A Goal for Joaquin (15 page)

“All right then, lion tamer, what's our plan of action?” Kari said. She grabbed Cocoa's long pony -tail and gently tossed it into her friend's pretty face.
 

Cocoa looked embarrassed by all the attention. “Well,” she said, “the first thing we have to do is find Monte and get him back here so he can help fight his own battles. Any ideas where we find him?” No one answered. “Well, maybe he went home.” She looked at Joaquin. “How about if you and Julio go to the office and get his phone number. The rest of us will see if we can find his friends. Maybe they know where he went.”

“Oh, great, ” Meta mumbled under her breath. “I can't wait to talk to these guys.”

The group split in two and set out to find Monte. It didn't take long. He was sitting at home watching television when Joaquin called. At first he refused to come back to school. He said it was a waste of time. Nobody was going to take his word against a teacher's. Besides, he wasn't sure he really wanted to play soccer. “I'm not sure I want to get into all that rah-rah school stuff,” he said. “Maybe I'll wait till they start a skateboard team.” He chuckled bitterly into the receiver.

After several minutes of coaxing, Joaquin finally convinced him to come back to try to straighten things out. Monte was surprised when he heard that even the girls were willing to stick up for their troubled goalie. He promised to be back in the building before the end of the lunch hour. Joaquin went back to tell the others. After a quick conference, they decided to meet with Mr. Tobias. They were willing to trust his judgment as to what their next move should be.

It was agreed that Joaquin and Julio would wait by the front door for Monte while Kari, Meta, and Cocoa went to find the principal. Within twenty minutes the entire group was gathered in Mr. Tobias's office. He said he'd listen to what they had to say but made it clear that he wouldn't take sides until he heard Mr. Hewett's side of the story. Monte went through the same story he had told Joaquin. Mr. Tobias let him speak but showed no expression to indicate whether or not he believed the story. When Monte was finished, Mr. Tobias sent the kids back to their classes. He said he would meet with the teacher before the end of the day and then let Monte know what he found out. He complimented the group for acting maturely in the way they handled the situation. Cocoa spoke for the group, telling the principal how much they appreciated his support. He warned them they'd better wait to hear his decision before thanking him. He wrote late passes for the entire group and sent them off to class.

There was no word until after school. All six students were sitting in the cafeteria waiting when they heard Monte's name called over the loudspeaker. They all filed down to the office to hear the news. When they walked into Mr. Tobias's office, they saw Mr. Hewett sitting in a chair opposite the principal. “What's this?” Hewett asked sarcastically. “Do they have to send the whole team to talk about one guy cheating on a test? I'd say this is between Monte and me.”

“Monte's friends are just interested in his situation. They are here to listen.” Mr. Tobias explained. “Now, Monte, I've been discussing your problem with Mr. Hewett. He says you were getting mostly D's and F's all year. Then all of a sudden on the biggest test of the semester you get a score of 84%. Is that true?”

“Sure, but I wasn't really trying before,” Monte answered. “Then when I decided to go out for soccer I knew I had to get my grades up to a C average so I started working. I did all the assignments the last few weeks and I actually studied for the test. Nobody helped me. I just did it. Then instead of being happy about my improvement, Mr. Hewett accuses me of cheating and gives me a zero. Everybody knows the guy hates soccer.” Monte looked down at the table as he made the last statement.

“Well, according to your teacher, you were sitting right next to Shelly Murphy who scored a 91 on the test. He says he saw your eyes wandering over to her paper during the test.” Mr. Tobias sat with his elbows on his desk and his fingers interlocked in front of his face.

“That's bull,” Monte responded. He stood up from his chair and started to leave the office. “Shelly Murphy wouldn't give me the time of day much less let me copy answers from her test. Hewett's just saying that because he knows I'm telling the truth, and he doesn't want you to know what he did.”

“It's Mr. Hewett.” The principal corrected Monte. “Now sit down and listen to what we've decided to do.”

“I know what you decided,” Monte barked back. “You're gonna take his side because he's a teacher and I'm just a slimeball student.” Monte headed toward the door. Julio reached out and grabbed Monte's arm to stop him.

“Sit down, Mr. Rose!” Mr. Tobias ordered. “Now, after talking this situation over, Mr. Hewett has agreed to let you retake the test in my office. If you score in the B-range again, then he's willing to drop the cheating accusation. But if your results are much lower, then you're going to have to live with the grade he gave you. Now, does that sound fair?”

Monte looked surprised by the suggestion. He nodded his approval.
 

“Now if your friends want to leave the office, you can take the exam right now,” Mr. Tobias said. “You'll get the results in the morning.”

The five students stood up and started out the door. Monte gave them the thumbs up sign as they departed. Joaquin gave Monte a pat on the shoulder for support as he walked past. Once in the hall the students congratulated each other on how well they had handled the situation.
 

Monte not only received another chance to show what he could do, but he also learned that turning your back on problems doesn't solve them. His first reaction was to leave school and assume there was no way to prove he was unfairly accused of cheating. However, by returning and confronting the situation head on, he was able to demonstrate that he had legitimately scored a B on the exam. No one in the group mentioned the possibility that Mr. Hewett was right in his interpretation of the incident.

* * *

The next morning, as Mr. Tobias had promised, Monte received the results of his second test. He scored an 86% on the retake. During a short meeting in the principal's office, Mr. Hewett reluctantly apologized for his accusation. Monte awkwardly accepted the apology and then thanked Mr. Tobias for serving as an impartial referee. It was probably the first time Monte had ever walked out of the principal's office with a smile on his face.
 

* * *

The school year ended and the soccer players renewed their high expectations for the upcoming fall season. With Monte academically eligible to play, Joaquin's vision of getting revenge against Coach Sommers became stronger and more clearly focused. He wished he didn't have to wait three months to start working toward his dream.

 

Chapter 18

 

For Joaquin the summer dragged slowly by. He worked nine hours a day, five days a week, at a canning factory in Willowdale. His job was easy but boring. From seven in the morning until four-thirty in the afternoon, he moved empty cans from large, neatly stacked skids on to a conveyor line that moved them to the canning plant. There was no movement of air in the building where he worked, so the temperature throughout most of the summer was in the mid-ninties or higher. The noise from the forklift tractors that moved the skids in and out of position and the constant rattling of empty tin cans on a metal conveyor made it impossible to hold a conversation with his coworkers. Joaquin spent most of his time daydreaming about soccer. He looked at his watch frequently hoping for the end of his shift.

Being new on the job, Joaquin ended up working most weekends. His days off varied from week to week. This made it difficult to get together with friends. As a result, Joaquin spent the majority of his free time at home. In a way this was relaxing. He realized that his passion for revenge was bothering some of the players on his team. He was sharp enough to sense a definite coolness when he was with Kari and Meta. And even Julio and Cocoa often walked away when Joaquin started talking about how he was going to show Coach Sommers what real soccer looked like. He did miss seeing his friend Jessica who spent most of the summer at her parent's cottage in northern Wisconsin. She had a job waiting tables at a resort, so she rarely returned to Lakeshore. She and her mother stayed at the cottage all week, and her dad and brother came up Friday nights and stayed till Sunday afternoon.

On his days off from work, Joaquin usually pitched a tent in the woods behind his house, and he and his dog Duke spent their evenings watching the stars and looking into a campfire. Joaquin wondered what Duke thought about as he lay there beside the crackling fire. Was he, like Buck in Jack London's
Call of the Wild
, remembering back thousands of years to a more primitive existence, or was he simply absorbing the sounds and scents of the summer night? Joaquin guessed it was the latter. When the fire burned down, Joaquin and Duke crawled into the tent and slept until either the birds woke them or until the morning sun heated the tent to the point where it was impossible to sleep inside. Some nights Joaquin's dad joined them in their camp-outs. Joaquin relished these nights because his father had so many interesting stories to tell around the campfire.
 

Most days after work, Joaquin and Duke walked and ran along the country roads around their farm. Sometimes they'd take shortcuts through the woods and fields so that Duke could test his hunting skills. Other times, Joaquin stayed home to help his father in the garden or to watch Maria work with Chief and Rocky. Duke never left Joaquin's side. Joaquin enjoyed the time spent with his dog. Duke never questioned Joaquin's plans, and he never turned away when Joaquin discussed plans to score nine goals against Lakeshore. Duke seemed happy whenever his human companion had time share. Tuesday and Thursday nights, of course, were reserved for soccer. Nothing ever interfered with that.
 

The summer practices were supposed to be informal. In fact, according to state rules, they were not practices at all. Coach Budzinski had nothing to do with these sessions. Any participation by the coach was strictly prohibited. Attendance was optional, yet most of the players attended whenever possible.
 

For the most part, these sessions went quite well. The only conflict that ever arose was when Joaquin thought his teammates lacked commitment and a serious enough approach to the game. Some nights the players would start horsing around, skipping up and down the field or grabbing an opponent and holding them until help arrived to steal the ball. It was simple fun that almost all of the kids enjoyed—all except for Joaquin, of course. He'd scowl and walk to the sidelines grumbling things like, “Bunch of goof-offs!” or “Nobody even cares if we lose every game this fall.” He always made these comments to himself, but he said them loud enough so that at least one or two other players could hear him. Some times Julio or Cocoa would tell him to ease up and have some fun, but he ignored them. He'd go drink water or sit along the sideline until either the players started playing seriously again or until everybody else walked off the field too. When this happened, the practice simple ended. Joaquin would walk to his car alone, or with Duke if he was along, and drive home without a word to anyone.
 

* * *

As the summer progressed, Joaquin noticed a couple of things. First, he realized that more and more players were avoiding him at practice. Nobody asked him to go out for a Pepsi or a pizza after the workouts. He had become somewhat of a loner again. He remembered how he used to feel sitting on the bus by himself at Lakeshore. He got the feeling it was starting all over . In the back of his mind, he knew it was his own fault for being so critical of his teammates, but he just couldn't overlook their apparent lack of commitment to the team. He also noticed that Julio and Cocoa left almost every practice together. They never invited Joaquin to go wherever they were going. This made Joaquin jealous. After all, Julio was his best friend in Willowdale, and Cocoa had a magic about her that no guy in his right mind could ignore. Logically, he knew that he had no reason to be jealous of anybody going out with Cocoa. The two of them had never had any romantic connection. In fact, Joaquin was dating Jessica whenever she was in town. Still logic does not always win out over emotions in the inner churning of a teenager's feelings. It was a long summer for Joaquin.

Finally, it was August 16, the day teams were allowed to start their official practices. Coach Budzinski had sent out a letter to all candidates telling them that they should meet at the practice field at six o'clock in the evening. They were to be dressed and ready to start working. The letter surprised and disappointed Joaquin a little. In the back of his mind, he had an image of Coach Budzinski acting as sort of a figurehead coach. He assumed the old janitor had agreed to coach the team just so they could get school approval. It never occurred to him that Buzzy would actually take on the role of a traditional coach. To be honest, Joaquin had imagined himself assuming much of the responsibility of the coach.
 

The first four or five practices were not easy. Buzzy made it clear that he believed strongly in the importance of conditioning. He worked his players through many of the drills he had learned while playing for the army team. Several players grumbled about the intensity of the practices. Buzzy was not the gentle old good-natured man the kids all knew from school. Now he was a coach who demanded serious effort from his players. He didn't give any special privileges to anyone. The new recruits received just as much attention as the players who had organized the team. The three girls on the team were treated exactly the same as the boys. There was never a mention of gender. Kari and Meta and Cocoa worked harder than most of the boys, and they never complained about anything their coach did or said. It was obvious that they appreciated being treated as equals.