On Wednesday arvo, CJ couldn’t wait to get to training and try out his mum’s football boots. But as he jogged up the hill to the pitch he stopped dead in his tracks …

‘What the –’

Highpants was already there, in the centre of the field. For the first time ever, their teacher and coach, Highpants, was wearing jeans. That’s right, actual DENIM. And they were hanging LOW. Plus, it looked like he had bling round his neck. WEIRDEST LOOK EVER.

But if that wasn’t enough, the music teacher, Miss Harmon, was beside Highpants. Normally she wore long floral dresses, with her hair in a perfect bob and sung songs about rainbows and unicorns. Today she wore a cap backwards with tufts of hair sticking out the sides and oversized sunglasses that featured dollar signs. She was standing behind a deck of turntables and dramatically hit a button.

The drumbeat kicked in. Both teachers closed their eyes as they grooved.

‘Yo!’ hollered Highpants, as Benji and a few other Jets arrived on the pitch. ‘Word! I’m thinkin’ you kids aren’t feeling the love from the sideline songs I’ve been laying down this season. M’right?’

Highpants seemed to be attempting an American accent. Either that or he had a swollen tongue.

‘Sorry, everyone. I’m thirty-seven seconds late,’ said Charlotte, struggling up the hill with a string bag of extra footballs. CJ gave her a hand. Benji gave her a wide berth.

‘You haven’t missed much,’ said CJ, pointing to Highpants.

‘Ya’ll gather round, Homers!’

‘Homies!’ Miss Harmon corrected Highpants. ‘I think!’

‘Homies! Cos today I’m speaking at you on your level. Got to get through to your little minds,’ said Highpants, tapping the side of his bald head.

Alongside Charlotte, Lexi – who pretty much treated the Grade Five iPad as her own – started filming for her YouTube channel. Turns out Lexi’s football updates got double the hits of her other posts. She reckoned that was because she was being so much more ‘real’. Well, now it was time to capture the football team’s real disgust.

Baldock, Jindaberg Primary’s gardener, was attending to the cherry blossom tree near the playground as Highpants began his rap debut. Everyone knew him as Baldock, but CJ had no idea if that was his first name or his last. He was a big, round old bloke – unshaven and dirty, with dark lines around his eyes. He smelt almost as bad as his dog, Garlic, but despite this the only words CJ had ever heard Baldock croak out were, ‘STINKY KIDS.’ He wasn’t the cheeriest of chaps.

As the music blared out across the grounds Baldock cringed and covered his ears with his huge, filthy hands. Garlic, on the other hand, jumped about and howled along to the music. It was all getting too much for Baldock. He flung his arms in the air, gesturing for Highpants to pull the plug. No luck.

CJ began to wonder if he was as stinky as Baldock. The problem was that if CJ didn’t wash his hair for a month, it would stay positioned just the way he liked it. And he didn’t want to give that up.

Highpants began his rap. ‘THE JETS, YO! WE’RE THE BEST, YO! WE PLAY WITH YO-YOS!’

‘Freestyling isn’t his thing,’ laughed Benji.

‘I LIKE TALKIN’ HISTORY, SO IT’S NO MYSTERY, THAT THE JETS DO THIS TO ME …’

Highpants mimed his mind being blown.

‘… WHEN THEY GET ON THE GRASS!’

Lexi gave the iPad camera a baffled look.

‘SO WATCH OUT PRETENDERS, YOU’LL NEVER BEND US, WHEREVER THEY SEND US, YOU CAN KISS MY -’

FZZZT! KLUNK!

Baldock had pulled a lever inside the power box that was mounted on the side of the clubrooms. He’d cut the power. The Jets cheered.

‘Well, besties, ciao for now. That’s just another crazy day playing for the Jets! See ya!’ said Lexi, blowing a kiss into her iPad as she finished her recording.

‘Hang on,’ said Charlotte, taking the iPad from Lexi. ‘When did you start recording your Jets videos?’

‘After our first game of the year. It was super exciting in the clubrooms. I had so much to say that I think I was the last to leave!’

CJ noticed Benji move further away from Charlotte. His cap was pulled down and it was weird to see him without his cheeky grin.

‘Did you hear that, CJ?’ asked Charlotte.

‘Um, sweet,’ said CJ. He wasn’t sure why Charlotte was so interested in Lexi’s videos all of a sudden. The Jets were meant to be getting stuck into training, which Charlotte had been talking about NON STOP since their last training session.

‘Let’s do this!’ said CJ, kicking a football to himself. But Charlotte stayed put.

‘You mean, you recorded footage from after the game?’ asked Charlotte.

‘Uh-huh,’ Lexi said. ‘Three thousand likes and counting.’

‘Could we see that footage?’ asked Charlotte.

Lexi tapped the iPad, selecting the video files folder. Hundreds of icons appeared. Every file had a different background, but each showed Lexi smiling her killer smile.

Charlotte took CJ aside, ‘CJ, do you know what this means?’

CJ shrugged. ‘Probably not.’

‘We may have footage of the boot thief,’ exclaimed Charlotte, grabbing CJ’s hands. ‘We’re about to discover who stole your magic boots!’

CJ’s eyes went wide. The mystery was about to be SOLVED!