The playground fight earned Josh instant respect from the other boys, especially as it was agreed that the taller Rajesh had come off worse. He was the school goalkeeper and captain, an honour that Mr Blyton threatened to take away from him if there was any further trouble.
It was not wise to get on the wrong side of Rajesh. He held a grudge against anyone who showed him up in front of his gang – and Josh had gone straight to the top of his hate list.
“B..better watch your b..back, Josh,” Matthew warned him. “He’ll b..be out to get you.”
“Don’t worry. I can look after myself,” Josh replied.
“Everyb..body knows that now – including Raj,” Matthew said with a grin.
Over the next couple of days, however, Rajesh had few opportunities for revenge. Apart from the odd snide remark and sly kick in the corridor, the best he could manage was to tip dirty water over Josh’s painting in an art and craft session. Even that backfired. Josh refused to blame him when Mr Blyton asked what had happened, enhancing his reputation further.
Rajesh was not pleased either when Josh joined the group of footballers lining up in the playground to be led round to the nearby park after school for the weekly soccer practice.
“What you doing here?” he snapped.
Josh looked down at his football kit. “Cricket practice?” he suggested with a grin.
Rajesh quelled an outbreak of chuckles from those nearby with a fierce glare.
“Who said you could come?”
“Enid.”
“He must be desperate,” Rajesh grunted. “He hasn’t even seen you play.”
“And nor have we,” said Anil, one of the team’s defenders.
Josh gave a casual shrug. “Well, you soon will.”
Mr Blyton arrived on the scene at that point, preventing any further argument.
“Good – all ready?” he said. “Leela?”
Leela checked round the queue to make sure the other four girls in the squad were all there. “Nobody else was in the cloakroom,” she said.
“Right, let’s go,” the teacher told them after counting everybody. “Don’t dawdle at the back. Keep up.”
Josh had managed to persuade Matthew to come with him to the practice session and Mr Blyton was pleased to see them both there.
“Glad to have you with us at last, Matthew,” he said as the children trooped through the park gates. “If you make the team, that left foot of yours will help to give us a better balance. Nobody else is naturally left-footed.”
“A good team needs one or two lefties in it,” Josh chipped in. “That’s what my Uncle Ossie always says.”
“So he’s left-footed as well, is he?” Matthew remarked.
“How do you know that?” asked Josh.
“Just guessing,” said Matthew.
After the usual warm-up period, Mr Blyton had the players practising their ball skills. It was clear how comfortable Josh was, using either foot. He ran at speed with the ball under close control, perfectly balanced and confident.
Not bad – not bad at all, the teacher thought.Not quite Ossie Williams yet, but you can see the influence.
He was pleased with Matthew too. In contrast to Josh, Matthew was almost entirely one-footed, but the boy moved well and his passing was crisp and accurate.
Mr Blyton organised the squad into groups for a series of short games against each other, making sure that Josh and Matthew were on the same side. He wanted to see how well they teamed up on the pitch.
He didn’t have long to wait. Only a couple of minutes after the start, they linked up along the left touchline, exchanging passes, until Matthew steered a left-footed drive beyond the reach of the sprawling keeper. The goal boosted his confidence, and he created more chances for himself and others.
Only Leela, however, was able to beat the keeper again. She accepted Matthew’s pass, jinked her way through two challenges and then slipped the ball past the keeper too.
“Great goal!” praised Matthew, slapping her raised hand in celebration.
“Thanks,” she grinned. “Just wanted to show your new pal that girls can play football too. He hasn’t passed to me yet.”
“He will now, don’t worry,” Matthew grinned.
Josh made up for his lack of goals in that first match by scoring twice in the next.
Rajesh’s team had won both their games, too, and the players had a brief break for drinks before their sides met one another.
“You won’t score against me, kid,” the goalkeeper boasted, splashing water into Josh’s face as he strolled by.
Josh forced himself not to react to the taunt. He knew his best chance of revenge was on the pitch itself. “We’ll see,” was all he said.
“We sure will,” laughed Rajesh.
Josh was determined to have the last laugh and did everything he could to put the ball past Rajesh. Unfortunately, this worked against the best interests of his own side. He shot at goal from all angles, often with little or no chance of scoring, when a pass to a teammate would have been a better option.
Every time Josh missed, Rajesh laughed at him and even Matthew lost patience.
“Come on, Josh,” he complained after another wild attempt. “That’s just b..being greedy. Leela was unm..marked there.”
Leela wasn’t slow to make her own feelings known too – after checking that the teacher could not hear her swear. Josh scowled, knowing that they were right and he was wrong. But Rajesh had got under his skin and he had lost his cool.
“Sorry,” he muttered in apology to Matthew. “Just can’t help it.”
Josh was saved further embarrassment by
Mr Blyton blowing the whistle for the end of the session.
“Ah, well, at least they didn’t b..beat us,” Matthew said as they pulled on their coats after the goalless draw.
“We should’ve won, though, and it was my fault,” Josh admitted.
Rajesh enjoyed the walk back to school far more than they did. The captain managed to get right behind Matthew and Josh in the line. He put on a false stutter and kept trying to trip them up.
“What a p..p..pity!” Rajesh chortled. “B..b..bet old Uncle Ossie wouldn’t have b..b..been b..b..best p..p..pleased. B..b..bet he would’ve smacked p..p..poor little Joshie’s b..b..bottom!”