Free Step Up and Dance by Thalia Kalipsakis Page A

couldn’t hear.
    â€˜ Really! ’ Summer raised her eyebrows and did some smoochy air kisses. ‘Maybe we could do something with that.’ Then she scrunched up her nose. ‘Maybe not …’ We were quiet for a while.
    â€˜Who does Jay like?’ Summer said eventually.
    â€˜No idea,’ I said and shielded my face from the sun as Summer’s bus turned the corner. Who did he like? ‘Probably the only thing he loves is basketball …’
    â€˜Yeah? That’s it then! Go and watch him play.’ Summer nudged me. ‘The best way to get your enemy is to find out what really makes him tick.’
    I laughed and shook my head. ‘Remind me never to get on your bad side, okay?’
    Summer winked, slung her bag over her shoulder and started for the bus.
    â€˜Will you come and watch with me?’ I called. ‘Tomorrow night at seven-thirty.’
    Summer stopped, turned and made a vomit face. ‘Nah, been seeing too much basketball lately. There was this player at lunchtime . . . made my eyes water just watching her!’
    â€˜Oh, shut up.’
    Then Summer ran back and kissed me on the cheek. ‘Of course I’ll come, my darling!’ she said as super-sophisticated Summer.
    â€˜Summer, you’re a doll!’
    Then I headed up the street for my bus stop, glad to have Summer coming with me tomorrow night, especially if it turned out to be a trick after all.
    Was Jay up to something? I wasn’t sure. Somehow the serious Jay and the prankster Jay just didn’t seem to mesh. I couldn’t work him out. Sometimes he seemed like my friend. But the kinds of tricks he played had an uncanny ability to turn me into a beetroot. That was the work of an enemy.

    â€˜What’s with the sunglasses?’
    On Thursday night, Summer met me outside the sports stadium looking like one of Charlie’s Angels: high heels, short skirt, short coat . . . and sunglasses. She pushed one arm of the glasses down behind her ear so that they popped up over her eyes. ‘We’re on a spy mission, aren’t we?’ An evening breeze caught her hair, making her look like a Hollywood starlet.
    â€˜Um . . .’ I scratched my head, watching a car drive up, and two teenage guys tumble out and run for the side doors.
    Already this was feeling weird. Jay’s invitation had seemed almost normal at school, in the context of all that basketball talk. But now I felt out of place before we’d even gone inside. Were we walking into another practical joke?
    â€˜I’ve got provisions too,’ said Summer. She started pulling things out of her bag. First, an electronic organiser. ‘For recording our observations.’ Next, her mobile. ‘In case we get separated.’ A jumbo bag of jellybeans. ‘To keep up our energy levels.’ A torch. ‘For if we sneak into the coach’s office . . .’
    â€˜Summer!’ My eyes were wide and I shook my head.
    â€˜Bit much, you think?’ Summer said, cramming it all back in.
    â€˜I’m just glad you’re here,’ I said, looking at my watch. Our parents thought we were researching a project for school, which was sort of close to the truth.
    It felt strange sitting in the stands, watching the action on the court. Normally I’d be down there, in full view of everyone. But now we were way up in the stands and almost out of sight. It felt good to be able to relax and look around. I could see the Bats, but they couldn’t see me. Well, not if they had their eyes on the ball!
    For a while I let jock-land wash over me – the squeak of basketball boots on the polished floor, the neat lines and curves of the free-throw lane and three-point circle, the bodies already red with effort.
    Jay was easy to spot – taller and more agile than the rest. He seemed older than the others too, not just in height, but also in the way his body moved. It was clear that the team looked up