PIG

“Don’t you want a spoon for that?”

Jada peeked up at her junior varsity teammate, Kristin, sitting in the bleachers above her and shook her head.

While she waited for the most valuable player, Evie, to shoot the ball, Jada sat on the bottom row and licked the chocolate off the lid of a pudding cup. With her wrist, she pushed black tendrils that had escaped her ponytail off her cheek.

A stream of other girls treaded sluggishly out the gymnasium doors, hair frizzy and faces shiny with perspiration. See ya guys, my mom’s here, good luck on the test tomorrow…

Orange, evening light came through the windows above the upper deck seating, illuminating “divisional champ” banners and reflecting off the dark scoreboard.

With the basketball between her palms, Evie spun in a circle. Then, she crouched low and sent it in an arc toward the basket.

It fell deftly through the hoop.   

Jada rose, leaving behind the full pudding cup and lid.

Evie passed the ball to her. “See if you can match that.” Her narrow face was still flushed from the day’s drills.

Jada, short and a total sideliner, spun around and shot the basketball. It deflected off the rim and back toward her.

“Damn.”

“Ooh, so your first letter,” Evie said, smiling triumphantly. She wiped her forehead with a slender arm, looking buttery smooth under the lights.

Jada rolled her eyes. “Firscht letter muh muh mya.”

Evie laughed.

“How many letters do you have, Eve?” Kristin asked as she pulled up her crew socks, stained yellow from sweat.

“The first.”

“A P?”

“A P.”

Jada toyed with one of her new earrings while she studied the hoop, trying to come up with something Evie would have no chance replicating. But that seemed next to impossible.

“Are they sore?” Kristin asked, watching Jada twist the stud.

“A little.” A lightbulb went on in Jada’s head. She stood on her tippy toes and tried to make a basket. It hit the corner of the backboard.

“Ugh. Here.” She tossed the ball overhand to Evie and leant her space.

Finding a spot just ahead of the free throw line, Evie squatted and wet her lips.

"They look really good on you,” Kristin called down to Jada, giving her a thumbs up. She seemed more open now that she’d started shaving her arms; a thing Jada thought was a little odd but acceptable. By doing it, she'd shed the nickname “tarantula” as well.

Jada beamed. “Thank you.”

“What made you decide to get them?” Kristin asked.

Jada shrugged. “A lot of reasons.”

Certainly, Kristin could understand a few of them.

“How long do you have to leave them in?” Evie asked as the basketball sank through the net.  

And Evie could understand the others.

“Six weeks, I think,” Jada said, hands on her hips, chest rising and falling.

Evie walked over with the ball. She gave Jada a once over. “Can you keep up with it that long?”

The girls locked eyes. Jada yanked the ball from Evie’s wide hands.

“Sure, I can,” she said.

Evie pointed at a spot on the court.

Taking Evie’s place, Jada bent her elbows, searching for the right angle. She imagined the ball leaving her hands and going through the hoop. The stinging in her earlobe made it a little harder to concentrate.

Nonetheless, the ball danced around the rim and went through the net. “Yes!”

“How long?”

“What? Six weeks,” Jada repeated, snatching the ball as it pitter-pattered along the court. She began formulating her next shot while she licked the cocoa off her molars.

“How long will you keep them in though?”

Jada looked sideways at Evie and swallowed. “As long as it takes," she said and prepared to shoot.

“Just don’t take them out too soon,” Kristin inserted.

“Yeah, Jada, don’t give up too soon,” Evie said, pacing behind her. “You want to look pretty, right?”

“Yes, but….” Jada straightened and touched the earring again. Her lobe felt warm and puffy. “They—"

“Does it hurt?” Kristin asked, seeing the wince on Jada’s face.

Jada tried a shot from beneath the basket and missed. Her shoulders sank. “Only a little,” she said. “I’ll get used to it.”

“It’s okay to take them out and give up, you know,” Evie said, grabbing the ball before it could spring away.

“I know. But I won’t,” Jada asserted.

“Ah, Jada, don’t give up, they look great! Plus” —Kristin raised a finger in point— “you’re not supposed to take them out if they’re infected, just so you know.”

“I won’t,” she restated.

I’ll stop. Her mom had threatened to take her to the psychiatrist the next time she caught her licking the seasoning off potato chips and throwing whole bags in the trash. So, she'd moved on from chips and started hoarding pudding cups under her bed.

Kristin said, “I can bring you some rubbing alcohol or cotton balls if you don’t have any.”

Jada plopped down on the bleachers and licked the remaining streak of chocolate from the lid. “No.”

Evie said, “I can bring you some sugar-free gum,” and dribbled the ball. Jada imagined a mallet whacking her like a mole into the ground. Smack, smack, smack, until a buzzer rang, and Evie won a prize.

Kristin’s face contorted with confusion, so deep it looked as though she’d just gotten a whiff of something rotten. “What? Does putting gum on your ears really help? Is it the menthol?”

Jada sat the clean lid aside. “I don’t know.” She’d been trying “chew and spit,” but nothing had changed. Not that she could see anyway.

Evie stood on one leg like a flamingo. “Try this.” She shot the ball, her shirt bunching around her shoulders. The ball rolled around the rim and dropped inside. She made a chef’s kiss.

With the ball under her arm, Jada stood on one leg. In her head, she prayed she could make the basket and prove something to Evie.

Wobbling, Jada sent the ball sailing past the backboard and into the seats. She cursed.

“That’s an I!” Evie said, scrambling up the bleachers.

“That was a great shot,” Jada called to her back. She couldn’t let herself seem like a sore loser.

"Only one letter left, Jada,” Evie said. She tossed the ball down to her. “Did you do it because there's someone you want to impress?”

Jada caught it with a thud. “What do you mean?”

“Your earrings.”

“I’m doing it for me.”

Evie almost kicked the pudding cup on her way down the bleachers. Her legs seemed to stretch to infinity. “And the team?”

Jada moseyed to the free throw line. “Yes.”

“Do you ever wonder if it’s enough?”

Kristin said, “I don’t know, I think once is enough. They’re cute. There’s no need to go overboard.”

Flaring her nostrils like a bull, Jada jumped and let the ball fly. Swish! She raised her arms in celebration.

"Coach should really put you in more, Jada,” Kristin said.

Her cheeks pink, Jada backpedaled to give Evie room on her turn. The ball hit the edge of the backboard.

“Okay, now I have an I,” Evie said, bending over to pick it up as it rolled along the court.

“It’s okay. You just about had it,” Jada said.

Evie chewed her lip while she looked for an angle to shoot from. “How many times a day do you clean them anyway?” she asked.

“What?”

Evie pulled on her own lobe.

“Probably three times. Maybe two.”

“So, after every meal pretty much?” Evie asked, her brow raised.

“Twice a day,” Jada said, her gaze fixed on Evie.

Evie appraised her equally. “You could get away with only once.”

"They might not heal,” Kristin argued meekly, but her voice had no volume in the other girls’ ears.

"If I were you, I’d consider even skipping a day,” Evie added, turning her attention to the hoop. “Let’s see who really deserves the last letter.”

“Yeah, let’s see,” Jada said, feeling hot with emotion rather than exertion.

“See who oinks,” Evie teased. She tilted her head to the side in thought. “It has to be something tricky...”

Kristin piped up, “Ooh, I know! Do it with your shoes off.”

“No, that’s dumb.”

Kristin pursed her lips. “Oh, I know. Do it…with your—”

“Do it with your shirt off.”

Evie’s head snapped toward Jada, who stood at the sideline with an impish smile. “That’s not something you can do in this game. This isn’t padiddle or something.”

Jada could hardly believe it had been her own voice that she'd heard. What confounded her more was how the color seemed to leave Evie’s face and the way she moved the ball in front of her stomach.

“I’m just joking,” Jada said, the playful smile leaving her lips.

“No one else is around,” Kristin said with half-suppressed laughter. “So, why not?”

Not being one to turn away from a challenge, Evie let go of the ball and grabbed her shirt by the hem.

Jada could not make sense of what she saw.

When Evie lifted her shirt, Jada did not see her hipbones. Instead, she saw Evie's stomach spilled over the waistband of her shorts like slime.

Always chomping at the bit, holding out for a chance to be included, Jada could not turn away from the game. She followed suit. Her stomach protruded past her waistband like the back of a spoon.

Suddenly, they were on the same team again.

Evie shot the basketball, and it bounced off the rim. She caught it and handed it to Jada. "Here you go."

Jada stood close to the basket and tossed the ball up with little effort, so it rebounded off the backboard. It rattled the rim when it scored.

As she moved away, the cool air tickled Jada’s bare skin like tissue paper.

"Nice job." Taking her place, Evie lobbed the ball upward. It shook the backboard and rolled around the rim. But it toppled off the edge and plunked on the court.

Jada stood with her arms at her sides, unable to come up with an expression.

“Good game,” Evie said, shrugging into her shirt.

“Nice game, you guys,” Kristin said, ziippping her bag.

Jada hurried to put her own shirt on. "Good game."

“See you at practice tomorrow,” Evie said as she gathered her things. She paused. "Thanks for playing, Jada."

Jada nodded. Jada started to say goodbye but couldn’t get the words out.

Evie quickstepped out the double doors.

The evil spirit of the game had been exercised.

After throwing her bag over her shoulder, Jada picked up the pudding cup and breathed in the cocoa.

“Oh, Jada?” Kristin said, meeting her at the doors. “I just thought. I'm a little worried."

Jada frowned. "Yeah?"

"You might want to talk to Coach about your earrings. She usually doesn’t let us play with jewelry in.”

Jada cupped her sore lobe. “Oh. Right.”

“She might make an exception for you though. You’ve gotten better since the season started, I have to tell you.” Kristin smiled. “You and Evie are gonna carry us.”

“If you say so.” Jada dipped her finger in the pudding. She sucked the sweetness from her tongue. If “spit and chew” didn’t help, maybe it was about time to try something else.

“Okay. Check it.” Jada stepped a few yards away from the trashcan at the entrance.

Kristin leaned on the doorframe. “Let me see it.”

After a few more tastes, Jada aimed for the trashcan and tossed the cup. It missed, and the remaining pudding splattered on the lacquered floor with a pop of the plastic cup.

“Ew!” Kristin shrieked, backing away from the mess. “That might have been easier if the cup was empty.”