Ellyse asked for an advance on her pocket money to go on the special shopping outing with Jazz. ‘I probably won’t spend it,’ she told Mum, ‘but maybe I’ll buy something to cheer Jazz up.’

‘All right,’ Mum said, handing her twenty dollars. ‘But your room has been getting pretty untidy lately. I think Saturday is clean-up day, okay?’

‘Okay,’ Ellyse groaned. She had soccer, a science project to do and she was falling behind in her maths and English homework again. Maybe I can shove it all under my bed and sort it out later, she thought.

‘And no putting everything under your bed,’ Mum said.

‘I won’t.’ How come mums know everything?

Ellyse ran to put on her favourite jeans and long-sleeved top. When she arrived at the shopping centre, Jazz and Charlie were waiting for her by the fountain.

‘Carla and Sheridan can’t come,’ Charlie said. ‘So do we eat first or shop first?’

‘Eat,’ Ellyse said. The smell of hot chips from the food court was making her mouth water.

‘Shop,’ Jazz said, and held up a fifty-dollar note. ‘Look at this.’

‘Wow!’ Charlie gasped. ‘Have you been saving your pocket money?’

‘No.’ Jazz’s face twisted. ‘This is Dad’s idea of “making it up to me”, and he took me and Liana out to eat Japanese too.’

‘Come on, then,’ said Charlie. ‘Let’s shop till we drop.’

They started in the jeans shop, then the shoe shop, then went into the big department store and wandered around, looking at the latest spring fashions.

‘It’s still winter,’ Ellyse said.

Jazz shrugged. ‘At least there are some really cool T-shirts to try on.’ She grabbed three from the rack. ‘I’ll go and see what these look like.’ She disappeared into the changing room.

Charlie picked through the racks and found some jeans. ‘They’re a hundred and fifty dollars, but I can still try them on, right?’

‘Right!’ Ellyse flicked along the T-shirts. ‘These are all too big for me. I’ll try the next racks.’

‘Come to the changing room in a few minutes and check out how these look,’ Charlie said, and off she went.

Ellyse kept riffling through the tops, and finally found one she liked. But when she held it up against herself in front of a mirror, she got a shock. This size is way too small! I really have grown! Pleased, she put the top back and glanced across at the changing rooms. I’ll give Charlie another couple of minutes.

Jazz came out and put her T-shirts on the returns rack and wandered across to a large display unit of jewellery, hats and scarves on sale. Before Ellyse could call out to her, Jazz took a necklace off the unit and shoved it into her pocket. She quickly walked away and pretended to be looking at party dresses further along.

Ellyse stood frozen to the spot, her mouth open. Did Jazz just steal that necklace?

Jazz left the party dresses and headed back to where Ellyse was standing.

Do I say anything? What do I say?

‘Hey, Ellyse!’ Charlie yelled from the changing-room entrance. ‘Come and tell me what you think.’

Ellyse stumbled across the carpet, knocking a mannequin and dislodging its hat. She hurriedly picked it up and plopped it back on the plastic head, and met Charlie by the mirror.

‘What do you think?’ Charlie asked. ‘Aren’t they amazing?’

Ellyse stared at Charlie’s reflection, hardly seeing it. ‘Yeah, they look great.’

‘Gee, thanks for being so enthusiastic,’ Charlie said.

Ellyse forced herself to focus on Charlie’s jeans. ‘They do look amazing, but I bet your mum will say no.’

Charlie sighed. ‘I know. If only they were fifty dollars …’

I should tell Charlie, but what if I was mistaken? Ellyse thought, her mind racing. What if Jazz put that necklace down and I didn’t see her do it? If I accuse her, she might never forgive me.

‘Incredible jeans, Charlie,’ Jazz said, appearing behind them. ‘Look at the shirt I just bought.’ She pulled a gauzy pink-and-green top out of the store bag she was carrying.

‘It’s see-through,’ Ellyse said. ‘You’ll have to wear something under it.’

‘No, I won’t,’ Jazz said. ‘My bra is okay.’ She tossed her head. ‘Mum might actually take notice of me then.’ She shoved the top back in the bag. ‘Come on, let’s go eat and work out how we can make Charlie’s mum buy her those jeans.’

After Charlie had returned her jeans to the rack, she and Ellyse followed Jazz to the food court. As they ate their pizza, Jazz chattered nonstop but it wasn’t her usual chatter. It felt a bit hyper somehow. A few times, Charlie and Ellyse glanced at each other but neither of them said anything.

We’re here to cheer Jazzy up, Ellyse thought. To be her friends, not pick on her.

‘Jazz, are you okay?’ Charlie asked. ‘You seem kinda –’

‘I’m fine,’ Jazz snapped. Then she took a breath. ‘Hey, you guys are the best friends ever. What movie shall we go and see?’

Her voice was Jazz-normal again and Ellyse felt relief trickle through her. I must have been seeing things. Jazz wouldn’t shoplift. Why would she? She had fifty dollars.

As they walked to the movie theatres, Ellyse pushed away her doubts and made herself laugh at Charlie’s joke. A few minutes later, she’d almost forgotten about the whole thing.

The next day, the Hawks soccer team had a home game against a new team they’d never played before called the Green Arrows. Vinnie, the Hawks coach, was keeping Ellyse in her defender position, which she was happy about. As she finished putting on her boots and stood up, her friend Jamie stopped in his tracks.

‘Hey, not such a dress!’ he said, giving her the thumbs up.

Ellyse frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘First game this season, Vinnie gave you that shirt and it was nearly down to your knees. Now look at it.’ Jamie grinned. ‘Have you started eating your veggies or something?’

‘I always eat my veggies. No choice in my house.’ Ellyse peered down at her shirt. Jamie was right – her shirt did fit her better. ‘Gee, I’ll be taller than you by Christmas. Better watch out.’

‘As if!’ Jamie scoffed, and started jogging on the spot. ‘We should warm up fast – the game starts in five minutes.’

But Ellyse made sure she did her stretches properly. The last thing she needed was an injury. She remembered how much she’d hated missing games after Josh, a bully on an opposing team, had knocked her over at the beginning of the season. She ran over to where Vinnie was giving a last-minute talk.

‘Right, this team is an unknown to us, guys,’ he said. ‘So play defensively until you get a sense of their level and their best and weakest players. But if you see the chance to attack, go for it.’

Ellyse nodded and squeezed in another few stretches before the Hawks ran onto the field. They won the toss and kicked off, their attackers moving down the field, Jamie tackling and getting the ball almost straight away. The Green Arrows striker opposing Jamie wasn’t giving up, though, and soon had possession again. The game seesawed for most of the first half, but the Hawks gradually gained the upper hand. They scored two goals in quick succession, which even made Vinnie smile.

The Arrows on Ellyse’s side of the field were keen and shouted encouragement to each other a lot, but their ball skills were shaky. She tackled and nearly always won the ball, sending it to her strikers, but she felt sorry for one boy. It got to the point that every time he came near her, he became anxious. A man who was clearly his father kept shouting at him from the sideline.

He’s not helping one little bit, Ellyse thought.

When she’d whisked the ball away from the boy yet again, the man yelled, ‘Stop being so useless, Marko. Barge past her!’

Marko’s face went bright red and he blinked fast as though he was trying not to cry.

Ellyse glared at the man. I’d like to tell him to shut up, but that’ll get me into trouble. ‘Can’t they make that man be quiet?’ she asked Dad at half-time.

‘He might calm down in the second half. If not, I’ll see what we can do.’

But when the Arrows ran back onto the field after the half-time break, Marko had been replaced by another player. She saw him sitting miserably in one of the substitutes’ chairs with his dad standing beside him, looking angry.

Why do some parents have to be so mean? It takes all the fun out of it. I’m so glad Dad isn’t like that.

At the end of the game, Hawks won 4–0. The Green Arrows were tired, but they shook hands in good spirits.

‘Good game, Hawks,’ said Vinnie. ‘Don’t forget – next week we’re playing the Spinners.’

Ellyse groaned. That was Josh’s team. She wasn’t looking forward to playing against him again.

Jamie nudged her. ‘Don’t worry, Josh doesn’t play for them anymore.’

‘Really? Why not? Did they kick him out?’

‘He’s gone to boarding school,’ Jamie said. ‘His parents got posted overseas somewhere.’

‘And they left him behind?’ Ellyse said. ‘That’s awful.’

Jamie shrugged. ‘Maybe they were sent somewhere dangerous? I don’t know.’

Vinnie raised his voice. ‘When you’ve all finished gossiping … Training next week is compulsory if you want to be in the team on Saturday, no excuses. All right?’

‘Yes, Vinnie,’ they chorused.

Yep, Vinnie’s tough, Ellyse thought, but he’s a good coach. I’ve improved heaps under his training.

‘Before I forget,’ Vinnie continued, ‘there have been some special selectors watching your games the last few weeks and they’ll be there next Saturday. There’s talk of academies and elite camps.’ He frowned around at everyone. ‘Do your best for the Hawks first, okay?’

Ellyse’s heart made a giant leap in her chest. Elite camps for soccer? That’d be amazing! Then her heart fell again. I’ll never get in. Even being two centimetres taller won’t help when most of the boys are growing too. I wish they had camps just for girls.

She sighed. Vinnie was right. Play for the Hawks first. Who knew what the selectors wanted, anyway?