Sabotage Season (2 page)

Just like with the first drill, it became pretty clear what the players' strengths were, and who had goalkeeping in their blood. Sarah, a seventh grader, was really fast and kept her eye on the ball. And Zarine, who was in eighth grade and usually played midfield, made this amazing save where she jumped sideways to catch the ball in midair and then landed by somersaulting on the grass.

“Your turn, Devin!” Jessi called out when the last girl had taken her turn.

“Oh, yeah. Of course!” I replied, running to take my place. Just because I was running the practice didn't mean I couldn't participate in the drill.

I slipped on the goalie gloves and got ready for the onslaught. I didn't have to wait long.

Wham!
Brianna sent a ball sailing past my head.

“I wasn't ready!” I protested.

“A goalie always needs to be ready!” Emma yelled back, laughing, and I knew she was right. I narrowed my eyes and waited for the next ball. Grace kicked it, and it came speeding across the grass, low and fast, aimed for the lower right corner of the goal. I dove for it, skidded across the grass, and blocked it just in time.

No sooner was I back on my feet than Sarah launched the next ball into the air, and I raced across the goal to stop it.

Wow, this is a pretty tough drill,
I realized, but I didn't let on. I gave every shot my best, and managed to block about half of them. After the last shot blew past me, I jogged up to Emma.

“Have I told you lately what an awesome goalie you are?” I asked, breathing hard. “That is hard work.”

Emma grinned. “Yeah, but I love it,” she said. “Although, some nights I dream that soccer balls are flying past my head—like, thousands of them—and I can't stop them.”

I nodded. “I can see why,” I said, and then I turned to the rest of the team. “Okay, let's scrimmage! I'll count off teams.”

We had all nineteen girls now, including me, so I put nine people on a team and I coached from the sideline. Since Zarine had done so well in the last drill, I put her in goal for her team. She seemed a little nervous at first, but I could see her get more comfortable with it as the scrimmage went on.

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed when Coach Flores tapped me on the shoulder.

“Devin, we should end the game,” she said. “Great practice.”

“Already?” I asked. “I was hoping to do one more quick drill at the end.”

Coach nodded toward the parking lot, where some parents were already waiting in cars. “We're running a little late already. Sorry.”

“More drills? You really are a
drill
sergeant,” Jessi teased. “I, for one, am ready for a shower and some dinner.”

“Admit it. It was fun,” I said.

Frida walked up to us, her hands on her hips. “Fun and exhausting,” she said.

After we put the equipment away, Jessi, Emma, Zoe, Frida, and I walked toward the parking lot.

“Hey, I wanted to tell you guys,” Frida said. “So, you know how my mom made me play soccer? Well, she's so happy that I am putting my ‘best effort' into it, as she says, that she signed me up for a weekly acting class. Isn't that great? I start tomorrow.”

“That sounds perfect for you,” Emma agreed.

“It's a win-win,” Frida said. “I ended up liking soccer, and now I get to keep acting, too.”

I wasn't so sure. “You start tomorrow? Couldn't it wait until after soccer season? What if it interferes with your practice?”

“Relax, Devin,” Frida said. “It's only one day a week, when we don't have practice.”

“In Devin's perfect world every day would be a practice day,” Jessi teased. “Practice after breakfast, practice during lunch break . . .”

“Midnight practice,” Emma joined in. “And sunrise practice.”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” I said, laughing. “I'm happy for you, Frida. Seriously.”

“Be happy for me once my mom lets me start auditioning again,” Frida said. “Shawna Young from my old acting class just got a part on a TV show, and I
know
I'm a better actor than she is.”

Just then my mom's car pulled up, so I waved to my friends. “Got to go. See you tomorrow.”

I ran to the car, and when I opened the door, really loud pop music blared out. In the backseat my sister Maisie was bopping up and down.

“Seriously, does it have to be this loud?” I asked.

“Yes, it does!” Maisie yelled from the back.

Mom turned the sound down a little bit. “How did practice go?” she asked.

“Great,” I replied. “I didn't get to do all the drills I wanted, but the ones we did were really good.”

“Of course they were,” Mom said. “That's my dedicated Devin.”

“Turn it up!” Maisie yelled.

Everyone said that Maisie and I looked alike, and I guessed we did, because we both had brown eyes and straight brown hair, although Maisie's was shorter than mine. But just because we looked alike didn't mean we
were
alike. I was a pretty chill person (well, except on the soccer field), and Maisie was like an eight-year-old tornado.

“Maisie, please use your car voice,” Mom scolded, and I quickly dug my earbuds out of my duffel bag and turned
on my own music so I could make it home without going crazy.

Once we got home, I quickly showered and then turned on my laptop in my bedroom. After Kara's last visit we'd decided to do a webcam chat once a day if we could, so we could see each other's faces. But sometimes it was hard to find the right time because it was always three hours later in Connecticut.

“Devin!” Kara cried happily when her face popped up on my screen. The webcam was amazing because I could see every freckle on Kara's face.

“Hey!” I said. “What's up?”

“Still dreaming about my weekend in California with you,” she answered. “It's amazing there! It's so sunny and beautiful. And I still can't believe that we actually went to Hollywood. And how close you are to Disneyland! It must be like being on vacation all the time.”

“It kind of felt like that at first,” I admitted. “But now it's like, you know, life. Like, tonight I have a ton of homework.”

“I did too,” Kara said, making a face. “But I just finished. High-five!”

She held her palm up in front of the camera, and I did the same. Kara cracked me up sometimes.

“Oh, hey,” I said. “I have been dying to tell you something all day. I just figured out that the Kicks might have a chance at the play-offs—if we focus. Can you believe that? After those losses we had in the beginning.”

“That's awesome,” Kara said. “Focusing is good. Although, I don't know how you can focus with that guy Steven staring at you the whole time.”

I blushed. “What?” I asked, but I knew what she meant.

“Steven, that guy with the spiky hair,” Kara replied. “When I saw you in that game against the Panthers, he sat near us, and I swear he was staring at you the whole entire game.”

“He was not,” I protested.

“He's cute!” Kara said. “I wish somebody that cute would stare at me.”

“Fine, he's cute,” I admitted. “But I can't think about stuff like that right now. I need to focus on school and on the Kicks until the season is over.”

“Maybe Steven is thinking about you right now,” Kara teased. “Devin and Steven. It kind of rhymes.”

Then she began to sing, “Devin and Steven. Devin and Steven—”

“No distractions!” I yelled, and then we both collapsed into giggles.

Every time I talked to Kara, I realized how much I missed her. The webcam was nice, but it was just not the same as being with her in person. Sometimes I daydreamed that Kara and her family moved out to California and she joined the Kicks. If that could have happened, I thought my life would have been pretty perfect!

“Devin!” Frida cried as I walked into the locker room on Wednesday after school. We had a rare afternoon game against the Victorton Eagles. We had lost to the Eagles once before and I really wanted to beat them this time.

Frida was sitting on a bench in front of a row of lockers. “I need inspiration,” she pleaded.

“Oh! I got one!” Emma called as she stuck her head around the row of lockers. “Frida, you can be an alien who is sent undercover to Earth to learn about what life is like for a typical middle school girl. So you join the soccer team and stuff.”

“Hmmmm.” Frida considered this. “Am I an evil alien? Like, am I going to use the things I learn to take over the world?”

“Nah.” Emma shook her head. “You're peaceful. You're trying to figure out if humans are ready to know about alien
life or if they'll just freak out. And if you find us worthy, you can share all your awesome alien technology with us.”

“I like that,” Frida said. She closed her eyes tightly. “Okay, need to find my motivation.”

Some people might have thought that Frida was weird. But we'd figured out that if she had a role to play during a soccer game, she'd play a lot better. Whatever worked, right? I left her to it and walked to the next row of lockers, where Emma, Jessi, and Zoe were getting changed.

“Victorton Eagles are going down!” Jessi said with a grin. “I feel like the Kicks are unstoppable!”

“I can't believe how good we're doing, especially after how rough the start of the season was, especially for me,” Zoe said, and she shook her head.

“I knew you could do it, Zoe!” Emma cheered. I swore Emma had an endless supply of enthusiasm.

“Yeah, you've totally conquered your soccer stage fright,” Jessi said.

Zoe smiled shyly. “Frida's tricks really work. During the last game I just imagined that everyone in the stands was my mom, and I calmed right down.”

“Can you imagine if everyone in the stands were Maisie?” I joked. “Wait, that might not be so bad. She could annoy the other team into distraction.”

My friends laughed as I sat down on the bench and started pulling my cleats out of my duffel bag. Then a garbled voice sounded over the loudspeaker. “Devin Burke, please report to the main office.”

“Ooooohhhh!” my teammates cried as if I were in trouble.

“But we've got a game!” I complained as Coach Flores walked into the locker room.

“Better hustle, then, Devin,” Coach said.

I sighed. I had wasted time talking when I should have been getting my uniform on. And the main office was on the other side of the school! I wondered what they wanted me for. I was sure I wasn't in trouble for anything. At least, I was pretty sure.

“Okay,” I said to Coach. “I'll be back soon!”

I sprinted out of the locker room, nearly colliding with Giselle and Grace, and then took off running as fast as I could. Oh, well. I could consider it my warm-up for the game.

I skidded to a halt in the main office, panting.

“My name is Devin Burke,” I said in between breaths. “I was paged over the loudspeaker to come to the office.”

“Ah, Devin.” Mrs. Wolbach, one of the secretaries, smiled at me. “Your mom is on the phone.”

She pointed to a phone on a table in the corner of the office. The receiver was off the hook and sitting on the table.

Why wouldn't my mom call me on my cell phone?
I wondered. That was what she usually did. And she knew I had a game after school today too. I started to get nervous, wondering if everything was okay.

I picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

A dial tone hummed on the other end, so I told Mrs. Wolbach.

“Go ahead and call her back,” she said. “Maybe the call got disconnected.”

I quickly punched in my mom's cell phone number.

“Devin?” My mom sounded surprised when she heard my voice. “Don't you have a game? Maisie and I are sitting in the bleachers now.”

“Yes, but you called me,” I said. “I mean, the secretary, Mrs. Wolbach, said that you called the main office asking for me. They paged me from the locker room to come and take the call.”

“I'm sorry, honey, but I didn't call. Maybe they got your name mixed up with someone else?” Mom suggested.

“Maybe, but I gotta go!” I cried. “I'm not even in my uniform yet!”

“Good luck!” Mom said before hanging up.

I quickly told Mrs. Wolbach what my mom had said.

“I could have sworn the woman said she wanted to talk to her daughter, Devin Burke,” Mrs. Wolbach said, and frowned. “That's odd. There
is
a boy named Devon Ernst in the sixth grade. I suppose I could have mixed you two up.”

“Okay, but I have to run!” I said. I didn't want to miss the game!

“Go, and have a great game!” Mrs. Wolbach gave me a smile, and I darted out of the office, running as fast as I could.

I cut outside and ran past the field because I figured it
was shorter, plus I didn't want to get in trouble for running in the halls. The Kangaroos were already on the field, warming up. I had to hustle!