T.J. and the Winning Goal (9 page)

TJ refused to let her get away from him. He gained half a metre on her. Enough to stop her shooting, but not enough to stop her taking him completely by surprise. She back-heeled the ball and Rob ran onto it and slammed a shot at Jamie’s goal. This time Jamie had no chance and the ball flashed between the two trees and ran away into the distance. ‘I told you,’ said Tulsi’s gran, exchanging high-fives with her. ‘You’re as good as anyone when you try. I bet when they open that Academy for girls you’ll be the first one through the door.’

‘Hey!’ called a voice from the park gates. ‘They’re here!’

Krissy Barton swooped down the path
towards
them on her bike, followed by Kelvin and Deng. ‘Great!’ she said, dumping her bike on the ground. ‘We’ll give you a game.’

‘It’s not fair sides,’ said Tulsi. ‘You’d better have my gran.’

‘And Rafi too,’ said TJ, seeing the doubtful look in Krissy’s eyes. ‘Go on. Five against four. You can’t say that’s not fair. But your goalie has to stay in goal.’

Rafi went in goal for the Hillsiders. ‘But you’d better try properly,’ Krissy warned him. ‘No letting shots in to help your mates.’

It was a very even match. Mrs Patel and Deng understood each other right from the start, playing clever passes that forced Rob, Tulsi, TJ and Jamie to tear around trying to intercept the ball. And all the time the Hillsiders were looking for a chance to catch Jamie out of his goal and hit a long-range shot.

Then Jamie tackled Kelvin and his pass found Rob. Rob turned away from Deng and both TJ and Tulsi were calling for it. Rob slid a pass to Tulsi and ran for the return. When it came, he flicked the ball on to TJ, who drilled it, first time, back to Tulsi. She could see the goal, and she could see Rafi bouncing up and down, waiting for her shot. But her head was up and she could see everything that was happening around her. TJ was making a darting run towards the goal. Rob had checked his own run and made himself some space. And there was Jamie thundering up from the back. She laid the ball sideways, right into Jamie’s path, and he slammed it into the goal.

‘Oh, very good, Tulsi!’ said her gran. ‘You see how easy it is?’

‘Hey!’ said Krissy. ‘Whose side are you on, Mrs Patel?’

‘Our side of course,’ said Mrs Patel. ‘Come
on
. It’s only one–nil.’

They played on until the sun began to go down behind the houses on the far side of the park. TJ thought that he had never enjoyed playing football so much. ‘Good luck in the tournament,’ Krissy said to Tulsi, as they walked out of the park together.

‘Thanks,’ replied Tulsi. ‘But I might not even be playing. I have to get back in the team first, and it’s not going to be easy.’

C
HAPTER
15

ON MONDAY NIGHT
TJ’s family gathered in the living room to watch the local news on TV.

‘This should be good,’ said TJ’s dad. ‘You were all amazing yesterday. Your first time on TV, TJ!’

‘Don’t, Dad,’ said Lou. ‘He’s big-headed enough already.’

‘I’m not,’ said TJ. ‘Just because
you’ve
never been on TV.’

‘Be quiet, all of you,’ said TJ’s mum. ‘It’s starting.’

Maggie Burnside’s orange face filled the screen. She was standing outside Parkview
School
and Mr Burrows was beside her with a huge smile on his face. ‘Inspectors say that this is an outstanding school,’ Maggie Burnside said. ‘And the most outstanding thing about it is its under-eleven football team. Tell us about the team, Mr Burrows.’

‘Er, well . . . It all began with Mr Wood,’ Mr Burrows said. ‘He came to our school as a temporary teacher at the start of the year, and it turns out he’s a bit of a whiz at football coaching.’

‘Which isn’t surprising when you realize that he was a promising young footballer at Wanderers,’ Maggie Burnside said. ‘We have some footage of Johnny Wood in action playing for England’s under-eighteen side. If you look closely you might also spot current Wanderers star, Marshall Jones.’

‘There!’ exclaimed TJ. ‘That’s Mr Wood!’

A tall, skinny boy controlled the ball on the screen and played a pass elegantly out
to
the right wing. ‘And that’s Marshall,’ said Lou. ‘He looks great!’

‘They’re just kids,’ said TJ’s mum. ‘Look at them, TJ. They’re not much older than you.’

‘I know,’ said TJ, who had been thinking the same thing. But now the screen changed. Maggie Burnside was talking to the camera, and in the background the Parkview dinner ladies were chanting and dancing. ‘Parkview have already won their District Championship this year,’ the presenter said. ‘And they’ve won the Inter-Schools Cup too. This weekend they’ll be off to the Regional Championship. We’ve come to their final warm-up match to see for ourselves just how good they are.’

There was a long shot of the match in progress. ‘There you are, TJ,’ said his brother Joey. ‘Over there on the wing. And there’s Jamie.’

Then Ebony filled the screen, scoring her
first
goal, followed by a shot of the keeper dropping the ball and Ebony sliding home her second. Finally they saw Ebony complete her hat-trick, before the camera cut back to Maggie Burnside interviewing her.

‘That’s not right,’ said Joey. ‘Anyone would think Ebony was the only person in the team.’

‘You’re the one who scored the goals,’ Maggie Burnside was saying. ‘And you’re playing in a big tournament soon, I hear. I expect you’ll score lots of goals there too.’

‘I hope so,’ replied Ebony.

‘That was Ebony Green,’ Maggie Burnside said. ‘Hat-trick heroine of Parkview School. And this is Maggie Burnside, handing you back to the studio.’

There was silence in the Wilsons’ living room. ‘It’s not Ebony’s fault,’ TJ said. ‘I mean, it is amazing that she scored a
hat
-trick in her first match.’

‘Just like you, you mean?’ smiled his mum. ‘I suppose you’re right. But I still think it’s a shame there was nothing about all the work everyone did, mending the football pitch and painting and decorating and the World Food day, and the school dinners . . .’

‘It’s OK, Mum,’ TJ said. But he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. And he knew that Tulsi was going to be more annoyed than anyone.

He was right. When he got to school the next day Tulsi was hopping mad. ‘How could she?’ she was saying to Jamie in the playground. ‘It was just her first full game, and she wouldn’t have scored any of those goals if it hadn’t been for the rest of you.’

‘It wasn’t really like that . . .’ Jamie began.

But Tulsi interrupted. ‘I’m going to tell her
what
I think,’ she said angrily. ‘There she is now.’

‘Don’t,’ said Jamie. ‘She didn’t do anything wrong.’

But it was too late to stop Tulsi. She was already standing in front of Ebony. ‘You shouldn’t have talked to them,’ she said. ‘You could have let Jamie do it, or TJ, or . . . or anybody.’

‘I know,’ said Ebony tearfully. ‘I’m really sorry. I’m going to tell Mr Wood I don’t want to be in the team any more.’

Tulsi had her mouth open to say more things to Ebony, but now she stopped. ‘You can’t,’ Jamie told Ebony. ‘You played great. We need you in the tournament, just like we need Tulsi.’

‘He’s right,’ said TJ. ‘We’re going to need all our best players. We’ll be playing against some of the best teams in the country.’

‘I can’t do it,’ said Ebony. ‘Not after that.
Everyone
thinks I wanted to be the one they took pictures of, but I didn’t.’

Ebony walked miserably into school.

‘You’ll have to talk to her,’ Jamie said to Tulsi. ‘She’ll listen to you. She was so good on Sunday. We need her in the squad.’

‘What, instead of me?’ asked Tulsi.

‘No way,’ said TJ. ‘You know none of us will play every game in the tournament. Except Jamie in goal, unless he gets injured. We need Ebony to play.’

But when school ended and everyone went to fetch their football kit Tulsi still hadn’t said anything to Ebony. Ebony collected her bag and headed for the exit.

‘Tulsi,’ said TJ. ‘You have to. Go and talk to her. It’s not fair, you know it isn’t.’

Tulsi hesitated, then she sighed and dropped her bag on the floor. She ran out of the door and TJ saw her catch up with Ebony by the school gate. They talked for a few
moments
, then they both turned and walked back into school.

‘At last,’ said TJ. ‘Now maybe we can get on with training.’

‘And after all that,’ said Rob, ‘we’d better hope that Tulsi can still remember how to play the way she did in the park.’

‘I think she might,’ said TJ with a grin. ‘It looks like her personal coach has come along to give her some help. Hi, Mrs Patel.’

Tulsi’s gran gave them a big wave, as they ran onto the field. ‘Knock ’em dead, Tulsi,’ she yelled, with a wave of her umbrella.

C
HAPTER
16

‘FIRST OF ALL,’
Mr Wood said when they’d finished their warm-ups, ‘I hope none of you paid any attention to that TV report. Ebony played very well, but it was a team performance, and that’s what we’ll need to win the tournament. I’ve arranged some fixtures for our B team and I’ll be choosing that team today as well. So you’ve all got plenty to work for. Now, take a ball with your partner and work in a ten-metre square. One of you dribbles and shields the ball, the other one tries to win it. Dead simple. Off you go.’

TJ was working with Rob. ‘We do this sort of thing on the playground all the time,’ said TJ. ‘Why’s he making us do it now?’

‘Maybe because you’re rubbish at it,’ said Rob, sneaking a foot around TJ’s defences and tapping the ball away from him. ‘Go on, then, get it off me.’

Rob hunched himself over the ball like a crab. Then, when TJ committed himself and tried to tackle him, Rob flicked the ball up onto his foot and over TJ’s head. ‘I’ve been wanting to try that for ages,’ Rob said, laughing. ‘I saw Paco Sanchez doing it on the Internet. What do you think?’

‘I think you should let me have a turn at dribbling,’ TJ said, as Rob fended him off expertly once again.

‘You give up then?’ said Rob. ‘You’re admitting I’m better than you?’

Rob took his eye off the ball for a second and TJ darted in and stole it away. ‘Ha!’
he
said. ‘I fooled you.’

They were still laughing when Mr Wood called them together. ‘It’s an important skill,’ he said. ‘I know I’ve coached you to move the ball quickly, but there are lots of times when you just need to hold onto it. We’ll be playing against top teams and in a close game it’s crucial that you can keep the ball and give other players a chance to find space for you to make a pass. Now, before we play five-a-side we’ll have a little game of pig-in-the-middle. Three circles, two players in the middle of each, and you all have to play the ball first time with your weaker foot. We’ll be watching, so no cheating. Oh, and if you’re in the middle when my whistle blows you have to show us your best dance move for ten seconds!’

By the time they finished the game, everyone was laughing, and TJ had learned at least ten dance moves he would never have
thought
of. ‘Some of those moves were seriously bad,’ laughed Rafi, as Mr Wood organized them into teams.

‘Yeah, but did you see Jamie? He can actually dance!’

‘Maybe he should do it in a match,’ replied Rafi. ‘When the other team are taking a penalty. That would really put them off!’

‘Get a move on, you two,’ called Mr Wood. ‘You’re on this pitch here with Tommy and Danny, and Jamie in goal. You’re the Greens.’

‘Hey!’ said TJ. ‘This should be fun.’

‘You can play against this lot,’ Mr Wood continued. ‘Ebony, Tulsi, Leila, Rob. Diane – you go in goal.’

Rob laughed and pulled on a blue bib.

‘You know what?’ he said to TJ. ‘I reckon we can beat you.’

‘Hi, TJ,’ called a girl’s voice from the other
side
of the fence. TJ looked up and saw his sister Lou. She was with Matt, Jamie’s brother. TJ suddenly felt nervous. If he got beaten by a team with four girls in it, Lou would never stop going on about it. Not ever. And he knew that the girls were good. With Rob laying on passes for them they might even be very good.