Win or Lose (8 page)

I looked hopefully at Jessi, Emma, Zoe, and Frida.

Jessi slowly shook her head. “Sorry, Devin, but we've got another practice with Coach Valentine to look forward to today.”

“Coach Flores is still out,” Emma added sadly.

“Oh, no!” I said. “I don't know if I can take another practice with him.”

Frida shuddered. “Yesterday was even worse than Monday. ‘Hollywood! Get the lead out!' ” Frida did a perfect imitation of Coach Valentine's gruff voice. Ever since he'd heard about Frida's acting classes,
he'd started calling her “Hollywood.”

“My arms are still sore from all the push-ups,” Zoe complained.

I rubbed my own arms. They were a little sore too. When Olivia had showed up late at yesterday's practice, we'd all had to run laps. It had gotten worse when Gabriela had come late too. We'd had to do, like, a zillion push-ups.

“Well, at least we got a great workout,” I said jokingly.

“Yeah, at the expense of me missing my acting class,” Frida complained.

“And me missing my meeting with my party planner,” Zoe said. “We were going to do a cake tasting!”

Jessi raised an eyebrow. “It sounds more like you're planning a wedding than a bat mitzvah!”

“I told you, everything has to be perfect, down to the last detail,” Zoe said, totally serious. “You guys don't get it. All of my older sisters had perfect bat mitzvahs. Every single person in my family will be there, including my cousins from New Jersey. If I have to taste every cake in the Kentville area, so be it.”

Emma started cracking up. “Let Zoe eat cake!”

“Now, that's the kind of party planning I can do! Do you need some help eating all that cake, Zoe?” Jessi asked.

Zoe laughed. “I know I sound nuts, but I really want this to be a day everyone will remember,” she said.

“I wish I could forget practice with Coach Valentine,” Frida said dramatically, dropping her head into her hands. “I'm
traumatized. And I'm not sure which is more traumatic—his corny jokes or his constant yelling.”

Jessi shuddered. “It's like having Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a soccer coach!”

I let out a big sigh. Even though Coach Valentine's methods were way different from anything I had ever experienced before, I felt like I was learning some good pointers from his practices. But I needed to talk to Coach Flores about the problems we were having as a team!

Emma heard me sigh and gave me a sympathetic grin. “Have there been any more problems with the eighth graders, Devin?”

I nodded. “Grace still won't talk to me.” I had filled them in yesterday at lunch about our conversation in the bathroom. “I tried messaging her on MyBook last night, but she wouldn't answer.”

“There's definitely tension between the eighth graders and the seventh graders,” Zoe added. “Anna told me that she takes the same bus as Giselle, and usually they sit together, but today Giselle sat with someone else.”

I shook my head. “This is all getting so blown out of proportion.”

“Hopefully Coach Flores will be back soon and everything will be back to normal,” Emma said, putting a positive spin on things as usual. “And maybe Coach Valentine will ease up a little bit at today's practice.”

But Emma's optimism was no match for Coach Valentine's drill-sergeant coaching style. If anything, he
seemed even tougher than usual at practice that day.

“Move it, move it, move it!” he hollered as we did our warm-up laps. Every single Kicks player had made sure to be on time for today's practice!

“You should be glad I'm not making you run in front of a car, girls,” he yelled. “Do you know why? Because it would make you tired! Get it, tires, cars?” He started cracking up again. His laugh was just like his voice, gruff and loud.

His laugh was so funny, I couldn't help but laugh along with him, and I noticed a few other girls doing the same.

But then he was right back to drill sergeant. He broke us up into two groups for a one-on-one soccer drill to strengthen our defense and attacks. “Defenders, you have to stay low,” he yelled.

I could tell his constant barking was rattling my teammates' concentration. When we began our scrimmage, I could see that a lot of solid players, like Sarah and Maya, were off their game.

Sarah immediately went offsides. “You need to be aware of where you are at all times!” Coach barked at her.

Maya tripped over the ball, almost taking Anna down with her. “Watch it!” Coach shouted.

He tooted his whistle. “Never mind. We'll run some drills instead. Hey, do you know what a dentist and a soccer coach have in common. They both use drills!” Again, he cracked himself up.

I started laughing, and so did Jessi and Emma. “There's
plenty more where that came from, girls,” Coach Valentine said. He seemed pleased we were laughing, but not so pleased that he didn't start barking at all of us as soon as the drill started.

We were all missing Coach Flores. I felt burned out as I walked off the field with Jessi when practice was over.

“You know what we need?” I asked Jessi excitedly as an idea popped into my head. “A team building exercise. Just something fun where we can all relax. We haven't done one in ages.”

“Fun? Relax? Don't let Coach Valentine hear you saying those words,” Jessi joked. “But I agree. We could all use it! What did you have in mind?”

I shrugged. “Let's keep it simple. Maybe we can all go out for pizza after tomorrow's practice.”

“That's a great idea,” Jessi said. “Count me in!”

“I'll text everybody and invite them!” I said, smiling. Maybe this would be just the thing to cheer everybody up and bring the team together again!

As soon as I climbed into our van, I whipped out my phone and sent a text to everyone on the team.

Pizza after practice tomorrow at Vinnie's?

Before I even got home, my phone began beeping with replies.

Fun!
Zoe texted.

U know I'll be there!
came from Jessi.

Only if I can get anchovies on mine,
Frida texted back.

“Wow!
Are you having a text fest?” My dad joked as he steered the van into our driveway.

“Just some soccer business!” I said as I raced into the house and up the stairs. I kept an eye on my phone all night, waiting to see who was coming. I heard from Emma and Sarah. Later on I got texts from Anna and Olivia, and it wasn't until I was ready to go to bed that I heard back from Brianna. They all said they would come. They were also all seventh graders. Not one of the eighth graders had even bothered to reply.
Some team building exercise this is
, I thought miserably as I turned off my lamp and burrowed under my covers.
More like half-a-team building exercise
!

The next day at school I tried not to think about how none of the eighth graders had texted me back. Instead I tried to concentrate on my schoolwork. But when I got to seventh-period World Civ class, I started thinking of something else: Steven. I hadn't talked to him since he'd brushed me off after the play-off game. I twisted around in my seat, trying to catch a glimpse of him. Not only was he there, but he was staring right at me! I felt a blush creep up my cheeks, but Steven just smiled and waved. I did the same before turning around.
Real smooth, Devin!
I told myself.

After class he was waiting for me in the hallway.

“Hey,” he said. “I heard Coach Valentine has taken over until Coach Flores gets back. How's that going?” he asked with a sly grin.

“Ugh!” I groaned. “I feel like I'm in boot camp with a
drill sergeant who also moonlights as a comedian.”

Steven laughed. “Do you ever feel like you're not sure if you should be saluting him or laughing at one of his jokes?”

“Oh my gosh, totally!” I said. We started walking down the hallway. “So how do you guys put up with him? Do you have any pointers?”

“Yeah, just always do what he says, and you'll have no problem,” Steven said, and laughed. “But actually, he's not all bad. He can be really nice, and once our team got into a rhythm with him, we started having a lot of fun at practices. Plus, my skills have improved a lot since I've had him as a coach.”

“Your lap running skills?” I joked.

“And my push-up skills.” Steven smiled back at me. We were both laughing as we walked into the classroom together.

I saw Cody leaning over Jessi's desk. They were both smiling as Jessi looked up at me. She saw me and winked. The bell rang, and Cody took his seat next to Steven. I slid into the chair next to Jessi's and returned her smile.

“Steven smile!” she whispered to me.

“Cody smile!” I whispered right back. We both laughed. It looked like Steven and Cody had both gotten over their disappointment at losing the play-off game. I was glad for them. Now if only the eighth graders could get over being mad at me!

Thinking about what Steven had said helped make practice a little more bearable that afternoon. I wanted to improve my soccer skills too, and if Coach Valentine could help me do that, then the hard work was worth it. And if the boys could do it, so could I, right?

Thinking about pizza helped me get through practice too. Even though only the seventh graders were going, I knew it would still be fun. (And also, I loved pizza!)

We ran back into the locker room to change when practice was over. Lately the eighth graders were all changing by the back row of lockers, and the seventh graders were all clumped together by the front door. It almost felt like we were two different teams!

“So, I was thinking, do we have to go to Vinnie's?” Jessi asked as we got changed.

“What's wrong with Vinnie's?” I asked.

“Well, they don't make
pineapple pizza, and I'm totally craving that,” she answered.

“Mmm, pineapple!” Anna agreed.

I made a face. Back in Connecticut nobody put pineapple on pizza. But in California people put all kinds of strange stuff on it. I liked mine old-school—plain, pepperoni, or sometimes a veggie slice. But that was as crazy as I got.

“Well, where do you want to go?” I asked.

“How about Pizza Kitchen?” Emma suggested.

I shrugged. “That's fine with me. Everybody else okay?”

All of the girls nodded. “Okay, then,” I said. “Let's all meet at Pizza Kitchen.”

Jessi's mom had agreed to drive me, Frida, Emma, and Zoe, so we all piled into her minivan once we got to the parking lot.

“Mom, we're going to Pizza Kitchen instead,” Jessi informed her as she slid into the passenger seat.

Mrs. Dukes smiled. “Oh, good. I need to do some shopping, and that's right next to the market.”

A few minutes later we arrived at Pizza Kitchen, a pretty normal-looking pizza parlor in the middle of a strip mall. Brianna, Sarah, Anna, and Olivia had gotten there first and were pushing two tables together so we could all sit in one place.