Penalty Shot

by Matt Christopher

  Jeff waited for his teacher to lecture him. But she didn’t. Instead, she handed him a slip of paper. “This is the name of a tutor. You have a choice: work with her to improve and this grade stays out of the book. Or, continue as you’ve been doing. I can promise if you choose that option, though, that you’ll wish you hadn’t.” She softened her tone slightly. “Jeff, I’m not insisting that you get all A’s instantly. Just show me that you’re trying. You can start by doing another composition under the instruction of your tutor.”

  Jeff unfolded the piece of paper and read the name. Beth Ledbetter. Below there was a phone number and an address. Jeff recognized them both.

  Oh, great, Jeff thought to himself. This is Bucky’s and Hayes’s sister! Wonder how long it will take before word gets around the team and people start taking bets on whether I’ll be thrown off again or not?

  Out loud, he said, “Thanks, Ms. Collins. I’ll — I’ll call her right when I get home tonight. Right after hockey practice, I mean.”

  Ms. Collins smiled at him wearily. “Of course. But Jeff, keep in mind that sometimes good grades are more important than sports. You have to learn to train your mind as well as your body. I’ll look forward to seeing a different, improved composition from you in two weeks. Okay, take your seat.”

  For the rest of class, Jeff tried to concentrate on what he was doing instead of on the call he had promised to make. But he kept drifting back to it and to what Ms. Collins had said before she told him to sit down.

  Train your mind… where had he heard that before?

  Midway through math class it dawned on him. Eric Stone had said the same thing in his letter. Jeff knew it was time to listen to what they were saying, but he couldn’t help wishing it didn’t mean getting tutored by his teammates’ sister! He sighed.

  “Yes, Mr. Connors? Are you experiencing some hardship? Perhaps you’d like to share it with the rest of the class?” his math teacher asked drily.

  Jeff shook his head. No way! he thought, as he turned his attention back to the problem on the board. I’d like anything but that!

  At practice that afternoon, Jeff suited up right away and was one of the first players out on the ice. He skated around for a few seconds, just to get the feel of it, then came back to the bench when the coach blew his whistle.

  After fifteen minutes of drills, Coach Wallace handed out red pinnies to half the players. Jeff was one of them. As he tied his pinny over his jersey, he listened to the coach explain that they were going to scrimmage for the rest of the practice. He wanted to see how certain combinations of players worked together.

  Jeff lined up at right wing. Bucky took up position at center, with Hayes to his left. Looking over his shoulder, Jeff saw that Kevin was backing him up at right defense. Shep was at left defense. It took Jeff a moment to realize that the figure in the goal covered in pads and protective gear was Michael Gillis.

  This could be the starting lineup, Jeff suddenly thought. His heart pounded. If I do well in this scrimmage, maybe I’ll earn a permanent spot here.

  Six other boys took up position on the other half of the ice. Jeff looked up to see Chad facing him.

  “Are you ready to go down?” Chad whispered in his best menacing voice.

  “You first,” Jeff growled back. They grinned at each other and waited for the scrimmage to begin.

  Coach Wallace dropped the puck for the face-off. The red team took control. Jeff circled around until he reached the right zone. He caught Bucky’s eye. Bucky’s stick flashed and a moment later the puck hit Jeff’s stick. Without looking down at it, he checked around him to see where his teammates were. Was anyone in the clear?

  Hayes was. Jeff skated forward to close the space between them a bit more, then shot him a pass. Hayes fumbled it for a moment, then gained control. But that brief delay gave his defender enough time to close in.

  Jeff could see Hayes was in trouble. He wanted to help out, but Chad was stuck on him like flypaper. Bucky shook free of his defender and Hayes sent him the puck. Bucky took it behind the net, quickly shifting the play to the opposite side of the ice.

  Jeff was too far in the middle to receive a pass. But Kevin was clear. Bucky passed the puck to him, then skated nearer to the goal. Jeff saw Kevin glance at him, then at Bucky. To Jeff’s disappointment, he returned the puck to Bucky. Bucky scooped it up and delivered a lightning-quick backhand shot. The goalie never saw it coming. Score!

  As the teams skated back into position, Kevin said to Jeff, “I wanted to give you a chance, but that big lug Chad was barreling down on you from behind. I didn’t think you saw him.”

  “I didn’t!” replied Jeff. He took up his position opposite Chad. “But I will next time.”

  Chad waggled his eyebrows. “We’ll see about that.”

  At the next face-off, the blue team made a strong effort to get the draw. It didn’t do much good. The puck caught an edge and bounced crazily all over the ice. Every time a player came near it, the disk went off in another direction.

  Finally, the blue team got the puck under its control. The center started to move in closer to the red goal.

  “Pass it!” Coach Wallace yelled. “Move it around!”

  The blue center hesitated for a moment. That was his mistake. Bucky swooped in and captured the puck. Hayes was already streaking over the center line and heading for the attacking zone.

  But Bucky had been stopped in the defending zone by a double team of defense-men. He couldn’t pass to Hayes without risking an offside call. Even though it was only a scrimmage, Jeff knew Bucky was too good a player to deliberately cause an offense. So, instead of sending the puck to his brother, he dropped a quick pass back to Shep.

  Shep skated furiously into the neutral zone. By that time, Hayes had turned around and come back toward center ice. The two were close enough now for Shep to make a good pass.

  Hayes collected the puck carefully and took off down the ice again. Bucky shook free of his defender and skated parallel to him. All Hayes had to do was pass the puck over and Bucky would have an easy shot at the goal.

  From where Jeff was, it looked simple enough.

  But somehow Hayes botched it. He sent the puck skyrocketing behind the net and around the board to the opposite side.

  A blue defender pounced on it and sent it skimming down the ice. As the red team chased after it, Jeff heard Bucky hiss at Hayes, “Dummy!”

  From the number of players who cast looks in that direction, Jeff knew that everyone else on the ice had heard it, too. Hayes turned bright red under his helmet but kept his eyes straight ahead.

  For the rest of the scrimmage, Jeff could see that Hayes’s heart wasn’t in the game. Midway through, Coach Wallace made some team changes. He brought in some guys from the bench, switched blue players to red and vice versa, and pointed the leftovers to the sidelines. Chad took over for Hayes, Bucky stayed in center, and Kevin remained where he was. Jeff wound up on the bench next to Hayes.

  When the shuffling around was finished, Jeff got a surprise when he saw who had replaced him. It was Sam Metcalf!

  Guess Coach really meant what he said about alternates getting even playing time, Jeff thought.

  He could tell right from the first face-off that Sam was a solid team player. He, Chad, and Bucky made a powerful front line. Passes were sharp and accurate. Run after run down the ice, the threesome eluded their defenders to take shots on goal.

  Fifteen minutes later, Coach Wallace mixed things up again. Jeff returned to right wing, but on the blue team, with Shep backing him up on defense. They performed well together, but Jeff still felt he and Kevin were the obvious duo.

  Coach Wallace blew his whistle.

  “Okay, one last change around, then we’ll all cool down and head for the showers.” When he had finished repositioning people, Jeff found himself on the bench sitting between Sam and Bucky. Hayes and Kevin were on the seats behind them.

  “Boy, that felt great!” Sam said enthusiastically. Then his gri
n faded. “I gotta tell you guys, it’s pretty hard sitting on the bench. I was a regular starter at my old school.” He sighed.

  Bucky shrugged. “Well, you never know. The reason Coach made those alternate positions is so he can dump some dead weight if he needs to — or if he has to. Right, Jeff?” He elbowed Jeff sharply in the ribs.

  Jeff cut Bucky an angry look. “Or maybe he’ll decide he wants to put a real team player, a guy who shows a good attitude toward his teammates, on the ice instead of some loudmouth who spends half his time criticizing other players!” he shot back.

  “Well, I’m sure he’d rather have a loudmouth than a ’fraidy cat! Or should I say ’fraidy dog?” Bucky replied sarcastically.

  Jeff felt his face turn beet red.

  “Hey, you guys, break it up,” Kevin whispered. “The coach is coming over.”

  The last scrimmage had ended and Coach Wallace was signaling the boys to skate a few laps, then head for the showers. As they made their way to the locker room, Jeff caught Hayes’s arm.

  “Listen, I just want you to know I thought you played well out there today.”

  Hayes stared at him. “What makes you think I don’t think I did?” he asked.

  “Come on, Hayes, I heard what Bucky said to you —”

  “Will you quit worrying about me? I can handle Bucky. What I can’t handle is some no-brain like you trying to mother me!”

  He shook free of Jeff’s grasp and ran into the locker room, leaving Jeff to stare after him in stunned silence.

  10

  Hayes’s words were still ringing in Jeff’s ears at dinner. It made what he had to do after dessert that much more difficult. But he knew he couldn’t avoid it, no matter what.

  So after he had helped clear the dishes, he grabbed the cordless phone and shut himself in the bathroom. He fished the slip of paper Ms. Collins had given him out of his pocket and dialed the number.

  “Hello?” a female voice answered.

  “Uh, hi, is Beth there?” Jeff asked.

  “This is Beth.”

  “Oh. My name is Jeff Connors. Um, Ms. Collins said you might tutor me in English.” He told her about his conversation with his teacher.

  “Do you still have the composition you turned in?” Beth asked.

  “Sure,” he replied.

  “Good,” she said. “Sometimes people get so angry they tear them up. So we’re off on the right foot already.”

  She sounded so nice that Jeff started to relax. Maybe this tutoring won’t be so bad after all, he thought. If only it wasn’t Bucky’s and Hayes’s sister!

  “Bring your composition with you tomorrow and we’ll get started,” Beth said.

  Jeff gulped. “So soon?” he asked. “I have hockey practice tomorrow, then I’ll want to eat dinner. Couldn’t we start this weekend? And couldn’t you come over here?”

  “No, I’m sorry, but I’m all set up here. And it really would be better to get you going sooner rather than later. It will only be for an hour. So how about it?”

  Jeff sighed, knowing she was right. “Let me check with my folks, okay?” He got permission from both his mother and father, then told Beth he’d be at her house at 7:30 sharp. I only hope the Ledbetter brothers aren’t around, he thought dismally. But what are the chances of that?

  School flew by the next day. Jeff told Ms. Collins he was going to be seeing Beth that very night. She looked so pleased that he was glad he hadn’t put off his first tutoring session.

  At practice, he concentrated on playing well. He was rewarded by being teamed up with other players he knew would be selected for the first string. Happily, Kevin was in the defenseman slot behind him more often than not.

  When the session was over, Coach Wallace announced that they would be playing a non-league game on Saturday afternoon. The starting lineup would be posted Friday before practice.

  Whose names would appear on that list was all any of the guys could talk about. Heated discussions about who had seen the most playing time during practice, who played well with whom, and why certain combinations of front line and defense made the most sense took up all the conversation in the locker room.

  “Listen, there’s no way he’s going to put Shep Fredrickson and Jordan Owens together on defense,” argued Chad. “They both play the left side of the ice better than the right! One’s going to be a starter, the other will sub in.”

  Shep said, “Kevin, you and Jeff make a good front line/defenseman team. I’ll bet you guys start out on the right wing and defense slots.”

  Only Michael Gillis seemed sure of his place on the team. He was a safe bet for the starting goalie slot and everyone knew it.

  Though he listened carefully, Jeff didn’t take part in the conversation. He was too busy wondering what his first tutoring session was going to be like.

  Jeff and Kevin walked home together as usual, but for some reason Jeff didn’t feel like telling Kevin what he was doing later that night.

  He’ll find out soon enough, he thought ruefully. If Bucky sees me, I’m sure he’ll let the whole team know.

  At dinner, Jeff ate as if he’d never seen food before, then gathered together everything he thought he might need for his meeting: his three-ring binder, his composition, a pencil, and a pen. His mother drove him to the Ledbetters’ house, promising to be back in an hour. She handed him an envelope with Beth’s name on the outside and a check on the inside, then drove away.

  Jeff walked to the front door and rang the bell. Hayes answered it.

  “Jeff! What’re you doing here?” Hayes asked, looking surprised.

  “Uh, I’m here to see your sister,” Jeff mumbled.

  Hayes stepped aside. “Come on in,” he said.

  “Is that Jeff Connors?” a voice called out.

  Blushing furiously, Jeff pushed past Hayes just as Beth came into the room. While they shook hands, Hayes muttered something about going to his room and disappeared.

  Jeff liked Beth immediately. About the same age as his sister Candy, she was dressed in sweats and running shoes. Her blond hair was cut short and her blue eyes were sizing him up just as he was sizing her up.

  “Come on into my study,” she said. “And let’s see what you’ve brought me.”

  “Oh, uh, here,” Jeff said, fumbling with the envelope his mother had given him.

  Beth laughed. “I meant let’s take a look at your composition, but since you’re offering…” She whisked the envelope out of his hand and stowed it quickly in the top drawer of her desk.

  “Now let me see the famous composition, the one with all the green marks,” she said with a smile.

  “Oh, boy, here we go,” said Jeff.

  “Don’t worry,” said Beth. “Believe me, the worst part is just getting here, and that’s over and done with.”

  Jeff looked at her with raised eyebrows. “How’d you know that?” he asked.

  “Hey, I was once in your shoes myself,” she said. “Everyone goes through a slow patch in school. Only some of us get down to a crawl and need a little help to get back on track. I’m here to help you do that.”

  She read through the composition. Then she pulled out an expensive-looking binder. She flipped it open to a blank page and jotted down some notes.

  “Okay, here’s what I see you doing wrong,” she said matter-of-factly. “You write incomplete sentences, for one thing. You know, missing a verb or a noun or something important like that. You also switch tenses in mid-sentence and mid-paragraph. You’ll be talking in past tense one minute, then suddenly we’re in present tense! Without the right tense, your work won’t make sense.”

  “You’re a poet and don’t know it?” Jeff asked with a smile, referring to her little rhyme.

  “Believe it or not, it’s things like that that will help you remember what to watch for. I’ll teach you a whole ton of stupid sayings like that, and you’ll never be able to get them out of your head. Like that old ’i before e except after c’ one.”

  Jeff grinned. �
��I see what you mean. So, what else is wrong?”

  Beth listed a few other problems she’d noticed. When she was through, Jeff felt a little overwhelmed and told her so.

  Beth punched him lightly on the arm. “Hey, you don’t have to tackle it all at once. That’s why I’m here — to help make things clear.”

  Jeff tried to keep a straight face but burst out laughing. “Is becoming a poet part of the bargain?”

  Beth laughed with him, then said, “Just keep that attitude and you’ll be writing sonnets in no time. Now let’s get to work.”

  11

  The remainder of Jeff’s week was filled with classes, practices, and tutoring sessions. His meetings with Beth were getting a little easier, though the first time he ran into Bucky, he was embarrassed. Bucky had razzed him about the tutoring until Beth told him to lay off. Since then, Bucky had given him a nasty smile but said nothing.

  Despite this, Jeff fell into bed each night tired but satisfied that he was doing everything he could to stay on track in school and in hockey.

  When classes let out on Friday, the members of the Winston Blades hockey team raced to the rink. As promised, the roster was posted. It read this way:

  Center — B. Ledbetter

  Right Wing — J. Connors

  Left Wing — C. Galbraith

  Right Defense — K. Leach

  Left Defense — S. Fredrickson

  Goal — M. Gillis

  Jeff and Kevin slapped each other a high five, then hurried to change for practice. On the way, Kevin whispered, “I’m glad the coach finally decided to pair Chad up with Shep at left wing and left defense. Chad and I worked okay together at right when you were on the bench — better than Hayes and Shep did at left! — but I think Chad and Shep are a real power team, don’t you?”

  Jeff nodded. “I was a little worried yesterday that Coach was going to play Hayes at right instead of me.”

  Kevin shrugged. “Nah, you and I are too good together. Besides, I’m sure Coach’ll sub him in, just like he does during practice. He likes to play everybody during these non-league games. Gives him a chance to see who might crack under pressure!”