The scores were tied now. All we needed was for Fred to hit the back of the net and we would win the match.
“Go, Fred, go!” Fiona encouraged him from the stands.
Fred turned around to look at his sweetheart. As he was looking over, his eyes caught sight of Billy. Then Fred dashed towards the ball… and let himself fall flat on his face.
Play was stopped again. No one understood what had just happened.
Fred got up. He did not even pretend to limp. He walked straight up to Billy.
“Here you are! It’s your turn now,” he said, taking off his shirt to give it to Billy.
It was clear what was going on. Fred was not hurt at all. He just wanted to give Billy a chance!
Billy Bungalow could not believe what was happening to him.
“Go on! Get a move on, before I change my mind,” Fred mumbled, pushing Billy towards the pitch.
Our rivals perked up when they found out that Fred had been replaced. They came awfully close to scoring the winning goal. Pierre was only just able to stop the ball.
Then a voice rang out from the stands. A voice we had not heard before.
“Go on, Billy! You can do it!” shouted Miss Charlotte with unshakable confidence.
Three minutes later Billy sent the ball into the back of the net.
We had won! The crowd went mad and Billy was on cloud nine. I have never seen anyone so happy in my whole life. While we were jumping up and down like monkeys to express our joy, Fred walked over to Fiona. And when he got there, he kissed her on the cheek, in front of everyone!
Epilogue
Our headmistress congratulated us very warmly. She invited us to choose a new name for the school. No one was bothered about naming it after Tony Brilliant. Laurence had a better idea: “The Smalalamiam Academy!” he suggested.
Fiona used this moment to get Miss Charlotte to reveal the secret of her smalalamiam. We had worked out that it contained peach juice, honey, crushed hazelnuts and caramel, but there was at least one ingredient missing, which would explain why it was so effective.
“You still haven’t figured it out?” Miss Charlotte said, astonished. “The secret ingredient is spling!”
My dad came over to congratulate me. He gave me a pat on the back, saying: “I knew I would make a good striker out of you!”
I looked at my dad. He was proud of me. Not because I had given it my all, but because I had scored a goal.
It all became clear to me. I plucked up my courage and told my dad: “I will never be a great striker, Dad. I enjoy playing, that’s all. But I am brilliant at strategy. Next year I will be the assistant coach.”
My dad did not reply. I think he was too surprised at seeing me so full of determination.
Marie was waiting for me in the stands. Alone. In her hand she was holding a pebble.
“I would like you to meet Gertrude,” she said, sounding emotional.
My cousin Marie explained that Gertrude was more than just a little stone. Miss Charlotte had told it her deepest secrets. Marie had been looking after it for quite a while now. So that was the precious object she had spoken about before in such a mysterious tone.
“Miss Charlotte was keen to see it again,” Marie continued. “But then she decided you should have it for a while. She told me to hand it over to you…”
It took a while before it sank in.
“You mean to say that she’s gone?”
Marie nodded.
I felt abandoned and lost. All of a sudden I discovered just how much our football coach had come to mean to me.
Marie understood what I was going through. She opened my hand and put Gertrude in it. I immediately felt there was something of Miss Charlotte in that pebble.
I talk to Gertrude a lot. Especially when my dad is putting pressure on me. Gertrude reminds me of what Miss Charlotte used to say. And it reminds me that I don’t need to be the best. I am unique. And that is enough.
Miss Charlotte is right. I know it.
Like I know that one day, very soon perhaps, she will reappear in my life.
if you liked this story, why don’t you try another of miss charlotte’s adventures?
“She’s bonkers!”
Miss Charlotte, the new teacher, is not like the others: she wears a large hat and a crumpled dress that make her look like a scarecrow, and she talks to a rock. The children think she is crazy at first, but soon realize she makes school more fun, getting them to measure the room with cooked spaghetti in maths class, telling fascinating stories about a gorilla and even taking the pupils on at football.
The first book in Dominique Demers’s popular series, The New Teacher – brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross – is an entertaining, imaginative and inspiring book that will make you wish you had a teacher just like Miss Charlotte.
or, if you have read the new teacher,
perhaps you could try this one?
“That beanpole of a woman!”
When the mysterious and eccentric Miss Charlotte arrives in the village of Saint-Anatole to take over the tiny library, the locals are surprised to find out that she does things differently. Wearing a long blue dress and a giant hat, she takes her books out for a walk in a wheelbarrow and shows the children that reading can be fun and useful. Sometimes she is so caught up in the magic of the stories she shares with her audience that she forgets all sense of reality – so much so that one day she loses consciousness and the children must find a way to bring her back.
The second in Dominique Demers’s popular series, The Mysterious Librarian, brilliantly illustrated by Tony Ross, is a wonderful story about the magical and inspiring power of books..
The New Football Coach Page 4