Angels

by Meredith Badger

  Maybe, just maybe, Bonnie could still convince the rest of her team to challenge the Devils!

  ‘What’s in your sandwich?’ Lucy asked, inspecting Bonnie’s lunch.

  ‘Dad’s famous chicken schnitzel from last night,’ Bonnie grinned. ‘Want some? I promise there’s no broccoli!’

  Lucy rolled her eyes. But Bonnie could tell by her smile that Lucy had forgiven her for taking up the soccer challenge.

  ‘Ooh, can I have a teensy, tiny bit?’ Lola asked. ‘I’ll even swap you for some veggie chips.’

  Bonnie accepted the trade and looked over to where Chloe was sitting, eating her lunch with Dani. Suddenly, Chloe stood up and came over to the girls. She didn’t look happy.

  Bonnie felt a little shiver run through her body. She hoped she hadn’t done anything to upset Chloe. Especially after they’d had such a good talk yesterday.

  ‘Hey,’ Lola said to Chloe. ‘What’s up?’

  Chloe bit her lip. ‘Dani’s got a team meeting,’ Chloe said, a little sadly. ‘The Zebras are all psyched about playing a softball game against the Super Stars. Dani doesn’t really want me around because their team plans are a secret.’

  ‘Hang out with us then,’ Bonnie said brightly. She looked around the quadrangle. It seemed like just about everyone from their year had left their ordinary friendship groups, and was sitting with their teammates. Only Annabelle and Sophie were missing. She hoped they weren’t still upset with her.

  But just then Bonnie felt a tap on her shoulder.

  Bonnie swivelled her head around.

  ‘Hi,’ Sophie said.

  ‘Hi, Sophie! Where’s Annabelle?’ Bonnie asked. She wasn’t used to seeing Sophie and Annabelle apart. Sometimes she thought they might be attached by an invisible string!

  Sophie shook her head, as though she was frustrated by something. ‘Belle is hanging out with Nicole,’ Sophie said quickly. ‘I just wanted to tell you … I just wanted to say … that I’d like to do the soccer challenge.’

  Bonnie watched as Lola pulled Sophie down next to her.

  ‘That’s great,’ Lola said. ‘But we thought you didn’t know how to play.’

  Sophie gave a little sigh. ‘Annabelle doesn’t know everything about me,’ she said. ‘I played soccer quite a lot at my old school. I was actually in a team.’

  ‘Cool!’ Bonnie exclaimed. ‘Were you any good?’

  Sophie smiled. ‘Well … ’ she said. Bonnie could tell Sophie was deciding whether or not to be modest.

  ‘Actually … yes I was,’ she said, with a little giggle.

  ‘All right!’ Bonnie said, reaching past Lola to give Sophie a high-five.

  As she ate the last bit of her sandwich, Bonnie’s mind raced. She was thinking about how good their team would be! She could just about see a winning scoreboard in her mind.

  Things were back on the right track. Nearly everybody had agreed to the challenge! That is, everyone except for Annabelle.

  Bonnie watched Annabelle approach. She had her hands planted on her hips.

  ‘Where did you go?’ Annabelle asked Sophie. ‘Nic has a team meeting with the Super Stars, and you disappeared!’

  Sophie gave Annabelle a guilty shrug.

  ‘Guess what?’ Lola interrupted.

  ‘Sophie’s just been telling us that she can play soccer! In fact, she’s a bit of a star!’

  Bonnie thought she saw Sophie wince a little. ‘Well, I’m not a star,’ Sophie said. ‘But I can play, Belle. I was in a team at my old school.’

  Annabelle scratched her neck. ‘Oh,’ she said, sounding a little hurt. Suddenly, she shook her head and stared directly at Bonnie. ‘Still,’ she said, ‘you guys did the wrong thing. Just because we can all play soccer doesn’t mean we would want to play against the boys. It’s just not –’

  ‘Hey, chicks. Are you about to chicken out?’ Luke strutted up to the group, poking his chest out. Joey stood behind him, looking a bit embarrassed.

  ‘Buck, buck, buck … buuuuuck,’ Luke stirred, flapping his arms around like a crazy chicken.

  Annabelle’s hands rose to her hips again as she glared at Luke. Then she looked back at the girls. ‘Did any of you hear something?’ she asked loudly.

  Luke laughed and ran away, still flapping his arms about. Joey gave a little shrug and then followed after Luke.

  ‘So,’ Annabelle said seriously, scanning her eyes over everyone in the team. ‘Exactly how badly are we going to thrash the pants off the Devils?’

  The whole team talked and giggled as they climbed the stairs to the loft.

  ‘I reckon the loft should be our secret headquarters from now on,’ Lola said excitedly. Everyone instantly agreed, nodding their heads as they sat down on the mats.

  It made Bonnie feel really happy that everyone was getting along. Finally, it seemed like they were becoming a real team. All they needed now was a great team name.

  Bonnie heard some creaking on the stairs below them, but she ignored it. There was something more important to think about. ‘Maybe we should call ourselves the Lofties?’ she suggested half-heartedly. She looked around, but she could see by their faces that nobody really liked her suggestion.

  ‘How about the Stingrays?’ Lucy asked. Again, no-one said anything. Bonnie gathered herself up. This time, they just had to choose a name!

  ‘How about the –’

  Suddenly, Bonnie felt something bump against her head. Then she heard the sound of feet scampering down the stairs. She picked up a paper plane from where it had landed next to her. Written in big black letters, with yellow and black flames all around it was, ‘THE DEVILS ARE AWESOME!’

  Bonnie passed the plane around, and everyone had a look. Then Lucy tore it up. ‘It should say the Devils are awful,’ she giggled. Everyone laughed.

  ‘You know,’ Lola said loudly, ‘we are kind of like the opposite of the Devils. They’re all boys, and we’re all girls.’

  ‘Yeah, and they’re all painful, and we’re all fabulous,’ Chloe added.

  Suddenly, Sophie stood up. She cleared her throat. Everyone looked at her. So far, Sophie had been the quietest girl in the group. ‘The Angels,’ she said. ‘We should be called the Angels.’

  For a moment, there was complete silence. Sophie’s cheeks were flushed, as though she were scared that everyone would tell her it was a bad idea.

  ‘That’s it!’ Lucy yelled.

  ‘It’s perfect!’ Chloe agreed.

  Then suddenly, everyone started clapping and cheering.

  Sophie grinned broadly. Then she reached into her schoolbag. When she brought her hand out, it held six pretty silver bracelets!

  ‘What are they?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘I have this jewellery kit at home –’ Sophie began.

  ‘Oh yeah, I’ve seen it!’ Annabelle interrupted. ‘It’s so cool. Soph makes the coolest jewellery …’

  ‘They’re friendship bracelets,’ Sophie said, pulling on Annabelle’s wrist to put on the bracelet. ‘And I wanted to give one to each of you because you’re the first real friends I’ve made at this school.’

  Annabelle was quiet for once as Sophie did up the bracelet.

  ‘Wow, they are fantastic!’ Lola said.

  ‘It’s a great idea, Sophie,’ Chloe added. ‘It’s like we’ll all be linked from now on.’

  Bonnie smiled at Chloe as Sophie did up her bracelet. Soon, everyone had their bracelets on. Bonnie looked around the group. Everyone looked really happy. Her own grin grew even bigger as she thought about the plaque hanging outside Mrs Clarke’s office. Their team name would look perfect on it!

  ‘What’s Miss Lola’s breakfast request today?’ Lola’s stepfather Rex was in the kitchen with a tea towel over his shoulder. ‘We can’t have you going to school on an empty stomach.’

  Lola plonked herself on a stool at the kitchen bench and smiled. Since Rex and his son Will had moved in, she’d been getting used to very yummy breakfasts. When it was only Lola and her mum, she would just ea
t cereal or toast.

  ‘Um … a poached egg would be nice, please. And maybe a little bit of bacon?’

  That would definitely give her the energy she needed. Today the Angels were going to start training for the first Team Terrific challenge – a soccer match against the Devils.

  Lola could hardly wait. She had been practising some great soccer moves with Will. Showing them to the rest of the Angels was going to be awesome.

  ‘I’ll have pancakes, thanks,’ Will said, sitting on the stool next to Lola.

  Rex scratched his head. ‘Hmmm, that’s going to be two sets of pans to wash,’ Rex said. ‘How about you have poached eggs and bacon as well?’

  Will frowned. ‘If Lola gets to choose, then I get to choose,’ he said loudly.

  Lola wriggled around on her stool. When Rex and Will had first moved in, it was pretty hard. It had seemed like Will was from a completely different planet. Now there were just little things that caused problems. Like pancakes or poached eggs and bacon!

  ‘How about we go with Lola’s choice today, mate? Then you can choose the menu tomorrow,’ Rex suggested.

  Lola bit her lip. She looked carefully at Will. He screwed up his nose.

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘But I want my eggs nice and runny.’

  Lola skidded to a halt just as Mr Paul opened the door of the equipment shed.

  Excellent, thought Lola, there’s no-one else waiting! Lola knew that the other teams had chosen their sporting challenges, so they would be wanting equipment to train with, too.

  ‘Beat ya,’ Luke said, appearing out of nowhere and pushing himself into the gap between her and the shed. Lola rolled her eyes at him. ‘You Angels have to get used to being beaten by us Devils!’ Luke teased.

  Luke got a soccer ball from Mr Paul and then ran off towards the oval. Lola felt a bump from behind her. Heaps of kids were lined up now, waiting for equipment.

  ‘Just a soccer ball, please, Mr Paul,’ Lola said.

  Mr Paul nodded and beamed at her. ‘Getting in a bit of practice?’ he asked, handing her a ball. ‘I heard that there’s going to be a big match next Saturday. The Devils versus the Angels? I’ll definitely be there for that one. I hope you’ve got plenty of girl power!’

  Lola nodded. ‘So do I, Mr Paul,’ she replied.

  Being part of the Angels still felt a bit funny for Lola. She really liked Bonnie and Lucy, but they were best friends. Annabelle and Sophie were cousins, and so were always together. And Chloe was more interested in spending time with her bestie, Dani – even though Dani was in another team!

  Sometimes, Lola felt like she was just outside all these close friendships. She almost wished her best friend Abbey could go to the same school, so that Lola wouldn’t be the odd one out.

  Lola shook away the thought. The Team Terrific project was about teamwork, not about matching pairs. Now it was time to figure out how the Angels were going to beat the Devils!

  Lola was getting good at soccer, but she wasn’t so confident about some of the others. Bonnie would be fine – she was good at sports. Lucy and Sophie both said they could play. But even though Chloe and Annabelle were excited, Lola wasn’t sure they had even touched a soccer ball before.

  Lola didn’t know if all the boys in the Devils were good at soccer. But she did know that Luke and Joey were really good. Lola had seen them play at lunchtime. They could bounce the ball off their knees and heads, and do all sorts of tricks.

  Lola desperately wanted to win this match. She desperately wanted to win the whole Team Terrific project!

  Will had hundreds of trophies at home. In fact, he had so many that he couldn’t even display them all in his room.

  But Lola had never won a trophy. Not even a teensy, tiny one.

  She wasn’t jealous, but her mind kept going back to the huge new Team Terrific plaque hanging outside Mrs Clarke’s office. And she kept imagining just how good it would be to see her name on it!

  ‘Hey, let’s go!’ Bonnie said, as she came from nowhere and punched the ball out of Lola’s hands.

  Lola couldn’t help but laugh as she watched her teammates run off towards the oval. Chloe was the only girl in the universe with high-heeled school shoes. And Annabelle was quite pigeon-toed – she practically tripped herself up every time she took a step!

  Lola shook her head. She shouldn’t be thinking like this. She should be thinking like a winner!

  ‘Come on, Loles!’ Lucy’s voice called back towards her. ‘Let’s play!’

  ‘Right,’ Annabelle said, swinging her bobbed hair around. ‘I’ve got an idea for the costumes we could wear for our soccer match. How about we all get white denim shorts and pink singlets? Then we could get matching ribbons for our hair. That would look nice, don’t you think?’

  Lola bit her lip. They had already got in trouble with Annabelle for choosing the soccer challenge before asking the rest of the Angels. But a soccer costume? That sounded kind of weird.

  As she looked at Bonnie’s expression, Lola could tell Bonnie was thinking the same thing. But Bonnie had also been in trouble with Annabelle, and she’d become more careful about what she said to her.

  ‘Good idea, Annabelle,’ Bonnie said slowly. ‘But we can think about costumes later. How about we focus on choosing a team captain for the challenge now?’

  Lucy shook her head. ‘You know, the Team Terrific handout doesn’t say we have to have different leaders for each of the challenges,’ she reminded the group.

  ‘Yes, but we’ve decided for ourselves, Lucy,’ Chloe said, a little impatiently.

  Lola watched as Lucy shrugged. But the other Angels all acted as though they were happy with having a different leader for each of the challenges.

  ‘OK,’ Annabelle said, looking at her cousin. ‘I think Sophie should be the captain. She is an experienced player, you know. She actually played in a team at her old school.’

  ‘Thanks Belle, but I don’t really think that’s fair,’ Sophie smiled. ‘What about a penalty shoot-out?’

  Bonnie nodded. ‘Great idea, Soph. We all get five shots at goal. Whoever scores the highest gets to be the captain.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea!’ Chloe said enthusiastically.

  Lola was surprised. Chloe could be a bit difficult. But, right now, she seemed very supportive – like she was really part of the team. But then suddenly Chloe turned around and started walking off.

  ‘I’m going to find Dani,’ she said, giving the girls a wave. ‘I’m not really into being captain of the soccer team. I’m happy to wait until the performance.’

  As far as Lola knew, the Angels hadn’t chosen a leader for the performance challenge yet. Both Lucy and Chloe were good dancers. And Lola knew that Lucy had her heart set on leading the performance, too. But it looked like Chloe was assuming she would be the leader.

  Lucy looked at Bonnie with a quizzical expression. ‘What did Chloe mean just then?’ Lucy asked.

  Lola felt uncomfortable. There were always little disagreements among the Angels.

  ‘Nothing,’ Bonnie said. Lola thought Bonnie looked a little bit guilty. ‘You go first, Lou,’ Bonnie yelled, throwing Lucy the ball as she charged over to the goal. ‘I’ll go keeper, then we can swap.’

  Lucy was pretty good. Lola felt her own body move each time Lucy kicked. Part of her was willing the goal to go in. But part of her was hoping it didn’t. Lola actually really wanted to be captain!

  Lola could picture herself going home and telling Will about it. She would be really casual. Maybe they would be having a kick in the backyard, and she would say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’ve been chosen as the captain of our soccer team.’ Will would be so impressed. Lola smiled to herself.

  While Lola was daydreaming, Lucy had just scored three out of her five shots! That was going to be hard to beat.

  Lola watched as Bonnie had her turn – three out of five as well. Next, it was Annabelle’s turn. She took a very awkward run up to the ball. Then she kicked. And totally missed!
<
br />   Lola put a hand up to her mouth – Annabelle didn’t get close to a goal even once! It was kind of awful to watch, but it was funny, too. By the end, all of the Angels were cracking up. Luckily, Annabelle was cracking up, too.

  ‘I think I’ll just concentrate on our costumes,’ Annabelle laughed.

  Lola smiled at her. Suddenly, she didn’t mind at all what costumes they wore for the soccer game. Lola would even wear a tutu … if only she got to be the captain.

  ‘You’re up, Soph,’ Annabelle giggled.

  Sophie gave Annabelle a wobbly smile. She looked really nervous as she stood in front of the goal. But Lola could tell when Sophie positioned the ball without using her hands that she was going to be good.

  She drew in a deep breath as Sophie kicked. Right into the goal.

  ‘One out of one,’ Bonnie yelled, as she kicked the ball back to her. ‘Go, Sophie!’

  Then it was two out of two. And then three out of three.

  Lola couldn’t watch. She put her hands over her eyes.

  ‘Four out of four. You’re on fire, Sophie.’

  Lola sighed. She took her hands away. Sophie was almost as good as Will! Suddenly, Lola felt as though she was going to cry. Why couldn’t she be the best at something for once in her life? It just wasn’t fair.

  Lola watched as Sophie kicked for the last time. The ball bounced off the goal posts and back out onto the oval.

  Lola’s heart bounced, too – she felt like she had a chance again!

  ‘Your turn, Loles,’ Lucy said, shooting her a smile. ‘Show us what you’ve got!’

  Lola drew a deep breath as she lined the ball up with the goal. Bonnie was standing in the middle. Lola decided to fake to the left, and put the ball through the right side of goal. She would –

  ‘Jinx, jinx, you’re going to mess up.’

  Lola turned to see Luke, being his usual annoying self. Lola couldn’t believe it – all the Devils were standing there watching her! She felt like she was really under pressure. And she wished that Luke would be quiet. He was putting her off!