A Small World

Motivator

Dad drops me off at basketball practice and leaves. I walk into the gym with my earphones in like always. It's like a pump up thing I do before practice. All the guys are just messing around like always. I sit on the bottom step of the stand and put my shoes on. A hand wraps around my shoulder and I jump up a bit. "Oh sorry, didn't mean to scare you again," Nathan laughs a bit.

"It's okay," I say in almost a whisper.

"You don't have to be shy around me Ace."

"That's your name?" A guy, I think his name is Francis says. He's the point guard and one of the shortest guys here.

"What?" I ask, not really looking up at him.

"Your name is Ace?" I nod my head slightly. "Hey guys, her name is Ace!" He yells for everyone in the gym to hear. I lower my head down as the boys come up to me, basically surrounding me.

"Guys back off, she's shy," Nathan says.

"It's okay. This is like the first time they've heard me say anything," I tell him. He nods his head.

"So why don't you talk?" Francis asks.

"What's a little girl supposed to say to a bunch of teen boys?" I answer/ask then.

"True," all the boys hang around me. This is weird. "So how old are you?"

"I'm 12, but I'll be 13 in September."

"You're only 12?" Another guy, Dylan I think, asks.

"Yeah," my voice still stays at a quiet tone, but it's loud enough for them to hear me.

"Boys, please explain why you're all crowding her?" I hear Coach Mark yell.

"Sorry Coach, they were just curious about Ace," Nathan speaks up.

"And why's that?"

"Because she finally talked," Dylan says.

"Okay, well practice is starting so start your stretching and then run your 10 laps. And Ace, I need to talk to you." All the boys walk to the base line and start stretching. I walk over to the coach.

"Yes coach?" My soft voice grows a bit louder since I'm a little more comfortable talking to him then the guys. All this positive attention is all so new to me. But in a good way.

"The boys have grown fond of your presence over the month."

"I don't know why."

"I didn't either until I asked them about it in a meeting two weeks ago."

"What did they say?"

"It's because you're a mystery according to Dylan. And you're so calm even when they go over the top."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"They want to figure you out, which causes them to want to play better and be more energetic in order to get a reaction out of you. And impress you."

"Oh," my head sinks low.

"And because of that, I want you to be like our cheerleader without cheering."

"What does that mean?"

"I want you to start coming to all of our games and practices and even travel with us."

"Really?" I smile a bit. This is weird, but I like it.

"Yes. You'll still practice with us, but you'll be like a motivator for the guys."

"Okay."

"Alright, just do your stretches and don't bother running your 10 laps because I'm gonna have you and two guys just walk on the treadmill today."