Missing! (3 page)

We walked back out onto the muddy pitch as the clouds broke again and it began to pour down. I looked over to the sidelines and saw my mum standing there, totally drenched but smiling with it. She blew me a kiss. Parents can be
so
embarrassing. I kind of nodded back and then took up my position. Lily came and stood next to me.

‘Your mum is really pretty,' she told me.

‘Shut up,' I said, because I didn't know what else to say.

‘I mean it, Jason,' she insisted. ‘She always wears really nice clothes. How come your dad never comes too?'

I shrugged. ‘There's just me and Mum,' I told her.

Lily's face dropped. Oh,' she said. ‘I didn't mean to . . .'

‘'S OK,'I told her. ‘I know . . .'

She smiled at me. ‘Pass me the ball more this half,' she said.

‘Why?' I asked jokingly. ‘You going to score the winner?'

Lily nodded as Abs and Chris walked over.

‘I'm going to
ninja
their left back,' she told us, before making a squealing sound.
‘YEEEEAHI'

‘What's up with you?' asked Abs. ‘You feeling
ill
or something?'

‘Just showing Jason what I'm going to do to their left back,' she said with a grin.

Dal joined us too.

‘Hello, my dear,' Lily said to him, making him squirm. ‘I was just telling your friends about how lovely you are . . .'

‘Er . . .'began Dal.

‘She said she was going to
ninja
their player,' I said to him.

‘What does
that
mean?' asked Chris, getting confused, as Parvy walked up too.

‘It means she's going to teach him to respect the
skills,
' said Parvy.

‘Eh???' I asked.

Just watch and learn, mere mortal,' replied Parvy. ‘They only teach the way of the soccer
ninja
to
girls.
'

I looked at Chris, who shrugged. ‘Must be some sort of USA thing,' he said. ‘Because I do not have a clue what she just said to us. She might as well have spoken in
Teletubbese . . .
'

‘Man – you lot are just
weird,
' said Abs. ‘All of you!'

Thankfully the referee told us to get ready for kickoff at that precise moment. Before Lily and Parvy could talk more nonsense an
Chris could attempt to explain what
‘Teletubbese'
actually meant!

Langton got hold of the ball straight away and for the next ten minutes we seemed to be chasing shadows. Every time one of our players tried to get the ball they passed it on. After a while I started to get really frustrated and I decided that I was going to get hold of the ball.

I got my chance almost immediately when the lad with the freckles, who was called Luke, tried to run past me with the ball. Remembering what Mr James had said to me about timing my tackles, I watched and waited and then, just as Luke went to shimmy past, I stuck out my left foot and the ball broke free. I gathered it with my right foot and played it across the middle of the pitch to Corky. Corky stopped the ball and then played it on to Abs, who turned and ran at the goal. There were two defenders in
front of him and this time he wasn't greedy. Instead of shooting at goal, he slipped the ball inside to Chris.

Chris saw a chance and tried to hit a low shot into the net, but one of Langton's defenders got in the way and the ball hit his left shin. I watched as it bounced out to Lily. I was running for the box now, ready to take the ball.

‘LILY-SQUARE IT!'I shouted.

But she didn't listen. Instead she faced up to her defender and waited for him to go for the ball. When he did, she stepped across the ball and lifted it up into the air in one movement. From the sidelines I heard our parents and coaches cheering. Lily controlled the ball with her left foot and then lashed at it with her right.

It was heading straight at the keeper!

He moved to stop the shot, but at the last minute the ball seemed to swerve in the air.
It was like some kind of magic trick and it wrong-footed their goalie. His face dropped as he realized that he wasn't in the right position. Everything seemed to turn to slow motion. The keeper tried to reach the shot but he couldn't. It just evaded his fingertips. I froze to the spot as a low, moaning, cheering sound broke. The ball was in the back of the net.

2-1. And Lily was the goal-scorer!

The cheer brought the game back into focus and I ran over to Lily to congratulate her. But she was already being mobbed by the other players. Our parents were cheering and whooping with delight. I turned to see Luke looking ashen-faced.

‘That's Barbie!' I told him with a grin, before taking my turn to congratulate Lily. Maybe things weren't going to be as bad as we had thought. Not only could Lily play a bit – she was
good.

We held out for ten more minutes and then disaster struck.

Langton's red-haired winger found himself on the left this time, facing Leon. He had the ball at his feet and was running into space. As he entered our penalty area, Leon managed to tackle him but only for the loose ball to fall to Luke. He swept it into his stride and skipped a challenge from Dal, only to be faced with Gurinder.

But Gurinder got it all wrong. He didn't wait for the shot or try to smother the ball. Instead he lunged at Luke with his feet, totally missed the ball and brought him down.

Even though I knew it was coming, when the ref blew his whistle for a penalty, I was in shock. Surely we weren't going to let another lead slip?

As we trudged back to the edge of the box, Langton's captain – a smarmy-looking boy who they called Beggsy – placed the ball on the penalty spot. He turned and walked back eight paces and then turned again. He was facing the ball, facing Gurinder and facing the goal. He waited for the ref to blow his whistle – and then he ran at the ball and smashed it home with his right foot. Gurinder went the wrong way and we were back to where we'd begun.

2-2!

Langton went crazy, jumping up and down and teasing us with shouts of ‘girls team'.

Even some of their parents joined in and I started to get really mad. I ran and grabbed the ball from Gurinder and sprinted back to the centre circle.

‘Come on, Reds!' I shouted to my team-mates. ‘Not again!'

But I had to wait for a few more minutes
before I could restart the game. The Langton players were still celebrating and a couple of them were pointing at Lily and laughing. She sidled over to me with Dal in tow.

‘My husband and I have a plan, Jason,' she told me.

‘I'm not your husband!' protested Dal.

‘Oh, do be quiet and listen,' demanded Lily before turning to me. ‘When you get the ball,' she told me, ‘try and look for me on the wing. Once I get it, run into the box and I'll cross for you. I'm good at crosses. I'll put it right at your feet . . .'

I nodded, but I wasn't sure about her boast. I looked at Dal, who shrugged.

‘And you, Dal,' continued Lily, ‘you make sure that his marker – that ugly boy with the freckles – is busy. OK, hubby dearest?'

Dal shrugged again and went red.

‘What are you trying to do?' I asked.

‘Get you into their box with a clear
goal-scoring opportunity,' she replied. ‘What do you think?'

‘But what if you can't get the ball to me?' I added.

Lily pulled a face. ‘Just get the ball to me and get into the box, OK?' she demanded.

I nodded.

It took me five minutes to even get the opportunity to pass Lily the ball, and then she couldn't do anything with it because she was surrounded by Langton players. Instead she sent it back to me and I played it on t Steven.

Steven looked up and saw Corky in space so he passed it on too. Corky ran with the ball past two Langton players and then squared to Byron. By this point I had run into the opposition half and was closing on their last line of defenders. I spotted Lily standing right out on the right-hand touchline. Maybe
she was about to get her wish.

I called for the ball and Byron slid it at me. It was a hard and fast pass but I took it well and turned. Lily made her move, darting behind their left back, and I played the ball into the space she was running into.

I turned and ran for Langton's area, hoping that she would be able to get the ball back to me. I looked all around me but there was no one tracking my run. I was on my own and clear. Lily looked up, stepped over the ball again and then played it right i Front of me.

I could see the ball approaching and I glanced at their goal. Just
four
minutes left of the game and only the keeper to beat. There was no other player near me. Making up my mind to shoot with my right foot, I adjusted my feet and went to strike the ball. But just before I could make contact, I felt my legs give way . . .

‘PENALTY!' I heard the ref shout as I went down.

I rolled over and watched the Langton players going mad. They were protesting about the decision. Then I saw Lily standing over me, smiling. Byron and Dal were with her.

‘Nice one!' said Dal. ‘We did it.'

I got up and saw that Abs had taken the ball from Steven. He walked to the spot and placed it. I knew he'd score. I just
knew
it. And then we'd have our first victory of the season.

I watched calmly as Abs turned and walked back to his starting position. Then he looked at me and winked. I smiled back.

Abs waited for the ref to signal he was ready and then he stepped up, taking a diagonal run at the ball. He lifted his right foot and made contact . . . and missed, skying the ball high over the goal!

All around me Langton players started laughing. Abs put his head in his hands and sank to his knees.

‘OH NO!' I cried out.
Another
missed penalty. Could no one in our team hit the net from the penalty spot . . . ?

TUESDAY WAS TRAINING
night and we went through what had happened against Langton Blues. Mr Turner wasn't there. Instead we had Mr James and Miss Rice taking the session. And Miss Rice was urging us to think about how well we'd played.

‘You were great, mostly,' she told us. ‘Like a real team. You even passed the ball to each other . . .'

‘We still didn't win, miss,' complained Dal. ‘We're always the best at school – why
can't we be the best in the league too?'

‘Ah, but we will be the best if we continue to play like that,' Mr James said, holding a clipboard with lots of papers attached to it. ‘And Dal, we got the point from the draw, remember.'

‘Mr James?' asked Chris.

Yes, son?'

Chris looked at me before he spoke. He looked unsure of what he was about to say. But in the end he spoke anyway.

‘My brother plays for a team like ours and—'

‘Does he want to join?' asked Mr James, doing something that adults tell us kids not to do but do themselves all the time. Interrupt when we're talking!

‘No – he's too old, but he doesn't have to call his coach “sir” or “miss”. Why do we have to?'

The entire squad gasped and looked a
Chris. It was as though he'd just sprouted a new head. We were shocked. Mr James looked at Miss Rice and they burst into laughter. When they'd calmed down, Miss Rice replied.

‘We were talking about that the other week,' she told us. ‘From the first training session all of you called us “sir” and “miss”. We just thought you were all extra-polite.'

‘Does that mean we don't have to?' asked Abs.

Mr James nodded. ‘Not if you don't want to. I'm quite happy for you to call me Ian . . . and I'm sure Wendy would love it if you—'

‘Wendy?' asked one of the girls, Gem. ‘Like in
Peter Pan.
'

Miss Rice grinned. ‘Exactly like
Peter Pan,
' she said. ‘I can even fly . . .'

Most of us laughed or smirked at what Miss Rice had just said, but Gurinder – the first-choice keeper – can be a bit dim at
times. He looked at Miss Rice and asked her how long it took to learn to fly.