Zoe the Fearless Page 6

  “Please,” he said. “Unless you don’t have the guts.”

  My stomach knotted up. But my mom and dad taught me that everything has consequences, and I guess that includes letters to the Wild Soccer Bunch. I prepared myself for a dose of my own medicine, then slowly removed the lid from the shoebox. What I found inside hit me dead center, right in the heart. Talk about mean! Even Grandma gasped. Inside the box was a pair of pink high heels with rhinestones and flowers. I was speechless. I wanted to throw Kevin to the ground. Maybe my father saw my body language or something because he suddenly jumped in front of me and said, “Why don’t you go out back and start the tournament?”

  I glared at Kevin and let the box drop to the floor, and then I turned on my heel and stomped out.

  A Question of Honor

  The field was sixteen yards long and nine yards wide, the maximum our backyard would allow. My father drew the lines with chalk like a real pro and put up practice goals. The ‘last man’ would be the goalie, each game would be five minutes long and the host team – Tyler and myself – was up first.

  The rain was still coming down pretty good and the ground was slippery and my knees were trembling. I tried to forget the pink high heels, but they were stuck in my head like a bad song I couldn’t get rid of. What if everyone was right – Grandma and Kevin and Fabio and Tyler? What if a girl really had no business being on the same team with the Wild Soccer Bunch? What if I lose today? All these negative thoughts kept shooting around inside my head and fear grabbed me by the throat. I didn’t have a chance. That was crystal clear the minute my opponents, Danny and Kevin, stepped out on the field. They were so sure of their victory; I could see it in their faces and every move they made. I looked to Tyler for help, but what was the point of that? I was all alone out there. Tyler didn’t even try to hide his indifference. It was clear, he wasn’t going to lift a finger for me. And guess what? I was right. It only took seven seconds for Danny to pass to Kevin, because Tyler looked the other way. And I looked like an amateur as Kevin faked me out. I fell flat on my butt and, sitting there in the mud, I watched Kevin easily push the ball over the goal line.

  During the counterattack I passed the ball to Tyler, but he skidded past the ball, plopped himself into the mud and watched as Kevin and Danny out-played me with a double pass.

  At two-zero, the two of them slowed down, because they could. My knees were like jell-o and Tyler acted as if he’d never played before. Kevin and Danny destroyed us, and I was lucky the game ended at five-zero. It could have been worse.

  In the other group, Fabio and Diego beat Roger and Alex with a tight match ending two-one. The next game, Kevin and Danny versus Josh and Julian, was important. If Julian and Josh lost, Tyler and I had a chance to get into second place. But Kevin and Danny played so badly it was as if they were someone else, and the game ended in a tie. Now it was our turn to beat Julian and Josh, but once again, Tyler did his best to play lousy, and I was lucky to eke out a tie in the last minute. I was exactly where the Wild Soccer Bunch wanted me: bringing up the rear with only a solitary goal.

  I had lost all my courage and confidence and wanted to run to my father for help. But when I looked at him and he looked at me, I knew I had to do this myself. But how? I watched the games of the other teams carefully, trying to figure out what to do. Their games were different. They played the way I wanted everyone to play in my birthday soccer tournament. They fought hard. They took it seriously. No one smiled at anyone else, and in the end all three teams, Fabio and Diego, Joey and Kyle, and Alex and Roger had tied in points and goals. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun to watch and it made me forget the mess I was in. But then Kevin and Danny waited for me again, and Tyler still moved around on the field like he had two left feet. One-zero against us was only a matter of time and I could feel the anger growing inside of me and it pushed out all my fears. I was ready for them and boy did I turn it on. I zooted Tyler out of frame and played by myself. I managed to tie, but then Tyler, the coward, handed the lead back to them by scoring into our own goal. That’s when I lost it.

  “Are you kidding me?! You’re gonna let us lose that way, you pitiful wimp?” I yelled. “Where’s your sense of honor?”

  Tyler blushed. I could see he was embarrassed, but he couldn’t get out from under the peer pressure of the rest of his teammates. Kevin and Danny scored one more goal and we left the field with a three-one loss. We were still ranked last.

  The game matching Danny and Kevin with Josh and Julian would decide if I’d have a chance to make the semi-finals. But Kevin didn’t even consider giving me a chance. Even a loss would leave his team in first place – he had planned it that way – and Josh and Julian were supposed to stay in second place. That’s why he didn’t do anything. He played so badly even Danny was embarrassed. When Josh, tiny little Josh, scored a goal right through Kevin’s legs, Danny lost his temper. He grabbed the ball, raced up to the other side of the field and thundered the ball into the net.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” Kevin screamed. “Are you nuts?”

  “No, but I think you are. And I think what you’re doing sucks!”

  “Oh yeah?” Kevin hissed. “And all you want to do is let her win. I think you’re crushing on her!”

  Danny blushed. He was embarrassed. But unlike Tyler he shook off the peer pressure.

  “So what?” he stammered. “I still want to win fair and square. And this ain’t fair.”

  At that moment my father whistled. Their game ended in a tie. And that’s how my team suddenly had a shot at second place. All we had to do was win against Josh and Julian. “Did you hear that?” I asked Tyler, trembling all over.

  Tyler didn’t say a word. Not even a nod. But I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. I summoned up all my courage and got in his face and cut to the chase: “Okay, I’m begging you – give me a chance. You’d do it if I was a boy.”

  I waited, biting my lip. Finally Tyler looked at me one last time, then moved out. He ran onto the field, took the ball and when he noticed that I wasn’t right behind him, he turned and said: “What are you waiting for? I can’t do this by myself!”

  My heart thumped like a bass drum. I beamed. Oh, did I beam. I beamed through the whole game because it was so much fun. Tyler showed how well he played and I finally had a chance to show my soccer chops as well. Julian fought like a lion and even six-year-old Josh played better than his years, but in the end it wasn’t enough and we won three-two.

  “Wow!” I was thrilled. Tyler gave me a high five. We had made the semifinals! Even Kevin’s sour face couldn’t change that. He approached Fabio and Diego who had scored first in their group.

  “Can I count on you to beat her?” he asked.

  “Like taking candy from a baby,” Fabio promised, every one of his pores oozing confidence.

  Sweet Revenge

  Before Fabio could keep his promise, the other semifinal took place. Kevin and Danny worked it against Joey and Kyle. This game was like a powder keg about to explode.

  Kevin loathed Danny, his best friend; loathed him with a passion. Danny humiliated him in front of everyone, and on top of that, he paved the way to the semifinals for me. The air between them was thicker than honey, and because you can’t really play in honey, Joey and Kyle were in the lead. It was two-nothing in less than a minute, and every mistake Kevin made, he blamed Danny. In the end, Kevin was the only one playing, and Danny just angrily went through the motions. He yelled at Kevin who yelled right back, and by the time it was four-nothing, the two of them were fighting in the mud.

  “You didn’t pass to me!” Danny yelled, pushing Kevin on his back and sitting on top of him.

  “You got that right!” Kevin yelled back, pushing Danny’s face down into the grass and twisting his arm. “You like her, don’t you! You want her to win!”

  “Really? Take it back!” Danny hissed and tried to lift his face out of the mud. “Who’s the biggest loser now?”

  Kevin g
ritted his teeth and got in Danny’s face. “You are. To me.”

  “Great and how’s that going to help the team? We’re just helping her.“

  “No way!” Kevin hissed and put Danny in an arm-lock.

  “We can’t beat her, dude!” Danny grimaced. “You really think I’d lose a tournament on purpose? No girl’s worth losing a game over! I wasn’t faking it. I couldn’t beat her!” “No way!”

  “Yes, way!” Danny shot back. “Now get off me!”

  “Hurry!” My father shouted. “You have 90 seconds left on the clock!”

  That’s when the game turned. Danny and Kevin made peace with each other. They were the ‘Lightning Duo,’ as if Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo played on the same team. In the final second and a half of the game, Danny passed brilliantly to Kevin who gracefully lifted the ball into the net to the tune of a four-four tie.

  It was time for penalty kicks. Kyle marched into the goal against Kevin and Danny. But with all due respect for Kyle’s natural talent and invincible as he was, he didn’t stand a chance against Danny and Kevin. The two of them thundered the balls into the net so hard that after a while, Kyle didn’t even try to hold them anymore.

  Danny and Kevin definitely deserved their spot in the final. I hated to admit it because it was hard getting motivated against them, but the truth was, they played very well. The way they worked together, no one could beat them. I knew that, so what was the point of winning against Diego and Fabio in our semifinal? The only thing I’d get was facing Kevin in the finals. Oh, I could see it, as if it had happened already, as if I was watching it on instant replay. Kevin would come right up to me, puff himself up, and look at me with contempt. Then he’d utter those lethal words. “Not bad, Phooey. But not good enough.” And then he and his Wild Soccer Bunch would disappear from my life forever.

  That’s what I was thinking and I probably would have been thinking it for the rest of my life if Tyler hadn’t woken me up. “Hey, Zoe! Fabio is right in front of you and he’s ready to keep his promise.”

  I looked at Tyler blankly.

  “Hello? He wants to beat us?” Tyler grinned.

  “I will beat you, because I always keep my promises,” Fabio responded. “No matter how well she plays, the girl always loses. Remember that.”

  I believed every word he said, but Tyler just laughed. “Well, I guess that means you’re a girl. Because you’re going to lose.”

  Fabio fumed and it intimidated me, but Tyler’s humor encouraged me.

  So, every time Fabio crossed my path, I thought, Fabio’s a girl. It worked! My fear left me and the game was a nail biter. One minute before the final whistle, Diego scored one-zero after he charged forward dribbling the ball as heavenly as only he can. Fabio was playing brilliantly. But Tyler didn’t give up, and that was the only asset we needed. He split right into one of Fabio’s attempts at a score against us, pushed it through his legs, and past Diego into the goal. Wow! That was something! And then Tyler did it a second time. Ten seconds before the final whistle he lifted the ball with his ankle and pushed it into the net high above Fabio and Diego’s heads. That was our victory goal. I couldn’t believe it. What a day! Half an hour ago Tyler hated me with a passion, and now he’d won our semifinal – for me.

  Then things got even better. Grandma came running from the kitchen into the rain and hugged Tyler, “Oh dear, dear, dear, you have made me so happy!”

  Tyler, being squeezed by Grandma, looked to me for help, but I made it clear he was on his own, and so he wound up doing his best to hide his embarrassment.

  Fabio, in the meantime, had snuck off the field and crawled up to Kevin like an wounded tiger and hissed. “She’s a sorcerer! Just look at the house. It’s like some haunted castle. Kevin, I’m warning you, you better watch out!” Fabio was dazed and confused and looked as if he wanted to wear a garlic necklace, but Kevin just pushed him harder.

  “You’re talking crazy, Fabio,” Kevin said. “Besides – the girl didn’t beat you, Tyler did. Why wouldn’t he? He’s playing awesome today!” Kevin said it with as much contempt as he could muster. “Tyler is a pest, but don’t worry. Our time is coming. He can play as great as he wants – he’s not going to beat Danny and me.”

  “Yeah, but what about – Zoe?” Fabio asked.

  “Don’t tell me you’re worried about the girl?”

  “I’m not worried, Kevin. But you should be!”

  Kevin rolled his eyes. “Come on, Danny! Fabio doesn’t get it. Let’s put the real world back together.”

  With that, Kevin and Danny lined up on the field, cheered on by the Wild Soccer Bunch. Tyler and I on the other hand, had only a solitary fan. But I wouldn’t trade this fan for a thousand of theirs.

  “Go get ‘em! Knock ‘em dead. Shoot ‘em to the moon! And make sure they don’t come back!” Grandma stood on the sidelines yelling and jumping up and down like a banshee.

  My father blew the whistle. The finals had begun. Neither team showed any mercy. Every one of us ended up in the dirt rolling in pain more than once, but none of us slowed down. Instead, the pain motivated us. In the third minute of the game, Danny thundered a ball towards one corner of our goal, but Tyler diverted it by a touch of his magic fingertips. Then I took a shot three feet from the goal aiming at the lower right-hand corner. But at the very last second Kevin dove down like a dolphin and derailed the ball around the goal post. Attack followed attack and the game was almost over. There were mere seconds left on the clock when Danny shot the ball over Tyler’s head into our penalty box. That’s where Kevin was making a run. This was his kingdom. But the pass was too high and he couldn’t reach the ball. The danger had passed. I breathed a sigh of relief, when suddenly Kevin turned, his legs flew in the air and, with a bicycle kick, sent the ball towards the net. I winced and rushed to the right. I flew through the air and stretched as far as I could, and, cheered on by Grandma, I fisted the ball back onto the field. That’s where Tyler plucked it right out of the air and pushed it further towards the opponent’s goal. The goal was empty. Nobody could have stopped the shot, and the ball was a dive bomber screaming toward the goal. “Goal!” Grandma yelled and covered her face in her hands. That’s when the ball hit the goal post and went out of bounds just as my father blew the final whistle.

  Regulation time was over, and penalty kicks would decide the game. That was exactly what I wanted to avoid at all cost. In the semifinal, Danny and Kevin proved they were unbeatable. I, on the other hand, failed miserably during practice. Now what? This was exactly what I didn’t want, so I asked Tyler to take all our penalty shots. He declined. Instead, he asked even more of me. He wanted me to be our goalie.

  “No way!” I refused, but Tyler just shrugged, an expression he probably learned from Larry the coach.

  “Fine, but don’t come whining to me when they say it was me who beat them, not you,” he said calmly. And then he smiled as only he can smile. Oh, how I learned to hate that smile. But I couldn’t resist it. I stopped moping and marched into our goal.

  Kevin was up first. He put the ball down just so, and then took three steps back and mercilessly hammered it into the upper right-hand corner. I didn’t even move.

  I was up next.

  Of course, Kevin went to cover the goal. I closed my eyes, cursed all my past mistakes, and charged, drenched in insecurity. I feinted to the left and then kicked the ball towards the lower right-hand corner. This time it would work! But no, Kevin was right there even before the ball and caught it easily.

  “Is that that all you’ve got?” he grinned as he passed me, leisurely jogging out of the goal. “That one didn’t work in practice, either.”

  I had had it. But Tyler wouldn’t let me give up. “If you hold this next one, I promise, we’ll win.” His voice could have convinced me that two and two were five and a half. I dutifully marched back into the goal, ready for Danny’s penalty kick. Oh, Danny was so sure of his victory. Not a tinge of doubt in his eyes. Not even for a moment did he cons
ider thinking that he could fail. Bursting with that confidence, he charged the ball and pulled the trigger. I watched the ball approach, but I didn’t react. I just ducked a little as the ball bounced off the crossbar and back out into the field. And just like that we were back in the game!

  Tyler took the next shot. He didn’t charge. That is, he hesitated for a second, waiting for Kevin to choose a corner, and then he leisurely aimed his shot at the opposite corner and BLAM! It was a one-one tie.

  Kevin was steamed and now he had to let Danny go first. Sudden death was in play, and from that point on, every missed penalty kick could mean losing the game.

  Danny knew that, too, and he had learned his lesson from his arrogant first shot. This time he focused everything he had and charged and cut it loose. He didn’t risk a thing and trusted the power of his shot. But I guessed the corner and dove for it with everything in me. I stretched further than I’d ever stretched before and touched the ball with my fingertips. But the shot was too hard. It flew over the goal line and landed in the net. Kevin and Danny were in the lead again and if Tyler missed his next shot, I would lose everything.

  But Tyler was cool. This time he charged. He didn’t play any tricks, just smacked the ball short and hard into the corner. Two-two. Now it was all up to Kevin and me.

  I tried to convince Tyler one more time to goalie for me, but as usual, he declined again. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “You almost held Danny’s ball. Just imagine what Kevin will do if you hold his shot.” And what he said next, delivered with his signature smile, made all the difference. “Come on, I know you can do it.”

  Ten seconds later, Kevin placed the ball on the penalty spot. Then he charged. I tried to guess the corner. Upper-right again? Or lower-left, like any other right-footed player when he is nervous? Is Kevin nervous? I didn’t think so, and that’s why even before he took his shot, I dove towards the upper right-hand corner.