Soccer Hero (3 page)

“Man, are you okay?” Scott asked as he hurried to his friend's side.

Dmitri sat up. He looked irritated, and he had a long scratch near one of his ribs.

“Take a breather, dude,” Leo said.

But Dmitri shook his head. “So, how are we going to rule that?” he asked as he brushed bits of grass from his chest.

“Are you kidding?” Scott said. “Sam fouled you!”

“They're on the same side,” Rob pointed out. “So it can't be a foul.”

Scott crossed his arms. “Okay, then what do you do when your own teammate deliberately trips you? Because that's what Sam
did!”

“I did not!” Sam sounded surprised and hurt by the accusation. “I was going for the ball!”

“That was Dmitri's move to make, not yours!” Scott said, his voice rising. “He even told you to back off!”

Now Kirk stepped forward and put his hands on his hips. “Since when is Dmitri in charge? I say we let Rob decide!”

Rob, horrified by what was happening, started to protest. “No, wait, I —”

Dmitri held up a hand to cut him off. “No, no, I think you should decide, Rob. You seem to be the one everyone's listening
to today.”

U
ntil that moment, Rob had never really understood the phrase “tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.” Now, with the
eyes of his teammates boring into him, waiting for his reply, he got it one hundred percent.

“Uh, hold on, let's see,” he mumbled. His mind whirled as he tried to come up with a solution. Then finally, after what seemed
like minutes but was probably only a few seconds, he thought of something.

“Let's do a drop ball to restart play right here where the collision occurred. Dmitri and Scott should battle for it, since
it happened on
Dmitri's side of the field. I think that would be the fairest thing to do, anyway,” he finished.

No one said anything for a moment. Then Brendan shrugged. “Sounds good to me. I'll drop it if you guys want.”

And just like that, the tension lifted. Brendan held the ball in the air between Dmitri and Scott while the rest of the players
scattered to their positions.

“Okay, ready?” Brendan called. He pursed his lips, whistled sharply, and let the ball drop to the ground.

Dmitri and Scott stabbed at it with their feet. Scott got control, but he didn't dribble far, for Sam suddenly came to life
and stripped the ball from him with one smooth move. Seconds later, Sam scored.

“Whoo-hoo!” Benji yelled. “Take that; shirts!” He started chanting a fight song and doing a little dance.

Normally, Benji's antics made them all
laugh. But this time, only some of the kids were grinning. Dmitri and Scott were not among them.

Benji faltered in midchant. When he caught Rob looking at him, he gave a small, embarrassed shrug. Then he returned to his
position on the field.

Raul, meanwhile, took the ball to the center circle where he and Leo had a quick whispered conference. Play resumed when Raul
jabbed the ball to Leo. Leo dribbled down the center of the field with Raul trailing behind him by several paces.

Dmitri started toward Leo but then stopped when Benji moved in as well. But Benji slowed down at the same time, as if to let
Dmitri make the play.

That hesitation gave Leo and Raul the time they needed to work the play they'd been whispering about. First Leo dribbled a
few more paces. Then he left the ball behind
but continued on down the field as if he still had possession.

The drop fooled both Dmitri and Benji for a split second — plenty of time for the fleet-footed Raul to rush forward, take
control of the ball Leo had left for him, and dribble past them to the goal.

Sam rushed forward to break up the drive, but it was Bryan who saved the day. He planted himself in front of the goal, and
when Raul took a shot, Bryan deflected it — right off his head!

The hit was so hard that it knocked him off his feet. He lay on the ground, stunned, while the ball soared into the air. When
it came down, Raul was one step closer to it than Rob. All Raul had to do was tap it into the net.

Raul didn't celebrate the score, however. He held his hand out to Bryan and helped him to his feet instead. “Sorry!” he said.
“I was aiming for the corner, not for you!”

“Yeah?” Bryan rubbed his forehead where a red mark was forming. “You got lousy aim, man!”

The two players stared at each other for a moment. Rob held his breath. Was this the start of another argument?

Then Raul and Bryan started laughing. Relieved, Rob did, too, and by the time the rest of the team had joined them, the three
were howling.

They played for another half hour with the two teams exchanging goals, praise, and insults. Then, when there was a lull in
the action, Benji said, “I think I've had enough soccer for one day. Who's up for a swim in my pool?”

The invitation was greeted with whoops of enthusiasm that quickly died when Benji added, “Admission to the pool is a couple
of bucks.”

“You're going to charge us to swim in your pool?” Sam asked, amazed.

“It's for the ad in the newspaper, clown!” Benji said. “If you bring your money now, it'll save me from having to bug you
for it later!”

With that, the boys left for their homes. Rob's and Benji's houses were in the same direction, so they took off together.

“Was it just me,” Rob asked as they hurried along the sidewalk, “or was Dmitri kind of mad at me today?”

Benji was quiet for a moment. Then just as they reached his house, he said, “I think Dmitri is used to having other players
look up to him. Take Kirk, for example. Usually, he's Dmitri's number one fan. But today…”

“Today what?” Rob pressed.

Benji climbed the steps to his front door. “Today, Kirk had a bad case of hero worship!” He gave his friend a lopsided grin.
“Not that you don't deserve it. In fact, if I had my way, the whole world would know about what you did for the coach!”

T
he swim party at Benji's house was a huge success, and not just because Benji's pool was the best one around. Benji had made
good on his promise to call the soccer league, and by the time everyone had arrived, he'd gotten permission to put an ad in
the paper. He'd called some stores, too, and been told he could post signs in their windows. And when all the money the boys
brought had been counted, they had just enough to run a quarter-page ad in the paper.

“Now all I have to do is call the newspaper
back and place the ad,” Benji said. “But that can wait until later.” He pointed to a table where some pieces of fluorescent
green poster boards and black markers were lying. “Right now, I'm going to work on those signs. Who wants to help me?”

But the other boys were more interested in swimming, so Benji wound up making the signs by himself. “I can swim anytime,”
he reasoned when Rob tried to get him to join in the fun.

The gathering lasted until sunset. Rob was exhausted from swimming and soccer, so when Benji asked if he'd help him post the
signs after dinner, Rob shook his head.

“Okay,” Benji said, “I guess I'll put them up myself after I call the newspaper about the ad.”

Rob grinned. “Where do you get your energy, man?”

But Benji just waved him away. “Well, it's not like I'm using it to save lives or anything!”

Rob rolled his eyes and left.

Later that night, Rob had just finished putting away the supper dishes when the doorbell rang. A woman he'd never seen before
stood on the other side.

“Hello!” she trilled, holding out her hand for him to shake. “You simply must be Robert Lasher!”

The woman's fingernails were long and pointed, like claws. After he shook her hand, Rob surreptitiously wiped his palm on
the seat of his pants.

“Um, do I know you?” he asked.

“Maybe, maybe not!” The woman winked. “Do you ever read the newspaper, young man?”

“Sometimes. Sports section, I guess. Oh,
wait! Are you selling subscriptions or something? Because if you are, you should really talk to my mom, not me.”

The lady laughed as if he'd told the funniest joke she'd ever heard. But she became businesslike when Rob's mother joined
them.

“Mrs. Lasher, hello. I'm Enid Carmichael; I'm sure you've heard of me?”

Mrs. Lasher frowned slightly. “Why, yes, I believe I have. Don't you write articles for the
Town Gazette
, Ms. Carmichael?”

Ms. Carmichael looked delighted. “I do! That's why I'm here!” She crouched down and took Rob's hand in hers again. “A little
bird called me tonight and told me about the very brave thing you did. Why, you're a real hero, Mr. Robert Lasher! And now
the newspaper has authorized me to write your story — with your parents' permission, of course,” she added hurriedly with
a quick glance at Rob's mother.

Rob frowned. Who would have told her about what he'd done? Then suddenly, he remembered something Benji had said earlier that
day:

If I had my way, the whole world would know about what you did for the coach
!

Rob's heart started racing. Had
Benji
sent the reporter his way?

“Ms. Carmichael,” Mrs. Lasher was saying, “we appreciate that you think your readers would find what happened interesting.
However —”

Ms. Carmichael dropped Rob's hand and stood up before Rob's mother could finish. “Before you turn me away, consider this:
every parent who reads Rob's story will wonder if their own children would have been able to do what he did. Most, of course,
will know they couldn't have.”

She took a step closer to Mrs. Lasher. “Wouldn't it be wonderful if after people
read my article, they enrolled their children, perhaps even
themselves
, in such life-saving classes?”

Then she turned to Rob. “Here's another thing to think about: your team needs a new coach, right?”

Rob nodded. He figured Benji had told her about that, too.

“Well,” the reporter said, beaming, “what better way to get the word out than a newspaper?”

Rob wasn't crazy about spending any more time with Ms. Carmichael. She was a little scary. But if it would help the team…

He looked up and shrugged. “Yeah, okay, I'll do it.”

The delighted smile returned to the reporter's face. She spread her arms wide and for one horrid moment Rob thought she was
going to hug him. Instead, she brought her hands together in a single clap.

“Marvelous!” she cried.

The interview took less than an hour, but to Rob it seemed endless. Ms. Carmichael asked him question after question after
question — about CPR, soccer, the coach, his teammates,
everything
. When she finally closed her notebook, Rob was exhausted. But then she took out a digital camera and asked him to pose for
some photos. Only after she had a shot that satisfied her did Ms. Carmichael gather her things to leave.

“Cross your fingers that we make tomorrow's paper!” she called as she climbed into her car. “Good-bye!”

Mrs. Lasher closed the front door and sagged against it. “Phew! That was tough for me, and I wasn't even the one answering
her questions!” She rumpled Rob's hair. “I do believe we've earned ourselves big bowls of ice cream. With sprinkles!”

Rob was just scraping the last bit of
melted ice cream from his bowl when the phone rang. It was Benji.

“Guess what!” he cried.

“Hmm, let me think,” Rob answered sarcastically. “You talked to someone at the newspaper?”

“That's right.” Benji sounded surprised. “I put the posters up in the stores, too. But how did you find out about the paper?”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Rob responded. “Listen, Benji, I appreciate what you're trying to do. But next time, leave me out of
it, okay?”

Benji didn't say anything for a moment. Then, “Gee, Rob, I thought you were on board with it. Sorry if we got our signals
crossed.”

“Yeah, well, next time, double-check with me first, okay?”

“Ooo-kaay,” Benji said slowly. “Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school. Um, good night.”

“Yeah, good night.”

R
ob had been in bed reading for fifteen minutes when the phone rang again. His mother answered it and then opened his door,
phone in hand.

“It's for you,” she said.

“Is it Dad?”

Mrs. Lasher shook her head. “No, but trust me, you want to take this call.”

Rob took the phone. “Hello?”

“Howdy, son,” a man with a gravelly voice said. “I'm Stan Benoit. I'm the Pirates' new coach.”

Rob sat up straight, stunned. “No way! Really? That's great!”

“The first practice is tomorrow after school,” the man said. “See you then.” He hung up, leaving Rob to wonder how in the
world he'd heard about the Pirates' need for a coach so quickly.

Rob got out of bed to return the phone to its cradle. He thought about calling Benji to celebrate the good news but then saw
how late it was.

I'll talk to him first thing tomorrow
, he thought. Then he went to bed.

He woke up early the next morning. When he got downstairs, he grabbed the phone and opened the front door to get the morning
paper for his mother to read. He'd punched in the first three numbers of Benji's phone number when the newspaper's top story
caught his eye.

LOCAL HERO SAVES LIFE
the headline
read in huge letters across the front page. Below the headline was his picture!

Rob hung up the phone and stared at the paper. That's how Mrs. Lasher found him.

“Goodness,” she said when she saw what he was looking at. “I certainly didn't expect you to be the top story, did you?”

Rob shook his head and then began to read the article. Mrs. Lasher read over his shoulder.

“Well,” she said when they were both through, “Ms. Carmichael certainly got the facts right. Reading this makes me prouder
of you than ever! And that's really a great picture of you.”

Rob nodded dumbly, still amazed by the prominence his story had gotten in the paper. “The funny thing is,” he said at last,
“I didn't even have to do the interview because Mr. Benoit had already signed on to be our coach!”