Monica ran out of class as the dismissal bell rang. "Why are you running?" Her best friend, Alexia, asked. “I need to change to get to the basketball tryouts,” Monica shouted back, without turning. " Ok. See you later," Alexia yelled, as Monica ran down the hall. " I need to hurry and get there quickly!" Monica thought to herself. At that moment Rachel walked in through the bathroom door. "You're going to try out for basketball?" Rachel asked with a confused face. " Yeah. Why do you have a problem with that?" Monica asked with a straight face. " No, I just know that this year. The team is going to be horrible if you make it, " Rachel said with a little smirk. She walked into an opened stall to change. "Maybe she's right. I might not be that good at basketball. It'll be so embarrassing if I don't make it. I should just leaving and give up. But if I give up I would just prove to Rachel that she's right. So, I have to go,” Monica decided.
After she finished changing she ran to the gym, where there were about ten girls just shooting hoops. “Hey, Mr.Daniels,” Monica greeted the coach. “Hello, Monica. Why don’t you grab a ball and start playing?” He told her. “Sure.” Monica said as she grabbed the first ball she saw. “Um, that’s a boys ball,” Rachel told her as she giggled. “Oh, I knew that I was just picking it up,” Monica said as she tried to play it off. “Girl balls are 28.5,” Coach Daniels reminded her, with a smile. Monica walked to the crate and grab a ball that had 28.5 marked on it. She dribbled it onto the court and took a shoot. The ball rolled around the rim and fell out. “Nice shot,” Alexia said as she came up to Monica. “I thought you weren’t going to try out,” Monica said, confused. “Well I wasn’t but remember, best friends don’t let their best friend do dumb things alone. So, if you embarrass yourself I’ll embarrass myself too.” Alexia said with a smile. So they tryout together.
Every shot that Monica threw, never went in the basket. She missed every shot. "Oh god. I'm never going to make the team if I can't make a basket," she thought. She keep trying but she couldn't make it, with all the pressure of the coaches. "No bad Monica. I think you have more talent than you let out. Don't be afraid to shoot," Coach Smith advised her. Monica took a shot and made it. She smiled at Ms. Smith.
As the rest of the tryouts went, Monica was doing great, but she didn't believe so. "Oh god, I am doing horribly. The coaches are probably already picking and I'm not going to be one of the girls," she told herself. Coach Daniels blew his whistle and gathered the girls. " Well,  thank all of you for coming out here. I appreciate that all you guys like the sport and want to learn more about it. Since we can only add around five girls to the team, I'm sorry if any of you feel bad because you didn't make it. If you want to know why you didn't make it you can talk to either of us and we'll explain and you can work on it, so that you can try next time. There will be a list on the board tomorrow with the names of the girls that made it on the team." All the girls left anxiously waiting for tomorrow to come.
When Monica arrived to school, Alexia was already there looking at the list. "Did you make it?" Monica asked with a worried look on her face. Alexia smiled," Yes!" " Congratulations! Did I make it?"Monica asked. "Yes!" Alexia yelled. "We're on the team together and we start practice today!"
Once again the bell rang and this time Alexia and Monica walked out of the class together. They went to the bathroom to change quickly and got out ready to play. "Oh no! Monica and Alexia made the team?" Rachel asked in a sarcastic tone. "Yes, we did," Alexia responded. " Well this is not going to be such a good season," Rachel protested. Monica thought of the words Rachel had said and thought, " Why and it even on this team?"
Soon their first game came up and Monica was ready to play. "You can't do this. No! Yes I can," she kept thinking. "Bring it in girls," Coach Daniels yelled. "I just want you guys to have fun over all, don't worry about that score, just have fun. I want Monica, Sandy, Hanna, Tona, and Alexia to start."
The whistle blew and the starters walked up to the court. The ref blew the whistle and threw the ball up in the air for the jumpers. Monica caught the ball in her hands and began dribbling it to her basket. Without thinking she went up for a layup and made it. Everyone cheered. With that first shot Monica knew she she was unstoppable. She made over 15 points in that first game. She was the MVP of the game. "Wow, I actually did it," she thought. "I proved to Rachel that I'm better than she thinks. I am so proud of myself." She learned that you should never doubt yourself, nor give up that easily.