‘It’s definitely dusty!’ coughed Dani. ‘But you’re right, Annabelle. It’s perfect!’
‘Phew. I’m pooped!’ said Nicole, flopping down onto the floor.
Annabelle sat down beside her. ‘It’s been hard work,’ she agreed. ‘But it was totally worth all the effort.’
‘And it meant we missed a whole afternoon of school, too!’ added Luke, with a grin.
It wasn’t long before the parents started arriving to pick everyone up. By the time Nicole’s mum arrived there was only Nicole, Annabelle and Mrs Clarke left.
‘Do you want a lift with us, Belle?’ asked Nicole’s mum.
Annabelle shook her head. ‘It’s OK, Mrs Mooney. Mum should be here soon.’
‘I’ll wait with Annabelle until her mother arrives,’ said Mrs Clarke.
Annabelle had always been a bit scared of Mrs Clarke. She could be kind of grumpy sometimes. But right now Mrs Clarke didn’t seem grumpy at all.
‘Have you enjoyed Team Terrific, Annabelle?’ asked Mrs Clarke.
Annabelle nodded. ‘It’s been so much fun,’ she said happily.
‘And who do you think will win?’ said Mrs Clarke, with a curious smile.
Annabelle shrugged. ‘I can’t tell,’ she said. ‘I think it’ll be really close.’
Mrs Clarke nodded. ‘I think you’re right,’ she agreed. ‘All the teams have done very, very well.’
Annabelle sneaked a peek at Mrs Clarke.
She was being very friendly.‘Mrs Clarke, who do you think will win?’ Annabelle asked bravely.
‘I can’t tell either,’ Mrs Clarke said. ‘I’ll have to go through it all tonight and remember who won which round.’
‘Well, the Angels beat the Devils at soccer!’ said Annabelle.
‘Yes, I remember that,’ smiled Mrs Clarke. ‘And the Zebras beat the Super Stars in their softball match. Don’t worry, it’s all in my notes.’
Annabelle stared at Mrs Clarke, surprised. Mrs Clarke’s got it wrong! She thought. The Super Stars beat the Zebras!
Annabelle knew it was going to be a pretty close contest. Mrs Clarke’s mistake might make the difference between the Super Stars winning or losing. But if the Super Stars lose then there’s more chance of us winning, thought Annabelle. They won the raft race, after all.
Annabelle looked up at the stage. It would be so cool if the Angels got to walk up there as the winners. She could just imagine how excited they’d all be.
But, she realised, it wouldn’t be the same winning just because Mrs Clarke had made a mistake. She would just feel bad about it, she realised, especially as her bestie was in the Super Stars. No, decided Annabelle, brushing the dust off her skirt. There was only one thing she could do.
‘Mrs Clarke,’ said Annabelle quickly, before she could change her mind, ‘I think you’ve made a mistake. The Super Stars won their softball match.’
Mrs Clarke looked surprised. ‘Did they?’ she said.
Annabelle nodded. ‘Yep. So they should get points for that challenge.’
‘Good for you, Annabelle,’ said Mrs Clarke warmly. ‘Thank you for being so honest.’
The next afternoon Annabelle sat with her nose pressed up against the front window of her lounge room. She was wearing her good white skirt with her Angels T-shirt. She even had a little bit of glitter eye shadow on. Annabelle was trying to sit still, but it was hard. In just a couple of hours everyone would know who’d won Team Terrific!
‘I think Uncle Bob’s forgotten to pick us up,’ Annabelle said to her mum nervously.
Her mum laughed. ‘There’s no way he’d forget, Belly,’ she said.
Sure enough, a moment later the car headlights appeared in the driveway.
‘He’s here!’ Annabelle called out excitedly. She ran to open the door.
Sophie was wearing her nice jeans and her Angels T-shirt. Uncle Bob was wearing his suit jacket. As he arrived at the door, he pulled the jacket open. Underneath he had on a pink Angels T-shirt, too.
‘Uncle Bob, that is so funny,’ giggled Annabelle. ‘Where did you get that?’
‘We made it especially,’ explained Sophie, grinning.
‘Does this mean I can be on the team?’ asked Uncle Bob.
‘No, Uncle Bob,’ laughed Annabelle. ‘You’re too old! Team Terrific is for school kids only.’
Uncle Bob looked a bit disappointed. But then he smiled. ‘Oh, well,’ he said. ‘I’ll be on the cheer squad then. Come on then. Into the Angel-mobile!’
Annabelle looked over at Uncle Bob’s car. It had a big sign stuck to the side that said Go Angels! and it was covered in pink streamers! The drive to the high school was funny. People kept staring at them.
‘Just wave and pretend we’re famous!’ giggled Sophie.
‘I can’t believe we’re going to school at night-time,’ said Annabelle, as they drove up the high school driveway.
‘I know!’ agreed Sophie. ‘It’s too weird. And with our family, too.’
The car park was already full of cars. Annabelle could hear voices and laughing drifting through the night air. All the students were wearing their team T-shirts. Annabelle felt like jumping up and down. This was so exciting!
Then she heard some familiar voices chanting.
We’re the Devils, just beware!
We will beat you anywhere!
On the ground or in the air.
Devils! Devils!Yeah, yeah, yeah!
‘Oh no,’ groaned Sophie. ‘I am so sick of that song.’
‘We are too!’ said a voice nearby. Sophie and Annabelle turned to see Nicole and Sarah getting out of another car. They were wearing their green Super Stars T-shirts. From the car behind them, Maddy clambered out wearing a Thunderbolts’ yellow top.
‘Come on,’ said Nicole. ‘Let’s go and look at the hall.’
The girls hurried down to the hall and looked around. The lights were turned on and a soft orange glow fell over the stage. A single spotlight was focused on the chandelier so it twinkled like a jewel.
‘Everything looks just how an awards night should look,’ said Annabelle proudly.
‘It all looks amazing, Belle,’ said a voice behind them. It was Chloe. ‘But I was wondering what that was meant to be.’
Annabelle looked where Chloe was pointing. Hanging at the back of the hall was the skull and crossbones prop!
Annabelle and Nicole looked at each other. ‘Luke!’ they laughed together.
Sophie pulled Annabelle’s arm. ‘Hey, Belle, we better find the other Angels,’ she said. Annabelle nodded.
‘OK,’ she said. Then she turned to Nicole. ‘Go Super Stars!’ she said, twinkling her fingers.
Nicole smiled and drew a halo over her head. ‘Go Angels!’ she replied.
The other Angels were waiting near the stage. ‘Can you believe it’s actually the awards night?’ said Lola, doing a spin and a kick. ‘It seemed so long since we first started. And now we’re finishing!’
‘I know,’ agreed Lucy. ‘It’s weird to think that tomorrow it’ll all be over.’
‘No more Angels,’ Annabelle sighed.
Bonnie looked at her in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’ she said, her hand on her hip.
‘Well, after tonight Team Terrific will be over,’ explained Annabelle.
‘But that doesn’t mean there’ll be no more Angels,’ said Lucy.
‘No way!’ agreed Sophie. ‘There will always be the Angels! In fact –’ Sophie gave all of them a cheeky grin and reached into her back pocket. ‘I was going to save these until after the awards, but I think now is a great time for them.’
Sophie pulled out a little velvet bag with a string pull at the top. She opened the bag and spilled the contents onto the palm of her hand. There were six tiny little charms with the word Angels.
Annabelle was amazed. ‘Sophie, these are beautiful!’ she said. The other girls agreed.
‘Yep, Dad got them made especially for us,’ Sophie said, smiling.
The girls each
attached a charm to their bracelet. Annabelle felt a huge grin creep across her face. The girls were right. They might not hang out as a group all the time anymore. But they would always be the Angels, no matter what – and now they had charms to prove it!
A voice came over the loudspeaker. ‘Everyone take your seats! Teams, please sit up the front together.’
‘That sounds like Mr Paul,’ whispered Annabelle, as they hurried to their seats. ‘I wonder if he’s wearing his tracksuit tonight?’
Chloe looked shocked. ‘You can’t wear a tracksuit to an awards night!’
‘True – but I can’t imagine Mr Paul wearing anything else!’ giggled Annabelle.
The Angels were in the third row. In front of them were the Super Stars. And behind them were the Zebras. Just as everyone took their seats, the stage lights changed to blue and the spotlight swirled dramatically around the audience. Then from behind the curtain came Mr Paul. Instantly the audience burst out laughing. On his top half Mr Paul was wearing a shirt and tie. But below he was still wearing his tracksuit pants!
Mr Paul kept a straight face, waving as he pushed a familiar-looking trolley over to the microphone.
‘Good evening,’ he said. ‘Welcome to our first ever Team Terrific awards night.’
Everyone clapped. Bonnie did a really loud whistle.
Mr Paul raised his hand for quiet. Then he pointed to the object on the trolley, covered with a white sheet. ‘Any ideas what might be under here?’ he said.
A whisper rippled through the room. The plaque!
Mr Paul nodded. ‘That’s right. This is the new Team Terrific plaque. And just this morning it was engraved with the names of the winning team!’
Chloe squeezed Annabelle’s arm. ‘I so hope it’s our names on that plaque!’ she whispered.
‘But before the big unveiling,’ Mr Paul added, ‘I have a few of my own awards to hand out.’ Everyone looked at each other in surprise. What did he mean?
Mr Paul unfolded a piece of paper. ‘The first Mr Paul award is for Most Catchy Team Song,’ he said. ‘And the winner is … the Devils!’
‘Woohoo!’ yelled the Devils, jumping up from the front row and running onto the stage.
‘How does your song go again, boys?’ said Mr Paul.
‘Noooo!’ called out all the other teams, half-laughing, half-groaning.
‘It seems like everyone else is just as sick of that chant as you are, Soph,’ giggled Annabelle.
Mr Paul read the next award. ‘The award for the Strangest Team Name goes to the Dogaroos!’ he said. Stephanie went up to accept the award for her team.
‘Why did you call yourselves the Dogaroos?’ asked Mr Paul.
Stephanie started laughing. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘We couldn’t decide between dogs and kangaroos, I guess.’
Mr Paul grinned. ‘OK. The next award is for Most Costume Changes Throughout the Competition. And the winner is … Nicole Mooney!’
Annabelle cheered as her friend went up on stage to get her award. Nicole liked dressing up just as much as she did!
‘This was a very close contest,’ said Mr Paul. ‘I counted eleven outfit changes for Annabelle. Twelve for Chloe. And thirteen for Nicole!’
Next Mr Paul gave out the Best Hair-Do and Cleanest Sneakers awards.
‘And my final award is for Most Unusual Kicking Style in a Soccer Match,’ said Mr Paul. ‘Sophie, this award’s for you!’
‘Go Sophie! Go Sophie!’ chanted the Angels as Sophie made her way up to the stage.
Annabelle chuckled to herself as she watched her cousin accept the award with a grin.
‘Congratulations,’ said Mr Paul, handing Sophie a trophy.
Annabelle had a look at Sophie’s trophy, and up close she could see that it was just a plastic doll stuck on a cup and spraypainted gold. But Annabelle knew Sophie would keep her trophy forever. It would always remind her of Team Terrific and the Angels.
Suddenly, a hush filled the hall. Mrs Clarke had walked onto the stage!
‘Here goes!’ whispered Bonnie. All the Angels linked arms.
‘Good evening, everyone,’ said Mrs Clarke. ‘This is a very exciting night. It’s exciting for you because you get to find out whose names are on the plaque.’
Lola squirmed around on her seat. ‘I wish she’d hurry up!’ she whispered. ‘I’m about to explode.’
‘But it’s very exciting for me, too,’ continued Mrs Clarke. ‘Because I get to reward students for learning lots of great things. Things that they will hopefully remember forever.’
‘I learned how to do a grapevine dance move, Mrs Clarke!’ called out Bonnie, cheekily.
Annabelle held her breath. Usually Mrs Clarke didn’t like people calling out things while she was speaking. But tonight, Mrs Clarke just smiled.
‘That’s definitely a useful thing to know how to do. And I saw students learning other things, too. And this was what the Team Terrific project was about.’
Lucy leant over. ‘Any idea what Mrs Clarke is talking about?’ she whispered.
Annabelle shook her head. ‘I’ve got no idea,’ she said.
Mrs Clarke smiled at them all again. ‘I can see you’re all a bit confused,’ she said. ‘Let me explain. Yesterday I was talking to a student. I mentioned another team who I thought had lost their Get Active challenge, when in fact they had won it. The student I was talking to spoke up and pointed out the mistake I’d made. She did this even though it might have caused her own team to lose.’
Mrs Clarke paused for a moment. ‘I was very impressed by the student’s honesty. Of course everyone wants to win. But sometimes other things matter more. Like fairness and honesty.’
A whisper went around the hall. Who was it? Annabelle felt her face go bright red. She scrunched down into her chair, wishing she could disappear. Then Luke pointed right at her. ‘I bet it was Annabelle,’ he said, loudly. ‘Look how red she’s gone.’
‘Be quiet, Luke,’ hissed Nicole, turning around. ‘It wasn’t Annabelle, OK?’ But as she turned back around she looked at Annabelle and tapped her index finger on her forehead. Then she gave Annabelle a huge smile. Annabelle felt herself blush even more. Nicole had worked it out!
‘Now it’s time to announce the winning team,’ said Mrs Clarke. Immediately she had everyone’s attention again. ‘At the end of the Help Others challenge I told you all the teams were very close. Everything depended on your performances in the Be Creative challenge and the team that won this round would win the whole Team Terrific competition. This made it a very hard round to judge. And not just because the clap-o-meter broke!’
The teams giggled. Mrs Clarke smiled.
‘In the end I decided to judge the last challenge by which group I thought was the best team,’ she continued. ‘It had to be a team that knew how to work together. And one that knew how to get over problems. And it had to be a team that used the strengths of everyone in the group.’
Annabelle looked around the hall. Which team did Mrs Clarke mean?
‘You are probably thinking that all the teams did this,’ said Mrs Clarke. ‘And you’re right. But one team was particularly outstanding. And that’s why the winner of the Be Creative challenge, as well as the whole Team Terrific competition, is … THE ANGELS!’
The hall exploded with claps and cheers. The Angels jumped up and hugged each other. Bonnie was laughing and Chloe was crying. Sophie and Lucy were jumping around. Lola kept saying, ‘No way!’ over and over in a funny, high-pitched squeak.
It’s like everyone’s gone mad, thought Annabelle happily, but in a really good way.
When the cheers had died down, Mrs Clarke invited the Angels to the stage.
As the girls got out of their seats, Nicole waved at Annabelle. Her eyes were shining. For a horrible moment, Annabelle thought her bestie was crying. But then Nicole mouthed, ‘Nice one, Belle,’ and Annabelle realised it was all OK.
Nic is happy for me, thought Annabelle, just like I would have been if she had
won.
The Angels made their way down the red carpet towards the stage. The flash of cameras lit up the room. Annabelle turned to see all the Angels’ parents snapping away crazily. And right in the front was Annabelle’s mum and Uncle Bob! Uncle Bob had two cameras. One was in his hands and the other one was slung around his neck.
‘I’ve got another one in my pocket, too,’ he called to Annabelle and Sophie, winking. ‘Just in case the others run out!’
Sophie looked at Annabelle and rolled her eyes. ‘You realise there’s going to be about a zillion new photos on the mantelpiece now, don’t you?’ she said.
‘I know!’ giggled Annabelle. ‘It’ll probably break from the weight of it!’
Finally, the Angels made it onto the stage. Mrs Clarke instructed Bonnie, the team leader, to unveil the plaque. Annabelle felt a surge of pride as the sheet was pulled off, revealing all their names engraved on the brass. Instantly, the hall erupted with cheers again. And the cameras seemed to flash even more brightly than before!
‘Now,’ said Mrs Clarke, ‘which of you is going to make a speech?’
The Angels looked at each other. Uh-oh … they hadn’t thought about that!
‘Bonnie should make a speech, because she’s the captain,’ said Chloe.
‘But she hasn’t got anything planned!’ whispered Annabelle.
Bonnie grinned. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I can make something up.’
Bonnie took the microphone and opened her mouth. The Angels waited. And waited! But nothing came out of Bonnie’s mouth, and her cheeks had gone bright red.
‘Oh no!’ whispered Lucy, ‘She’s got stage fright.’
If it hadn’t been so serious Annabelle would have laughed. It was hard to believe that this could happen to someone as talkative as Bonnie!
‘Quick,’ said Lucy. ‘Someone’s got to say something! But not me.’
‘Me neither,’ whispered Sophie and Lola at the same time.
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