Hat Trick (8 page)

“Thanks for helping me out with this,” I said to Jessi, Emma, and Zoe on Friday afternoon. They had come to my house to help me teach Maisie how to play soccer.

“No problem,” said Zoe. “I'm just glad we could find a time when we could all be together.”

“It almost didn't work out,” I told her. “Demolition Darby nearly stuck us with an extra practice today.”

Jessi cracked up. “Demolition Darby? That's too good.”

I grinned. “Yeah, it's perfect.”

“Is that what you call her?” Emma asked. “I'm starting to think it's a good thing I didn't make this league!”

Just then Mom pulled up in the driveway with Maisie and two of her friends, Kaylin and Juliet. Kaylin wore her dark hair in braids, and Juliet had short blond hair.

“Oh my gosh, it's Maisie and a little Jessi and a little Zoe!” Emma said, and I realized that they did kind of look like younger versions of our friends. “Is there a little Emma in there too?”

Mom laughed. “No, just these three mini-Kicks.”

“Kaylin and Juliet want to play soccer too, so Mom said they could come,” Maisie said, as if she were expecting me to complain about it.

“That's great!” I said. “The more players we have, the better the drills will be. Come on. We're all set up in the backyard.”

“All set up” sounded much more impressive than it was. My friends had brought their soccer balls, and Dad had gotten us some cones when I'd told him we would need them for practice. But it would be enough to help Maisie learn soccer.

Jessi and I had been talking about the drills we remembered doing when we were kids, so we'd come up with a plan.

“Okay, let's everybody get in a circle!” I said. “We're going to play a game.”

Maisie put her hands on her hips. “I'm not here to play games. I'm here to learn soccer!”

I looked at Jessi and rolled my eyes, but it was Emma who straightened her out.

“Lighten up, mini-Devin!” she said. “Playing games is a great way to learn stuff.”

“Okay,” Maisie said. “But don't call me mini-Devin!”

“Yes, please don't!” I added.

We all formed a circle, and I launched into the game.

“Okay, this game is called I Can Do—Can You?” I began. “I'm going to do something, and then you guys have to copy me. Okay?”

Maisie and her friends nodded. I started by doing jumping jacks.

“I can do jumping jacks. Can you?” I asked.

“Of course!” Maisie yelled, and her friends giggled as they did their jumping jacks.

Then I nodded to Jessi, who took over. “I can hop on one foot. Can you?” And we all started hopping on one foot.

I hadn't realized it when I was doing this as a kid, but when my coach back then had played this game with us, she'd been teaching us balance and movement. After Jessi, Emma, Zoe, and I all gave challenges, we let the girls challenge us.

“I can stand on my hands, can you?” asked Maisie, doing a perfect handstand.

“Um, I'm too tall to do a handstand,” Emma said, giving it her best try.

“If you can't do it, we win!” Maisie said.

“Maisie, this isn't about winning. It's about having fun,” I said, rolling my eyes at Jessi again. I was starting to wonder if helping Maisie was such a good idea.

“Let's play Hit the Cone!” Jessi shouted, and she made it sound like so much fun that the three little girls cheered.

We scattered the cones around the backyard and gave each girl a ball.

“When I say go, I want you to dribble the ball to a cone and then try to hit the cone with the ball,” said Jessi.

“That's easy,” said Maisie.

“Go!” Jessi yelled.

The girls started dribbling the balls around the yard. They were so cute, all of them concentrating really hard. The balls kept getting away from them, like it had for me when I'd first been learning how to dribble.

“Short kicks!” I coached them. “And wait until you get close to the cone before you hit it.”

“Got one!” yelled Juliet (aka mini-Zoe), and I saw Maisie frown. I knew she had wanted to be the first to hit the cone.

Jessi caught the look too. “I hope she turns out to be a mini-Devin and not a mini-Jamie,” she said to me.

“I hope so too!” I said. “We're going to have to do some good sportsmanship games with them or something.”

I was about to jump in and give the girls some dribbling tips when a voice rang across the backyard.

“Did you miss me?”

I whirled around and saw Frida giving Emma a huge hug! I had texted Frida about today but hadn't heard back.

“Surprise!” Frida said when she saw me. “They let us off set early today, so I came right over.”

Frida's red curls were the shiniest I had ever seen them, and her face looked polished and perfect.

“Are you wearing your set makeup?” Zoe asked. “You look like a high schooler!”

“It's for the cameras,” Frida said. “You'll see. When the movie comes out, I'll look just like regular old me on the screen.”

Maisie abandoned her ball and ran up to greet Frida.

“Frida! What are you today? A wizard? A detective? A princess?” she asked.

Maisie was Frida's biggest fan when Frida played for the Kicks. Maisie always wanted to know what character Frida was playing when she was on the field.

“Well, right now I'm playing middle school girl who just spent an exciting day filming a TV movie with an adorable superstar, Brady McCoy,” Frida answered.

Kaylin and Juliet came running over.

“Do you know Brady McCoy?” Kaylin asked, wide-eyed.

“Kaylin likes him!” Juliet said with a giggle.

“Well, we're currently working together,” Frida said, as if she were being interviewed by
Hollywood Tonight
and not by a bunch of eight-year-olds in a backyard.

“What's he like?” Emma asked. “You so owe me details!”

“Well, he's always on time, and he knows his lines, and between takes he likes to practice his dance moves,” Frida reported.

“And can you confirm that his favorite color is teal? And that his favorite food is spaghetti Bolognese? And his favorite dog is a yellow Lab? Because that's what all the magazines say, but sometimes I wonder if they make that stuff up,” Emma said.

“Well, none of that stuff has ever come up in conversation,” Frida said. “But he showed me a picture of his dog on his phone, and I think it was yellow.”

“He showed you his phone?” Emma squealed, and then Kaylin, Maisie, and Juliet started squealing too.

“Enough about Brady,” Frida said. “I came to help teach Maisie how to play soccer.”

“Can you tell us how to act when we're on the soccer field, like you do?” Maisie asked.

“Well, sure,” Frida said. She looked at the cones. “What were you guys doing when I came up? It looks like fun.”

“We just have to hit the cones with the ball, but it's not as easy as it sounds,” Maisie said.

“They need a little help with ball control,” Jessi said.

Frida nodded. “I think I got it. You guys are spies, all right? And if you hit the ball with the cone, you will gain entrance into this bad guy's secret lab. But if you lose the ball, his goons will detect you, so you have to be really focused. Got it?”

Maisie nodded. “Spies. Got it.”

“Why are we being spies?” Juliet asked.

“Just try it,” Maisie said.

The three girls started dribbling the ball again with super-serious looks on their faces. They moved a little more slowly and carefully this time.

Now it was my turn to hug Frida. “I'm so glad you came!” I said.

“Me too,” said Frida. “I miss you guys like crazy. But filming will be done soon.”

“So, you're saying that time is running out for me to meet Brady in person?” Emma asked, and Zoe nudged her.

Frida rolled her eyes, but she was laughing. “Anyway, I'm glad I could make it,” Frida said. “Maisie and her friends are supercute.”

“Yeah, they are,” I admitted.

“We've
got
to find a way to save their soccer program,” Jessi said.

“I know,” agreed Zoe. “Things have just been so crazy.”

“Well, maybe we could meet after our games tomorrow and come up with a plan,” I suggested. “We had some decent ideas the last time we talked.”

“I think I can do it,” said Zoe.

“Me too,” added Emma.

Frida frowned. “We're shooting tomorrow. But I'll be there in spirit.”

I hugged Frida. “And anyway, you're here now, right? The Kicks are back together again.”

“What do you mean, back together?” Frida asked. “We're always together, even when we're not,” she said, and I totally got it.

Soccer or no soccer, we would always be the Kicks. We would always be there for one another. Why hadn't I figured that out sooner?

I should have realized my friends would help me make this hat trick easy!

“Are we there yet?” Maisie whined in the seat next to me.

It was Saturday morning, early, and the Griffons were playing the Gilmore Giants all the way out in Los Arboles. This time the whole family was coming to the game, which meant I got stuck in the backseat with Maisie instead of being able to sit up front next to Dad. I had my headphones on for a while, but I was ramped up about the game, and the music was distracting. But it was less distracting than Maisie.

“We're almost there,” Mom said, and then I slipped my headphones back on and looked out the window.

Were we driving all this way just so I could sit on a bench again? And if I did get to play, would I turn into some kind of aggro beast and start elbowing players on the field? I imagined a sea of yellow cards raining down from the sky.

Or what if I kept my cool but I got hit—or worse, hurt? What if I got an injury that kept me out of soccer for the season? Or for the Kicks' season? Or for the rest of my life?

I knew my thoughts were out of control, so I took a deep breath and looked out the window again. The last practice had gone pretty well. Coach Darby had let me play striker. And the Griffons were starting to come together as a team—well, most of the Griffons, anyway.

It had to be a better game, right?

I had my first clue that things were on the upswing when I got onto the field. Jessi jogged up to me, and I saw her mom and dad waving to us from the sidelines.

“Hey, Devin,” Jessi said, stretching. She glanced over at the Giants, who were starting to warm up on the other side of the field in their navy-and-white uniforms. “From their name, I thought maybe they'd all be way taller than us. But they look like normal humans.”

“Let's hope they play like normal humans,” I said, and then Coach Darby walked onto the field.

“Listen up, girls!” she yelled. “Today Devin's going to lead us in a team building exercise. Get to it, Devin!”

I gave Jessi a wide-eyed look and jogged out in front of the other players.

“All right, some of you remember this from the other day,” I said, feeling my confidence rise a little bit with each word. “I'll do a cartwheel and call out someone's name. If I call you, you do a cartwheel and call out another player's name. If your name gets called a second time, you have to do two cartwheels; if it gets called a third time, you do three, and so on. Got it?”

I saw Jamie roll her eyes, but most of the girls nodded. I did a cartwheel and decided that for the sake of teamwork, I should call on somebody I wasn't friends with on the team.

“Sasha!” I yelled, and Sasha launched right into her cartwheel without complaint.

“Jamie!” Sasha cried.

I almost expected Jamie to refuse, but this exercise had been the coach's idea, so Jamie performed the bounciest, springiest cartwheel I had ever seen.

The drill went perfectly, and I stopped after I was sure every player had been called out. Coach Darby seemed pleased.

“All right. Let's see some drills!” she yelled when we were done, and we began our usual warm-ups.

I didn't know if our cartwheels had intimidated the other team the way Coach Darby had hoped, but they'd definitely lightened the mood on our team. I mean, we were all serious, as usual, but everybody looked a little more relaxed, and I even saw some smiles.

Then it was time for Coach Darby to give us the starting lineup.

“Lauren, Beth Anne, Tracey, Sarah, defense!” she said. “Kelly, left wing. Jessi, right wing. Mirabelle and Devin, midfield center.”

Devin! She'd called my name! I was so excited, I didn't hear her call out the last three positions, but I wasn't surprised to see Courtney on goal and Jamie and Sasha as strikers.

I jogged onto the field, more determined than ever to stay focused, get the ball, and score. The whistle blew, and the next thing I knew, one of the Giants was stampeding toward the Griffons' goal.

Mirabelle and I raced up to meet her. Another Giant came out of nowhere and almost knocked me over just with her sheer momentum, but I saw her out of the corner of my eye and sidestepped her. As I did, Mirabelle got the ball away from the Giant and passed it to Jamie.

We followed Jamie down the field as she charged toward the goal. She had a clear shot, and she took it, but she was far outside the penalty box, and the ball slowed down as it got closer. The Giants' goalie jumped on it.

I knew Jamie had been showing off with that shot, but it didn't give me any pleasure that she'd missed it—she was on my team, and we needed the goal. But I did file away one useful bit of information: The Giants' defense on the left side of the field had been nowhere in sight when Jamie had taken her shot. So they had a weakness.

I kept that in mind the next time the ball came into my territory. I started dribbling it and veered left. Mirabelle had someone on her like glue, and Jamie was calling out for me to pass, but she had a defender right in front of her.

I moved even sharper left and found the pocket that Jamie had taken before. I needed to get closer to the goal if I was going to score, but I could see two Giants heading toward me from the other side of the field. So I had to move fast.

I took the ball another ten yards and then, bam! I kicked it hard and low. The goalie dove for it, but she couldn't match its speed.

“Griffons score!” the ref yelled, and I got that feeling that you get only when you score, that feeling that your blood is pumping hard in your veins and you're as light as air and you can do anything. Sasha high-fived me as we got back into position.

The Giants came back hard, though, and their coach must have finally noticed that defensive hole, because they quickly sewed it up tight. Jamie and Sasha couldn't get near the goal, and the Giants scored twice before the half was over.

Coach Darby's face was like stone at halftime.

“They've tightened up their defense,” she said. “You have to find a way to get through them. Look for openings. Be aggressive! Keep passing to confuse them. Don't try to be a hero and do it on your own. It will take a team to take the Giants down!”

We all let out a rousing cheer, pumped up for the game to continue.

“Devin, Stephanie, I want you on forward!” she said, and I was so happy, I bet my beaming could be seen from the stands. She kept Mirabelle and Jessi on the bench, though, and I noticed that Jamie wasn't starting the half—for the first time ever.

Back on the field I tried to keep Coach's strategy in mind. Confusing the defense sounded like a good idea. Sasha, Kelly, Zarine, and Meg were in midfield, and I tried to keep a mental note of their positions as the ball zigzagged between the teams.

Early in the second half, I intercepted the ball when two Giants tried to pass it to each other. I took it a few feet and saw Stephanie open sideways. I hit her with a short pass, and then Kelly jogged up next to her on the left. Stephanie passed it to Kelly.

Zarine had already raced ahead, so Kelly passed it to her. Stephanie and I made it to the goal. Two Giants defenders charged me, leaving Stephanie free. Zarine passed it to Stephanie—who lobbed it right past the goalie's head into the net! The score was tied!

“Great teamwork!” Coach Darby called out.

It looked as though Coach Darby had learned an important lesson about teamwork, and as the game continued, I was about to learn one myself about aggressive playing.

A loose ball was up for grabs close to me. I thought of what Coach Darby had said: “Be aggressive!” And I remembered what my dad had said about using the winter league as an opportunity to learn how to play more aggressively. Although the Giants were closing in on the ball, I swooped in, not afraid of contact but being careful at the same time not to foul. I felt fearless, and I didn't know if it was my imagination, but it felt like I was running faster on the field than I ever had before. I had a perfect shot at the goal, and I went for it, keeping the ball low to the ground and aiming it toward the right back post of the goal.

The Giants' goalie dove for it, but it was impossible for her to get all the way down to the ground and over to the post at the same time. I scored!

“Way to hustle, Devin!” Coach Darby shouted. I felt my teammates' hands clapping me on the back in congratulations. We kept up our strategy, but we couldn't manage to score again in the third quarter. Though, we didn't let the Giants score either. In the last quarter Coach Darby subbed Stephanie and me out and put Mirabelle and Jessi in our places.

I didn't mind being benched. I had already played well and scored two goals. Mirabelle and Jessi were rested. I couldn't wait to see what they would do on the field!

It didn't hurt that the two of them had been playing together since they were little kids. The way they passed the ball back and forth to each other as they glided down the field looked like some kind of choreographed dance. They were totally in tune with each other.

Finally Mirabelle set Jessi up with a perfect shot. Jessi aimed it right for the corner of the goal, and the goalie just didn't get to it in time.

“Griffons score!” the ref yelled.

Jessi's point ended up being the one we needed to win the game. We beat the Giants, 4–2. After we shook hands with the other team, I celebrated with a cartwheel.

When I was upright again, I saw an amazing sight. All of the Griffons were doing cartwheels! (Well, not Jamie.) Then everybody was laughing and hugging, and it was pretty awesome.

“This is what I expect from you guys!” Coach Darby barked, but I knew she was really pleased.

Then she dismissed us, and Jessi and I found our families on the sidelines.

“Can we take you girls out for a celebratory brunch?” Dad asked.

“That sounds nice, but we've got to meet Emma and Frida back home soon,” I said. “I just completed the second part of my hat trick, but I've got one more to go.”

Dad grinned. “Got it, Devin. Let's head back, and I'll pick up some pizzas for everyone on the way.”

“Thanks!” I said, and nodded to Jessi. “See you at the house!”

Fixing my friendships and getting the Griffons to work as a team hadn't been as hard as I'd thought. But saving a soccer program—that was going to be the toughest trick yet!