By Sunday night, Ellyse was feeling very achey and grumpy.

‘You’re still growing,’ Mum said. ‘A lot of your aches are from that, not from training. Don’t worry, Dad’s been keeping an eye on you to make sure you’re not overdoing it.’

‘You mean I have growing pains?’ Ellyse said. ‘I thought that was just in your mind.’

Mum laughed. ‘No, it’s real and it’ll fade.’

But right at that moment Ellyse’s muscles felt like she’d been climbing mountains, so Mum ran her a warm bath and made her go to bed early.

The next morning, Ellyse was feeling better, but she was even further behind with her homework. Ms Alberto wasn’t happy that her science project was only half-completed.

‘You can have one more day,’ she said, ‘or you’ll have to stay in at lunchtime and finish it.’

That night Ellyse was still working on the project at midnight, with a towel jammed under her door so her parents couldn’t see her light was on. Finally, it was done, although her drawings looked more like dead sticks than living plants. She was able to hand it in before class but her relief was short-lived. In English, she found herself in trouble again – this time for forgetting to do a book review.

Why didn’t I add schoolwork to my training and game schedule? Ellyse lamented. But she knew why – because then Mum and Dad would make her do schoolwork first and she’d miss training.

‘You’ll have to stay in at lunchtime to do it,’ Ms Carter said. ‘That’s the rule.’

Ellyse huffed and slumped down in her chair. It’s not fair. I won’t even get to eat lunch with Charlie and Jazz, and I won’t … Oh no, I’m going to miss soccer training! Ms Beattie was strict, just like Vinnie. Her number-one rule was that you had to go to training to be allowed to play in the interschool games. I hope Ms Beattie will let me off just this once.

But when Ellyse met Charlie and Jazz after school, the news was all bad.

‘I told Miss Beattie you’d been kept in to finish homework, but it was no use,’ said Charlie. ‘She was pretty strict that it was all about being responsible and turning up, no matter what.’

‘Silly old cow,’ Jazz said. ‘I’m so sick of grown-ups making stupid rules as if they own the whole world.’

Charlie and Ellyse glanced at each other. It wasn’t like Jazz to call people names.

‘You’re both playing tomorrow, though, right?’ Ellyse asked.

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Jazz heaved a theatrical sigh. ‘I might bring a book to read. Standing around in the goal all the time is getting mega-boring.’

At the school pick-up zone, Jazz’s mother was waiting and tooted her car horn impatiently, which made Jazz walk even more slowly. She’d barely closed her door when their car roared away.

Charlie made a face. ‘Is it just me or is Jazz being weirder than ever?’

‘No, I think so too,’ Ellyse said. ‘I was going to …’

‘What?’

‘Nothing,’ Ellyse said. I can’t tell Charlie about the necklace. If Jazz finds out we’ve been talking about her, and I’ve accused her of stealing … She decided to change the subject. ‘Coming to touch tonight?’

‘Yep, but the auditions are on Thursday at lunchtime, so it might be the last time.’ Charlie groaned. ‘I wish I could clone myself and be two people, then I’d get to do everything I want.’

‘Me too,’ Ellyse said. ‘And one of me would be Homework Ellyse!’

She was determined to catch up on her schoolwork and projects that night, but when she got home, Dad and Damien were setting up the new ping-pong table in the garage. As soon as the net was up, Damien challenged her to a game, which became the best of three, and then it was time for dinner.

I haven’t done anything I was supposed to do! Ellyse worried as she took her place at the dining table. She ate fast and went to her room, where she spread out her books and began work on her maths.

There were six pages of problems to catch up on, five chapters of the novel to read for English and she’d barely started her geography project. A sharp, heavy rock settled in her stomach and refused to go away. She could hear Damien and Dad playing ping-pong and her mum laughing.

They’re all having fun without me, she thought miserably.

She rushed through her maths and did some research for her project, then crawled into bed and fell asleep before she’d read two pages of the novel.

In the morning, as Ellyse shoved everything into her schoolbag, she spotted her soccer boots by the door. Mum must have cleaned them for her last night. Tears sprang into her eyes. Thanks, Mum, but I’m not allowed to play. Still, she took her kitbag with her boots and soccer gear, hoping Ms Beattie would let her off the hook.

But at the game after school, Ms Beattie shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Ellyse, I hate to lose you from the team but it’s the rules. I can’t make an exception – everyone would expect special treatment then.’

‘Okay.’ Ellyse went to the sideline, dragging her feet. Hu’s father was sitting there as usual.

‘Are you sick today?’ he asked.

‘No.’ She thumped down on the bench. ‘I missed training, so I’m not allowed to play.’

All he said was ‘Hmmph’ and then went back to watching Hu. ‘Hu is playing well, you think?’

Ellyse nodded. Hu was flying across the field, dribbling the ball like a W-league player, whisking it past her opponents. ‘She is really good.’

‘Hmmm. Maybe next year she can play for your team.’ As Hu booted the ball in for a goal, he leapt out of his chair, clapping madly.

Ellyse joined him, shouting, ‘Woo hoo! Awesome work, Hu!’

Just as they sat down again, Ellyse’s dad arrived. ‘Hi, sorry I’m late.’ He frowned at Ellyse. ‘Are you injured, little one?’

Uh-oh, I forgot Dad was coming to the game. What can I say? But she knew the truth was her only option. She explained about being kept in because of the book review and Ms Beattie’s rule. ‘Please don’t be mad with me, Dad. I just … There’s so much homework! But I couldn’t stand to miss any of my games or my training. I got stuck and …’ She pressed her fingers against her eyes. I will not cry.

‘Hey, it’s okay.’ Dad gave her a big hug. ‘Why would I be mad at you? But you should have told us. Here your mum and I thought you were Supergirl, managing everything and needing no help. Of course you need help, and that’s our job.’

This time, Ellyse’s tears spilled over. Thank goodness Dad understands. ‘I will try harder, I promise,’ she said. ‘But don’t make me drop anything, please.’

‘Well, I can’t guarantee that,’ Dad said. ‘Let’s talk about it when we get home.’

Ellyse watched the rest of the game with Dad and Mr Sun. She cheered on her team, trying not to think about what ‘the talk’ might mean. It felt like the heavy rock in her stomach was growing bigger.

At least Jazz seemed to have got over her ‘goalkeeping is boring’ attitude and stopped several hard shots. Each time Jazz saved another goal, Charlie gave Ellyse a grin and a thumbs up, and Ellyse did the same back. Callinan won the game 2–0, thanks to Jazz’s saves and Hu’s fearsome attacking skills.

‘Well done, team,’ Ms Beattie said. ‘You’ll be giving Arsenal a run for their money next.’ She led the team in their new ‘give ourselves a clap’ routine, ending with a Callinan roooaaarrr!

When she got home, Ellyse went to her room and stacked her schoolwork on her desk.

‘Let’s have a look at the damage, then,’ Dad said.

She showed him the list of things she had due written in her homework diary.

‘That’s not too bad,’ he said. ‘What’s the most urgent?’

‘Finishing the novel for English and the geography project on my street and neighbourhood.’

‘Right, let’s sit with your mum in the kitchen and look at your sports schedule.’

To Ellyse’s huge relief, in a few minutes of talking and making notes, it was solved. Mum would help with English and science while Dad would help with maths and the geography project.

‘Before school tomorrow, you can take some photos of the neighbourhood for your project,’ he said. ‘But you will have to give up one thing, Ellyse. Maybe it should be indoor cricket.’

‘We’ve got a bye this week,’ Ellyse said. She bit her lip, weighing up her options. She liked indoor cricket but touch and soccer were more important to her. ‘Okay, I guess I’ll tell Nicola I can’t play anymore.’

Dad showed her how to get more done by working hard in small blocks of time. By bedtime, she’d read enough of the novel to keep Ms Carter happy! Best of all, the rock in her tummy had dissolved …

… until her phone buzzed and a text from Charlie popped up: Did Jazz message you? She sounded really strange. I’m worried.

In two seconds, the rock had come back.

It was too late to call Charlie about the ominous text, so all Ellyse could do was quickly text her back: Talk tomorrow?