Fake Out (4 page)

Ben had the ball near midfield, moving quickly. Loop and another Falcon were blocking his path, so he pivoted and passed the ball backward toward Erin, who was following about ten yards behind.

But Ben’s pass was off the mark. Alex took control of the ball and began dribbling swiftly toward the Bobcats’ goal. Loop and another teammate were already moving in that direction, and they were several steps ahead of Ben. So only Darren and Shayna were between the three Falcons and the goal. A couple of nice passes set up an easy shot for Alex, and suddenly the Falcons were two goals ahead.

Ben felt as if he’d been punched in the
stomach. He shook his head and stared at the goal. The Bobcats had been playing so well—passing, dribbling, nearly scoring—but just like that it had fallen apart because he’d made a bad pass.

The Falcons didn’t seem like a team that hadn’t won a game all season. Today, at least, they were the best team the Bobcats had played.

It was hard to find a spark after that. Mark came onto the field and the Bobcats made a few more runs at the goal, but they couldn’t manage to score.

Late in the game, Alex booted in another goal for the Falcons, and it ended 3–0.

“We’re the worst,” Ben said as he and Erin walked off the field. His eyes were stinging and his throat felt tight. He sniffed hard.

“Those guys were
good
,” Erin said.

“And what does that say about us?” Ben
took a seat on the grass and yanked off his shin guards. “Not much.”

He lay back on the grass, not wanting to move. The sky was clear and the air was warm, but Ben was steaming mad. He shut his eyes and frowned.

A few seconds passed, then he felt a nudge on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Loop standing over him, smiling broadly.

“Great game,” Loop said.

Ben pushed up on his elbows and looked away. “You guys got the breaks today.”

“We
made
those breaks,” Loop said. “About time, too. I told you we’d been playing well.”

“I know,” Ben said. He swatted at the air with his fist. “I said the same thing about us.
That
sure wasn’t true.”

“Whatever,” Loop said, jogging away. “You got burnt today. See you in school.”

Loop stopped a few yards away. “Hey!” he called.

Ben turned his head to look. Loop gave that same squint he’d done at halftime, patting his chest and pointing at Ben. Then he smiled and ran.

“What a jerk,” Ben said.

“Chill out,” Erin said. “We
did
do well. Two or three plays made all the difference
in the game. Otherwise we were as good as they were.”

“If we were as good as they were, we would have scored,” Ben said. “Good teams get it done. We didn’t. They made us look like chumps.”

KICKERS

Ben moped around the house all afternoon after the game.

“It’s a nice day,” said Mom. “Don’t waste it. You should be outside.”

But Ben just sat in his room, angry about losing again.

“We could play catch in the yard,” Dad said a while later.

“No thanks,” Ben said. He shut his door and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Hey, knucklehead. Want to play a video game with me?” said Larry an hour later, knocking on the door.

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Suit yourself,” Larry said. But he opened the door.

“What?” Ben asked.

“It was only a soccer game,” Larry said. “There’ll be plenty more of them.”

Ben shrugged. “Maybe not. I was so awful today they’ll probably kick me out of the league.”

“No, they won’t.”

“They should. We got pounded by the worst team in the league.”

“So what?” Larry sat on the edge of the bed. “Everybody has an off day. And you know what? Everybody has great days, too.”

“I sure haven’t lately.”

“You will. Last season my cross-country team got clobbered in a race by Arlington. But two weeks later we beat them in the league championship race.”

“We won’t be playing in any championship unless we get a
lot
better,” Ben said.

At dinner, Mom told Ben to eat his carrots.

“I already ate some,” he said.

“Eat them all.”

Ben just looked at his plate. The carrots were overcooked and mushy.

“Soccer is supposed to be fun,” Mom said. “Win or lose. You can’t be a pain at home every time you lose a game. That’s not fair to anybody.”

Ben jabbed a fork into a carrot. “Losing is terrible,” he said. “Especially when it was my fault.”

“The whole team wins or loses,” Dad said. “Not one player.”

Ben frowned.

“Did you learn anything in the game?” Mom asked.

“I learned how much I hate to lose.”

“But did you learn anything that can help you
win
?”

Ben thought about that for a minute. “I thought I learned that in the last game,” he said. “When I got faked out. I spent the whole week working on fakes of my own. But those guys today had even better fakes. They made me look dumb.”

Ben looked across at Larry. Larry had never been very good at sports, but he’d played basketball and Little League baseball. He’d joined the cross-country team when he’d entered junior high school. He’d trained hard all summer, so he’d become very fast. This was his second season in the sport.

“Hard work pays off,” Larry said. “You’ll see when you come to my race next weekend.”

“I worked hard for a whole week,” Ben said.

Larry laughed. “Sometimes it takes years.”

“The season is half over!” Ben yelled.

“Lower your voice,” Mom said. “You have to learn to take losing in stride, Ben.”

Ben slammed his fork down. “Losing stinks.”

Dad stood up. “Go to your room, Ben. If soccer is this much of a problem for you, then maybe you’d better stop playing.”

“I don’t want to quit.”

“Then stop being a brat about it,” Dad said. “Get upstairs and think this over.”

Ben wiped his mouth with a napkin and got out of his seat. “I’m sorry,” he said. He glanced at his plate again; he’d eaten everything except the carrots. He turned and went up to his room.

He felt better on Sunday and practiced dribbling and faking in the yard. Then he walked
over to Erin’s house. She’d taught him how to play chess recently. He’d never beaten her, but lately the games had been lasting longer.

“Tough game yesterday, huh?” she said as they set up the chessboard.

Ben let out his breath hard. “It sure was. It was embarrassing.”

“We played well,” she said. “I had fun anyway.”

Ben nodded slowly. “Most of it was fun,” he admitted. “I just wish we had another game today instead of having to wait until next weekend. I’d like to wipe that game right out of my mind. Instead, I’ll be thinking about it all week.”

“Don’t think too hard,” Erin said with a smile. “You’ll sprain your brain.”

Ben moved one of his chess pieces forward. “What I’m really not looking forward
to is seeing Loop tomorrow at school. He’ll be rubbing it in about the game for sure.”

“Let him talk,” Erin said, making a move of her own. “Besides, he did play a great game.”

They made a few more moves before Ben responded. “Loop’s a good athlete, but he has a big ego, too.”

Erin laughed gently. “Just like somebody else I know.”

“Who? Me?”

She nodded. Then she picked up her knight and brought it into the square where Ben’s bishop was sitting. She tipped the bishop over and picked it up.

“Never saw that coming,” Ben said quietly, shaking his head.

Erin sat back in her chair. She tapped the side of her head. “
Now’s
the time to think,” she said. “It never hurts in chess.”

Ben bit down on his lip. “I’ll try to remember that,” he said. “But it isn’t easy.”

“So when Loop starts teasing you on the playground, just be patient,” Erin said. “Maybe he’s the bishop for now. But we’ve got some pretty good horses on our team. We might get another shot at him in the play-offs.”

Ben nodded. The Bobcats were a long way from making the play-offs. But there was still time. They would start climbing back into the race if they could just win a few more games.