“Budge up a bit!” Josh complained. “Do you have to take up so much room?”
“Can’t help it, can I?” Matthew retorted. “It’s just the way I write.”
“You’re like a crab, the way you hook your arm round like that.”
“A lot of left-handed p..people do.”
“Why?”
“How should I know? Anyway, you don’t m..mind me b..being left-footed – like your Uncle Ossie.”
“No, well, that’s different,” Josh told him. “But you’re putting me off, doing all that writing.”
“I just like writing stories,” Matthew admitted. “I even do them at home sometimes in my b..bedroom.”
Josh looked at him in disbelief and shook his head.
Matthew gazed across at Josh’s sheet of paper. “Not done m..much yet., have you? Not even half a p..page.”
Josh gave a shrug. “I’m stuck.”
“Ab..bout what’s going to happen next., you m..mean?”
“No – about who’s going to play in goal tomorrow.”
“What!”
Matthew’s exclamation came out louder than intended., causing Mr Blyton to glance up from his desk towards their table.
“Anything the matter over there?” he asked.
Matthew turned bright red., making the girls giggle nearby.
Josh was quick to take the blame. “Sorry., Mr Blyton. Just asking how to spell something/’ he said. “No problem.”
“Good., so on you get now with the story. You can check your spelling later when you
Josh groaned quietly. Doing a story once was bad enough, he reckoned. Having to go through it all over again to make changes was even worse.
He much preferred the other task the teacher had given him – choosing a team to play in tomorrow’s trial for the local Divali Soccer Sevens tournament at the weekend. He’d already made his choices, but he still had to decide on the players’ best positions.
Rajesh was his rival captain, and he had picked a couple of players that Josh would really have liked in his own squad. He fished a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and looked again at the names. He was still not very happy that the teacher had insisted that both teams were mixed, but at least he had chosen Leela – the best girl – before Rajesh did.
He pushed the paper under Matthew’s nose, interrupting him again.
“What d’yer think?” he hissed.
Matthew groaned under his breath. “Ab..bout what?”
“Told you. Who to put in goal?”
“Joe. He did OK last time.”
“Yeah, but...”
“Shut up!”
Matthew shoved the paper away and it dropped on the floor. Just as Josh reached down to pick it up, however, Rajesh came by their table and deliberately trod on his hand.
“Aagghh!”
“Who was that?” demanded Mr Blyton.
As eyes turned towards their table, the teacher sighed and went across the room to investigate. Josh was sitting hunched up, his hand between his thighs in an effort to ease the pain.
“What have you done to yourself, Joshua?” said Mr Blyton.
“Just gone and trapped my fingers,” he managed to reply through gritted teeth. “Be all right in a minute.”
The teacher looked down at Josh’s story. “Well,it’s hardly due to writer’s cramp, is it, Joshua? I suggest you stay in at break and make some more progress with this.”
When Mr Blyton moved away, Matthew leant towards Josh. “Idiot! You should’ve told him what Raj did,” he hissed.
“I don’t tell tales,” Josh replied, blowing on his fingers. “I’ll get him back, don’t you worry. Right where it hurts – on the football pitch!”
That was easier said than done, as Josh knew only too well.
After the vigorous warm-up session before the start of the trial on the park, Josh gathered his players together for a pep-talk.
“Right, men,” he began.
“And girls!” Leela interrupted, winking at her friend, Panna.
Josh shot them a dirty look. “Yeah, and girls,” he continued. “Right, if you want to play in the Sevens on Saturday, you need to show Enid how well you can play and...”
Josh carried on talking, but he suddenly became aware that somebody else was standing behind him, listening. Matthew urged him to stop by pretending to cut his own throat, and the other players were trying very hard not to laugh.
Josh turned round and the next few words died on his lips, “...er...sorry...”
“Never mind, Joshua, I’ve heard that nickname many times before – and worse,” Mr Blyton said, failing to hide a smile. “Come on now, let’s see some action before everybody gets cold.”
That suited Josh fine. He was determined to inspire his team more by how he played than by what he might have said. Even so, when the game began, he was quick to encourage his teammates at every opportunity.
“Good tackle, Brad!...
...Well blocked, Panna!...
...Magic save, Joe!...
...Top shot, Matt!”
The captain’s cries echoed around the park and the players responded to the praise by opening the scoring.
“Great goal, Leela!”
It was Josh’s pass that had found Leela with her back to goal, tightly marked by Anil, but she spun past the defender and created enough space to tuck the ball past the diving Rajesh.
“One-nil!” Josh whooped. “Now let’s double it.”
Rajesh hated letting in goals, and Leela’s strike put him in a very bad mood. He roared insults at his defenders for poor marking and moaned at every misplaced pass or wayward shot. He was also much busier himself than he wanted to be, twice having to save shots from Matthew, but he did have the personal satisfaction of turning a fierce drive from Josh wide of the post just before half-time.
“No way you’re gonna score, Williams,” he muttered as he brushed past Josh on the way towards the teacher.
“We’ll see,” Josh said with a grin. “Plenty of time left yet.”
“Well done, everybody,” praised Mr Blyton as the players took long swigs from water bottles to refresh themselves. “There’s been some very good football on show. It’s going to be difficult to know who to pick for the tournament.”
The children looked around at one another, each hoping that they would make the final squad. They knew the score in this game didn’t really matter. What was more important was their own performance.
But there were still some personal battles to be won in the second period, none more so than that between the two rival captains. Rajesh took every chance to draw attention to any mistake that Josh made.
“That the best you can do, Williams?” he gloated after Josh had sliced the ball over the bar. “We’re not playing rugby, y’know.”
Josh made a face at him, but couldn’t think of a suitable response in time. And things soon became even worse when Joe let in two quick goals and his team found themselves 2–1 behind.
“We’ve got ’em now!” bellowed Rajesh. “They won’t score again.”
He was wrong. The equalizer may have been late, but the quality of the strike made up for that. It was well worth the wait.
Josh won an important tackle in midfield and the ball ran loose to Leela who looked up to see Matthew sprinting clear down the wing. Her pass was perfect. Matthew took the ball in his stride, steadied himself and then hit a screamer of a shot past a flat-footed Rajesh who barely made a move to stop it.
Mr Blyton beamed in pleasure, amazed at how much more confident Matthew had become since Josh’s arrival. It was almost like having two new boys.
With the light fading, he decided this was the ideal moment to call a halt and blew a long blast on the whistle.
“Time to go home,” he announced. “I’ll pin up the squad for the Sevens on the notice-board tomorrow.”
Josh sidled up to him nervously. “Do you know who’s going to be in it, Mr Blyton?” he asked, concerned that he might somehow miss out on a place because he hadn’t scored.
“Don’t worry, Joshua,” the teacher reassured him, seeing the boy’s anxious face. He gave him a little wink. “Keep it secret, but your name will be there.”
Josh breathed a sigh of relief and went to the side of the pitch to collect his tracksuit top.
“P..pity you didn’t p..ut one p..past Raj,” Matthew said. “That m..might’ve shut him up for a b..bit.”
“Another time,” Josh replied, wishing he could tell his good news. “At least his lot didn’t beat us, thanks to you. Bet that goal will clinch your place too.”
“Too?”
Josh checked. “Well, you know what I mean. You’re bound to be in it.”
“Hope so.”
“Course – you’re our left-hand man!” he grinned. “Hey! I’ve just come up with a wicked name for our team.”
“Oh, yeah – and what’s that?”
“Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven!”
