Just when Ellyse was starting to feel that she was juggling everything okay, a bigger problem popped up, seemingly out of nowhere.

Charlie and Jazz were fighting.

Jazz had spent Monday lunchtime at the first rehearsal and was dismayed to find she didn’t have a Jellicle cat part after all.

‘I’m just general chorus or something,’ she complained when she met Ellyse and Charlie after school. ‘It’s not fair. I should have a part. I could even be Electra or Etcetera.’

‘But at least you’re in it,’ Charlie said.

‘Oh, you don’t understand anything!’ Jazz snapped, and ran off to her mum’s car.

Charlie took a deep breath. ‘Jazz is turning into a cow.’

‘She’s just going through a hard time,’ Ellyse said quickly.

Charlie shook her head and walked off, leaving Ellyse to stare after her.

This is the pits. I so wish I could fix it. She tried texting her friends later that evening to smooth it over, but Jazz texted back: Charlie’s just jealous! And Charlie texted: Jazz only thinks about herself.

At Callinan soccer training on Tuesday, they barely spoke to each other. Jazz stood in the goal with her arms folded, humming songs from the show. Even Ms Beattie noticed, and on Wednesday afternoon before the game, she said, ‘Remember, girls, on the field we play as a team and back each other up. I don’t care what else is going on. Here we support each other.’

Jazz and Charlie did play well – up until the last five minutes of the game. The opposing team’s striker got past Charlie and Hu, dribbled the ball away from Ellyse’s side and kicked for goal. Jazz reached for the ball and got her fingers to it, but it went past her into the goal. It meant the game was a draw at 1–1.

‘Could’ve tried harder than that,’ Charlie muttered, and both Jazz and Ms Beattie heard her and glared. As soon as the final whistle blew, Ms Beattie called the team to gather around for a talk.

‘Very good game, girls,’ she said. ‘You did well to keep them to a draw.’ She gave Charlie another sharp look. ‘Now, I have some news. I’ve deliberately not told you about the ladder – I wanted you to play for the enjoyment and to learn skills. But …’ She grinned around at them. ‘You have made it into the semifinals.’

‘Woo hoo!’ Everyone cheered, and Ms Beattie’s face turned bright pink.

‘I don’t want anyone to panic,’ she continued. ‘The semi is next Wednesday, so we’ll train as usual. Okay, maybe we’ll have an extra session or two. Roar, Callinan!’

‘Rooooaarrrrr!’ the girls shouted.

As they were taking their boots off, Ellyse couldn’t help noticing that Ms Beattie was having a quiet talk with Jazz and patting her on the back.

Charlie noticed too. ‘I was a bit mean, wasn’t I? Maybe I should say sorry to Jazz. I think she heard me.’

But Jazz left the field straight after, and when Charlie went to look for her, she was nowhere to be found.

‘Hmph,’ Charlie said. ‘Still being a cow.’

Ellyse felt the rock growing in her stomach. How can my best friends suddenly be enemies? She felt helpless to fix it, and every day it was getting worse.

As she and Hu were walking over to their dads, Ms Beattie called out to them. ‘I have something you two might want to think about,’ she said, handing them a coloured flyer. ‘Talk to your parents and see what they think.’

Ellyse thanked her and shoved the flyer into her kitbag without looking at it. It was probably soccer boots on sale or something. Hu waved goodbye and was soon in an animated conversation with her dad. Maybe he thinks we should have won? Oh well …

‘For someone whose team made it to the semis, you look mighty miserable,’ Dad said on the way home. ‘What’s up?’

Ellyse sighed. ‘Jazz and Charlie are fighting. I wish I could do something.’

Dad was quiet for a few moments. ‘Why don’t you have them both over to play ping-pong on Friday night? I’ll even spring for chips and fruit juice.’

‘And chocolate?’ Ellyse said hopefully.

‘Maybe just a little bit,’ Dad said with a smile.

That’s a great idea! I can’t wait to ask them. But then she thought more about it. What if one of them refuses to come if the other one does? Who do I ask first?

Ugh. This was getting complicated. In the end she decided not to tell either Charlie or Jazz that’d she’d invited them both – they could find out when they arrived. She saw Jazz first and asked her.

‘Sure!’ Jazz said. ‘I love ping-pong. Is your dad going to let us buy the snacks?’

‘I guess so,’ Ellyse said.

‘Let’s go to the supermarket after school, then,’ Jazz said.

‘Okay.’ One down, one to go. At recess, to her relief, Ellyse was able to get Charlie alone and ask her too.

‘Cool,’ Charlie said. ‘I love ping-pong.’

It was all arranged. Ellyse would have an hour to go to the supermarket with Jazz, and by the time they were ready to play, Charlie would be there. Still, it was hard not to worry about what might go wrong.

It was a relief to play touch on Thursday afternoon with Charlie and run all over the field, thinking only of the ball and who to pass it to. Soccer training was the same. Ellyse put all her concentration into playing, and if thoughts of Charlie and Jazz crept in, she shook them out again.

It was great that Dad understood the situation, and he promised to keep an eye on them. ‘Can’t have World War III breaking out,’ he said with a laugh.

‘Dad, it’s serious!’ Ellyse said.

‘I know. It’ll be fine, I’m sure.’

I’m glad you think so!

Jazz brought extra clothes to school on Friday and got changed out of her uniform at Ellyse’s house, putting on a gorgeous purple T-shirt. ‘Do you like my new top?’ she asked.

Ellyse noticed the label was from an expensive shop but she didn’t mention it. ‘I love the colour. Come on, let’s grab our jackets and hit the supermarket.’

They walked up and down the aisles with a shopping basket, each choosing their favourite flavour of chips.

Jazz groaned when Ellyse bought orange juice. ‘I need something fizzy,’ she said, and headed off to the next aisle. Ellyse added some apple juice and went to look for Jazz. As she rounded a display of cereal, she stopped. Jazz had passed the soft drinks and was standing by the chocolate shelves. She put something in her jacket pocket and then picked up a big bag of M&M’s. She turned and saw Ellyse. ‘Hey, these are yum. Can we get them?’

‘Sure.’ Ellyse stood uncertainly, watching as Jazz chose a can of soft drink and put both in the basket. Jazz’s jacket was loose and it was impossible to tell if there was something in her pocket or not. Ellyse swallowed hard. If I ask her and I’m wrong … If I say nothing and she gets caught … In the end, she said nothing, but even Jazz noticed something was up.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked.

‘I’m fine,’ Ellyse said, and checked her watch. ‘Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.’

Back home, Mum gave them glasses and bowls for their snacks. ‘I’m making pasta too,’ she said. ‘Ellyse, this won’t be a late night – you’ve got soccer tomorrow.’

Ellyse rolled her eyes at Jazz. ‘Yes, Mum.’

‘Parents are such a pain,’ Jazz said as soon as they were in the garage. ‘Do you hate your mum?’

‘No! Of course not.’

‘I hate mine,’ Jazz said. She picked up the ping-pong paddle and smacked the ball across the net. The ball disappeared behind a cupboard and, while she was searching for it, the doorbell rang.

‘I’ll get that,’ Ellyse said. That’ll be Charlie. Oh, I hope this works.

She fetched Charlie and led her to the garage. ‘Jazz is here,’ she whispered at the very last moment. Surprise flashed across Charlie’s face, but it was happy surprise, not dismay.

‘Hey, Jazz,’ Charlie said. ‘Wow, I love your top. That is so cool.’

Jazz looked slightly stunned but, to Ellyse’s relief, after a second she smiled. ‘Thanks. So who’s playing first?’

‘You two start,’ Ellyse offered. ‘I’ve been playing all week.’ That wasn’t actually true, but it got Charlie and Jazz hitting the ball to each other and laughing, and that was what counted. After a few minutes, Ellyse began to relax. It’s going to be all right. Thank goodness.

After they’d played each other several times and finished all the chips, Ellyse’s mum called them in to eat pasta. Then it was time to go home. Ellyse picked up Jazz’s jacket for her and knew immediately that there was a chocolate bar of some kind in the pocket. She froze.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Charlie.

‘I … um …’ Ellyse felt like she was choking, but she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. ‘I think Jazz has been shoplifting,’ she blurted out.

‘What?’ Charlie’s mouth fell open. ‘You’re joking.’

‘No, I –’

Just then, Jazz came in. ‘What’s going on? What are you talking about?’

Charlie threw up her hands. ‘Ellyse says you’ve been shoplifting.’

No, I didn’t want to say it like that. I didn’t mean it. I take it back!

But it was too late. Jazz’s eyes filled with tears and her voice shook. ‘I thought you were my friend. I thought you’d always stick up for me. I hate you.’ She stormed out, slamming the front door.

Charlie bit her lip and slowly put on her own jacket. ‘You shouldn’t have said that, Ellyse. I’m sure you’re wrong.’ She left quietly but the door clicking shut sounded to Ellyse like a cannon booming.

I’ve made everything ten times worse, and now it’s me they’re not talking to. She ran to her room and huddled under her doona, the rock rolling over and over in her stomach, but she didn’t cry.

Four words repeated in her head: Jazz didn’t deny it.

The thought was no comfort at all.