by Alex Morgan
“Hello? Is someone in here?” a voice called.
Zoe started shaking, the sunscreen bottle trembling in her hand. My own heart began to race. We all looked at one another, eyes wide. Frida turned her head and pointed to a door at the far end of the bathroom, in the opposite direction from where we had just been.
We heard footsteps coming closer and a voice saying, “I could have sworn I turned the lights off.”
Jessi jerked her head in the direction of the door Frida had pointed to. We all moved as quickly and quietly as we could through the bathroom and out the door to the other side.
We stepped into a hallway directly in front of the Pinewood gym. The main entrance was only a few steps away. We all raced out the door, through the parking lot, and back to the safety of the bushes bordering Pinewood Park.
“That was close!” Jessi said, breathing hard.
I groaned. “But now we’re not pranksters; we’re thieves!” I held up the bottle of sunscreen. The other girls still held their bottles too. “We forgot to leave the sunscreen in the locker room.”
“We’re not thieves if we didn’t mean to take the bottles,” Jessi argued. “It was an accident.”
“Darn!” Frida groaned. “I so wanted to see Mirabelle turned blue!”
“I’m just glad this is over,” a relieved Zoe said. “And that we didn’t get into any trouble. I’m not cut out for this revenge stuff.”
“I don’t think I am either, actually,” Emma admitted. “I mean, it sounded like fun, but it was mostly terrifying.”
Jessi shook her head. “You guys are such chickens. I’m just sorry we didn’t get to finish.”
“It was exhilarating,” Frida said. “Like being onstage.”
“If that’s what being onstage is like, then I’ll never join drama club,” I said. My hands were still shaking, I was so nervous. “That was a stupid thing to do.”
Almost getting caught made me realize what a big mistake this all had been. We could have all gotten suspended from the team, and then the whole team would have suffered. What kind of co-captain was I? I was supposed to be leading my team into victory, not into trouble.
“Let’s get back to the trail,” I said firmly. “We need to focus on our game against the Atoms.”
“Maybe we could put the sunscreen where they might find it,” Emma suggested.
“Let’s just leave them on the edge of the parking lot,” Jessi said. “I don’t think we should go back there.”
Nobody argued with her. We put down the sunscreen and then we went back to the fitness trail. We actually ended up completing it just as Mrs. Dukes got back to the start of the trail, fresh from her walk.
“I should get you girls back to Kentville so you have time to eat lunch before your game this afternoon,” she said, looking at her watch. “How was the fitness trail?”
We all looked at one another.
“Um, invigorating,” Jessi replied.
“You can say that again,” Emma said, and Jessi nudged her with her elbow.
After our locker room scare and the fitness trail, we were all pretty worn out as we made our way to the minivan.
“Let’s forget this ever happened,” I said, and Jessi nodded.
“Emma! Look out!” I cried, but it was too late. The ball soared inches above her head, but a distracted Emma didn’t react in time. The Atoms were ahead, 4–1.
The Kicks were struggling on the Atoms’ home field. The Atoms’ attacks seemed to gain more strength as the game went on, and Emma, still shaken up by the events in the Panthers’ locker room this morning, was not at her best. The Atoms defenders were also playing well, putting pressure on the Kicks defense. I’d gotten in a long shot that should have been a goal, but the Atoms goalie made a spectacular save.
The Atoms were clearly having their best game of the season. Too bad it had to be against the Kicks!
Coach pulled Emma out and put in Zarine instead. She successfully blocked an unexpected yet well-placed shot from an Atoms striker. Things seemed to be looking up for the Kicks when Olivia and Grace started several offensive sequences with good clearing passes, but the Atoms were there to block us at every turn.
In the end the Kicks just couldn’t catch up. Our winning streak was over. We had lost.
I hung my head and placed my hands on my hips. Letting out a deep sigh, I began to calculate our chances for the play-offs. We still had a shot, even with this loss. But it meant we would have to beat the Rams at our game next Saturday. If we didn’t, the Kicks’ chance at the trophy would be dashed.
“Great game, ladies!” Coach called to us. “The Atoms really made you hustle. You played terrifically, but they played better today. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes. Don’t let it get you down.”
After saying good-bye to the other Kicks, Jessi and I grabbed our bags and walked off the Atoms’ field together. We made our way to the parking lot to meet our parents.
“This stinks,” Jessi said. “First our attempt to get back at the Panthers fails, and then we lose.”
“Well, maybe we could have played better, but the whole thing this morning—it never should have happened,” I said. “I let my emotions get to me, and I should have kept us from making that mistake.”
Jessi and I were walking along, both feeling down, when we heard someone call our names. We whirled around, and standing there was Mirabelle!
“I saw you coming out of our locker room,” she said with a smug grin. “And I know what you were doing!”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Excuse me?” Jessi asked, her hands on her hips. “You have the nerve to come here and accuse us after everything you and the Panthers have done to the Kicks?”
“What?” Mirabelle asked. She sounded confused. “You’re the ones who snuck into our locker room, and why? To steal our sunscreen? What kind of weird prank is that?”
I turned red. So Mirabelle did know about the sunscreen. I wondered what my parents would do when they found out. Probably ground me for a zillion years.
“Oh, really?” Jessi said in disbelief. “So sending out a fake e-mail, stealing Devin’s soccer bag, calling the community center to give away our field during practice, tampering with the boys’ soccer ball, trashing our banner, and writing ‘Loser’ on Devin’s jersey? That’s what you call not having done anything?” Jessi was practically screaming.
Mirabelle looked genuinely shocked. “Somebody did all that to you guys?” Then her expression got angry again. “Wait, and you thought I did all that?”
“Of course we did,” Jessi shot back. “You know you hate the Kicks.”
“I do not hate the Kicks!” Mirabelle protested.
“Um, you did write ‘Bye, Losers’ on the mirror when you left,” I reminded her. “And laughed pretty hard when the boys’ team made fun of us at the dance.”
Mirabelle bit her lip when I said that, and then she looked away.
“Whatever,” she said, but she sounded hurt. “I just can’t believe that you’d really think I’d do all that stuff, Jessi.”
“Well, I did,” Jessi replied.
Mirabelle looked at me. “You too, Devin?”
“Well, yeah,” I said slowly. “You and the other girls on the Pinewood team. Somebody stained my jersey Pinewood purple. And we even found a Pinewood bracelet right where our trashed banner was.”
“Right!” Jessi said triumphantly. She reached into her bag and pulled out the purple-and-gold friendship bracelet. “Here it is.”
“My bracelet!” she sounded shocked. “I haven’t seen it since I gave it to Jamie.”
“Jamie from the Rams?” I asked.
“Right,” Mirabelle replied. “We became friends after being on the travel team together. Jamie is the one who suggested we check you guys out, at that game against the Eagles.”
“I saw you two in the stands that day,” Jessi remembered.
“Jamie said we should go, since you were doing so much better,” Mirabelle said. “Yo
u know, to size up our competition. That’s when Jamie asked if I wanted to exchange friendship bracelets. I gave her my Pinewood one, and she gave me hers. It’s red and yellow for the Rams.”
“Why aren’t you wearing it, then?” Jessi asked, her arms crossed in front of her.
“I felt weird wearing the Riverdale colors,” Mirabelle admitted. “It felt disloyal to the Panthers. So I took it off. I haven’t been wearing any bracelet since then. Can I have my bracelet back?”
Jessi looked reluctant to hand it over, and I didn’t blame her. It was our only real evidence linking the Panthers to the sabotage.
“First answer me this. Why did you come all the way out to Adams today?” Jessi asked.
“I came early to practice this morning,” Mirabelle replied. “I saw you, Devin, Emma, Zoe, and Frida run out of the gym. Then later our coach was freaking out because a bunch of our sunscreen bottles were missing.”
“Did you tell your coach that you saw us there?” I asked, my heart beating fast.
Mirabelle shook her head. “I wanted to talk to you first, and I knew you had a game against the Atoms today,” she answered. “I guess . . . I might want to beat you on the field, but I didn’t want you to get in trouble, Jessi.”
Jessi looked surprised. “You didn’t?”
Mirabelle shrugged. “I don’t know. The girls at Pinewood are really stuck-up. The team is supercompetitive. I guess I kind of miss Kentville . . . and you too, sometimes.”
Jessi looked like she was trying to decide whether Mirabelle was messing with her or not. I certainly had never seen Mirabelle be this sincere before.
“Thanks for having my back,” Jessi said.
Watching the two of them made me think of me and Kara. We’d been friends for as long as I could remember. Even if we stopped being friends, I knew she would always have a special place in my heart. I guess maybe Mirabelle felt that way too.
Jessi handed her back the bracelet. “I believe you. Sorry we tried to . . . steal your sunscreen.”
She gave me a look that warned me not to say anything about the real plan. I don’t think she trusted Mirabelle just yet, and I didn’t blame her.
Mirabelle shook her head. “That is, like, really lame revenge. But I guess it got our coach mad.”
“You guys playing the Vipers this afternoon?” I asked Mirabelle.
She nodded.
“Well, good luck,” I said, and I meant it.
“Thanks,” Mirabelle said. “Later.”
“That was weird,” I said, shaking my head.
“That was more like the old Mirabelle, the one who used to be my friend,” Jessi said a little wistfully. “At least she’s not going to tell anyone about the sunscreen.”
“Do you believe her? About not telling, and the sabotage stuff?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Jessi replied, “but I’m not so sure about the sabotage stuff. Although, she really didn’t seem to have any idea what we were talking about.”
“Hmmmm,” I said slowly as I let everything Mirabelle had told us sink in. “She said she gave her bracelet to Jamie. What if Jamie is the one who wrecked our banner?”
“Mr. Jenkins said the girl who returned your bag had blond hair,” Jessi said excitedly. “Jamie has blond hair!”
“And she was at the Eagles game the day my bag was stolen!” I cried. It was all starting to make sense. “Steven said that the Rams were the boys’ strongest competition this season, not the Panthers. And the Kicks will face the Rams in a week.”
Jessi snapped her fingers. “Jamie could have even planted Mirabelle’s bracelet in the shed to throw us off her trail!”
“Wow, pretty diabolical for a middle school student.” I shook my head in disbelief. “So if the Rams are behind this—”
Jessi finished my sentence. “Then we targeted the wrong team!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
We made our way to the parking lot, still stunned by what we had learned. My dad, mom, and sister were waiting by our car, talking with Jessi’s parents. Emma, Frida, and Zoe were huddled off to the side, clearly comforting Emma, who’d had a not-so-great game.
“You okay, kiddo?” My dad asked, ruffling my hair with his hand.
I readjusted my pink headband and gave him a sad smile. “It would have been worse if this loss had ended our shot at the play-offs, but we’ve still got another chance at our game against the Rams next week.”
Jessi gave me a look, her eyebrows raised. It was easy to tell what she was thinking. We had a shot if the Rams didn’t try to sabotage us again!
“That’s my girl! I love that positive attitude,” Dad said with a grin. “But I figured you still might need a little cheering up. That’s why we’re going to take you all out for ice cream. Mr. and Mrs. Dukes are coming with us, and we got the okay from Frida’s, Zoe’s, and Emma’s parents to take them, too.”
Jessi and I exchanged excited glances. We couldn’t wait to tell our friends what we had just discovered!
“I want to sit with Devin and her friends!” Maisie whined as the Kicks all sat in a booth together on the other side of the room from where our parents were going to sit.
“Mom, please?” I begged. “We need to talk soccer strategy.”
“Maisie, let Devin have some alone time with her friends,” Mom told her.
“Fine.” Maisie crossed her arms. “But I’m getting two scoops, then!”
My mom dragged a complaining Maisie away while Jessi laughed. “We should send Maisie after the Rams. That will stop them!”
Emma, Zoe, and Frida looked confused. “After the Rams? What are you talking about?” Frida wondered.
I cleared my throat. “Wait until you hear this!” Jessi and I filled them in about our conversation with Mirabelle and how we’d figured out it was the Rams, not the Panthers, sabotaging us.
“So Lady Macbeth is Jamie Quinn, not Mirabelle!” Frida said.
Emma shook her head. “I can’t believe it. The Rams? What have they got against us?”
“Well, I can’t believe that Mirabelle was actually nice,” Zoe said. “She really promised not to say anything about the sunscreen?”
I nodded. “I think she meant it,” I replied, and Zoe looked relieved.
“The Rams,” Frida repeated thoughtfully. “Hmm. The plot thickens.”
“But wait!” Zoe cried. She sat up straight in her chair, holding her ice cream spoon in the air. “We’re playing the Rams next week!”
“Forget about trying to get any kind of revenge on them,” I said firmly. “If we play well, we’ll win. We can beat them fair and square.”
Zoe shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. We’re playing the Rams next Saturday, and so are the boys! Both home games on the same day. If the Rams are planning any more sabotage, that’s gotta be when they’ll try it.”
Emma’s eyes grew wide. “How can we stop them? We don’t even know what they have planned.”
Frida had an idea. “What if you bring it to the league director again? What was her name?”
“Ms. Carides,” I said. “That’s not a bad idea. We have actual evidence this time.”
“Not really,” Jessi objected. “All we have is Mirabelle’s word that she gave Jamie her bracelet. And a sighting of a girl with blond hair.”
“What about my T-shirt?” I asked.
“She thought someone from Kentville trashed the banner,” Jessi reminded me. “She’d probably say the same thing about your shirt.”
Everyone looked sad and defeated. Then Jessi’s eyes lit up. “I think I know what to do.”
“What?” I asked, curious as to how we could even begin to fix this, and a little nervous that Jessi had another crazy plan.
“Holly Phillips—she goes to my church and she goes to Riverdale. Plus she’s on the soccer team!” Jessi said, like she had everything figured out.
“Um, okay, but how does that help us?” I wondered.
“You don’t know Holly. Her mouth runs a mile a minute. She�
�ll tell you what she ate for breakfast, but she’ll also drop juicy gossip, like who is feuding with who over at Riverdale,” Jessi said.
“She might talk a lot, but I don’t think she’ll tell you, a Kangaroo, about her team’s plot to sabotage us,” Emma said doubtfully.
“She wouldn’t tell me, but what if she told it to another Ram?” Jessi said, her eyes gleaming.
“Still not getting it,” I said.
Jessi leaned back in her chair and grinned. “We’ve got a lot of talent on the Kicks, and that includes a talented actress—Frida.” Frida glowed at Jessi’s compliment. “What if Frida pretends she’s a new student and wants to join the Rams? And gets Holly to spill everything?”
“Wouldn’t they know what Frida looks like?” Zoe asked.
Jessi nodded. “She’d have to wear a disguise, of course.”
Frida smiled. “I could go to the Rams’ practice after school tomorrow. I’ll say I just moved to Riverdale and am interested in joining the soccer team.”
“But you’ll miss our practice!” I said, alarmed. After the game we’d just played, we needed to step it up!
“Chill, Devin. It’s only one practice,” Jessi said. “We’ve got to find out what else the Rams have planned. If it’s something really terrible, all the practice in the world won’t help us.”
Jessi had a point. The sabotage had slowly and surely gotten into the Kicks’ heads and messed with our performance. We needed to put a stop to it once and for all!
“Do you think you can pull it off, Frida?” I asked. “Acting onstage, or even on the soccer field, is one thing. But this is more like being a spy!”
“I can handle it,” Frida said, her eyes dancing. “It’s going to be fun!”
The next day at soccer practice, Jessi, Emma, Zoe, and I kept exchanging nervous glances. Frida had promised to come right over to the Kicks’ field as soon as she was finished. What if she got caught?
We played a scrimmage, and Coach Flores rotated all of us between offense and defense to give everyone several shots on the goal. It was time to cool down, and Coach had us all stretching, something new she had been trying out. It reminded me a little bit of the tai chi we had done with the seniors, and I felt myself beginning to relax, when I spotted a girl I had never seen before pedaling her bike to the end of the field.