Heads Up! (4 page)

Amanda reddened. “I do know that. I just —just —”

“You were just afraid,” Stookie finished for her. “Just like Eddie said after practice yesterday.”

Amanda stopped short. “Eddie said that, did she? And what else did she say?”

Stookie didn’t have a chance to reply. The Torpedoes had taken a shot on goal, but Bucky Pinter had made the save. He cleared
the ball with an enormous kick to the center of the field. Stookie and the rest of the forward line chased after it.

Amanda followed. She was so simmering mad at Eddie for talking behind her back that she didn’t notice when a Torpedo forward
stole the ball from Lou. Too late, she saw her dribble past.

“C’mon! Pay attention!” Lou called as he ran after the Torpedo.

Amanda spun around and gave chase. It was no use. The Torpedo had a head of
steam. She made it to the goal before anyone could stop her. With a sharp kick, she launched the ball into the net.

The scoreboard now read Torpedoes 1, ’Cats 0.

“Rats!” grumbled Stookie. He shot Amanda a dirty look.

Amanda jogged slowly to her position.

“Pull yourself together,” she muttered to herself.

But she couldn’t. A bad night’s sleep plus anger at Eddie added up to poor concentration on the field. Time and again Amanda
missed making an easy tackle, fumbled her dribble, or misdirected a kick.

The Torpedoes seemed to realize that Amanda’s side of the field was weak. They kept sending the ball to their right forward,
who dodged around a flustered Amanda with ease. Each time it happened, Amanda became more frustrated.

The whistle blew, signaling an indirect free
kick. Amanda was about to move into position when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned to see Eddie smiling
at her.

“I’m subbing in for you!” Eddie said.

Amanda couldn’t stop herself. “Well, good for you!” she cried. Hot tears pricked her eyes. “You got just what you wanted,
didn’t you?” She ran off the field and straight to the rest room.

A
manda sat on a chair inside the rest room, her face in her hands. She had never felt so miserable.

There was a light tap, then someone opened the door.

“Go away,” Amanda said, not moving.

“I think I’d rather stay,” came a voice. Amanda looked up to see her mother standing before her. Without another word, Mrs.
Caler folded Amanda into her arms and hugged her.

“What are you doing here?” Amanda asked, her voice muffled against her mother’s clothes.

“I came to watch you play, of course,” her mother replied.

Amanda looked up. “But aren’t you afraid you’ll see me or someone else get hurt?”

Mrs. Caler smoothed Amanda’s hair with her hand.

“Amanda,” she said. “Who do you think sent those newspaper clippings to me?”

Amanda frowned. “It was Eddie,” she said. Her face crumpled as she fought back new tears. “Eddie sent those clippings. She
was hoping you’d take me off the team when you read that soccer was dangerous. She’s been trying to make me afraid of being
hit with the ball, too. That’s why she called the coach to ask if we could practice heading the ball. Eddie wants to take
over my position on the team.”

“I do not!”

Amanda turned with surprise. There stood Eddie, hands on hips and eyes flashing.

“I called the coach about heading practice because I thought it would help you get
over
your fear of the ball,” Eddie said.

“What?” Amanda was confused.

Eddie ran her fingers through her hair. “My mother always says that if you fall off a horse you should get right back on again.
Otherwise you might never get on again because you’ll be too afraid.” She shrugged. “I thought if you were forced to head
the ball over and over, you’d get over any fear you had.”

“But yesterday, why did you tell Stookie I was afraid of the ball?”

Eddie rolled her eyes. “I didn’t. Well, not exactly. He said something about how you weren’t playing that well during the
scrimmage, and I tried to explain to him what I thought was wrong.”

Amanda had never felt so foolish in her life. Here she’d been thinking Eddie was out to get her, when all the time she’d been
trying to help her!

“But what about the envelope with newspaper clippings? Who sent it?” she asked.

“I think I can answer that.” Coach Bradley stood in the doorway. “I sent it. It’s a standard package of information I like
to give parents who are worried their little soccer players might get hurt. The articles talk about ways to make playing safe.”

Mrs. Caler smiled at Amanda. “I was going to tell you that this morning, but you ran out the door so fast I didn’t get a chance.”

Amanda looked from her mother to the coach to Eddie. “I feel so stupid,” she said.

“Not as stupid as I feel standing in the door of this rest room,” Coach Bradley said with a laugh. “Which reminds me: Mrs.
Caler, there’s a phone call for you. Someone in the stands heard your pocketbook ringing and
answered your cell phone.” He handed her the phone.

Mrs. Caler spoke into it. Then she turned white as a sheet. “It’s Amelia! Someone in ballet class accidentally kicked her
in the nose! Amanda, if you’re all right, I really should go be with her.”

Amanda said with a smile, “Gee, Mom, I thought ballerinas didn’t get bloody noses.”

Her mother flashed a smile back, then hurried away. The coach followed her, and Eddie turned to leave, too. Amanda stopped
her.

“Eddie, I’m really sorry,” Amanda said. “Can you forgive me?”

Eddie narrowed her eyes. “On one condition.”

“Anything,” Amanda said.

“That next time you’ll talk to me before you jump to conclusions,” Eddie replied. Amanda nodded.

“And one more thing,” Eddie added.

“What?”

“Next time, don’t be afraid to answer my question with the truth.” She slung an arm around Amanda’s shoulders. “And the truth
is, I stink at halfback! I hope I never have to sub in for you again!”

“Don’t worry,” Amanda said, roping her arm around Eddie, “I’ll make sure you don’t have to! Now let’s go win that game!”

And that’s just what they did.

#6

Heads Up

Matt Christopher

Illustrated by Daniel Vasconcellos

Amanda Caler thought getting a nosebleed during a game was bad. But now things have gone from bad to worse—she finds she’s
afraid of the ball! And as if that isn’t enough, it looks like someone is trying to steal her spot at halfback. Could one
of her teammates really be capable of such a dastardly thing?

Here is the sixth entry in Matt Christopher’s Soccer ’Cats series, an exciting line of first chapter books perfect for sports
fans ready to start reading on their own.

Matt Christopher
is the name behind more than seventy-five bestselling sports novels for young readers. For a list of books in the Soccer
’Cats series, please refer to the last pages of this book.