Especially Will. But that was probably my bias showing.
The game itself started not long after we got there. It was hard for me to follow the rules of who was supposed to go where, and what kind of moves were allowed, but at least I had the gist of things. And the gist was, this was probably going to be a close game. Fifteen minutes in, and so far the pattern had been home score, away score, home score, away score. The boys from Frankston High—the team in green and white—played well, but so did we. Some of the sheer bodily feats, the dodging, sprinting, blocking, and leaping, were kind of blowing my mind. It was one thing to watch it on TV, but it was another to see it happen in person. Here, you could really tell just how high someone soared off the ground, and hear the thud of colliding shoulders if two guys got in each other’s way.
And Will. He was amazing. Totally focused on the game at all times, he threw himself into things, not a single cheeky smile in sight. If any of the Frankston guys were unlucky enough to come up against Will defending him, it was almost guaranteed they’d lose the shot. He didn’t jump to intercept balls so much as fly.
In fact, by halftime I was almost sorry I’d have to leave soon. Watching him out there gave me a rush of pride that I hadn’t quite expected. But if I was going to make it to sound check, I couldn’t hang around for more than another fifteen minutes or so.
It was during halftime, though, that Will spotted me in the stands for the first time. He’d tipped back his head to take a swig from his water bottle, right after leaving some sort of strategy talk led by the coach and Matt, when his eyes locked onto mine. His blue plastic bottle went right back down to his side, and his lips spread into a slow smile. I tucked my hands between my knees and rocked to the side a bit, to say, “Yes, you got me here, happy?”
From the looks of things, he sure was.
I hung around for the beginning of the second half, and then turned to Juliette. “I’m gonna have to head off—” I started, when her back snapped straight and she let out a gasp, pressing her hand over her mouth.
I whipped around to see Matt rolling along the floor near the farthest hoop. When he stopped rolling, his body was totally motionless.
“Oh my God,” Lara said, half-standing in her seat.
The coach, the referee, and a teacher ran onto the court to crouch by Matt’s side. Will sprinted over at the same time, trying to look through their shoulders to check on his friend, with Darnell coming up behind him. Someone in the crowd screamed over a wave of urgent murmuring.
Then, thankfully, Matt kicked out a little, and the adults rolled him over. The crowd clapped and whistled with relief, including the sea of green and white on the Frankston side of the stands. Matt was conscious again, but dazed, and they slowly lifted him under his arms to a sitting position. They seemed to do a quick examination to see if anything was hurt, then painstakingly helped him to his feet and walked him off to the sidelines. The coach sent one of the guys on the bench on the court in his place. Lara jumped to her feet and hurried down the steps to meet Matt.
“What happens now?” I asked the remaining girls. “Do we finish the game?”
On the court, Will hooked his hands behind his neck and watched after his friend, looking distressed. The coach went over to him and said something, and Will nodded, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm. “All right, guys, huddle up!” Will shouted, and the rest of the team fell into a semicircle.
“Yup,” Juliette said. “Will’s vice-captain. We can play on. Matt seems okay, at least.”
“They should’ve put him on a stretcher or something,” Niamh said, shaking her head at the referee and the teacher, who were still chatting with Matt on the bench while Lara hovered nearby him, frowning. “He could have a concussion.”
I agreed with Niamh, but he did seem all right, at least— he laughed at something, even with his hand pressed on the back of his head, and scooted over to make room for Lara to sit with him.
The referee blew the whistle, and the team moved into their places on the court, Will shouting out short instructions to everyone.
Will had to act as captain for the rest of the game. I couldn’t leave him now. No way. And, really, did it matter if I missed setup and warm-up? It wasn’t ideal, but hopefully Izzy and the guys would understand if I explained there’d been an emergency here. I’d still be able to make it for the gig itself, easily. I shot Izzy a quick text, then settled back into my seat.
The rest of the game was just as close as the first half. The crowd got more and more invested as the end drew closer, screaming and whooping and booing, and even standing up to cheer at one point when Darnell managed to land a shot from almost halfway down the freaking court. And every time the whistle blew for a break or time-out, Will glanced up at me, to check if I was still there. I was so glad I was.
There was only about fifteen seconds left on the clock when I realized we were going to win. Even I was into the game now, cheering and clapping along with everyone around me as Will passed to Darnell, who passed to number twenty-two. It looked like this guy was going to land a shot, but as it left his hands it was intercepted out of nowhere by a Frankston player, who dribbled the ball a little down the court. Then, way too far away for it to possibly go in, he took a shot. And then, impossibly, it did go in, increasing their score by three points and putting them one point above us on the scoreboard.
“No!” I shouted, and Juliette swore emphatically beside me.
We only had a few seconds left. There was no way we could win now, right? The ball was passed quicker than I could keep up with down the court. Back and forth, back and forth. Then, one of the Frankston guys went to pass to another, but Darnell quickly dodged around the front to block the second guy from receiving. The ball bounced out of bounds, and Darnell crossed the line to take the pass. He bounced the ball a couple of times, scanning the Collinswood team. He brought the ball in, and it looked like he was going to pass to a blond guy who broke free of his own defender. But then, Will tore through out of nowhere, and Darnell shot the ball at his chest. Will grabbed it, flipped around, and in one fluid motion took the shot.
It went in with a swish of the net.
I knew from the roar of the crowd surrounding me that it had been a winning shot. The scoreboard flipped over to put us one point ahead of Frankston. A few seconds later the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, and the Collinswood team swarmed inward to Will and Darnell, hugging them and clapping them on the back, shouting with joy.
Then a couple of the guys lifted Will onto their shoulders. Unlike the way he usually acted around that group, though, he didn’t look self-impressed or cocky. Actually, he looked kind of astounded.
“Come on,” Niamh said to me, grabbing my hand.
“What?”
“We’re going down there, come on!”
We weren’t the only ones going onto the court, but it clearly wasn’t the norm for people in the crowd to spill in around the players, though. It seemed like more of a close friends and family thing. But Niamh tugged me, pulling me after her down the stairs. Then she broke away from me and ran to Darnell, who picked her up and spun her around.
Will spotted me as the guys lowered him to the ground. I hung back on the edge of the court, suddenly self-conscious. I didn’t want to ruin this for him.