I nodded. She said, ‘Wait here a minute.’

While I waited, I looked around to see what the other kids were doing. Some were sitting down knitting; there was a group of boys and girls playing ukulele; and there were others doing gymnastics, flips and things on the lawns.

Ashley came back with Matilda and Hayley from our class. When we walked onto the court towards the boys, she said, ‘We’re in.’ And then Ashley and a huge guy called Ethan started selecting the teams. I thought out of the girls he might have wanted to pick Ashley or me because of our height. Ashley was even taller than me, and super skinny. Matilda was also like six foot something, but pretty curvy with curly blonde-brown hair. Hayley was a short arse but athletic-looking. Of everyone there, I thought that maybe she was of ancestry a little different to Anglo-Australian. Possibly Greek. I was surprised when Ethan picked only Hayley out of the girls to be on his team.

The game started and Ethan’s team quickly took possession of the ball. I went to take my position at centre, but Matilda shoved me across to the small guard position. I looked at her like, what the hell?

The first couple of times my team had possession of the ball, no one passed it to me, even though I was open. I realised that I’d have to hustle and grab the ball because the boys were quick and Hayley was even quicker and more dangerous, even though she was much shorter than me. There was no getting near her.

Then we got a lucky break – the ball dribbled off one guy’s shoes. I grabbed it and dribbled out to the sideline to get some space. When I turned around, Ethan was guarding me. I thought about going around him and taking a shot or passing through the key. Instead, I faked a press forwards, faded back and then went to make the shot. But as soon as the ball left my hands, it was slapped from behind.

I swung around to see Hayley, standing there as cool as a cucumber, as the ball rolled out of court. All right, this isn’t any casual game, I thought. They were upping the pressure to try to show the new girl they meant business. I knew they couldn’t keep it up for long – or so I thought.

During the game I only made one lay-up, after someone finally passed the ball to me, and I was pretty much right beneath the basket. Ethan’s team killed us – or I should say, Hayley killed us. She was super competitive and tore around the court with endless energy until the bell went.

As we walked back to class, I asked Hayley, ‘How did you get to be so good?’

‘I’ve got two big brothers and I play in the local comp,’ she said with a smile, wiping the moisture from her brow with the back of her hand.