Complicating matters is the fact that Valentina, Mara's crush, is one of the new players, as is Carly, Mara's nemesis-the girl Mara fought with when she was kicked off the basketball team. Now Mara's lumped in as one of the girls-one of the girls who can't throw, can't kick, and doesn't know a fullback from a linebacker. But joining the team sets off a chain of events in her small Oregon town-and within her family-that she never could have predicted.Inspired by what they see as Mara's political statement, four other girls join the team. A lifelong football fan, Mara decides to hit the gridiron with her brother, Noah, and best friend, Quinn-and she turns out to be a natural. After getting kicked off the basketball team for a fight that was absolutely totally not her fault (okay maybe a little her fault), Mara is dying to find a new sport to play to prove to her coach that she can be a team player. "What do you think?" "I think it's frickin' genius," he says. But when I do stuff like this, I worry it gets harder for us all to ignore what's right in front of us. We don't talk about how Mara is gay but no one says so. We don't talk about how Mara is different from other girls. Even suggesting it feels like I've overstepped some kind of invisible line we've all agreed not to discuss. As soon as it's out of my mouth, I feel stupid.
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