Sabotage Season (11 page)

“I don't care about revenge,” I said. “I just want all this sabotage to stop, if that's what it is.”

“You want what to stop?” Grace asked curiously, looking up as she tied her cleats.

“Hey, what's going on?” Emma asked.

The rest of the Kicks huddled around us, wanting to hear the story.

Jessi explained about the banner, and a shocked silence fell over the group.

“That is harsh,” Anna said loudly, breaking the silence.

An angry murmur filled the locker room. No surprise, the Kicks weren't happy to hear this news.

“Now put it all together,” Jessi said, her hands on her hips. “Remember that fake e-mail from Coach Flores? And how Devin's bag went missing and someone canceled our practice? And did you hear how the boys' soccer ball was tampered with at their game against the Roses? This is not a coincidence. The Panthers are trying to ruin our season!”

“What should we do?” Alandra asked. She sounded panicked.

Jessi explained about our appointment with the league director. A lot of the girls started talking excitedly among themselves, while some of them asked Jessi questions.

I began to worry that maybe we shouldn't have told everybody everything. If whatever was happening was meant to throw us off our game, it would only work if the entire team got paranoid. I wanted the Kicks to focus on practice and winning, not on someone trying to sabotage us!

Practice that day was rough. Instead of focusing, girls would stop and start whispering to each other on the field, clearly still rattled by the news. But Jessi had no problem concentrating. In fact, she seemed thrilled that people were finally starting to believe her.

Friday's practice went a little better, but our rhythm seemed off. It had me worried. If this kept up, we would be exiting the Play-offs Express!

After practice Coach drove Jessi and me to the Gilmore County Middle School Soccer League's office, located at the community center in Adams, a town only a few miles away. She had made the appointment and gotten permission from our parents to take us over.

As we drove into the parking lot, I saw the Atoms, the Adams soccer team, practicing in the field next to the community center. It was just a coincidence that their practice field was next to the league building, but it got me thinking. We hadn't played them yet, but I'd heard they were pretty good. As Jessi and Coach walked into the building, I stopped to watch the Atoms'
practice, wondering what drills they were running.

“Uh, Devin?” Jessi said. “Come on!”

“Sorry!” I ran over to catch up. I started to get that butterfly feeling in my stomach again. “League director” sounded so important. What if she didn't believe us? I was starting to wish we hadn't even come.

We were shown into Ms. Carides's office, and she stood up as we entered the room. A tall, thin woman about Coach's age, she had long, dark hair.

“Maria.” Ms. Carides smiled warmly at Coach Flores. “It's nice to see you again.”

“You too, Beatriz,” Coach replied. “I'd like you to meet Jessi and Devin.” Ms. Carides smiled at us both. “As I mentioned on the phone yesterday, they have some concerns about possible misconduct from players on one of the other teams.”

“Please have a seat,” she said, and gestured to the chairs. I sat down nervously, feeling awkward. But Jessi looked confident. It was obvious she couldn't wait to tell Ms. Carides everything.

“Who would like to begin?” Ms. Carides asked, looking between me and Jessi.

“I will!” Jessi jumped in eagerly. She outlined everything that had happened so far and ended with a flourish, placing the friendship bracelet on Ms. Carides's desk. “And here's our proof!”

Ms. Carides picked up the bracelet and held it in her hand, staring at it thoughtfully.

“Girls, there is certainly not enough proof for me to bring any action against the Panthers,” she said firmly. “The Kicks may be having a better season this year than last, but let's face it, you got off to a very rocky start this year. I'm not exactly sure if another team would be so threatened by you that they would go to such extremes.”

I felt my cheeks blaze red, and saw Jessi frown. Basically she was saying we weren't good enough to be the subject of sabotage!

“But the banner is definite proof that someone is messing with us,” Jessi pointed out. “Isn't that at least poor sportsmanship or something?”

“For all we know, that banner might have been defaced by someone from Kentville,” Ms. Carides pointed out.

Jessi looked angry. “But the bracelet—”

“Is what would be called circumstantial evidence in any court of law,” the league director interrupted. Then she sighed. “You are clearly a team that is finding itself this season, and I do commend all of you and Coach Flores for the hard work you've done. My recommendation is to focus on practice and not worry about these other distractions. Strong practices will continue to strengthen your team.” She handed the bracelet back to Jessi.

Coach Flores quickly stood up, looking offended. “Thank you for taking the time to hear the girls out, Beatriz,” Coach Flores said crisply. “Girls, please thank Ms. Carides for her time.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled, looking at the floor. This had
been a disaster. Jessi mumbled something too, but I could barely hear what she said.

Shoulders slumped, we left the office. No one said a word until we were back in the parking lot.

“She thinks we stink!” Jessi cried angrily.

“Now, Jessi,” Coach said in a soothing tone of voice. “She suggested you focus on practice and continuing to improve. It's a valid point.”

“That's what I've been saying all along!” I said, totally exasperated. That had been so embarrassing! “Ms. Carides is right. We should be worried about practices and improving, not this other stuff.”

Jessi glared at me, her arms crossed in front of her. I glared back. Coach sighed. “Oh, dear,” she said sadly. “Girls, you've got to let this go. Don't let it get to you. Remember, we're a team!”

We drove back to the school mostly in silence, Jessi and I barely speaking. If someone was really trying to sabotage us, then it was working! The Kicks were starting to come apart.

“Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

I watched, wide-eyed, as Frida recited the creepy words over a plastic cauldron in the rehearsal room at the Dramaworks Acting Studio. Her acting class was giving a special performance for family and friends. Frida had on a long, gray robe, and her hair looked messy and hung over her eyes. Even though she didn't have any makeup on her face, she looked incredibly scary, and her voice was so spooky that it gave me chills. Now I understood why she wanted to be an actress. She was amazing!

She and two other girls dressed in gray robes danced around the cauldron. “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble!” they chanted, and I actually felt a little spooked.

When the scene finished, a woman with sandy-brown hair stepped in front of them.

“That was from
Macbeth
, act 4, scene 1,” she said. “Let's give a hand for our students.”

The audience clapped as the girls took a bow. Frida's eyes were shining. Next to me Emma let out a cheer.

“Whoo! Go, Frida!”

Emma, Zoe, Jessi, and I had come to see some short Shakespeare scenes that the members of Frida's acting class had prepared. Honestly, I hadn't been sure what to expect, but I'd really liked it. They'd picked a bunch of short, exciting scenes, and even though everyone had been talking like they did hundreds of years ago, it had still been easy to figure out what was going on. The scene with the witches closed the show, so we rushed up to Frida.

“You were awesome!” Emma cried, hugging her.

“Totally scary,” Zoe added.

Jessi nodded. “You make an awesome witch.”

Frida grinned. “Thanks. I was thinking I could use the character at our next game. Imagine if we could put a spell on the other team so that none of their kicks would reach the goal?”

Jessi giggled. “Or we could turn the Panthers into toads.”

“That wouldn't be a fair game,” I pointed out. “I just
know that we're both going to make the play-offs, and when we face them there, I want to beat them fair and square.”

“But what if
they
don't play fair and square?” Jessi asked, looking right at me.

“Come on. Let's go eat,” Frida said, changing the subject. “Acting makes me absolutely ravenous!”

Frida's mom had arranged to take us to Chan's Dragon Inn after the performance, so we all piled into the car and headed out to the restaurant. I'd never been there before; inside, it looked like something out of a movie, with gold dragon statues on pedestals, ruby-red tablecloths, and a big fish tank with orange fish swimming in it by the front door.

“I love this place,” Frida said. “It's so glamorous, isn't it?”

“I like how it smells in here,” Jessi remarked. “Now
I'm
feeling absolutely ravenous!”

Frida's three aunts walked in behind us, and Frida's mom sat at a table with them and let the five of us Kicks sit at the table next to them. I opened up the big menu and stared at the pages; there must have been a hundred different dishes, but I knew what I wanted.

“Chicken and broccoli, please,” I said when the waiter took our order.

Jessi ordered beef lo mein, Emma asked for dumplings, and Zoe ordered the same as I had. And then it was Frida's turn.

“Szechuan tofu please,” she said, “and we'll all have
a cup of hot and sour soup. And tea for the table.” The waiter gave a little bow and left us.

“Hot and sour soup?” Jessi asked with a grimace.

“Trust me. You'll love it,” Frida said. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you guys for coming. It was just an informal preview, but we'll be doing a full show in a couple of months, and that should be amazing.”

“You are totally the best one in the class,” I told her.

Frida blushed a little. “Thanks,” she replied. “It's a really cool role to play. The witches are the ones who set the whole play into motion. They're the ones who tell Macbeth that he's destined to be king, and then he takes destiny into his own hands and kills the king so he can take his place.”

Emma shuddered. “That's horrible!”

Jessi gave me another look. “Yes, people are capable of awful things. Like sabotage!”

I sighed. “Can't we just forget about it?”

“Are you talking about the banner?” Emma asked. “I still can't believe that someone would do that to us.”

“It's not just someone; it's the Panthers,” Jessi said firmly.

“Maybe it's just Mirabelle,” Frida added thoughtfully. “In Macbeth it's his wife, Lady Macbeth, who's really behind everything. Maybe Mirabelle is like the Lady Macbeth of the Panthers.”

“I'm not sure about the Macbeth stuff, but I think you're right about Mirabelle,” Jessi agreed, leaning forward. “After
all, she's the only one with a really personal connection to the Kicks.”

Zoe nodded. “You're right. It's got to really bug her that she transferred to the Panthers and thought she was going to be so much better than us, but we beat them.”

“And we already know that Mirabelle was at the game when Devin's uniform was stolen,” Jessi pointed out. “She is the most obvious suspect.”

“Listen, I'll admit that this kind of makes sense,” I said. “But what are we supposed to do? We already talked to Ms. Carides about it, and she told us to focus and practice. I agree with her.”

“Who's Ms. Carides?” Emma asked.

“She's the league director,” I replied. “Coach Flores took us to talk to her, and we explained everything, but she didn't really believe us.”

“Even after I showed her the evidence.” Jessi took the friendship bracelet out of her pocket. “Panthers colors. I found it in the equipment room.”

Emma, Zoe, and Frida looked shocked.

“No way!” Emma cried. “How could she not believe you after seeing this?”

Zoe shook her head. “That's so not fair.”

“Exactly,” I said. “But there's nothing we can do except keep our eyes open and play our best.”

Jessi got a devious look on her face. “Unless we get more proof.”

“And how do we do that?” I asked.

“I could spy on Mirabelle,” Jessi replied.

“That sounds ridiculous,” I said. “What do you mean, ‘spy'?”

“Like, follow her around and see what she does,” Jessi answered. “Didn't you ever read
Harriet the Spy
? She got the dirt on everybody.”