by Rue, Nancy
“All right then!”
The whistle blew, and the game started again. All down the third row, Lucy felt the Los Suenos Dreams stiffen as their eyes bulged and their faces went a shade paler. Even Gabe was cracking his knuckles, and she was sure Oscar was about to swallow his toothpick.
“Hey, Team,” Lucy hissed at them.
They all leaned toward her.
“We don’t do that stuff, so we don’t have to worry, okay?”
“What about everybody else, though?” Dusty said. “These people are vicious.”
Lucy shook her head. “As long as we’re together, we’ll be fine.”
They nodded at her, and Lucy nodded back. “What’s our team motto?”
“What’s a motto?” Carla Rosa said.
“The Dreams Don’t Die!” Veronica cried, with a wave of her gangly arms.
Yeah, Lucy thought. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.
5
“So, yeah, everybody grab a ball. All except you, Vanessa.”
“It’s Veronica.” She giggled at Seth.
Lucy didn’t. Coach Seth hadn’t gotten anybody’s name right all morning, and it was the second day of camp. Mostly he’d been calling them “guys,” and if Carla Rosa said, “Guess what? Some of us are girls,” one more time, Lucy might scream, except she was pretty sure that was against camp rules.
“Everybody with a ball start juggling it,” Seth said out of the only side of his mouth he used.
Oscar tossed the ball in the air with his hands, and Lucy groaned.
“With your feet, Moron,” Gabe said.
The whole team said, “Buzz!”
Seth looked at them over the top of his sunglasses.“What’s up with that?”
“Our coach buzzes us if we say something mean to somebody,” Lucy told him. She wished Coach Auggy was there buzzing like an entire hive of bees right that minute.
“Did somebody say something mean?” Seth shook his head. “Whatever — so, yeah, juggle it with your feet — everybody except Valerie.”
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa said. “Her name’s Veronica.”
“Yeah, well, right now she’s the Hunter. She’s gonna move around while you’re all juggling, waiting for somebody to drop their ball. When somebody does, she’s gonna go after it and try to gain control.” Seth looked at Veronica. “That’s with your feet only. Then you get to juggle, and whoever you got the ball from becomes the Hunter.”
“I don’t get it,” Oscar said.
“You’ll get the hang of it, and then we’ll start having the Hunter stay the Hunter with the new Hunter, and the last one left is the winner.”
“Now I really don’t get it,” Oscar said.
Seth blew his whistle. “Start juggling!”
Lucy stepped on her ball, rolled it back and got her foot under it so she could pop it up.
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa whispered. “I forget what juggling is.”
She looked like she was about to cry.
“It’s like we did at my house,” Lucy said as she juggled. “Just toss the ball up with your hands, and then keep it from touching the ground. Then you can only use your feet or your thighs — ”
She bounced the ball just above her knee.
“ — or your head.”
Lucy headed the ball and let it drop until she caught it with her calf and bounced it up again.
“I can’t do that!” Carla Rosa said. Her ball fell to the ground, but Veronica the Hunter was busy waiting for Gabe to dump his — which wasn’t going to happen. Gabe, Lucy knew, was as good a juggler as she was. Maybe better.
After about five minutes of half the team dropping their balls and Veronica retrieving none of them and Seth missing it all because he was poking at his cell phone, Lucy juggled her way between Gabe and Veronica and purposely let her ball bounce at Veronica’s feet.
“Get it,” she said.
Veronica let her mouth hang open, and then she squealed and kicked the ball away and trotted off after it.
“Hey, you got one,” Seth said. “Now you juggle and Lisa is the Hunter.”
Lucy rolled her eyes all the way up into her brain..
Veronica managed to capture the ball with her foot, only to let it roll right to Lucy who danced around it, whispering, “Try again.”
“You can start the juggle with your hands first,” Seth said.
“Lucy didn’t,” Veronica said.
Dusty laughed. “That’s because Lucy’s amazing.”
“Are you Lucy?” said someone with a deep voice.
Lucy startled and let the ball get away from her. Two large hands scooped it up. A pair of bright blue eyes sparked at her from over a hooked nose. That must be why they called him Hawke.
“Are you Lucy?” he said again.
Lucy wished she wasn’t. His voice boomed even without the microphone. She nodded.
“Coach, I’m taking Lucy.”
“Was Lacy the Hunter?” Seth said to the rest of the team.
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa said.
Lucy didn’t have to hear the rest. Besides, her thoughts were pounding so loud in her ears, she wouldn’t have anyway. Was she about to get busted after only one day? And for what? Maybe it was some rule she didn’t even know about yet. Red cards dangled before her eyes.
Hawke strode in long-legged steps to a bench at the side of the field where several teams were doing their drills. Anybody between them and the bench stepped aside like Hawke was a king.
“Sit with me,” Hawke said to her.
Heart slamming like a screen door, Lucy dropped obediently onto the bench, He put his foot on it and leaned on his knee.
“So you’re the famous Lucy,” he said.
“Famous?” Lucy said.. How could she be famous already?
“Your coach from Los Suenos — Coach Auggy — isn’t that what you call him?”
“Yes.” Lucy almost added, “Your Majesty.” He even wore his ball cap like a crown over his silver hair.
“He’s says you have talent, so I thought I’d come by and see for myself. Do you know what I found out?”
Lucy swallowed and waited for him to go on, but he was obviously expecting an answer.
“The only reason I dropped my ball was because Veronica was never going to get one if I didn’t,” she said. “She needs the juggling practice.”
Hawke’s lips parted in a wide smile. “That’s exactly what I saw. You’re out of there, Lucy.”
Lucy was sure all the color was draining from her face, leaving her exactly sixteen freckles to stand alone.
“I was just trying to help her,” she said.
“I know. That’s why you’re out of there and on the Girls Select Team.”
She knew she was looking stupid, but she could only blink.
“That’s the team I’ve formed from the best I see here at camp,” Hawke said. “There’s one for boys too. That one’s full, which is unfortunate, because I see some others on the Dreams I’d like to include.” He pressed his lips out of their smile. “This space opened up when we had to send that player out of camp yesterday.”
“Oh,” Lucy said.
“Just ‘oh?’ ” Hawke tilted his head at her. “This is a huge opportunity for you, Lucy. This is the team the Olympic Development Program scout will look at. You know about that, right?”
Lucy bobbed her head. “They train players for the Olympics. Only you have to be invited to even try out.” She didn’t add that she’d already been asked to try out in Texas — only she didn’t live there — even though Aunt Karen tried to use that to get Lucy to move there with her. Even in her thoughts she took a deep breath.
“A scout will be here for the play-offs,” Hawke said, “and the Select Team will undoubtedly be in the final games.”
That did call for more than “ oh, ” but Lucy didn’t know what she was supposed to do. She wanted to run straight back to the Dreams and tell J.J. —
She froze. This meant she had to be away from the Dreams
, away from her team.
“I like this reaction, actually,” Hawke said. “You show a lot of humility — that’s a good quality in a player.”
He let his foot go to the ground and straightened up. He was taller than any man Lucy could ever remember standing next to, which she did now, knees wobbling.
“I’ll introduce you to your new team,” he said, “and you’ll join them right after lunch.”
He nodded for her to walk beside him, and she took two steps for each of his, away from the fumbling Dreams, toward a circle of girls who were currently standing around a blonde coach. She was the one Veronica said was “crushing” on Seth. Right now, she appeared to be chewing out her players.
“You were picked for this team because you’re superior athletes,” she said in a voice that sounded like she was about to have laryngitis. “I haven’t seen that so far — ”
“Coach Neely,” Hawke said.
A smile sprang to her face before she even looked at him. Lucy was sure she had never seen teeth that white. She guessed you didn’t show up before Hawke with anything less than perfection.
“I have your new player.” Hawke looked down at Lucy. “She just about completes your team. This is Lucy Rooney.”
Somebody laughed, although Lucy had never thought there was anything funny about her name. Theirs, when Coach Neely told them all to introduce themselves, went into a puddle in Lucy’s head. Bella — Kayla — Patricia — Sarah — Taylor — Waverly.
She hoped there wasn’t going to be a test, especially since they were all alike as far as she could tell. Some were Hispanic like Dusty and Veronica, and one seemed to have Native American blood like Januarie, and a few were even white-skinned bolillos like Carla Rosa and her. But something about their faces ran together before her like melting ice cream. She was glad when Coach Neely said, “Time for lunch, girls. I’ll meet you back here at one o’clock.”
“I have to go get mine,” Lucy said, though no one seemed to pay any attention. She ran for the Dreams as if she were going for a goal. If she didn’t get back to people whose names she knew, she might forget her own.
She found the team at the picnic table they’d claimed the day before. Nobody had even opened their brown bags yet.
“Did you get busted?” Gabe said — almost as if he certainly hoped so because that would liven things up.
“Of course she didn’t.” Dusty grabbed Lucy’s arm. “You didn’t, did you?”
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa said. “They throw you out if you get in trouble, just like that one girl.”
“I’m not in trouble!” Lucy said. “I just got moved to another team.”
It was hard to sort out all the words and noises that greeted that announcement.
“No, you did not!”
“How come?”
“I don’t get it — ”
“Do you have to go?”
“Of course she has to go.”
Lucy did know who said that, and she stared at J.J. It was a long sentence from him, and not the one she expected.
Gabe poked him. “How do you know, J-man?”
“Just do.”
“No you don’t.” Gabe shrugged. “Not that we can’t play without you, Lucy Goosey — ”
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa said. “We can’t!”
“Maybe you can’t — ”
Dusty buzzed, and Lucy put her hand up. They all muttered into silence.
“I don’t want to go,” she said. “I’d rather be with you guys — ” She looked at Carla Rosa. “ — and girls. Maybe I don’t have to — I didn’t think of that. I could ask Mr. Auggy — ”
She felt a nudge in her rib. J.J. was right next to her, jerking his head away from the table. Lucy put her lunch bag down.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to the team and then followed J.J. to the edge of the pavilion. Behind her, Gabe made a kissing sound.
“You are sick,” she heard Dusty say to him.
“What?” Lucy whispered to J.J. when they got to the place where the cement ended.
He lowered his head and talked toward the toes of his tennis shoes.
“Don’t ask Mr. Auggy if you can change back. You gotta stay on that team.”
“Why? I didn’t think you’d want me to.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why — ”
“Do what that Hawke guy says.”
Lucy saw J.J.’s jaw clench down. He was almost done with this conversation, and she still didn’t know what he was talking about.
“It’s a special team, right?” he said.
“Yeah — and there’s one for boys too, and you would totally be on it, only it’s full right now — ”
“You gotta do it then. Only — ”
“Only what?”
J.J. looked up at the acre of picnic tables full of kids. His eyes seemed to get closer together. “Don’t talk about our team to those girls. Don’t even wear the T-shirt.”
“Why?”
“They’ll make fun of you.”
“What?”
“Pretend you don’t even know us.”
“I’m not gonna do that, J.J.!” Lucy said. She could feel the exclamation points lining up.
“You get to play real soccer now,” J.J. said.
Lucy’s throat grew thick. “Are you mad at me?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“J.J. — ”
But J.J. was already walking away. The conversation was over.
6
“I used to hate soccer,” Januarie announced in the back seat on the way to soccer camp Wednesday morning.
Dusty brushed her finger across Januarie’s nose. “Then how come you whined all the time because we wouldn’t let you play?”
Lucy could answer that. Januarie just wanted to do what the big kids did, which would have been fine if she had been any good at it.
Veronica stopped braiding her hair and looked at Januarie. “So why don’t you hate it anymore?”
“’Cause the people on my team are nice to me. They don’t tell me I don’t know how to play.”
Lucy was glad J.J. wasn’t in their car. He would have said, “You don’t.”
“And we play with a littler ball, and it’s easier.” Januarie folded her chubby arms. “It’s just way better.”
“I wish I could say that.” Veronica let her lower lip hang. “I don’t think I like soccer anymore.”
“Really?” said Carla Rosa’s mom from behind the steering wheel.
“It’s just not that much fun without you, Lucy,” Dusty said. “And our coach is kind of — ”
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa piped up from the front seat. “He can’t even remember our names.”
But at least you’re all together, Lucy wanted to say. Her coach knew who everybody on their team was, and they all knew each other. But the only words that had been spoken to Lucy the afternoon before were Coach Neely saying, “Be sure to drink a lot of water. And wear sunscreen.” The rest of the girls acted like all the friend slots were full.
“We still get to eat lunch with you, Bolillo,” Dusty said. “Don’t we?”
Lucy could hear J.J.’s voice in her head: Pretend you don’t even know us. They’ll make fun of you.
But that couldn’t possibly be true. People had to know you were there to make fun of you.
“Don’t we?” Dusty said again.
“Try and stop me,” Lucy said. And hoped J.J. wouldn’t.
Coach Neely started practice with the shoelace pass.
“It’s called that because that’s exactly the part of the foot you’re going to use to kick the ball,” she told the Select Team.
“Well, du-uh,” said the girl with the ponytail almost to her waist.
Lucy thought she might be Sarah, but whoever she was, nobody buzzed her. Coach Neely just went on with, “It’s also called the instep pass. It looks like this.”
She took a hop an
d swung her kicking leg backward, bending it at the knee. As soon as she planted her other foot about three inches from the ball, she swung her kicking leg forward with a snap of her hip. While Lucy soaked it in, Coach Neely pointed her toe down, whacked the center of the ball with the inside of her foot, and sent it skimming down the field. Lucy could feel the power of it, and she imagined a wide-open teammate near the goal, ready to smack it right past the goalie, in front of an ODP scout —
“Yo, Lucy.”
Lucy snapped her head up to see Coach Neely peering at her over her sunglasses.
“Why do we do this kick with our instep instead of our toes?”
“You’re asking me?” Lucy said.
A girl with what looked like an extra set of teeth snorted.
“Yuk it up, Taylor,” Coach Neely said to her. “If she doesn’t get it, I’m asking you.”
Lucy saw the glint go out of Taylor’s narrow black eyes. Everybody else’s eyes were on Lucy, and she could feel her cheeks burning.
Coach Neely folded her arms. “Why do we — ”
“Because you have more control over where it goes with your instep,” Lucy said. “It’s harder to get it exactly where you want it with your toe.”
Coach Neely blinked. “You’re absolutely right.”
“I knew that,” Taylor said.
The girl next to her, the one with out-of-control hair straining at a headband, poked her. “No, you did not.”
Coach Auggy would have been buzzing his head off, but Coach Neely ignored them. “Next question’s for you, Patricia.”
But before she could ask it, a golf cart puttered up to the edge of their field. Lucy sucked in air when she saw Hawke’s silver hair and felt his eyes boring at them as he unfolded himself from the driver’s seat.
“Look sharp, girls,” Coach Neely said. She plastered on her Hawke-is-here smile.
Hawke stood up — and up and up — while a twelvish girl sprang out of the other seat. She had blonde-streaked light brown hair and eyes that sizzled blue, so Lucy knew she wasn’t Hispanic. But the way-long legs that flowed from her shorts and the arms she swung at her sides were as brown as Veronica’s. Coach Neely would be telling her to wear sunscreen if she stuck around long enough.
If she did stay, Lucy was pretty sure it was going to be the girl’s own choice. She looked at Hawke like he was her manager instead of King Coach, and she didn’t fold her arms or twirl her hair around her finger or any of the other things girls did when they entered a new girl-group. Sarah and Taylor whispered behind Lucy: