✅ My Sister's Problem

34. Threes

"He's teaching me basketball," I tried to explain. "It's easier to learn with somebody else to teach you. Is there something wrong with that?" But I remembered when I said it that she'd said the same words so many times. Always with a nod and a wink, or a wry smile. Their parents wouldn't be happy about her spending so much time with a boy, and a couple of years they had been even stricter. So playing basketball was a euphemism, something that all of her friends understood.

"Yeah, I said that too. But..."

"I know it was more than that. You had feelings for each other, and it was your reason to spend time together. But he's just teaching me. For real."

"Does he know that?" she snapped, and I didn't know where that anger had come from. But now I started to wonder what exactly had come between them. "Sally, you need to learn that boys are only interested in one thing, and they'll say whatever they have to. He's just..."

I hugged her. It was the only thing I could think of at that point, and she was starting to tear up again. I couldn't believe something like that of Hugo; if that was what he wanted, he had so many girls throwing themselves at him every day. And even if he did, I didn't know how I would respond. He was cute, I knew. But Nadine was clearly upset, and I didn't want to see my friend in that kind of pain for anyone. Even if I couldn't understand, I had to be there for her. And I felt so bad for putting her through all of this. I had never intended for this to become a big thing that she had to deal with; I'd assumed her thing with Hugo was in the past, and she would be able to separate that from whatever he was doing now.

"I should just ignore it," she said. "I've got no claim on him, I know that now. But I don't want you to fall into the same trap. I've always been mature for my age, you know? And back then I didn't think you'd even think about getting involved with the boys. But now you can, and I didn't notice or I would have warned you not to go near that guy. He's bad for you, trust me on that."

"I will," I nodded. "But if it's just games... I'd be okay playing a pick-up game, right? If I'm hanging around with him and there's other people there too. I think I'm getting to know some of the other guys in the area. Seriously, when there's people playing he's all about the game. Right?"

"Yeah, it's just... you know he wasn't really teaching me, right? I said that for so long to keep my parents quiet, but everybody knew. But we couldn't really go out or anything. Can't go somewhere for dinner, can't go see a movie, because we've got this big pretence. It isn't worth it. And then he's constantly hinting that he wants more, it's not enough. He wants sex, just like all guys. And when I finally got the nerve to say okay, he calls me a kid. Tells me I'm not good enough, I'm not ready, and he just drops me. Stops answering calls, and that was the end. I just can't help thinking it's going to be the same with you, and I feel like that would be my fault not warning you. I mean... how could I not have noticed you were getting close to the guy?"

"Don't worry," I told her. "As long as he's talking basketball, I'll listen. But that's all, I can tell him I'm not ready for a relationship before it even goes that far. You don't have to worry about me. And, well... I've talked to a few of the other guys. If it comes down to it, I'm sure there's other people I could learn from. I mean, now I got the courage to throw a ball in front of other people, it's not like he's the only player I know. Would you be more comfortable with that?"

"You really mean that, don't you?" Nadine asked, after a long pause. I didn't know what to say. "Like... you could let go of him and have somebody else teach you. Maybe I..." She took a deep breath, and started again. "Maybe that's different. With me, it was always just about getting close to him. I had feelings, maybe I wasn't quite ready to handle them, and he knew he could get whatever he wanted. I thought maybe you're the same, maybe in denial. But now I don't know. If you can really think about him as a teacher and not this cool guy that all the popular girls are hanging around? That might be different. Maybe he'll take you more seriously."

"Yeah," I nodded, the thoughts running around my head. I told myself that I'd never hoped Hugo would see me as something more than a friend with a shared hobby, but I couldn't really believe it. I'd seen him practising in the yard for a couple of years, and somewhere deep down I knew that was the spark behind my interest in basketball. There was a part of me that dreamed we'd get closer, like teammates in some romcom. I didn't think it was at all likely, not when he had so many other girls actively competing for his attention, but it was something I'd imagined. And I knew that if he said something, anything to suggest he might be interested, he was irresistible. But I wasn't going to leap into anything without thinking, especially knowing how much he had hurt my best friend.

"Hey, Sally!" The voice derailed my train of thought and I spun around to see who was calling. It was Meg Warren, excitable as always. She dashed up and started to babble, talking over herself about all the different things she wanted to tell me. It was exhausting trying to listen to her, but the enthusiasm was kind of infectious. Her big brother caught up after a minute or two, and I did my best to introduce Nadine. She was smiling now, and I could see she was suppressing a chuckle at my attempts to get a word in. Her confidence was returning now, maybe because she understood that there was nothing between me and Hugo.

We invited her to play, but she said she had to go shopping today; she wanted to get Jim a special present, so would be busy this afternoon. So Jaycen got his ball out and we took turns shooting from different places on the court, trying to master some of the basics. When Chain and Hugo joined us we could have a game. I was still a little nervous after hearing Nadine's explanation, and wondered if it might be a good idea to team up with somebody other than Hugo. He had no problem with that, which felt reassuring to me. He wasn't possessive at all, he saw me as one of the group, and there was no reason I should feel disappointed about that. So we played an unbalanced match with me and Meghan against Jaycen, and then against Hugo. When Chain turned up he joined our team, which just about seemed to even the odds, three against two. I was getting better, I was sure, but I was still nowhere near his level.

At some point the game became a weird kind of freeform, with players joining in from the crowd of spectators and leaving again in a perpetual rotation. At first I didn't understand, but I wondered if this was some way to help me understand team play a little better, rather than always depending on what I knew about Hugo's skills.

There was no real winner, when the teams kept shifting, but we all had fun. And I think that I improved, even if I kept looking out at the people gathered around the fence to watch us. Nadine was there a few times, in between different parts of her shopping expedition. And as she watched us play, I thought she might be getting a little more confident in what I had told her. That this was a sport I was interested in, and nothing else.

I really hoped that was true, but maybe there was a part of me that had the opposite wish.