Team Player (2 page)

“How come you wouldn't pass to Keira?” asked Geno. “In the whole game I think you only gave her the ball about twice. She was in great positions, and you kept losing it. And that last time, you should really have passed to me.”

Roddy thought about Bryn's text and sighed. “I know. I'm sorry. But Keira's really getting up my nose at the moment. She's
always telling us what to do.”

“But she's captain,” said Geno. “That's her job. And you're vice captain, her second-in-command. You need to be working
with
her. Today our midfield fell apart with you two ignoring each other. Usually your partnership is invincible.”

“That's just it,” Roddy said angrily. “Old Jenkins and Sam both talk about our wonderful partnership, but it's not really a partnership, is it? Not when Keira's been wearing the captain's armband all year. I think she's getting too big for her boots. When's it going to be
my
turn?”

Geno stopped walking and looked at his friend in surprise. “Look, I know you want to be captain,” he said. “But you must admit Keira's done well. We're really close to winning the first-year cup. She may be getting a bit up herself right now, but isn't
it worth dealing with for just a little longer to get our hands on the trophy?”

“I suppose so,” Roddy agreed reluctantly. “But you do agree she's been getting a bit much?”

Geno thought for a second. “Yeah. You're right. She has. And you're not the only one who's been complaining. It's the firsts, too. Ali told me that Keira gave him an earful when he fluffed a pass during our match against West Ham last week. He reckons she's got big-headed because the firsts have done so well.”

Roddy nodded his agreement. “That's what I mean. Everyone, including Mr Jenkins, has been telling her what a fantastic job she's done. But she needs to forget about that and think about us. She seems to have forgotten that we all want to win, and to succeed we need an inspiring captain, not a bossy one.”

“True,” said Geno.

“So…” Roddy began eagerly, but Geno was frowning.

“You kicking off about wanting to be captain won't help anything. You just need to keep being the best you can and wait for your chance. Anyway, I think the pressure's getting to everyone. I'm starting to really worry about not being able to score goals.”

Now it was Roddy's turn to stare at his friend. Geno had always seemed quietly confident in his own ability, even when things weren't going so well. And with the season nearing its conclusion, they needed his goals more than ever.

“You'll be OK,” Roddy said encouragingly, “I know you haven't scored recently but you just need the opportunities, like everyone does. I've been a bit selfish lately, but I'll try to keep making chances for you. What's got
you thinking like that, anyway?”

“Something Jack said to me at half-time,” replied Geno. “He said I'd never be half the player my dad was.”

“Don't pay any attention to Jack,” said Roddy, “You know he tries to put
all
of us off. He just likes playing mind games.”

“But what if he's right?” said Geno quietly. “I've got a huge amount to live up to. There are so many people expecting me to be as good as my dad. He's a legend back in Italy; Parma retired his number nine shirt after he left. They say it'll only be brought back for another Perotti.” He looked dismally at Roddy. “That means me! Sometimes I wish I'd never taken up football.”

Roddy was amazed. He'd heard of Geno's dad from his days in the Italian national team, and his later years when he settled down in the English leagues, but he hadn't
realised quite how big a deal Luca Perotti had been in his home country. He understood now why Geno felt he had a lot to live up to.

“No one can expect you to be a copy of your dad,” said Roddy, feeling sorry for his friend. “I mean, it would be great if you
did
end up wearing that shirt. Imagine it! But you're your own person. If I were like
my
dad, I'd be selling flooring, not here playing football! No matter who our fathers are, all we can do is try our best.” He paused. “Has your dad ever mentioned that he'd like you to be good enough to wear his shirt?”

Geno shook his head. “No. But he doesn't need to. It's obvious, isn't it?”

His friend's problem had made Roddy forget for a moment that he was thoroughly disgruntled at not making captain. “Come on,” he said, trying to think of a way to take Geno's mind off his famous father. “Let's see
if anyone fancies a kickabout.”

With the days much longer, summer term was great fun at Stadium School. There was plenty of time in the evenings to get in a game of football, even if it was just kicking a ball around outside the boarding house and practising a few tricks. Every week it seemed someone had picked up a new idea from the weekend's matches on TV, and slowly it would spread round the school. Today, Roddy wanted to try out something he'd seen over half term. He described it to Geno as they went up to their room to grab a ball.

“The forward was running towards the defender, and sort of spun around the ball then went off in a different direction.”

“Oh, right, I think my dad showed me that once, a while ago. Like this?” Geno did a sort of hopping spin, but without a ball it was hard to tell.

“Could be, yeah. Show me outside.”

“You coming, Jimmy?” said Geno, pausing at the door.

The burly defender nodded.

“And you can count me in, too,” said Marek.

While the four friends went outside, they listened to what Geno had to say. “I think the move is called a Marseille Roulette. Maradona did it all the time and made it famous, but apparently it was invented by some English player.”

“Cool!” said Roddy. “Let's practise somewhere Jack can't see us. I want to get one over on him in training tomorrow.”

Soon, Roddy and Geno's troubles were pushed to one side, as they concentrated on the only thing that really mattered to any of them… Football.

The next evening, Roddy, Marek and Jimmy were in the common room having a game of table tennis. They were playing winner stays on, but one of them always had to be left out.

“Where's Geno?” said Jimmy. “If he was here, we could play doubles.”

“I think he's in our room. Go and see if he wants a game, Roddy,” said Marek, as he served the ball to Jimmy.

“OK.” Roddy headed upstairs. He was about to push open the door to their room when he heard Geno's voice coming from inside. For a moment, Roddy wondered who he was talking to, then he realised Geno
must be on the phone. He was about to go back downstairs, when he heard his own name being mentioned. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't resist moving closer to the door. He strained to hear what Geno was saying.

“Roddy not passing really affected the team in our last match, and I don't know what I should do. He says he wants to be captain, and he'd make a good one, but Keira's been great until recently, and there are only two games left. We'd really like to win them both, even though one would do, so I don't think…”

Geno paused; obviously the other person was talking.

“No, I haven't said anything to Sam or Mr Jenkins about it yet. It only happened yesterday … but the team's really feeling the pressure, Dad, and…”

It was his
dad
– Geno was on the phone to Luca Perotti! Roddy would have loved to be able to get the advice of a footballing legend any time he wanted, but it wasn't so nice hearing himself being talked about as the problem. How dare he! Roddy hadn't told his best friend how he felt about not making captain to have him talk about it to his father! What if Luca Perotti phoned the school to complain that Roddy Jones wasn't passing to his son enough? He was so influential, he might even get Roddy dropped from the team.

In spite of the warm evening, a chill went through him. Roddy had to admit that Geno had a point. He probably
should
have passed more often to him and Keira yesterday. But
he
needed support, too. How would he ever make captain if he wasn't given the chance to shine? And what sort of a friend was Geno
if he was thinking of complaining about him to Mr Jenkins?

“How's Mum?”

The conversation moved on, and Roddy remembered that he was supposed to be asking Geno if he wanted to play table tennis. He pushed open the door and walked into the room, before stopping and pretending he'd just realised Geno was on the phone.

“Oh, sorry,” he said quietly. “I just wondered if you fancied a game of table tennis with me, Marek and Jimmy. We want to play doubles.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” replied Geno. “I'll be down in a minute.”

“See you there,” said Roddy coolly, before going back to the common room. But he couldn't stop thinking about the phone call. As far as he could remember, Geno hadn't
said a word against Keira, although he'd agreed earlier that she was being a pain. It wasn't fair! Geno was making out that Roddy was wrecking their chances of winning the cup, but Roddy wanted them to succeed just as much as everyone else.

“Is he coming?” asked Jimmy when Roddy returned.

“He's on the phone. Said he'll be here in a bit,” replied Roddy. He didn't feel like playing table tennis any more, but he had to make it look as if nothing was wrong. He spent the rest of the evening trying to be cheerful, but he wasn't very convincing.

“You all right, Roddy?” asked Geno, as they were going to bed.

“Uh-huh!” was the only reply Roddy could bring himself to under before he hunched under his duvet, turning his back on his friends.

The next morning, their housemaster, Mr Clutterbuck, had some surprising news.

“Mr Jenkins has been taken ill,” he told them. “And it looks as if he might be off work for a while. Mr Chadwick will be taking over his coaching responsibilities, so practices will continue as normal.

“As I'm sure you know, Mr Chadwick is normally in charge of the senior boys, so he's going to be very busy looking after so many students at once. I know this is hardly ideal so close to the end of the year, but unfortunately it's just one of those things.”

Roddy was sorry to hear that Mr Jenkins was ill. He liked the juniors' coach. But with him out of the picture, things would be different. Now it was unlikely that Geno would mention his problem with Roddy. Mr Chadwick wasn't nearly as approachable as Mr Jenkins.

Roddy glanced over at Geno. Usually they would be sitting together, but Roddy had been as cold to him this morning as he had been the night before.

“I don't know what's up with you,” Geno had said after breakfast.

Roddy had wanted to explain, but he didn't want to admit that he'd overheard the phone conversation, so instead he said nothing. Now Geno had given up on him, and was chatting to Jimmy.

As Roddy looked across the room, Marek came over and sat by him.

“Have you two fallen out, or something?” he asked. “It's not like you to be on opposite sides of the room.”

Roddy shrugged. “Not particularly.” He felt torn. He missed being with his best friend, but he was still furious with Geno for talking about him to his dad.

As they all set off for the first lesson of the day, Geno loitered by the door. Roddy was rather surprised when he pulled him to one side.

“Look, I've been thinking about what you said the other day. You've got to let it go. You're disrupting the rest of the team. Keira's captain right now. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is.”

“Two days ago you agreed with me!” said Roddy furiously. “You said Keira
was
getting too bossy.” He didn't give Geno a chance to reply. He turned to catch up with the rest of his friends and headed off to Maths, feeling lonely and misunderstood.

Far from clearing the air, Roddy could now feel an almighty argument brewing between them that might even ruin their friendship. The match against Banks was only five days away, and Roddy desperately didn't want to
do anything to jeopardise their performance in that. He wanted Charlton to win. He
needed
them to win. But if he could also pull off a couple of exciting goals, he was sure he could rally the team better than Keira, and show Sam who should
really
be in charge.

On Sunday afternoon, Jimmy and Geno decided to go over to the pool for a swim.

“Come on,” Marek said to Roddy, who was mooching about outside the house. “Let's go, too. The girls were talking about playing water polo today. It might be fun.”

“I suppose,” said Roddy. He and Geno still hadn't settled their differences, and he felt out of sorts.

They fetched their swimming things and went over to the pool. Sure enough, loads of the first years were there.

Keira was busy organising teams. “You and Marek can be in Jess's team,” she told them, as they approached.