School on Thursday was a muddled blur. All Melina could think about were the JV tryouts. But she was more excited than nervous — this was her chance to play soccer on a more advanced level.
She looked around at the other middle school girls waiting for tryouts to start. There were nine of them, gathered on the shared athletic field between the middle school and high school. They wore their gold and maroon sweats, and many were nervously bouncing up and down.
Twenty yards away, the high school JV hopefuls had gathered as well. They were wearing the blue and white colors of Bulloch High School. A couple of them were juggling soccer balls with their knees and feet and heads.
“Look at them,” Nora whispered beside her. “Practically pros. I bet you can’t do that.”
“Maybe you can’t. But I totally could, no problem,” Melina shot back. She wasn’t about to let Nora psych her out today.
“So, you nervous?” Nora asked.
Melina let out a soft snort. “Of course not,” she said. “Are you?”
“Nope, not at all,” replied Nora quietly, shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. She caught Melina’s eye and gave a small smile.
FWEET! FWEET! Two sharp whistles broke the chilly air. All the girls looked up to find Coaches Naranjo and Perez striding onto the athletic field.
“Good afternoon, girls,” Coach Naranjo called. She was a foot shorter than Ms. Perez, but far more intimidating. “If the middle schoolers could join the rest of the hopefuls, I’d appreciate it.”
Melina and her old teammates jogged over to the high schoolers. The older girls glared at them.
“Wow, I’m feeling so welcome,” Prissy whispered.
Melina frowned. She hated to admit it, but joining the high school girls on JV was starting to seem a little less than perfect. They didn’t look like they wanted any middle schoolers on their team.
Coach Naranjo stood in front of the soccer players. “So it’s kind of a weird year,” she said. “For those who haven’t figured it out, we’ve invited girls from the middle school to try out for JV.”
“Do we get extra credit for babysitting?” cracked one of the high school girls. A few players laughed.
Melina recognized the girl as Laney Mendez. She’d been on the middle school team when Melina was in sixth grade and had been really nice. But looks like things have changed, Melina thought.
Coach Naranjo clapped her hands to quiet the crew. “All right, all right. Now that we’ve all gotten that out of our systems, let’s get down to tryouts.”
“Right,” Ms. Perez agreed. “First up, five laps around the field.”
Melina blew out a big breath as she hustled to the sidelines and tried to avoid getting in the way of any of the older girls. JV tryouts had officially started.
* * *
After forty-five minutes of intense practice, Melina thought she couldn’t last another second. Then Coach Naranjo called the players together.
“We’ve got about fifteen minutes left,” she said. “I want everyone to line up side by side.”
The players followed the coach’s instructions. The high schoolers stood on one end and the middle school girls clumped together at the other.
“As I go down the line, count off every other,” Coach Naranjo said. “One, two, one, two . . .”
Like that, the girls numbered off until everyone was either on team one or team two. Melina was on two. Prissy and Holly on either side of her ended up on team one.
“Those are our scrimmage teams,” Coach Naranjo said. “Team two, grab some jerseys from the box, please.”
Melina hustled to grab her bright scrimmage jersey — she never knew when the coaches were watching — and knocked into Nora. “Oh, sorry.”
“No worries,” Nora replied, grinning. “So, looks like we’re on the same team, huh?”
Melina pulled on her jersey. “Obviously.”
“Well, try not to get in my way,” Nora said. “I’m about to show the coaches my awesome skills.”
Melina rolled her eyes and started to shoot back a reply. But before she could say anything, Nora had jogged off.
Huffing out a frustrated sigh, Melina joined the others on the sideline. Coach Naranjo was already calling girls from each team onto the field.
After a few minutes, Melina was brought into the scrimmage. Now’s my chance to show Coach Naranjo my skills, she thought.
Before long, she had gotten the ball. She started dribbling it hard up the field. As she reached the defense, Melina caught sight of the coaches on the sidelines watching her. She decided to give them a show while she threw off her defender.
Melina darted to the right, stopped the ball against her ankle for an instant, and kicked it up. She chest-bumped the ball, and as soon it landed at her feet, she charged toward the goal.
But it didn’t work. The defender had barely lost her footing during Melina’s move. Now Melina found herself up against two defenders at the top of the penalty arc.
“Nice move, show-off,” said one of the girls as she raced forward. She shoved her shoulder into Melina as the two struggled for the ball. “Too bad it didn’t work.”
Melina’s heart thumped loudly as she fought to keep control of the ball. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Nora racing down the side. She didn’t want to give her rival a chance at goal, but there was no other way to shake her opponents.
Gulping down her nerves, Melina got a foot on the ball and then spun left. The defenders stumbled after Melina as she passed to Nora.
Nora easily received the ball, barely breaking her stride. Just before entering the penalty box, she fired a shot at the net.
The goalkeeper dove across the goal and caught the ball. She punted it back up field.
No goal, but it was a good play, Melina told herself. She glanced at the sidelines just in time to see Coach Naranjo scribbling on her clipboard.
After two more plays and a close shot on goal, Melina trotted off the field as another middle school player took her place. She took a gulp from her water bottle and watched as the clock ticked down.
Soon the fifteen minutes were up. Team one had the lead, 1–0.
“Gather round, ladies!” Coach Naranjo shouted.
The exhausted players grouped up in front of the coaches, although the high schoolers still stood off to the side. Melina caught an occasional scowl from the older girls, but she just tried to focus on the coach’s final announcements.
“I’ll post the new team roster tomorrow morning outside my office at Bulloch High,” Coach Naranjo said. “Ms. Perez will also hang the list in the middle school. Dismissed!”
With that, tryouts were over. The coaches stayed to go over their notes and make the final JV roster. But the girls in blue jogged to the Bulloch High School locker room while Melina and the girls in maroon went back to the middle school.
“Yikes!” Prissy exclaimed as they left the field. “That was rough.”
“Yeah,” Ginger agreed. “And it wasn’t just because of all those insane drills and sprints. Those high school girls were not friendly!”
Melina hung at the back of the group, listening to the girls’ chatter. She didn’t feel like talking; too many thoughts were racing through her head.
She felt confident about her performance at tryouts. She could picture herself on the JV team, wearing the Bulls blue and white.
Then Melina thought about the high schoolers’ glares and their rude comments. The tiniest pinprick of fear pierced her heart. If she did make JV, those girls would be her new teammates.
Can I handle that? she wondered. Can I play my best with teammates who don’t seem to want me at all?