Lacrosse Face-Off (5 page)

Garry sighed but opened the door and followed her into the building. While she hurried off to the adult section, he wandered
into the youth area. He was browsing through some paperbacks when he heard a funny noise.

Thock! Thock! Thock!

It was coming from outside. Garry peered through a side window but didn't see anything. He listened again and realized the
noise was loudest toward the back of the building. Curious, he decided to investigate.

He hurried out the front entrance and down the stone steps and started around the building. The noise was definitely coming
from around the next corner. He was just about to head that way when he heard someone yell his name.

“Garry! Where
are
you?” It was his mother, standing at the top of the steps, and she sounded angry.

“Be right there, Mom!” As he waved to her, he heard muffled voices and the sound of footsteps running away. He listened closely
but didn't hear anything else. Even the strange noise had stopped.

He ran around to the back of the building. There he found a small paved area just big
enough for a few cars to park in. There were no cars there now, however—or anything else, for that matter. Whoever had been
making the sound had left.

He had turned to join his mother when something in the grass caught his eye. He walked over and picked it up. It was his brother's
stack of monster-and-magician cards. He would have recognized it anywhere.

He stood still, pondering his discovery. His mother had said that Todd was going to be trading cards with Jeff. That meant
Todd had to have had the cards with him.
Since the cards are here,
Garry thought,
Todd must have been here too.
And that meant that Todd had been the one making the strange noise!

But what
was
the noise, and why had Todd abandoned his cards?

Just then his mother called his name again—and that's when Garry figured it
out. Todd must have heard them calling to each other before. And when he did, he ran away, leaving his cards behind in his
haste.

He hadn't been alone, though, because Garry had definitely heard two people talking. Jeff must have been there too.
And when they realized I was nearby, they took off!
The image of the two boys dropping everything in order to get away from him hit him like a wet sock in the face.

“Garry, please hurry! I have to get home!” His mother sounded impatient.

He looked down at the cards in his hands. If his mother saw them she'd wonder what he was doing with them. He didn't really
feel like explaining why Todd had left them behind. So when she called again, he whipped off his sweatshirt and wrapped the
cards inside it.

G
arry planned to give Todd his cards back right away. But when he and his mother returned home, there was a message on the
answering machine. It was Todd, calling to see if he could sleep at Jeffs house that night. Garry could hear Jeff laughing
in the background and Todd shushing him, but laughing too. Jealousy bubbled up inside Garry, and instead of putting the cards
in Todd's room, he decided to stuff them, still wrapped in his sweatshirt, into the back of his closet.

When he finally saw his brother the next
afternoon, he didn't say anything about the cards. Neither did Todd, although for a moment he looked as if he wanted to ask
Garry something. Then he closed his mouth and turned away. The cards stayed hidden in Garry's closet.

“My goodness, you boys are so quiet tonight!” Mrs. Wallis observed at the dinner table later that evening.

“Just tired, I guess,” Todd mumbled.

“Let me guess. You and Jeff stayed up all last night dueling those cards,” she said.

Todd looked up quickly, then dropped his eyes to his plate again. “You guessed it, all right.”

She shook her head and smiled. “Well, there are worse things you could be doing, I suppose.”

Yeah, like treating your brother like he has the plague!
Garry thought. He stole a look at
Todd, but he was pretending to be fascinated by his peas.

The brothers continued to avoid each other the next morning. Then Todd took off for Jeff's house, promising to return in time
for supper.

“You know, you can have Jeff come over here sometimes too!” Mr. Wallis called out as Todd hopped onto his bike.

“That's okay, Dad,” Todd replied. “We kind of like being there better.”

“Well, maybe Garry would like to go with you. Where is he?” Mr. Wallis put down his paper and looked around. Garry ducked
into the bathroom. By the time he came back out, Todd was long gone.

In fact, the next time Garry and Todd were anywhere near each other was at the lacrosse field on Monday afternoon. And even
then they managed to steer clear of each other
until the coach called the team together to outline a new drill.

“We're going to work on transitioning from defense to fast breaks today,” the coach told them. “Using the whole field, we'll
start play down by one goal. The defense will have control of the ball. They'll outlet a pass to a mid-die. That middie will
carry the ball over the midfield. Running ahead of him will be the three attackers. The object will be for the offense to
drive the ball as quickly as they can from one end of the field to the other. Then I want to see no less than three passes
before a shot into the goal. Quick, accurate passes are key, as is running at top speed with the ball. We'll work the drill
with offense only at first, then add in some defense.”

He broke the team into two groups of ten, assigned each player a position, and ordered the first group out onto the field.
Garry and
Michael were attackers for this group, as was Pedro. Jeff and Todd also took to the field. They were midfielders, along with
Carl. Evan, Christopher, and Samuel played defense. Brandon was in goal.

Coach Hasbrouck picked up a ball, blew his whistle to get the group's attention, and threw a grounder toward the goal. Brandon
hesitated for a moment, then scooped up the ball and passed it to Samuel. Samuel moved forward a few steps and threw to Carl.
Carl started to jog down the field but stopped when the coach blew a sharp blast on his whistle.

“Ohh-kay,” Coach Hasbrouck said, trotting onto the field. “Maybe I wasn't clear. We're working on
fast breaks
here.” He reached up and plucked the ball out of Carl's pocket. “Fast means running, folks!”

Michael raised his hand. “Uh, coach, why
can't we start off with the defense team against us? I always play better when the situation is more, you know, competitive.”

The coach nodded. “The defense will come in soon enough. First, I want you to practice moving the ball up the field. Tell
you what, though"—he fished around in his pocket and pulled out a stopwatch—“if you really want to make it interesting, I'll
time you. Ready? Set?” He threw the ball toward the goal. “Go!”

This time, Brandon didn't hesitate. He scooped up the ball and tossed it to Jeff. Jeff snared it and took off at a dead run.
At the same time, Garry, Michael, and Pedro bolted toward the opposite goal. When Jeff crossed the midfield line, he hurled
the ball to Pedro. Pedro made a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch, twisted the pocket around, and threw to Garry. Garry softened
the catch
and sent the ball to Michael. The throw was a little low, but Michael caught it, swung his stick up, and flung the ball toward
the goal.

Clang!

Instead of swishing into the net, the hard ball ricocheted off the top of the goal, flying high into the air before landing
in the grass. Pedro scooped it up and jogged back to the other end of the field. Garry and Michael followed.

“Seriously, Garry, why don't you just
roll
me the ball next time?” Michael groused.

Garry looked at him, with surprise. “Sorry,” he said. “I guess my throw was a little off.”
And so was yours,
he wanted to add.

Michael glanced at him, then grunted. “Yeah, well, just don't do it again.”

Coach Hasbrouck started the drill again. This time Christopher started with the ball. He threw a quick pass to Todd. The ball
looked as though it was heading to Todd's
stick side. But then, at the last moment, it curved toward his left shoulder. Garry groaned inwardly, knowing his brother
would never be able to make an off-stick side catch.

He was wrong. Todd whipped his stick in front of his face, made a perfect catch, and pivoted on one foot to face the attackers.
Then his brother did something Garry had never seen him do before. Instead of moving his stick back to his right, he threw
a weak side pass directly to Garry.

The ball came so quickly that Garry almost fumbled the catch. But he held on and managed a good pass to Michael, Michael lobbed
it to Pedro and called for a pass back. Pedro had other ideas. He faked a throw to Michael, then hurled the ball into the
goal.

Miohael had been so sure Pedro was going to throw to him that he'd taken a step forward, stick outstretched. When the ball
didn't come, he was caught off balance
and stumbled a few feet before righting himself.

Garry knew better than to make any comment, but inside he silently applauded Pedro for his daring. He wasn't sure he'd have
been brave enough to go up against Michael that way!

A
fter they'd taken a few more trips down the field, Coach Hasbrouck called for Garry's squad to clear off so that the other
group could practice the drill. When the second group was running the break smoothly, the coach, put away his stopwatch. He
looked up at the sky, which was filling with dark, ominous-looking clouds. “Hmm, I think we'd better move this drill along.
Group two, switch to defense. Group one, back onto the field. Let's see how you do against some competition.”

The two teams battled each other for the
rest of practice. By the time Coach Hasbrouck signaled for them to stop, the players were winded but feeling much more confident
about working the fast break during a game situation.

The coach called them together. “As you know, we have our first game the day after tomorrow. We'll be playing against the
Bulldogs. From what I hear, their bark is worse than their bite”—the team laughed—“so I don't anticipate that we'll have any
problems defeating them. Still, come back here tomorrow prepared to work hard.”

As Garry collected his belongings, the storm clouds opened up, sending down a drenching rain. He hurried to the parking lot,
where his mother was waiting. To his surprise, Todd followed.

“What, you're not going to Jeff's again today?” he muttered as he slid into the back seat next to his brother.

“I was. But since we couldn't, um Todd's voice trailed away.

“Couldn't what?” Garry's mother asked.

“Do what we'd planned to do,” Todd finished lamely, “we decided just to go home.”

Garry thought about the cards, still balled up in his sweatshirt in his closet. He would have bet money that what Jeff and
Todd had “planned to do” was trade cards and duel. He knew he should return the cards to their rightful owner, but for some
reason he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

The next morning the sun shone brightly and the air was full of warmth. Garry looked forward to the walk to school. He decided
to wait for Todd, but when he asked his brother if he was ready to go, Todd shook his head.

“I forgot something upstairs,” he said. “You go on ahead.”

Garry was sure his brother was pretending
he'd forgotten something just so he wouldn't have to walk with him.
Well, if that's the way he wants it, fine,
he thought. He slammed the door behind him and hurried away.

He had just crested the first hill when an acorn struck him on top of the head. He looked up right as Evan swung down from
the tree above him.

“Do you live in that tree?” he asked Evan, rubbing his head. “Or do you just climb it because you're nuts about squirrels?”
Or just plain nuts,
he added silently.

“Michael wants to know if you took care of that little problem we were talking about the other day,” Evan said.

Garry shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other. “You mean, have I asked my brother to quit the team? No.”

Evan stepped toward him and jabbed him in the chest. “Well, you better get on it! The
first game is only two days away, and Michael does not want T.T. on the same field as him.”

Suddenly Garry decided he'd had enough of Evan, and of Michael too. “Yeah, okay, fine. I'm going to make Todd quit. That's
right.” His voice was laced with sarcasm, which he was sure Evan wasn't smart enough to pick up on. In fact, he wasn't even
sure Evan was listening to him. He seemed more interested in something behind Garry.

Whatever,
Garry thought. He pushed past Evan, neither wondering nor caring if the other boy was following him or not.

At practice that afternoon Garry performed drills like a robot—moving however the play demanded but not getting any excitement
or pleasure out of the game.

Maybe I'm the one who should quit,
he thought at one point.

The only good part about the practice was the fact that Evan and Michael left him alone. Jeff and Todd didn't come near him
either, although Garry thought Jeff seemed puzzled that he wasn't hanging out with Evan and Michael.

Todd disappeared with Jeff again after practice, and Garry headed home with his mother. Garry's mind was so far away that
she had to ask him twice to add the clothes he was wearing to the dirty ones already in the washing machine.

“I did your brother's stuff earlier,” she said, “and with any luck I'll be done with yours before midnight!”

Inside the bathroom, Garry stripped down; then he hurried back to his room to put on a clean set of sweats. He opened the
drawer that usually held his sweatshirt collection, but it was empty. Then he remembered the sweatshirt in the back of his
closet. He
opened the closet door and felt around for it. His hands brushed past shoes, an old soccer ball, and something furry he couldn't
identify, but no sweatshirt. He turned on the light, pushed his hanging clothes out of the way, and looked into the corner
where he knew he'd thrown the sweatshirt. It wasn't there.