17 Unlikely Ally

“What do they mean, illegal?” Izzy asked. “We have had the same team since — well, since forever.”

“Sarimah just joined us a little while ago,” Coach K explained. “Their protest is about her.” He looked concerned, but Sarimah could tell he wasn’t angry with her. Everyone turned to look at Sarimah. It gave her the same feeling she had had at the first practice. She didn’t like being the centre of attention on the sidelines. She preferred to get noticed by playing soccer on the field with her team.

“But she’s not illegal,” Molly said. “She came to Canada fair and square.”

“That’s not what they mean,” Coach K said. “They mean she signed up too late, after the deadline.”

The girls went silent. Sarimah’s head started to spin.

“Is that true?” Izzy asked her coach. “Did she miss the deadline?”

“I don’t think so. But I don’t really know, to be honest,” the coach said. “I signed her up on the last day and paid the fee. I didn’t think to check. Nobody from the league office called me and nobody complained. Well, nobody complained until now.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Izzy said.

“I have a meeting in ten minutes with the commissioner and the Monarchs’ coach. Until then, prepare for the semi-finals.”

The girls broke into smaller groups. Most grabbed their gym bags to change shoes. Sarimah could only watch them as they moved around her. A few of her teammates patted her shoulder.

“It’s not your fault,” Izzy said.

“We don’t blame you,” Molly added.

“We are going to win this,” said Giorgianna.

Sarimah thanked them and nodded her head. When Izzy was alone changing her cleats, Sarimah saw her chance.

“What did I do?” she asked in a whisper.

“You didn’t do anything. The other team thinks we cheated by having you on the team. But they just want us to be kicked out so they can play in the semi-finals.”

Sarimah bent over to untie her cleats. She was fumbling with her laces when a shadow crossed over her. She looked up to see Tamsen, who had hobbled over. Tamsen leaned on the wall for support. She looked at Sarimah without saying a word.

“Someone help me,” Tamsen finally said.

Kaelynn jumped up and Tamsen put her arm around her shoulders.

Sarimah watched as they limped away.

“Where are you going, Tammy?” Izzy shouted.

“To teach them the rules.”

The team left the dressing room while they waited for the decision. Izzy and Sarimah had lunch together with their parents. Sarimah kept thinking about the meeting.

“Take it as a compliment,” Izzy’s mother told her. “The other team thinks you are too good.”

It didn’t help Sarimah to feel any better. She was worried sick about possibly costing the team its chance to move forward in the finals.

She didn’t feel hungry for lunch.

“You must try to eat,” her father told her. “You need your energy.”

The girls returned to the field two hours later. The problem was, there were three teams on the field. There were the Rebelles, arch-rivals of the Blizzard. But the Monarchs were also there, hoping they would be the team to move on to play the Rebelles.

“There are a lot of players on this field,” Sarimah said to Izzy.

“And one team is going to be very unhappy,” she answered.

As the Blizzard girls waited at the bench, coaches from all three teams appeared together from the hallway. They stopped just far enough away so that nobody could hear what they were saying. Tamsen walked in behind the coaches and moved past the group to her team.

“Hey, I told you to be ready.”

The girls smiled and pulled up their socks, taped up their shin pads or tied their hair back. They didn’t need to be told again to get set to play. They watched the Monarchs trundle off the field.

Coach K called the Blizzard into a huddle. “Tammy, you do the honours,” he said.

Sarimah was standing near the back of the huddle. She leaned in to hear what the coach had said.

“Sarimah is part of our team,” said Tamsen. “She joined us as an injury replacement, which is allowed under the rules.”

Sarimah raised her head. What? This was the first she knew of an injury.

“Cool!” Rosy said. “I knew they were wrong.”

Giorgianna moved closer to the centre. “But who was injured this year?” she asked.

“I was,” Tamsen said. “I hurt my knee a month ago. I came back too early. It’s been sore for a while.”

Coach K stepped into the huddle again. “We looked at Sarimah’s registration form. I submitted it on the deadline, but I just put the form into a mailbox. They didn’t receive it or put it into the computer until the next day, the day after the deadline. It was my fault, but they didn’t want Sarimah to pay for my mistake. So, when Tamsen reminded them about the injury rule, they agreed that Sarimah deserves a place on our team.”

The girls started to cheer and laugh. They clapped and patted each other on the back.

“Wow, way to go Tammy. You sure know a lot about the rules,” Lisa said.

“My dad was commissioner for four years,” Tamsen explained.

Sarimah turned away from the girls. She breathed out a big sigh of relief. Then she spotted her parents in the bleachers. She tried to smile, and then gave them a big thumbs-up. They clapped and waved.

Sarimah felt exhausted. And the game hadn’t even started yet.