Angie to feel bad. ‘Hey Angie!’ I called. ‘Aim at the bib! Not the person’s face.’
    For a moment, she looked at me, confused and a bit annoyed. Our eyes met and I smiled cheekily.
    Then Angie smiled. Suddenly she realised what I was doing. The worst player telling the best player what to do? How silly!

    But it worked.
    Angie relaxed after that. The whole team did. We started calling more, and laughing at ourselves even when things went wrong.
    When it was all over, I felt light and happy and proud. Not because of the score, but because I had found my place in the team again.
    We lost the grand final by seven goals. But we had done it together, and I had helped the team.
    That game was my favourite of all.

I leant out a plucked a blade of grass. Then I split it in half with my thumbnail.
    It was the last day of P.E. for the term. We sat on the oval while Mr Dwyer explained the rules of tunnel ball.
    But I was only half-listening. No more netball. And no more Dream Team! I felt a bit sad.
    In a dream, I pulled at another blade of grass. But Becky shook my arm.
    ‘Alex!’ she said, pointing to Mr Dwyer.
    Mr Dwyer was looking at me with raised eyebrows. ‘Awesome Alex!’ he said. ‘You’re one of the tunnel ball captains.’
    I gulped and stood up. Me, a captain? This was something new. For once I didn’t have to worry about being last person picked.
    The other captains started choosing their teams. I scanned the faces in front of me. Who should I choose?
    Of course, I started with everyone on the Dream Team. Just to make him squirm, I left Callum until last. When I called his name, he wiped his forehead and said, ‘Phew!’ in a jokey way.
    But I still had three more