Just Like Me by Nancy Cavanaugh

someone had hit me in the head with a two-by-four. It made me wish I hadn’t been the one standing in front of her.
    Silver Birch served next, and of course they threw the ball straight at Gina. I guess they figured she was the weak link. The ball hit her in the stomach, and she fell down.
    â€œRumper bumper number two!” Gina yelled and brushed herself off as she got to her feet again.
    â€œOne, zero. Silver Birch in the lead,” the ref announced.
    The next serve came at Gina even faster and with more force, but she didn’t need to worry about it.
    â€œI got it!” yelled Vanessa, who dove across the court to catch the ball.
    She threw it back over the net, right into the back left corner of Silver Birch’s court.
    â€œWhite Oak’s serve,” the ref announced, after the ball bounced.
    After that, Becca served.
    Silver Birch returned her serve, and even though this time the ball headed toward Gina and me, Meredith lunged across the court and yelled, “It’s mine!”
    â€œOne to one,” the ref said.
    Becca served again, and when the ball came back to our side, Becca yelled, “Take that!” as she hurled it back over to the Silver Birch side.
    And so it went for the rest of the game with Vanessa, Meredith, and Becca diving and lunging in front of Gina and me, yelling, “Got it!” “It’s mine!” and “Take that!”
    White Oak racked up point after point after point until the game was over.
    Our next game was against Red Maple, and Vanessa, Meredith, and Becca played exactly the same way—lunging, diving, and yelling.
    So Gina yelled things too like, “ You got it!”
    â€œHere you go, Vanessa. Take that one!”
    â€œHelp yourself, Meredith!”
    â€œDon’t worry about us, Becca. You take this one!”
    The Bermuda Triangle was so busy winning that they didn’t realize what Gina was saying, or that I couldn’t stop laughing about it.
    Avery knew what was going on, and she looked annoyed. But what was she going to do? Stop White Oak from winning?
    We played against three more teams to win the tournament. There were three more rumper bumpers—two for Gina and one for me. Besides that, Gina almost knocked the ref off her ladder stand with one of her serves, and there were more than a couple times when I was pretty sure Gina missed her serve on purpose just to be funny and to bug Vanessa.
    At the end of the last game, Donnie announced, “White Oak wins the tournament!”
    â€œ Sweet! ” Becca yelled.
    Then he awarded our cabin ten points for winning, and Vanessa, Meredith, and Becca chanted, “White Oak rules! White Oak rules!”
    Avery smiled but didn’t chant.
    And Gina shrugged her shoulders.
    Then “We Are the Champions” blasted through the trees.
    But this time Donnie wasn’t singing or dancing. He was whispering something to Tori and looking over at us. I could tell he didn’t think any of us in White Oak deserved even one of the ten points that we’d just been given, and he certainly wasn’t acting as if he thought we were the champions of anything.
    Dear Ms. Marcia,
    I don’t want to worry you, but your adoption story might be in trouble.
    When Avery and Becca came to camp, they were pretty much best friends, but this afternoon I heard them arguing about the Newcomb tournament.
    I know that red thread isn’t supposed to break, but it might be stretching pretty thin.
    Anyway, I don’t think the three of us will be finding any time to get together today and “share” our feelings about our adoption stories.
    What a relief, especially after our visit to the arts-and-crafts room earlier today.
    Julia
    PS I wonder why it doesn’t seem to bother Avery and Becca when people talk about how “Chinese” we look. And I really wonder why they don’t seem to mind having that orphanage photo smack-dab in the middle of their life