[brown mouse]

“Come on Carrie, there’s one minutes to go in the game, you can get that penalty shot “yelled Cindy the captain of our netball team as I stood nervously and lined up the ring then with a push I let the ball leave my hands and watched as it hit the side of the ring and bounced up then down again then once it hit the ring it fell the wrong way and onto the floor. BUZZZ went the final siren and all I could do was watch as the opposition team huddled together in victory and my team slowly wondered back to the locker rooms which this year was becoming a routine thing for us.

“Lost again, your hopeless with the ball Carrie” Cindy yelled in one of her fits of anger she occasionally had after losing a game. “You’re the worst player and if I had my way as captain you wouldn’t even be on our team.”

The rest of the team and me were used to Cindy’s outbursts and we usually ignored her but today she finally got me worked up and I reacted to her outburst towards me. “Shut up Cindy, your half the problem with how you captain us and you’re a bully as well.”As Cindy turned and looked at me with daggers in her eyes I felt nervous and thought to myself I hope I don’t regret what I had just said to Cindy.

“So do you think you would make a better captain than me do you?”She said to me with a louder than normal voice. I went quiet a little to compose myself and noticed the rest of the team all looking to see what would happen next. “You know I’m more popular than you in this town and what can a wimpy little girl like yourself know about running the netball team?” She continued to say to me.

“I could do it better than you so how about proving it” I said without thinking. “If you think you want me to stand down as captain and you take over then lets bet on something, if I lose the bet I will stand down as captain and leave the team for the last three games of this season and all next season.” Cindy said to me with a smug grin on her face. I couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth, Cindy loved the game and this was a big thing for her to put up as a bet and I had a chance to stop her bullying the team for a year but I wondered what I would have to offer her equal to the bet she put on the table.

“Ok” I said being egged on by my team mates to go through with it. “But I don’t know what to put up if you won; I suppose I could leave the team like you will do so you won’t have to put up with my so called bad playing.”

Cindy thought about my offer as a wager and whispered to her friend beside her then giggled a little before looking back at me. “You won’t have to leave the team but if I win you cannot complain or answer me back for the rest of this season or next season and anything I ask you to do for three months no matter what you will do without complaining sort of like my personal slave girl and to make sure you comply if you don’t do things to my satisfaction you will have to leave the team forever.” I had never made a bet like this before and if I lost I would have to be her servant and I was sure that she would make things hard for me over the three months and I didn’t want to have to leave the team forever if I didn’t comply to her tasks.

“It’s a bet, now what will we bet on?” I asked. How about we bet on the netball game on TV tonight and you can choose the team you want?” replied Cindy said. “Ok it’s a bet and I will choose the Firebirds because they are the better team and you have the Vixens” I said as I shook her hand and thinking if I had made a good choice betting for such high stakes.

That evening I lay on my bed watching the dying moments of the closest game I had seen for a long time and nervously preying that my team could hold the lead for another minute until the buzzer went off signaling the end of the game but to my dismay the Vixens came back with another goal to win the game and I just lay on the bed wishing I never made that dumb bet.

A few minutes later my mobile phone rang and as I picked it up I had a feeling that Cindy was on the other end of the phone.”Hello” I said. Hi bitch its Cindy, I can call you that because you lost and can’t get upset with me” gloating as she continued to talk. “You’re my slave girl for the next three months so I think we can start tomorrow morning when you can meet me at the park and you can carry my bag for me as we walk to school and while we are at the park I will explain a few rules you will have to do as a slave girl.