Shannon is this sophomore from Langham High. Yeah, she can ball, but she ain’t all that. Plus, she’s always looking at me funny and trying to copy my style. Been on varsity since she was a freshman, like me. Tall, six-foot-one to be exact, like me. Okay, maybe she can’t help either of those two things, but she wears number twenty-two. Now, everybody and their mama know that’s my number. And one time she slipped me a note after a game that said, “Hey.” Hey? Like, she couldn’t have opened her mouth to say that? I swear I can’t figure out if the girl likes me or wants to be me. But either way, I can’t stand her.

“You good?” Jordan whispers after I get to the corner.

“Rex and I broke up,” I whisper back.

“Okay,” Coach says, “now if Shannon gets the ball on the right key, Carli, you drop back down to the block. Jordan, you slide over. And Meagan, you come up to help Jordan.”

“Are you serious?” Jordan asks as we switch positions.

After practice Jordan and I go to Baskin-Robbins in Rice Village. Once we get our ice cream, we sit outside at a hot pink bistro table, backs against the red brick building. It’s eighty degrees. Houston sure knows how to flip the switch on the weather, but nobody’s mad at it today. Everybody and their mama are out walking and shopping and eating in the sun.

Cold sweetness dissolving on my tongue, I explain, “It would be everything spending senior year with Rex, but leave my mom? I can’t do that.” Oh, I had to tell Jordan about the whole thing with my parents because the whole thing with Rex wouldn’t make any sense otherwise. Plus, I’m tired of keeping so many secrets.

“Not only that, you can’t leave the team your senior year! It’s crazy your dad is even asking you to. What is he thinking?” Jordan asks, and tucks in her outstretched legs to make room for a woman walking by on the sidewalk with a stroller.

I’m leaving the team either way, I think but don’t dare say. Jordan will never forgive me. Like, our friendship will be over. I stay silent and scoop out another spoonful of my Cannoli Be With You ice cream—mascarpone, pistachios, crunchy cannoli shell pieces, and chocolate chips. Some goodness I need right about now.

“So, you think you’ll be ready for Shannon?” Jordan asks, and eats a scoop of her Pink Bubblegum ice cream with sprinkles, chocolate chips, Butterfinger pieces, and cherries. Leave it up to Jordan to mess up ice cream.

“I guess,” is all I say, hoping she’ll drop the basketball talk.

“She gave us some serious problems last year, and that’s when she was a freshman. No telling what she’s gonna be coming with this year.”