Seriously, the folks who invented this place had to be geniuses.
Karyn had her turn, and then the three of us just had to try the slide a few more times while Jocelyn and Lulu went off to explore the rest of the playground. After about her fourth or fifth slide, Athena ran over to see what Jocelyn was up to, and moments later came bounding back, insisting we come to the other side of the park.
The counselors checked their watches and decided we still had time to spare before dinner. So off we went to where Jocelyn and Lulu were taking turns tossing a volleyball into a basketball hoop. The hoop was half as high as what I’d seen on playgrounds at home, so Jocelyn easily made all her baskets. Still, she was amazingly accurate, because she was standing really far away. She hit seven in a row, then went on to make another. She raised both her hands in victory each time. When her streak broke at eleven, she turned to us.
“Come play! Come play! Come play!”
I had no idea how to do this, or if I even could, but why not? So I rolled onto the court and Lulu tossed me the ball. It landed right on my lap—great shot! It felt soft and kinda squishy too, like the slide.
“Two points for a great catch!” Athena cheered.
“Huh?”
“Fiery Falcon rules,” Karyn quipped.
All right then. Two points for me. I took both my hands and put one around each side of the ball. Well, balls don’t actually have sides, but I grabbed the squishy thing with two curled palms. Okay now, hands, you behave—you hear me?
I glanced over at my friends. As if they’d choreographed it, they all gave me a thumbs-up.
Lifting the ball, I checked out my arms. Yeah, they were skinny, but hey, they were holding that ball up. I looked from the ball to the basket only a few feet away.
Karyn yelled, “Shoot, Melody! Just do it!”
I tossed it. In my head the ball was arching in the air, spinning perfectly. The reality? The ball missed the basket by something like two hundred miles. Well, maybe two hundred feet. Didn’t matter. It was still a miss.
“Do it again, again, again,” Jocelyn called. Trinity placed the ball back on my lap.
I chucked it.
This time the ball missed by only a hundred miles.
Athena ran over, picked up the ball for me, and plunked it back in my lap.
So I hurled it.
“Are you even trying?” Karyn teased. But she wasn’t being nasty—I could actually feel her belief in me.
So I flung that sucker! Unhhhh!
This time the ball missed by only a few feet.
“Do it! Do it! Do it!” the three of them shouted from the sidelines.
I wanted to give up, but I refused—my friends were watching. I chucked it again and again and again. Twelve times. Fifteen. I was getting thirsty. My arms were getting trembly.
“Heave it!”
“Punch it!”
“Fire in the hole!”
I hugged the ball to my chest for a second, catching my breath. Okay. I am DOING this! I gave them a ragged high-five sign with one hand while I clasped the ball with my other. I took a deep breath, stared directly at that hoop, and with all the power I’d ever used to do anything in my life, I threw that ball!
It arched into the air. It spun so fast I couldn’t see the logo on it. And then, as if it had been thrown by a WNBA player who shoots hoops every single day and twice on weekends, the ball dropped into the net, whoosh, right through it.
Jocelyn cheered, “Hoop! Hoop! Hoop! There it is! Hoop! There it is!” Karyn gave me so many fist bumps I lost count. Athena shimmied around, pumping a fist into the air over and over. The four of us grabbed hands and they shouted, “Don’t mess with the best! Don’t mess with the best!”
Then more hurrahs behind me. The counselors! They were also cheering and applauding as if they were the ones who’d made the basket.
I looked back at that hoop, and that ball sitting a few feet away. I did that. Me. Melody. With my friends. So yeah, Hoop! There it is!
We played in the park until Lulu told us we could not be late again for dinner. We made up games—my favorite was something Jocelyn named Dizzy Divas, where she spun me and Athena spun Karyn around in tight circles until we all got dizzy. So dizzy that Athena actually fell over, laughing so hard she couldn’t get up. I wanted to stay on that playground forever. Did the others feel the same? Had any of them done this before?
Me? For the first time in my life, I’d played outside. With friends.
CHAPTER 29
After a smooshed spaghetti dinner, a nice cool slushy drink—ah! strawberry! I drank three—and the inevitable change into orange shirts—yep, that box was truly bottomless—it was Fire Time.
I was glad Trinity had insisted on sweatshirts again—it was a little chilly out. Mine was two sizes too large—sweet—and it had a hood, so I hunkered down into it, all cozy.
“Welcome to Wednesday Night Wonders!” Cassie announced when it seemed all the cabins were there. I looked for Noah but didn’t see him. Probably in the back, I thought. “Actually, I just made that up!” Cassie told us with a laugh. “Every night is a wonder, but tonight it just sounds good!”
She made sure the speakers were working, then said, “I’m ready for a fire fiesta tonight, so please join me! I hope tonight we play your song.” She began with one I really liked by Miley Cyrus. When the song got to “So I put my hands up,” that’s what I did. I put my hands up and swayed to the music.
After the song ended, I was thirsty again, and just as I was getting ready to ask Trinity for another slushy, I made a real quick mental U-turn, because crossing the road from the boys’ cabins came the Panthers. Noah headed straight toward us in kind of a hippety-hop trot. Jocelyn, sitting next to me, noticed, smirked, and told Trinity that she had to go to the bathroom. I knew exactly what she was up to—leaving a space by the fire for Noah… next to me! So that’s what friends are for! Sure enough, Noah spied the opening and veered toward it.