“Don’t touch me,” I said calmly.

“Okay, okay.”

I let go and the man returned to his friends. I didn’t want to deal with all the parents talking about me, so I moved over to the opposite side of the field. The guy’s friends teased him for striking out, and I heard him mutter something about me being a lesbian.

Maisie didn’t appear to have noticed the little display I put on, although no doubt she’d hear about it at the end of the game. She always accused me of being too tense and uptight, so I was bound to get another lecture on “loosening up.” Just what I wanted from my little sister.

Maisie’s team won—as they usually did—and she had a great game by anyone’s standards, let alone “for a girl.” She scored two tries and played a major part in two more with her pace down the flanks.

By this point, word had gotten around about the Chasers having a girl on the team, so her opponents didn’t go through that awkward fifteen-minute period where they debated whether or not they could tackle her. Or rather, try to tackle her, because for the most part she might have been covered in grease judging by her opponents’ attempts to drag her to the ground.

The main problem with Maisie playing so well was that it brought out the worst in the parents. They did not like seeing their little princes get schooled by a girl.

I heard one parent comment on how he “would be afraid to tackle a girl with a face like that” and it took all my strength not to go over and punch him. I’d done that before, but Maisie hated it. She insisted that she didn’t care about the burns covering her face, and so neither should I. Easier said than done though, especially when those burns were my fault.

Despite her protests, Maisie wasn’t allowed to go into the changing rooms after the games until all the boys had left. She couldn’t have cared less about getting changed in front of guys, but the organizers insisted the changing rooms not be mixed.

Maisie usually came over to talk to me at the end of games while we waited for the changing room to empty, but on her way over to me she was approached by a man who had been watching the game from the front row. I slowly walked down to see what was going on and saw the man hand Maisie a business card.

The overprotective big sister in me didn’t like the look of this, but Maisie seemed delighted. I tried to relax; the man didn’t touch her and he was talking to her in full view of over a hundred people. Maisie caught me standing there and subtly shooed me away with her hand while she kept talking to the man.

Maisie might only be fourteen, but she’d been through a lot in those fourteen years. She wasn’t naive in the slightest. I backed off and sat down in the stand to wait.

By the time Maisie finished speaking to the man, the changing rooms were free, so she got changed and came back out ten minutes later having put on some new clothes. She hadn’t bothered showering though.

“Are you going to tell me what all that was about?” I asked, as she came bouncing up to me. She had a remarkable amount of energy for someone who had just finished eighty minutes of rugby.

“Once we get in the car,” she replied. “I don’t want anyone to overhear.”

I cringed as Maisie threw her dirty cleats on the floor of my car and proceeded to drop bits of mud all over the place. It’s not like my car was clean at the best of times, but Maisie certainly didn’t help matters.

“He’s a scout,” Maisie said, the second we pulled out onto the road. “He watched the game today and I must have impressed him because he wants me to join a rugby summer camp.”

“You’ve done them before,” I said. Maisie always chose summer camps based on whether or not they offered the chance to play rugby. Given that rugby was basically insignificant in the US, she often had to go halfway across the country to find one that she liked.

“But this one is special. It’s specifically for girls.”

“You’d hate that. You love playing with the guys.”

“I know, but it’s specifically to boost the popularity of the girls’ game. He’s recruiting the best female players and getting them together for the summer. There’s going to be tournaments and everything.”

The man wasn’t a scout; he was a salesman. No doubt there would be a substantial fee for the camp, and even though Maisie was a great player, he was probably inviting ever female rugby player in the country to maximize the money.

“And how much is this going to cost?” I asked. “We aren’t exactly flush with cash at the moment.”

Mom didn’t work these days—or do much of anything—and my money only just stretched to paying for Maisie to be a part of the rugby team. Summer camps often required us to take out a short term loan, and this one sounded expensive.

“He said it was completely free,” Maisie said. “They even cover expenses.” I turned quickly to look at her and saw a huge grin stretching from ear to ear. I didn’t care about the burn marks on her face; that girl was truly beautiful when she smiled.

“This doesn’t sound right, sis. Why would some organization pay all that money to promote girls’ rugby when boys’ rugby needs promotion as well? The entire game is largely ignored in the US.”

“It’s not in the US,” Maisie replied casually. “The summer camp is in England.”

“England?”

“Yes. You remember, that country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean where our dad lives.”

“Thank you for the reminder. I meant, why is someone from England over here to scout for you?”

“He’s from the England Rugby set up, and they’re looking for players from all over the world to play the game. I don’t know how he found me, but I’m not about to complain. You’re not going to go all ‘big sister’ on me, are you?”

Maisie knew my response to things like this was to be sensible—which in her eyes meant boring—but I couldn’t help it. Maisie tended to operate at a mile a minute, so if I didn’t hold her back once in a while there would be chaos.

“It sounds like an exciting opportunity,” I said softly.

“But…”

“But you’ll have to get Mom’s approval and that won’t be easy. Not after what happened last time we were in England.”

“That was eight years ago.”

“And we haven’t gone back since. I’m just saying, don’t get your hopes up just yet, okay?”

“Will you tell her it’s a good idea? You know she listens to you.”

I paused while concentrating on merging onto the highway, but I could sense Maisie getting desperate for a response.

“I want to check out this scout who gave you his card,” I replied. “If he is who he says he is then maybe I will recommend you go.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Maisie said, practically jumping up and down in her seat. Not for the first time, I wished I had half of her energy and general enthusiasm for life.

“I said maybe.”

“Maybe always means yes,” Maisie replied. “I’m going to England. Yay.” She started trying to sing God Save the Queen, but quickly gave up when she realized she only knew the first line.

Mom wasn’t in when we got home, so I had enough time to verify that the scout was actually from England Rugby. Everything checked out based on an online search. I’d look into it more later, but for now it passed the smell test.

Things would be weird without Maisie around for the summer, but it did mean I would have weekends to myself again. I’d had to drop the Saturday self-defense class I taught to drive Maisie to her rugby games; maybe I could start that back up again.

Maisie pounced on Mom the second she walked through the door, taking the shopping bags from her hands and talking quickly, without stopping for breath, about the amazing opportunity she’d been offered for the summer which wouldn’t cost a penny.

“No,” Mom said flatly, when Maisie had finally stopped for breath. “Absolutely not.”

Maisie looked like she’d been slapped. “But Michelle thinks it’s a good idea, don’t you Michelle?”