Page 5 of Full Court Crush
TJ:
ouch!
Someone accidentally knocked me over when I was on a run in Heath Park. It’s just a sprain.
Evie:
I hope you clobbered him!
Her
Evie:
Well, I hope you clobbered her, then.
I couldn’t, I was too busy being dumbstruck by how cute she was.
TJ:
Oooh, did you get her number?
No, I panicked and ran away. Well, hobbled away.
I wish I had, though.
She really was cute.
Evie sent a GIF of someone pressing their palm to their face, and Amelia put her phone back down with a sigh.
Chapter 3
Keira
ThecarKeirasharedwith her father rumbled into the sports complex car park, the exhaust kicking out a worrying amount of fumes and music rattling the windows. Keira parked and turned off the car. The sudden silence felt suffocating. Shehadto make this work. Her probationary contract could be made permanent if she played well, so shehadto play well. Grabbing the bag containing her training clothes off the passenger seat, she got out of the car and took a deep, steadying breath before walking towards the sports centre. The humid air clung like a damp, heavy blanket, prophesying an incoming storm. She adjusted the new tracksuit she’d been instructed to wear when travelling to or from training, or on any other official Blizzards outings. It felt like it didn’t quite fit.
The automatic glass double doors parted, revealing Coach Grant sitting near the entrance, laptop propped on her legs.
“Ah, Keira, right on time.” She closed her laptop and sprang to her feet. “Welcome to the Blizzards.” She smiled kindly at Keira and began leading her down the long hallway. Coach Michelle Grant was a head shorter than Keira, had a fawn complexion, and light brown hair tied up in a neat bun. Her reputation also preceded her; she was a force of nature in the basketball world.
“So, as you can see, we have three courts,” Coach Grant said, jerking her thumb towards the courts visible through a wall of glass, “as well as full access to the fitness suite across the road. The women’s changing rooms are down the far end, on the left.”
Memories of playing on these courts as a teenager flashed across her mind. Her junior team and the Blizzards had been quite the rivals, back then.
They paused briefly to watch the chaos of what Keira guessed was an under-eights training session. The differently coloured neon bibs looked more like dresses on some of the children, and the smaller than usual basketballs still dwarfed their tiny hands. Keira couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched them follow the ball around like moths attracted to a flame.
“We have a strong junior programme here,” Coach Grant continued as she resumed walking down the hallway. “Sienna, our other new player this season, started with us when she was about their age,” she nodded towards the multi-neon-coloured throng of youngsters, “as did both of my daughters.”
Keira vaguely remembered playing against the Grant sisters. The familiarity helped her relax a little.
They reached the end of the corridor, with a fire exit and several doors to what Keira assumed were store cupboards. Coach Grant approached one of the doors and pushed it open.
“And this is my office. I have an open-door policy in place — literally. If I’m in there, the door will be open, and everyone is welcome. I only shut the door if a conversation needs to be private.”
She nodded, and Coach Grant led her inside a small, narrow, windowless room. A metal storage rack ran along one of the long walls, and a small desk was tucked against the other, with barely enough room for the desk chair slid underneath. Coach Grant squeezed in and put her laptop down on the desk, then opened it again. She pulled a flimsy plastic stool towards her and indicated Keira should sit down. Keira put down her bag and looked sceptically at the proffered seat, unsure it would handle her tall frame, but sat regardless.
“Thank you for returning the paperwork I sent you. I just wanted to run through our plan for the season with you, as well as our training schedule and expectations for self-led training outside of our structured sessions. I’ll send you all this in an email as well, but I wanted to give you the chance to ask any questions if you had them.”
Keira nodded, then exhaled quietly.