“You’re darn right I have a problem with that!” Grant declared.
Hailey laughed as their opponents won possession of a loose ball. “I sorta like this jealous vibe; it’s oddly attractive on you, but you have to concentrate. We have a game to win. Our playoff berth is on the line here.”
“Well, you’ll just have to pardon me if I’m having a little trouble adjusting to the fact that I’m attracted to my teammate,” Grant scoffed. “That is most certainly not an emotion I have ever experienced before!”
“Grant,” Hailey yelled, trying to communicate with him over the noise of what was a boisterous crowd. “You should be used to me playing with the boys by now!”
“I bet you play with the boys after the game too, don’t you?” number fifteen poked at her.
Hailey swatted his hand away. She could read the anger on the Grant’s face, so she assumed her mouthy opposition had not been talking about flag football at Joe John’s or horseshoes at Billy Wayne’s.
As the end of the first quarter came to a close, number fifteen became aware that his inappropriate comments were not bothering the little girl nearly as much as they were bothering the star point guard who was Hope Hull’s biggest scoring threat, so he became more bold with his sexually explicit comments.
As the second quarter began, the game was close; Hope Hull was up by four. Hailey made a move to the basket and put her team up by six. She high-fived Paul as they ran back down the court. “With moves like that, I’d let you score on me all night long,” number fifteen winked.
Only because Paul knew to act fast and grab hold of his teammate as he charged toward his rival did Grant not get ejected from the game at that moment.
“Let it go, Cohen,” Paul shoved him. “You’re gonna get yourself kicked out of the game, man!”
“I don’t care!” Grant fired back.
Hailey butted in. “Grant!” she yelled. “Out here I’m one of the guys; it’s the way I want it; it’s the way it’s always been… it’s the way it has to be.”
The trash talk intensified to the extent that the referee blew his whistle. “Hope Hull number thirty-three, Moore City number fifteen…tone it down, boys!”
Only a couple plays later, Hailey got loose on a fast break and was about to score an easy lay-up when number fifteen grabbed her in mid air, an obvious flagrant foul that the referee blew his whistle on immediately. He pinned Hailey against the gym wall and pressed his body against hers for a long moment. Paul, Billy Wayne and Joe John all turned at once and grabbed hold of Grant. “We need you in this game; don’t do anything stupid,” Paul warned.
“Cohen, you want me to pound him?” Billy Wayne offered. “I’ll do it; Coach can put somebody else in for me!”
“No,” Grant insisted as he shook free of his teammates. “Thanks, Billy Wayne, but he’s all mine.”
Jack watched from the sidelines, the coach in him praying that his best player would keep his cool, while the father in him would have loved to see Grant lay that punk out.
“That guy’s such a loser,” Jessica declared as she, Emily and Nora watched from the bleachers. “I can’t believe he just did that.”
“I think the referee is threatening to kick him out of the game if he does it again,” Emily pointed. “Look, he’s givin’ him a stern talkin’ to.”
“Grant’s gonna kill him,” Jessica grinned, not really sure why she was grinning ear to ear about such a possibility.
Grant walked toward number fifteen, but the referee met him with a stiff arm. “Thirty-three, get to your side of the court. Now!”
Hailey grabbed Grant’s arm. “Timeout,” she declared, though an official one had already been taken.
“Those two should have their own reality show,” Jessica nodded.
“I’d watch,” Emily shrugged.
“This is a man’s game, Hailey. You don’t have any business being out here,” Grant declared.
As the referee spoke to the opposing coach, presumably about number fifteen’s behavior on the court, Hailey pulled Grant aside. “All I care about is winning this game. You need to stop thinking of me as your girlfriend right now and think of me as your teammate. He’s made it clear that he’s more interested in the fact that I’m female than he is about how competitive I am on the basketball court. Don’t you be guilty of the same thing! I have always played with the boys, and I have as much right to be out here as anybody else.”
“Hailey,” Grant said, his tone calm but stern and serious. “That jerk does exactly what he just did to another guy out here, and it’s just part of the game, but he does it to you, and I feel obligated to defend you. Any gentleman worth his salt was raised to respect women and treat them differently than they would another man. It’s not an equal rights issue or a sexist world view…it is just a fact of life. The rest of us out here are guys, and, like it or not, you are a girl.”
“Out here I’m the same as anyone else,” Hailey declared. “I am not asking you to like seeing me get fouled, in fact, I absolutely love that it’s driving you nuts right now, but we owe it to our team to finish this game strong.”
“You can preach that all you want,” Grant shook his head. “The fact of the matter is I would never shake a woman’s hand the same way I shake a man’s hand. I would never pull a man’s chair out for him at the dinner table. If I saw two guys fighting, depending on the situation, I might be moved to break them up, but if I saw the same guy hit a girl, that is going to ignite a seriously different emotion and illicit an entirely different reaction. It’s not that you’re not capable of playing basketball at a high enough level to play with the boys…obviously you are…but there is just way more to it than that. You’re a girl…and to complicate matters…you’re not just any girl…you’re my girl.”
Hailey smiled as she moved to the free throw line and knocked down her free throws. Despite the referee’s stern warning, number fifteen became increasingly crude as the game raged on. Near the end of the third quarter, Hope Hull trailed by two, until Grant hit a crucial three point jumper that put them up by one with a minute left in the third quarter.
“Ooh, you nailed that,” number fifteen clapped mockingly. “That’s not the only thing out here you’re nailing, is it?”
“He’s just messing with your mind, Cohen,” Paul stepped in. “Nice shot, Bud! Keep it up!”
“Would you please try not to get yourself ejected from this game!” Hailey gulped.
“If he touches you one more time, I might just get myself banned for life,” Grant said confidently.
A few heated threats were exchanged between Grant and number fifteen as the third quarter came to a close.
With Hope Hull up by three as the final quarter of play began, it was obvious that the fourth quarter was going to be the most intense yet.
“Timeout!” Jack yelled from the sideline, just two minutes into the forth quarter.
The referee blew his whistle, granting Jack his timeout, and Jack stormed out onto the court to meet his team as they jogged toward the sideline. “In case you guys have forgotten, this game is critical to our season,” he screamed, his face red.
“We’ve got it under control, Coach,” Paul insisted.
“Is that so?” Jack boomed. “Because from my view on the sideline, these,” he pointed at Grant’s lips, “are running much faster than,” he pointed at Grant’s feet, “these,” he nodded.
