by Rue, Nancy
“Okay,” Lucy said.
Okay. That was brilliant. If she’d been Rianna, she would probably have whipped out one of those little computers and set up a meeting place. As he drove away, she looked for J.J., but he was already gone.
There would still have been time to look for him, if she hadn’t seen something large and red coming toward her.
“What is that?” someone said behind her.
Lucy thought it might be Sarah, but she was too busy staring at the big thing to turn around. Somebody was carrying a red card that was bigger than she was. Only the expensive tennis shoes identified her.
As Rianna and the giant red card got closer, Lucy could read the letters painted on it in black: For Anybody Who Brings Soccer Down.
The card stopped a few feet from Lucy, and Rianna stuck her head out from behind it.
“Excuse me. I need to get by,” she said.
Sarah stepped aside, but Lucy was still staring.
“Hello — you’re in my way.”
“What’s this for?” Lucy said.
“Like it isn’t totally obvious.” Rianna gave an elaborate sigh and set the lower edge of the big card on the ground. “This goes to the next person who cheats or plays dirty or basically gives soccer a bad name.”
“Who’s giving it out?” Waverly had by now joined them and was frowning so hard Lucy could almost hear the lines carving between her eyebrows.
“I am,” Rianna said.
“Did you ask Hawke?”
“We’re going to be discussing it today at lunch. I eat with him every day — just me and him.”
Lucy smothered a smile. There was another lie. She hadn’t eaten with him the day before, like she said, because Hawke was out patrolling the tables and discovering the mustard incident. And he wasn’t eating with her today, because he’d invited Lucy to lunch. This girl was shameless.
“I didn’t even know anybody else was playing dirty,” Sarah said.
“Oh, they are,” Rianna said. “But I’m not going to give names.”
Because you don’t know any, Lucy wanted to say as she headed toward their team’s bench.
“Why don’t you ask Rooney?” Rianna said.
Lucy stopped.
“Who’s Rooney?” Sarah said.
Rianna parted with one of her ugly laughs. “You are, like, the most clueless people on the planet.”
Sarah and Waverly looked at Lucy. They did appear clueless — as clueless as Lucy herself felt.
Coach Neely paired them off that morning to practice shielding, turning, and faking. Lucy felt a stab. That was the game she and J.J. had played the day of the storm, way back when soccer was still fun. But when Coach put Lucy with Rianna, Lucy was actually glad. There was something she needed to find out.
When they had their cones set up and were ready to try to score on each other, Lucy took off dribbling the ball. She let Rianna intercept it so she could get behind her. That made it easier to talk near her ear.
“What did you mean ‘ask Rooney?’ ” she said.
Rianna put out her arms to keep Lucy back, which wasn’t legal, but Lucy didn’t call her on it. “You know what I meant.”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking you.”
Rianna tried to fake to the other direction, but Lucy didn’t fall for it. Still, she didn’t take the ball, but ran alongside her.
“You know the cheaters,” Rianna said, words coming out in puffs as she dribbled toward Lucy’s cones.
“I only know one cheater,” Lucy said.
“Huh.” Rianna stopped the ball, turned, and dribbled the other way. That was supposed to catch her by surprise, Lucy knew, but it was just what she’d wanted Rianna to do. At least until she found out what she needed to know.
“I haven’t heard about any other cheaters,” Lucy said at her heels.
“Then you aren’t talking to the right people.”
Rianna made another turn, stepping over the ball and using the inside of her foot to push it back, but this time, Lucy got in front of her, knees bent, legs apart, staying low with her arms out wide.
“Obstruction!” Rianna shouted.
“Containment!” Lucy shouted back, and made her dribble to the side.
“Foul!” Rianna screamed. “Foul!”
A whistle blew, and Coach Neely was on them, sunglasses on top of her head, a sure sign that she was getting annoyed.
“What’s going on?” she said.
“Rooney was obstructing me!” Rianna said, still yelling as if Coach Neely were on another field.
“Oh — Lucy is Rooney,” Sarah said to someone.
“It’s only obstruction if you’re trying to block your opponent,” Lucy shrugged. “I was going for the ball.”
“I wasn’t watching,” Coach Neely said. “But it’s just a drill, Rianna.”
Rianna turned on the coach, and for a split second, Lucy thought Rianna was going to smack her. She was sure some of the other girls gasped. Patricia was definitely muttering.
Then Rianna took a step back and slowly folded her arms. “I’m over it,” she said.
“Good. That’s what I like to see.” Coach Neely smiled at Rianna and blew her whistle. “All right, let’s change partners!”
But before Lucy could trot off to join Kayla, Rianna stepped in front of her — a clear case of obstruction.
“I know who’s going to get the big fat red card if they’re not careful,” Rianna said, as she jerked her head, splashing her ponytail against the side of her face. Lucy followed with her eyes — to her Los Suenos Dreams.
13
The minute Coach Neely called for the lunch break, Lucy ran straight toward the Los Suenos table. Hawke was going to find her, she knew, but she had to talk to J.J. first. And then she had to get to Hawke before Rianna did with her big red card. Her thoughts were jabbing at her like accusing fingers.
Why hadn’t she gone to Hawke in the first place like J.J. had told her to?
Why had she believed that Rianna going for the VIP award — however she could — wasn’t going to hurt anybody?
What was all this going to do to her chances at ODP? If she didn’t get all of this worked out, she wasn’t going to be able to dribble without tripping over herself from the stress.
Queen Esther had it easy compared to this.
Lucy was almost to the Dreams’ table when Januarie was suddenly beside her, with Mustard Girl in tow. She was mustard-less and smiling.
“See?” Januarie said. “We’re friends.”
“Good.” Lucy looked over their heads at the table, but she couldn’t see J.J.
“Yo-Yo knows stuff,” Januarie said.
“Who’s — oh.” Lucy nodded absently at the chubbier-than-Januarie child. “I bet you know a lot of stuff. I’ve got to go.”
“Stuff you want to know,” Januarie said.
Lucy tried to edge around them. “Right now all I want to know is where J.J. is.”
“He’s hiding.”
“Hiding?” Lucy forced herself to give Januarie her full attention. “What are you talking about? Who’s he hiding from?”
Januarie nudged Yo-Yo, who said, “My sister.”
Lucy was ready to chew through barbed wire to get away, but she looked down at Yo-Yo as she walked. “Your sister got kicked out, didn’t she?”
“Not my sister Lawanda — my sister Rianna.”
Lucy stopped. Januarie’s toe caught the back of her shoe and pulled it halfway off, but Lucy didn’t bother to fix it. Her eyes were glued to the moon-face that blinked back at her.
“Rianna is your sister?”
“I hate her,” Yo-Yo said. “She’s so mean to me. One time — ”
Lucy bent at the waist and grabbed her shoulders. “Why is J.J. hiding from her?”
“Because she wrote him a note.” Januarie pursed her lips importantly. “Yo-Yo saw her do it.”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t know.”
“But it was
probably something mean,” Januarie said. “Right?”
Yo-Yo gave a solemn nod.
“You want us to find out for you?” Januarie said. “You know I can always find out stuff.”
“No,” Lucy said. “Absolutely not — and I mean it. Stay as far away from this as you can.”
They looked so disappointed, Lucy stopped again and tugged at both lopsided ponytails.
“You did the right thing coming to me, and I really appreciate it.”
“Then we helped?” Januarie said.
“You were amazing.” Lucy squinted toward the table. “If I just knew where he was hiding.”
“Oh, that’s easy. He’s in the boys’ bathroom.”
“But I’m not goin’ in there to get him for you!” Yo-Yo said. “My sister Lawanda made me do that one time, and it was so gross.”
Lucy’s heart beat like Mr. Auggy’s mad dog. This was going to be harder than she thought, and she still had to be ready for Hawke when he found her.
She looked down at the pair of round faces that were still watching her. “You want to help some more?”
She thought their heads were going to come off, they nodded them so hard.
“Okay, watch for Hawke. He’s probably in that golf cart thing he drives around in. When you see him, just try to keep him there until I’m done talking to J.J.”
“How do we do that?” Januarie said.
Yo-Yo pointed a chubby finger. “There’s your brother.”
J.J. was indeed peering out of the boys’ bathroom. Lucy charged for the building.
“What do we do with Hawke?” Januarie called to her.
“Just talk to him,” Lucy called back over her shoulder. “It’s what you do!”
Then she left them to figure it out and ran toward J.J. He was still peeking out from the restroom door, and Lucy was almost there when she caught an all-too familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Rianna was going in the same direction. J.J.’s head disappeared inside the boys’ room.
At the same time, Lucy heard the putt-putt sound of the golf cart at the far end of the picnic area. It stopped, and she saw a clump of boys sidle up to it. Lucy’s mind raced. She had to keep Rianna from getting to Hawke before she did.
She flipped her head around. Not five feet away was the Los Suenos table, though her friends were hard to recognize. They were all slumped over their lunches, except Gabe, who was savagely pitching tortilla chips into the trash can, one by one.
Lucy flew to the group, glancing back at Rianna who was moving in the direction of the golf cart.
“Lucy!” Dusty called to her.
Lucy put her finger to her lips and looked back to make sure Rianna hadn’t heard.
“Guess what?” Carla Rosa said. “I didn’t think you were that mean.”
“We don’t even think it’s true, Carla Rosa,” Veronica said, and burst into tears.
The boy with the big hair next to her looked bewildered. Gabe made some loud guy sound and stuffed the whole chip bag into the trash can.
Lucy crouched down beside Dusty. The table nearly turned over as they all leaned that way.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Lucy said, “but I need your help.”
“First you gotta tell us if you — ” Gabe said.
“Guess what — ”
“Everybody hush.” Dusty looked into Lucy’s eyes. “What do you need, Bolillo?”
Lucy was completely confused, but she pointed to Rianna, who was weaving, lips curled, through Januarie’s team lined up at the water fountain. “See that girl over there?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep her away from Hawke until I get to him, okay?”
“Guess what? We don’t know her,” Carla Rosa said.
“And I don’t think we want to,” Veronica said. “Look at her — she thinks she’s all that.”
Dusty got up. “I’ll do it.”
“I’ll come with you.” Gabe wiggled his eyebrows at Veronica. “She’s hot.”
“No, Gabe,” Lucy said. “You’ve gotta get J.J. out of the boys’ bathroom. Tell him to meet me behind the building — fast.”
“What do I look like — Match dot com?”
“Somebody do it!” Lucy heard the almost-tears in her own voice. “I’m trying to find out what’s going on — ”
“Yeah,” Gabe said. He was suddenly sober. “So are we.”
“Then help me!” She looked toward the water fountain where Dusty and Veronica had Rianna cornered, but she knew they couldn’t keep her there for long. Hawke was still talking to the boys at the other end, but he’d started the motor up again.
“Please!” she said.
Emanuel untangled his long legs from the picnic table and loped toward the restroom.
“You gotta go?” Oscar called to him.
“I’m gettin’ J.J.,” Emanuel said.
Lucy took off after Emanuel, with Carla Rosa saying, “Guess what?” behind her, and Gabe telling her he didn’t care “what.” Lucy went to the back of the building and leaned against the outside bathroom wall and tried to hear, but all she could make out was some flushing and some water running and some of that laughing boys always did that signaled they were planning something stupid. She was about to tear her ponytail out by its roots when J.J. came around the corner. He flattened himself against the wall beside her.
“What does the note say?” she said.
“It’s not true.”
“If it’s from Rianna, I know it’s not true, but what does it say?”
J.J. dug into his pocket and pulled out a piece of blue paper, the same color as the Fair Play Code. But when Lucy looked at it, there was nothing fair on it. Not even close:
“It has been found out that your team and Lucy Rooney are planning how you can purposely lose in the game with the Select Team and make her look good for the ODP scout — — which is the only way she CAN look good. It is well known that if your team doesn’t help her, she will make sure somebody gets hurt. She has already damaged someone’s ankle on the Select Team ON PURPOSE.”
“This means you are going against the Fair Play Code and could get in trouble, especially J.J., Lucy Rooney’s main contact, who will be the one inflicting bodily injury. See below.”
Lucy looked at the bottom of the page at a photograph of J.J. — fists clenched, jaw tight, eyes flashing fire. She felt the knot in her stomach cinch in.
“I look like my dad,” J.J. said.
Lucy shook her head. “Do you know when was this taken?”
“You do.”
“No I don’t, J.J. You never look like this — ”
J.J.’s eyes searched her face.
“Okay, the day Rianna had me by the arm you did ,” Lucy said, “but you didn’t do anything to her.”
“I wanted to. Just like I wanted to tear something up when we were at the soccer field the other day.”
They stood there in an aching silence. J.J. poked at the paper.
Lucy read on.
“There is a way to stay out of trouble over this and not get thrown out of camp. I will find J.J. at the end of lunch today and tell you how. Stay in plain sight.”
Lucy looked up from the page. The paper was shaking. “This is why you were hiding.”
“Yeah.”
“The team knows about this?”
J.J. nodded. “I wasn’t gonna tell ’em. Stupid Gabe got it out of my hand.”
“That’s why they were acting all weird with me.”
“They’re just freakin’ out.”
Lucy scanned the area with her eyes. Hawke was driving along the edge, hand shielding his brow like he was looking for someone. Rianna was peeling herself away from Dusty and Veronica, eyes on Hawke. And Januarie and Yo-Yo were bouncing toward the golf cart like a pair of runaway beach balls.
“Don’t talk to her, J.J.,” Lucy said. She folded the paper and stuffed it into her shorts pocket.
“Who?”
“You know who — Rianna.”
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“She made some other girl give it to me.”
“That one?” Lucy said. She pointed her chin. “The one with Januarie?”
“No. Some girl from your team. I don’t know which one.” J.J. shrugged. “They all look the same.”
Lucy’s heart took a dive, but she didn’t have time to go there. The golf cart had stopped, because Yo-Yo and Januarie were standing in front of it, waving their arms. Rianna had been way-laid by somebody. Lucy squinted and felt her jaw drop. Oscar was between Rianna and her destination, chewing his toothpick.
“Stay away from Rianna,” Lucy said to J.J., walking backward. “I’ll find out what she’s up to. Tell everybody I didn’t have anything to do with this.”
J.J. nodded, and Lucy took off at a dead run.
By the time she reached Hawke, he had a cheek full of something he was trying to chew, and Januarie was pushing a Three Musketeers bar into his hand. Lucy was glad she hadn’t confiscated that part of Januarie’s loot.
Hawke grinned, as best he could, when he saw Lucy. “I have enjoyed the treat, ladies, thank you very much. But I have an appointment with this lady — who, I think, is responsible for you two being — what was it you told me?”
“BFFs,” Yo-Yo said. “Best Friends Forever.”
“That’s what soccer camp is about.” Hawke patted the seat beside him. “Now, Lucy, if you’ll just jump in — ”
“Coach Hawke!”
Lucy closed her eyes. If she’d just gotten there thirty seconds earlier . . .
“Rianna,” Hawke said. “What’s that you have there?”
Lucy turned around. Somewhere between Oscar and here, Rianna had picked up the gigantic red card and was smiling proudly above it. Lucy nearly bit her own tongue off.
While Rianna rattled on to Hawke, and Hawke sat, arms folded and listening, Lucy tried to land on what she was supposed to do now.
Should she just show Hawke the blue paper with Rianna standing there? Tell him she knew Rianna had typed it, and that somehow this was part of her trying to “show him” and get some kind of revenge for her sister?
If she did, what was to keep Hawke from believing what Rianna said on there about her?
Besides, Lucy didn’t know yet what Rianna was planning to say to J.J.