Sleepover Club Goes For Goal! Read online

  Ryan Scott was not a happy boy! I think Mr Pownall sensed that we weren’t exactly the best of friends, so he made us all swap teams for the next exercises and made sure that Ryan and I were on different ones. Actually, that was cool because it meant that we were racing against each other. We did this thing where you had to dribble the ball around various obstacles, then shoot at goal. I’m so used to doing that kind of thing in the garden that it was a piece of cake and I scored every time. Old Scotty kept getting freaked when he saw me and shot his ball over the goal every time. It caught Mr Pownall right in the face once which was kind of funny, although we didn’t know whether we should laugh or not.

  Danny McCloud was on my team, and you could tell that he was kind of impressed by the way I could play football. Although of course he’s a boy, so he found it really hard to admit it. It was only when our team came first in all the exercises that he got a bit carried away and said: “Hey McKenzie you’re quite good!” before adding, “… for a girl!”

  The time just whizzed past. I couldn’t believe it when Mr Pownall said that the hour was almost up. We just had ten minutes left, and he said that we could have a go at playing a proper five-a-side game, just to get the feel of it. There were nine of us at the practice so he said that he’d make up the numbers.

  “Right Kenny and Ryan, you can pick the teams. You first, Kenny”

  I love picking teams. I looked at the faces in front of me, all looking eager – and desperate not to be the one left until the end. But you’ll never guess who was looking most eager of all and jumping around going:

  “Kenny, pick me, pick me!”

  Danny McCloud, that’s who! I mean, that’s not cool from someone of his age, now is it? But still, I felt kind of chuffed. I mean, he wanted to come on my team rather than on his best mate Ryan’s! I would have picked him anyway just to wind old Scotty-chops up. But he actually wanted to be on my team. Boy, did Ryan look MAD!

  After we’d picked the teams we didn’t have time for much of a game. But I did have time to do this blinding run, skipping over a tackle from Scotty before passing the ball to Danny who shot it into the back of the net. Usually in that situation I’d go ballistic and do some crazy celebration. But this time was different. I mean, did I really want to fling my arms around Danny McCloud in order to celebrate the goal? I think not! That’s when it hit me that this school five-a-side thing with only boys for company might have a few drawbacks. I really had to get my mates interested. But that was going to be easier said than done – as I was about to find out!

  After that first five-a-side football practice, everything suddenly got very complicated. You see, I was suddenly in demand! You could have knocked me down with a feather when as soon as I got into the playground on Thursday morning, Danny McCloud shouted out:

  “Oi, McKenzie! Fancy a game?”

  He was holding up a football and was with a couple of the other guys in our class.

  Now, that kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. I know that boys would never say it straight out, but this was like them admitting that they thought I was good at football.

  I did look round to see if Frankie or the others were there before I joined in, I really did. But they weren’t. So of course I went over to play footie. Bad move! The others went ballistic with me when I finally caught up with them in the classroom.

  “We always meet up before the start of school,” Fliss kept whingeing, like I’d just poisoned her goldfish or something.

  “I expect you’ll be dropping us at break times now as well!” sniffed Frankie as soon as I’d sat down.

  “Yeah, and playing with your new boyfriends,” added Rosie.

  “They are not my boyfriends,” I told them angrily.

  And to be honest, I didn’t think I’d be asked to play with the boys again anyway, because when Ryan Scott had turned up he didn’t exactly seem thrilled that I was playing football with his mates.

  Sure enough, when lunchtime came, all the boys went to play football and walked past me as though I wasn’t even there. Except for Danny McCloud. He just shrugged his shoulders like he was apologising or something.

  “Looks like they were just using you after all!” sneered Fliss with a told-you-so smirk plastered all over her face.

  “Well, maybe I was using them to kill time until you lot turned up!” I snapped back at her.

  “You didn’t exactly notice us when we did appear!” moaned Rosie.

  “Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that. You know what it’s like when you’re busy playing something.”

  “You mean you’d rather play with the boys than play with us!” Fliss exploded. “Well that’s charming, isn’t it?”

  “Shut up for goodness sake!” I yelled. “They were playing football and I just happened to join in. That’s not a crime, is it?”

  “Oooh, get her!” the others piped up.

  “Chill out Kenny, for goodness sake!” laughed Frankie.

  “Yeah, chill out!” shrieked Lyndz and Rosie together. They ran up behind me and started to tickle me all over. In seconds I was writhing in a heap on the ground with tears streaming down my face.

  “I’m going to get you for this!” I eventually managed to gasp.

  “Oh yeah?” giggled Rosie. “Prove it.”

  I struggled up from the ground and managed to grab hold of Fliss. I bundled into her and started barging her over to the grass outside our classroom. She was dead scared at first, you could tell, but then she realised I was playing one of our Gladiator games and started to barge me back. Just when I thought I’d got the upper hand, Frankie grabbed hold of my arm. She spun me round faster and faster like one of those crazy fairground rides. It was wicked! When our legs finally gave way we collapsed in a heap on the ground.

  “Now come on Kenny, admit it!” she gasped when she’d got her breath back. “You have much more fun with us than with some stupid boys, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, sure!” I agreed, but inside I was still feeling kind of annoyed. I mean, I was getting all this earache about one little kick-around. It was like the others thought they owned me or something. And besides, if they’d bothered to come along to the five-a-side practice with me in the first place, they could have joined in with the footie too. Then they might not have been so jealous.

  I was still feeling pretty annoyed with them by afternoon break. So when Danny McCloud came over and asked if I wanted to join in their football game, I leapt at the chance. You ought to have seen the others’ faces. I swear that Fliss could have swallowed a bus, her mouth was so wide open. Ryan Scott wasn’t too thrilled about it either, but one of the other boys had had to go home with a bad stomach ache so he really didn’t have much choice.

  It was well cool. You see, it was great to be actually playing football with someone. Usually I have to practice my skills by myself in the garden. Molly the Monster, my stupid sister, wouldn’t be seen dead playing football. Neither would Emma my eldest sister, and Mum and Dad are just too busy.

  I had a great time. Even Ryan Scott wasn’t too bad after a while. He’s a totally different person when he’s playing football – he’s almost normal. But of course my friends weren’t happy at all. They kept trying to make out that if I liked them so much I shouldn’t really need to play football as well. Crazy.

  Anyway, from then on I tried a sort of compromise. I played football with the boys during morning and afternoon breaks, and stayed with my mates at lunchtime. But they were still mad at me. Especially as the more I played football and the more I went to the five-a-side practices, the more I found that I was sharing jokes with the boys in class. And of course the others couldn’t join in. I felt bad, I really did, but I must admit that I was enjoying myself too. I know that it’s not going to sound too good admitting this, but it felt great to be so popular with the boys. I could more than hold my own in their rough games and they sort of respected me for that. I think they accepted me as one of them, which was great because any of my friends will tell you w
hat a tomboy I am.

  But still, the others just couldn’t understand me at all. Even Lyndz had a go at me, and you know how calm she usually is.

  “You just don’t care about the Sleepover Club any more, do you?” she tackled me one afternoon after school. “You’re so busy playing football with those stupid boys, it’s like we don’t even exist any more.”

  “Don’t be daft, Lyndz!” I tried to reassure her. “Playing football with the guys is different. Besides, I don’t see why I can’t have other friends too. We don’t complain when you’re at the stables all the time, do we?”

  “That’s different,” she said defensively. “That’s after school. Besides, you see Ryan Scott and Danny McCloud more than you see us now.”

  Thinking about it she was probably right. As well as playing football with them in the breaks, I sometimes stayed behind after school to play with them. So I didn’t walk home with the others as much as I used to. I told you that things got a bit complicated, didn’t I?

  Those five-a-side practices certainly had a lot to answer for. But they were great. By the second week we really started to get the hang of it. We still kept forgetting about some of the rules, like not kicking the ball over head height, so Mr Pownall had to blow his whistle every ten seconds to award a free kick. It was hysterical. And during one game he awarded ten penalties because the goalkeepers – Alex Brown and Neil Hughes – kept forgetting that they couldn’t leave their areas. The rest of us just creased up about that. But at least we were learning the rules as we went along.

  That definitely proved to be a good thing, because after about three weeks or so, Mr Pownall called us all together at the end of the practice and announced that there was going to be a five-a-side competition in the area.

  “Now I know that you haven’t been playing this very long, but it would be great if we could enter at least one team in the competition,” he told us.

  “Yeaah!”

  “All right!”

  Everyone seemed to be leaping around and punching the air. I was yelling louder than anyone. This could be my big chance. Some big football scout might spot my talent and train me to be the first female professional footballer in Britain. I was definitely up for it.

  The only thing that worried me was the extra practice I’d have to do if I was going to make the team. Extra practice would of course mean spending more time with the boys. And we all knew what that would mean. Yup – trouble from Frankie and the others. But I thought they would understand how much a place in the team would mean to me, I really did. But I was wrong about that too. Very wrong.

  “So you’re finally going to choose them over us, are you?” demanded Frankie when I tried to explain things to her in the playground the next morning.

  “It’s not like that,” I explained. “It’s not a case of choosing. I need the boys to practise with, that’s all. Once the competition’s over, I won’t play with them so much. I promise.”

  The others looked at each other.

  “We don’t believe you,” said Fliss coldly.

  “Believe what you like,” I snapped.

  “It seems like we’re not enough fun for you any more,” said Lyndz sadly. “You don’t like playing with us, do you?”

  “Yes I do! It’s just that I like playing football, and you don’t play do you?”

  The gang all stared at each other with these really weird looks on their faces.

  “What’s up with you?” I demanded.

  “If football’s that important to you, I don’t really think we have that much in common, do we?” asked Frankie. Her voice sounded cold, but when I looked at her, her eyes were really sad.

  “Yes we do!” I didn’t want Frankie getting upset. We’d been best mates for ever.

  “But if we asked you to choose between us and football, you’d choose football, right?” demanded Rosie.

  That was a tough one.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s just that this competition is kind of important to me right now. When it’s over, everything will be back to normal, you’ll see.”

  It was the answer that they didn’t want, but I guess it was the one that they’d expected to hear. They just sort of shrugged and turned away from me, just like that. I’ll never forget the way that felt. Even when Danny called me over for a game of footie, I felt kind of lonely and a bit empty inside.

  Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that the Sleepover Club broke up then and there over my football, right? Well we didn’t, not really. I mean, we still hung round together – it’s just things were a bit strained. I didn’t spend time with my mates like I used to, and when I did see them, they always seemed to be planning things together which didn’t include me. But that didn’t really matter because I was spending all my time practising for the trials for our five-a-side team anyway. Mr Pownall had announced that they would take place on September 15th, and he’d put up a notice inviting anyone who was interested to watch.

  I’d tried to be really good when I was with the others and not mention football at all. It just wasn’t worth the aggro. But on the days running up to the trial I was so hyper I just couldn’t help myself.

  “You will be coming to watch the five-a-side trials, won’t you?” I asked them on Monday afternoon in our craft lesson. We were up to our elbows in papier-mâché, and Fliss was trying hard to pretend that she was enjoying it. She hates getting her hands dirty.

  They exchanged glances and looked all embarrassed.

  “Well actually, we’ve planned to go rollerblading in the park after school on Wednesday,” explained Frankie quietly.

  Rollerblading! They never used to do that.

  “How long have you been rollerblading?” I asked, trying not to sound annoyed that they hadn’t told me about it.

  “A few weeks now,” gushed Fliss. “It’s well cool. I was terrified at first and I kept falling over but the others helped me and now…”

  I don’t know what she went twittering on about because I stopped listening. I couldn’t believe that they’d do something like that without me.

  Suddenly I felt someone nudging me.

  “Kenny … Kenny, are you all right?”

  “What? Sorry, yes.”

  “You don’t mind if we don’t come to watch do you?” Frankie asked.

  “No, that’s cool,” I lied. “Have a good time.”

  I must admit that after that I went round in a bit of a fog. I realised how much I missed being with the others. And I didn’t have anyone to talk to any more. Frankie and I always used to ring each other up if anything was bugging us, but now I figured Frankie wouldn’t want to listen to my problems – especially as they involved her. Besides, I hated to admit that I might have made a mistake in choosing football over my friends. Still, as football seemed to be about all I was left with, I just had to make sure that I got into the five-a-side team.

  By the time Wednesday afternoon came round I was a bag of nerves. As I was leaving for the gym, the others stopped me.

  “Good luck!” said Rosie and Fliss together.

  “Hope you make the team!” smiled Frankie.

  “I’m sure you will.” Lyndz gave me a reassuring squeeze of my arm.

  I felt a bit choked to be honest, but I didn’t let them see that. I just said, “Thanks, I’ll do my best,” and headed for the gym.

  As soon as I was changed I went into the gym, expecting the usual boys and maybe a few of their friends to be there. I couldn’t believe how many people there were! It looked like some of the guys had brought along their entire families – including the cat! (No, that’s not quite true. Ryan Scott’s dog was there, but Mr Pownall made his brother take it home when it started weeing over some of the equipment.) Looking round at all those people, I kind of wished that I’d asked someone along to watch me. Even Molly the Monster would have been better than nobody.

  “Ah, Kenny.” Mr Pownall ran over to me. He looked a bit flustered. I guess he hadn’t expected so m
any people to turn up either. “There’s something I’ve got to…”

  I’m afraid I didn’t hear what he said next because out of the corner of my eye I noticed some more people entering the gym. I was sure that I recognised that coat, and that hairstyle – and those hiccups.

  “You came!” I flew over to where Frankie, Rosie, Lyndz and Fliss were standing.

  “Boy am I glad you’re here!” I told them. “I thought I was going to have no-one cheering me on.”

  “What makes you think we’re here to see you?” asked Fliss, eyeing up Ryan Scott.

  Frankie must have seen my face fall. “She’s only joking, idiot!” she laughed, punching me on the arm. “We wouldn’t have missed it.”

  “Look, I’m really sorry that I’ve been a bit of a dipstick lately,” I muttered.

  “Hey, hic, forget it,” smiled Lyndz.

  “Look, you’d better be going,” said Rosie. “Mr Pownall seems to be calling everyone together.”

  “See you later!” I called as I ran to the other end of the gym.

  “Break a leg!” shouted Fliss.

  I turned to see the others shoving her and telling her to be quiet.

  “Ow!” Fliss was squealing. “I thought that’s what you’re supposed to say …”

  Some things never change!

  It’s funny how five minutes can change the way you’re feeling. When I joined the rest of the guys who were trying out for the team, I wasn’t panicking any more. In fact I felt really positive and confident. Mr Pownall explained that we’d be doing our usual training exercises and then playing a full game. He said that he’d be watching us all closely and at the end of the hour he’d be announcing who he had picked for the team. I couldn’t wait to get on with it.

  “Kenny,” he called me towards him. “I don’t know if you were listening earlier, but you do know that…”

  THWACK! A ball landed smack in my left ear. It didn’t half hurt. I turned round and saw Ryan Scott smirking like anything.