Ellyse was so quiet on the way to soccer on Saturday morning that Dad wouldn’t let her out of the car until she told him what was wrong. It took a few minutes to find the words. She felt like just saying it again would make Jazz hate her ten times more. ‘The worst thing is,’ she said, ‘I’m still not totally sure. What if I’m wrong?’

‘I suspect you’re right,’ Dad said. ‘And that’s really sad. It sounds like Jazz might be doing this because of what’s going on at home.’

‘And I can’t do anything about that,’ Ellyse said gloomily.

Dad kissed the top of her head. ‘You were trying to help.’

‘Fat lot of good that did!’

‘Give it a bit of time and see what happens,’ Dad said. He pointed at Jamie and the others doing their stretches. ‘Get out there and have some fun, and try not to think of Jazz for the next couple of hours.’

‘Okay.’ Ellyse joined Jamie and warmed up, then got ready to play. The Dolphins were a good team, and their strikers were excellent dribblers and kickers. The striker on Ellyse’s side was a tall boy with feet that moved like lightning, and he got past Ellyse several times. The third time he scooted around her, he went on and scored a goal. She began to watch him closely and realised he was an expert at stepping over the ball, doing it so fast and turning at the same time that he bamboozled everyone.

What can I do to stop him? After a little while Ellyse could see a pattern – the boy always went left, then right, then around, dribbled forward and did it again. Next time he came towards her with the ball, she ignored his left move and went to his right, scooping the ball out from in front of him and kicking it away to Jamie. That fixed him. For now, anyway. But we’re still down 0–1.

Then it was half-time and she gulped down some water. Vinnie came over to talk to her. ‘Good work on that striker. Nice timing.’

Ellyse glowed inside. Vinnie only praised someone when he meant it.

Just before they went back on the field, Vinnie moved her into the centre. ‘I want you to focus on their strikers, especially the boy you beat. Watch what he does and don’t be afraid to tackle him.’ When he saw Ellyse pale, Vinnie added, ‘This isn’t Josh Bolt. This is a very good player that you have to learn how to defend against.’

‘Okay.’ Ellyse ran onto the field and took her position in the centre. Vinnie had moved Alex out to her wing. Jamie kicked off, and Ellyse found herself in the thick of the game. The Dolphins’ strikers had obviously been given a stern talk at half-time and they both went on immediate attack. She discovered the boy’s name was Naji and she continued to watch his moves carefully. It wasn’t just his feet she watched; his body language gave her signs too.

Still, he was so good that he zoomed past her twice before she knew it.

I can’t let him get the better of me. I won’t! Ellyse began closing in earlier, challenging rather than jockeying, moving to block as soon as she saw his feet change position. Once, twice, she got the ball off Naji, and then she began to sense a hesitation when she went for him. The next time the ball was kicked to him, she ran in fast and intercepted, kicking it to Jamie. Jamie took the ball and dribbled hard down the field, stepped over, back and kicked. Goal! It was now 1–1.

But just as Ellyse regained her confidence, Naji regrouped and changed his moves. He was better than Josh, she realised, relying on his skills and speed rather than bullying defenders out of his way. The game went back and forth and then, with a couple of minutes left, Naji got the ball and headed straight for goal, weaving down the field. He passed once, received it back, kept going. She knew there was only one way to stop him – run fast, slide tackle.

Look out, here I come! She chased him hard, watching the ball and his feet, and launched into the tackle, sliding towards the target. She connected, the ball went sideways and Naji half-fell. Before he could get it back, the Hawks goalie grabbed it up and kicked it away. Saved!

The game ended as a draw, but it could easily have been a loss.

‘Excellent,’ Vinnie said to her.

Afterwards, Dad shook his head admiringly. ‘That was darned good, little one. Perfect slide tackle. No more Josh in your head, hey?’

Nope, there isn’t. I feel brave again. She grinned at Dad. ‘I should get Hu to watch Naji play. I bet she’d pick up a lot of great attacking skills from him.’

‘Careful, she might join their team!’ Dad joked.

Ellyse pulled open her kitbag to put away her boots and found the flyer Ms Beattie had given her. She took it out and read it quickly, then once more to make sure it was what she thought it was. An invitation to nominate for a trial at the new Aztecs Youth Football Academy. The most amazing thing was, they were planning to have a girls’ team in the future!

‘Dad, do you know anything about this?’ She handed the sheet of paper to him.

He scanned it and huffed out a breath. ‘Wow. Where did this come from?’

‘Ms Beattie. I mean, it’s not personally addressed to me, is it?’

‘No.’ He glanced at her anxious face. ‘Did she only give this to you?’

‘And Hu,’ Ellyse said. ‘Does it mean I really can go and try out with them?’ She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hold in her growing excitement. ‘I can’t believe it – a youth team. What if … what if I’m chosen?’

‘One step at a time,’ Dad said. ‘We’ll talk to Mum and then we can fill out the nomination form, if it all looks okay.’

Okay? What wouldn’t be okay about being in the academy?

After lunch, Ellyse and her parents talked about what being selected might mean. ‘It’ll be more training on top of everything else,’ Mum said. ‘You might have to give up something.’

‘Not touch,’ Ellyse said. ‘And not school soccer. And not the Hawks!’

Dad laughed. ‘That is everything. You’re not giving up school, that’s for sure.’ He read through the flyer again. ‘Trials won’t be straight away. And, dare I say it, you might not get in.’

‘I have a good chance, though, don’t I?’ Ellyse said anxiously.

‘I’d say so,’ Dad said. ‘Let’s see how it all goes before we think about dropping something.’

Ellyse agreed but inside she was fiercely determined to play her very best and be selected.

‘Don’t forget,’ Mum said, ‘you have touch footy selections tomorrow.’ She made a frowny face. ‘If you’re picked for that …’

Ellyse grinned at Mum. ‘One step at a time, Dad said.’

Later, when she called Charlie, she was all ready to tell her about the academy but then decided not to at the last minute. I want her to play well tomorrow, not be distracted. I really want us both to be in the touch team.

Instead they talked about the Sunday tournament and then about Jazz. Charlie hadn’t heard from Jazz at all. ‘Maybe she’s still mad at you. And me too,’ Charlie said. ‘Do you really think she steals stuff?’

‘I don’t know.’ Ellyse sighed. ‘It sure seemed like it.’ She quickly changed the subject back to their Callinan soccer semifinal, and how they should have an extra lunchtime training session.

In the morning, Dad drove them both to the touch ground, where they were allowed to play in their shorts and school polos with coloured bibs. Neither girl wanted to wear the mouldy Devils’ shirts – even a good wash hadn’t improved them much.

Before the games started, the man in charge explained that they’d be selecting a team for a Country Cup tournament. ‘It’s in two weeks,’ he said, ‘which is very short notice, but they only decided to include an Under 14s team at the last minute. So if you can’t make it to Goulburn that weekend, you need to say so now and withdraw.’

‘Can you go?’ Ellyse whispered to Charlie.

‘I think so,’ she whispered back. ‘What about you?’

Ellyse cringed inside. So much was happening, even at school, and she didn’t want to miss a single thing, but this would mean she’d miss a Hawks game. What would Vinnie say? What would Mum say? She bit her lip. One step at a time. I might not even get picked. ‘I think it’ll be okay.’