T.J. and the Winning Goal (10 page)

Tulsi kicked off, and Ebony played the ball back to Rob. Tommy went to tackle him, but even Tommy wasn’t going to get the ball off Rob. He turned away and laid the ball back to Leila, who curved a pass forward to Ebony. She took the ball in her stride and then pulled it back to Tulsi in midfield. TJ tried to get a tackle in, but Tulsi had already released the ball back to Rob, and . . .

TJ couldn’t believe it. He’d lost Tulsi! One moment she’d been there, and now . . . Where was she? Then he looked round and saw her. At the same moment he saw the
ball
flash past him, saw Tulsi hit it first time, and almost at the same instant, saw it crash into the back of the net.

Mr Wood stood on the touchline and applauded. ‘Great teamwork, Blues!’ he said. ‘Keep it up! Let’s see you come back at them, Greens.’

‘We can’t lose,’ TJ hissed at Rafi. ‘My sister’s watching.’

‘You’d better do something brilliant, then,’ grinned Rafi. Jamie rolled the ball out to Danny, and then it was at TJ’s feet. He gave it inside to Rafi and set off on a run down the wing, but as he chased after Rafi’s return pass he was astonished to see Tulsi running beside him. He just managed to reach the ball first, but he couldn’t get a cross in. He turned and shielded the ball from Tulsi, desperately looking for someone to pass to. Rafi and Tommy both called for it, but they were both marked.
I have to get
past
her
, thought TJ, and he tried to fool Tulsi with a swerve. But she knew him too well. She took the ball away from him and snapped off a pass to Rob, who instantly hit it upfield into the path of Ebony’s curving run. Jamie managed to save her shot, but only just. At the end of the game the score was still 1–0 to the Blues.

‘What’s up, TJ?’ Rob asked him, as they put the equipment away. ‘You’re not still worrying about being beaten by girls.’

‘No,’ replied TJ. ‘And they had you on their side anyway. That makes a big difference.’

‘What then?’

‘Tulsi and Ebony are both fantastic. They played really well together, especially with you giving them passes.’

‘So?’

‘Well, I’d been thinking that if Tulsi got back in the squad then some of the time I’d play up front with Tulsi, and sometimes with
Ebony
. But there was another possibility that I hadn’t thought of. Mr Wood might want Tulsi to play up front with Ebony. Some games I might not even play at all.’ He got changed in silence.
It could actually happen
, he thought.
Even if I’m playing well Mr Wood might decide it’s better to play the others. He might drop me
.

And suddenly, for the first time, he really understood how Tulsi had been feeling.

C
HAPTER
17

WHEN TJ LEFT
school after training his sister was waiting for him. ‘Hey, TJ,’ she said, ‘I’ll walk home with you.’

TJ groaned. He knew he couldn’t stop her. When Lou decided to do something then she did it, whether you liked it or not. ‘Hi, Rob,’ she said, as he joined them. ‘Nice work with those girls. Did they all get in the team?’

‘Tulsi, Ebony and Leila did. Diane’s goalkeeper in the B team. Mr Wood’s entered them into a league. Actually, the B team
could
probably beat most other teams around here.’

‘So, who else is in the squad?’ demanded Lou. ‘I want to hear it first!’

‘Jamie in goal,’ replied Rob with a grin. ‘Tommy, Rodrigo and Danny in defence. You were right about Danny, TJ. He makes a lot of tackles.’

‘Danny got in!’ said Lou. ‘That’s great. You should see those little twins, Rob. They are so cool. I went round to Danny’s house with Mum the other day.’

‘What twins?’ asked Rob.

‘He’s got little sisters,’ said Lou. ‘He’s been looking after them lots. That’s why he wasn’t going to training. And they were keeping him up at night too, and . . . ’

‘And he told me not to tell anyone,’ TJ said, with a look at his sister.

‘So, who else is in the team then?’ said Lou after a pause.

‘Well, there’s Rafi in midfield and me and TJ and that’s it,’ said Rob.

‘You’re not saying much, TJ,’ Lou said.

‘He’s worrying about his place in the team.’

‘No way! Is that true, TJ?’

TJ nodded. ‘You saw Ebony playing with Tulsi. Mr Wood could easily play both of them up front. Why not?’

‘You are a fool, little bro,’ his sister told him. ‘You’ve just spent ages helping Tulsi get back in the team because you know you need a strong squad for this tournament. And now you’ve got a strong squad, here you are moaning about it.’

‘You’re right,’ replied TJ. ‘I suppose I’m just a bit nervous, that’s all.’

‘You should be,’ Lou said, smiling. ‘We’re all coming to watch and I’m expecting something big.’

*

The tournament was taking place on Saturday in a big city nearly a hundred miles away. The squad were going to travel there on Friday afternoon with Mr Wood and Miss Berry, leaving school at lunch time and staying the night in a Youth Centre close to the ground. On Friday morning TJ was awake long before his alarm went off. He had dreamed in the night that they had reached the final, and Ebony had scored a hat-trick. He couldn’t remember if he’d been playing or not.

He got up and checked his kit again, then looked at his overnight bag. He had never spent the night in a strange place on his own before. Well, he knew he wouldn’t be on his own, but his mum and dad wouldn’t be there until the next day, or his gran either. He told himself he was being stupid. It was only one night. He could guess what Lou would say.

His alarm went off, and the day began. They were eating breakfast when they heard the clatter of the letterbox. TJ’s dad came back into the kitchen with a bundle of letters in his hand. He was reading one of them.

‘What is it?’ asked TJ’s mum. ‘I know that look. It’s something important, isn’t it?’

‘No, no,’ said Mr Wilson. ‘We have to get TJ off on his big adventure. I’ll tell you about it later. Now then, TJ, are you ready? Have a good trip. We’ll see you at the ground tomorrow.’

‘Here,’ said his mum, squeezing a large plastic box into the top of one of his bags. ‘Snacks for the journey,’ she said, giving him a kiss. ‘Good luck, love.’

‘Has anyone seen Danny?’ Mr Wood asked them, when he had finished calling the register. ‘TJ, you’re his friend, aren’t you?’

‘He’s not here,’ TJ said. ‘Maybe he’s ill.’

Mr Wood looked worried. ‘I hope not,’ he said. ‘It’s really too late to arrange for anyone to take his place. I’ll get the office to call home and see if we can find out what’s happened. I’m sure he’ll be here by break time.’

But at morning break there was still no sign of Danny. It wasn’t until the minibus was actually pulling out of the school gate that TJ saw him running down the road towards them with two bags bouncing awkwardly against his side. ‘Stop!’ called TJ to Mr Wood. ‘Wait!’

‘I’m really sorry,’ Danny gasped, as Miss Berry opened the side door and let him into the bus.

‘OK, Danny,’ laughed Miss Berry. ‘You made it. That’s the main thing. Right, everyone. We’re on our way at last.’

‘Are you OK?’ TJ asked, as Danny sat quietly in the seat in front of him, but Danny
shook
his head and didn’t reply and TJ was soon busy talking to the rest of his excited team-mates.

There were five other teams staying at the Youth Centre that night. By the time the Parkview minibus arrived after a long hold-up on the motorway all the other teams were already eating in the canteen. TJ and Rob collected a big plateful of sausage and mash and sat at a table where a noisy conversation was going on.

‘You should have seen it,’ a tall boy with curly black hair was saying. ‘We were playing the Manchester United Academy and Bazza was just too good for them. Well, we all were, but Bazza got the goals.’

He patted the boy next to him on the head. The boy grinned behind his glasses.

‘I’m glad I’m not the only one who wears them,’ Rob muttered to TJ.

‘They all play for Academies at big clubs
as
well as their school teams,’ whispered TJ. ‘They must all be brilliant.’

‘Who are you lot?’ asked the curly-haired boy. ‘Where are you from?’

‘Parkview School,’ said TJ.

‘Never heard of them. Are any of you playing for an Academy?’

TJ shook his head. ‘I’d like to, though,’ he said awkwardly, trying to be friendly. ‘Me and Jamie go to the Wanderers Player Development Centre. We . . .’

But the other boy wasn’t listening any more. As soon as they could, Rob and TJ slipped away to join the rest of the boys in their room. The girls were in a separate dorm in a different part of the building. ‘There was a kid on our table who plays for Aston Villa,’ Jamie said. ‘And another one who –’

‘They were probably just making it up,’ said Rafi. But he didn’t seem too sure. ‘And anyway,’ he continued after a moment’s
thought
, ‘it’s school teams we’re playing against. Even if a team has one or two kids in it who play for an Academy, the rest of them are just like us, aren’t they?’

‘Maybe,’ replied Jamie. ‘But they made it sound like all of them were brilliant.’

The door opened and Mr Wood’s head appeared. ‘Bed,’ he said. ‘Lights out in five minutes, and don’t stay awake all night talking. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.’

‘As if we didn’t know that already,’ said TJ, as he climbed into his bunk.

C
HAPTER
18

THE NEXT MORNING
the boys sat together at breakfast. TJ didn’t feel hungry, and he could see that no one else did either. They were looking around the room at the other teams, who all seemed to be having a great time.

‘Hey,’ said Miss Berry, arriving with the girls, ‘why all the long faces? We’re here. We’re in the Regional Tournament. Cheer up!’

‘Miss Berry’s right,’ said Mr Wood. ‘And you have to eat. You’ve got a long day ahead of you. A very long day if you make it all the way to the final.’

‘There’s no chance of that,’ said TJ. ‘There are lots of kids here who play for Academies. They play for big clubs. None of them are nervous like we are.’

‘Oh no?’ said Mr Wood. ‘I can tell you, TJ, that plenty of people make a lot of noise when they’re feeling nervous. You lot are as good as any of them and I don’t even have to see them play to know that. After all, you’ve been coached by me, and they haven’t.’

There was a moment’s silence, and then they all started to laugh. ‘It’s a game,’ Mr Wood said, as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. ‘You’ve done all the hard work, now you need to relax and play as if you were playing in the park. And you need to eat.’

TJ felt a whole lot better and he managed to eat three slices of toast. But when they reached the high school where the tournament was taking place, his nerves returned
in
force. The car park was full of coaches and minibuses and cars. People were milling about everywhere and TJ searched in vain for a sight of his family. He couldn’t see anyone he knew. They went into the school and down a long, echoing corridor to a classroom that the boys were sharing with another team. Miss Berry took the girls away to their own changing room, and a few minutes later they all met up on the field.

Notices were pinned to boards on the edge of the field showing the groups for the first stage of the competition and the pitches where the games were to be played.

‘That’s us,’ said Jamie. ‘Pitch Five. We’re playing Kingsmead School first, then Highfield, then Redhill. That doesn’t sound too bad.’

‘We’re on first,’ said Tulsi. ‘We’ve only got twenty minutes and then we’ve got to play.’

‘Good,’ said Mr Wood. ‘Let’s go and warm
up
. Oh, and Rob, I’d like you to be captain today.’

‘But . . .’

‘No arguments,’ said Mr Wood with a smile. ‘I know you’ll do a good job.’

They found their pitch and saw that their supporters had arrived. TJ ran over to say hello to his family. There were dozens of familiar faces there: Mr Coggins in his ancient blazer, and the dinner ladies, and Mr Burrows and Mrs Logan. There were several other teachers too, and everyone’s family. Although . . . TJ looked along the touchline and couldn’t see Danny’s mum anywhere. But then he saw more faces. Krissy Barton, Deng and Kelvin from Hillside School, and Leroy, the Wasps captain. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked them.