If Only

You Will Play With Me Whether You Like It Or Not

3- You will play with me whether you like it or not

After the summer of 1992, we moved from reception into Year 1. We were boys. Young boys, which meant 'fitting in' wasn't a big deal. Everytime the bell rung, we'd run outside and split into two teams to play football. Except the odd two boys who preferred reading, we would all get along well.

The girls were a different story, often fighting and making up. We would get used to seeing three girls sit together at one time and separate into different groups a few weeks later.

When Hannah came into Junior School, we saw her make and break friends. Just like every other girl. But whenever she was upset, she would come at watch out football game and offer to play. Of course we told her to go and find her own friends, judging the fact that she was a girl.

One day, she got up early and took Haze's ball and came to school with it. And that ball was shiny new, with the ball smell fresh on it, hard and ready to be kicked by flimsy school shoes. The school ball was a rotten piece of plastic, half inflated.

So we asked her.

"Hannah, can we play with that? "

"Only if I can join in!"

We groaned, but made our decision.

"Fine!"

And she was surprisingly good for a girl in Year 1 playing against Year 3 boys.