A Brighter Tomorrow: My Journey with Julie

I spin around Tracy and swoop the ball behind my back to Stinger. He catches it and sends the ball into the hoop for two points. He exclaims that was a good pass, but when he meets my eyes, he grimaces, catching himself complimenting a girl.

Tracy and Mike pick up the pace and score three baskets in a row. We’re now way behind. Julie yells that she’s wide open. Stinger needs to pass the ball. But he still refuses to pass to either of us. Finally, Julie calls a time-out.

The four of us gather in a huddle and T.J. let’s Stinger have it. He says that we’re losing by a bunch. We’d have a better chance to score if he would pass to the girls. Julie agrees. We’re on the same team now. He can’t hog the ball just because he doesn’t like having girls on the team. Stinger rolls his eyes and says we’re going to lose anyway. What difference does it make? Julie’s eyes narrow and she tells him to start passing the ball. Maybe he’ll see a difference.

Despite his attitude, I think I must have listened, because back on the court, we finally start working together. Stinger passes the ball to Julie, and she makes the basket. After the teens get another basket, Julie passes to me. I drive down the court and do my special Hula Hoop move to spin around Mike, and make another two points. T.J. and Stinger are amazed.

By the end, Tracy and Mike crush us like milk carton, 35-26. Still, when we come together to shake hands with them for a good game, I can tell the tension has eased and we feel like a team. Julie tells Tracy and Mike the court is all theirs. As the teenagers take the court, Julie and I wave goodbye to T.J. and Stinger and we start walking back to Gladrags.

A few steps later, Stinger calls to wait up. The boys catch up with us and Stinger says he should have passed to us sooner. If he had, we could have given Tracy and Mike a run for their money. Stinger looks down and digs the toe of his gym shoe into the ground. He says that Julie can play. The Jaguars could use a team player like her. Julie beams and she thanks him.

As we walk back to Gladrags, I can see Stinger’s words made a difference. Julie has a spring in her step that was missing before. I think about how much Julie has had to go through to get people to believe in her as a basketball player. The petition, the HORSE game, the scrimmage against the teenagers, and how even she lost hope for a while because of the attitudes of people like Coach Manley and Stinger. And then I think of Chloe, and her encouraging me to join the basketball team earlier today. She believes in me, and my team back home did, too. There’s nothing stopping me from trying out for the team but my own lack of confidence.

When we get back to Gladrags, I stop and hold the mood ring tightly in my hand. I tell Julie I need to go home now. But I wish her good luck with the basketball team. I know she’ll get on. Julie smiles and sets the ball under one foot and gives me a hug. She thanks me for my help and for being a good teammate. I hug her back and tell her that I have decided that first thing Monday, I’m going to sign up to play on the basketball team at my school. Who knows. I might meet some new teammates as good as Chloe or Julie.