Gracie Faltrain Gets it Right (Finally) by Cath Crowley Read Free Book Online

glide. It’s easiersaid than done, though. Losing your confidence makes you kick back harder than before. Hard kicking’s not always accurate. Every time Kally misses she tries more and every time she tries more she misses again. The girls on our team are annoyed. The girls on the other team love it.
    It feels like I’m watching an animal thrash in a trap. I have this urge to set her loose. ‘Kally,’ I call. It’s an easy pass but she misses. The coaches’ eyes are on me. I can’t afford to kick to a player who’s not on their game.
    We tie with the other team. We could have won if it wasn’t for Kally. She knows it, too; I can tell by the slump of her shoulders.
    Dan’s wrong. Sure, there’s a part of me that’s brutal; I wouldn’t have made it through last year if there wasn’t. But there’s another part of me too, the part that knows what it’s like to stuff up. I feel sorry for Kally. And judging from the looks on the other girls’ faces, I’m the only one who does.
    â€˜You’re quiet, baby,’ Dad says on the way home. ‘How did it go?’
    â€˜Okay. I played my best.’
    â€˜You haven’t mentioned how it went with Martin yesterday. Do you want to talk about it?’
    I don’t mean to tell Dad. But we’re driving slowly down those streets where Martin and I ran yesterday, and it falls out of me. ‘We’re not even friends anymore.’
    â€˜That must hurt.’
    â€˜You’re going to tell me it gets better, right?’
    â€˜With a bit of time it does. And with a bit of time Martin might forgive you. His mum left a huge hole. He’s only starting to work out what meeting her again means.’
    I know what it means for me, I think as the day moves past the window and disappears behind us. I close my eyes for the last part of the trip so I don’t have to see the oval.
    All afternoon and night I try to do homework. I stare at my books until dinner and stare at them again after. I make a list of the things that need to be handed in tomorrow. It’s too big. It’s easier to watch TV. I don’t have one in my room so the film in my head runs on loop.
    I think about Kally and the look on her face when she missed the pass. I think about Martin. I think about Dan saying I’m someone who can’t be counted on. The past, present and future tangle in my brain.
    I come out for a drink around midnight and Dad’s on the couch watching TV. We got Foxtel last year and now he’s addicted to the Discovery Channel. ‘What’s on tonight?’ I ask, sitting next to him.
    â€˜Shark fin fishers,’ he says. We watch fishermen hack off fins and dump bodies back in the ocean. ‘Why do they do that?’ I ask as the sharks struggle away in the cold water.
    â€˜Shark fin is a delicacy.’
    â€˜But why throw them back, why not take the whole shark?’
    â€˜You can only catch so many kilos per day. There are strict rules to keep the industry fair. Although, I think if you asked the shark they’d have a problem with those rules.’ Last year or the year before, I might have said, ‘Dad, it’s a tough world and there’s a reason only the strong survive.’ Tonight I nod, though. I feel sick like he does as I watch the casualties on screen mount up.
    Sleep doesn’t come easy. I close my eyes and the loop starts again. Only this time there are pictures of finless sharks in it too. And in my dreams they all have Kally’s face.

Term Two
16 April—29 June
    Relax. No one actually starts any work until term three.
Except for Alyce Fuller. But she was born studying
for her Year 12 certificate.
Gracie Faltrain

9
GRACIE
    Kally’s problem at the tryouts was that she forgot the number one rule of high school: Know who your enemies are. I don’t care whether you’re twelve or in Year 12, you can’t afford to forget that.