Jeff got the text from Andi as he was heading from his classroom to the locker room to get ready for practice.
I’m on the team! Coach J may quit! Here’s hoping!
The hope didn’t last long. Jogging onto the practice field, Jeff saw both coaches standing in their usual spot at midfield. For a split second he thought perhaps Coach J was going to tell the team he was quitting.
Andi was already there as the rest of the team assembled. Several of the other players tapped her on the back—clearly happy to see her. Others—notably Arlow and Adkins—refused to look at her.
“Gentlemen,” Coach Johnston said—as if making a point. “As you can see, Miss Carillo has joined us today. Although I tried to make it clear to her that her not making the team wasn’t personal in any way, she and her parents decided to take their story to the media. They succeeded in convincing Mr. Block that he should have final say on who is on this team. As you all saw during tryouts, Miss Carillo is a competent player and will be treated as such by me and by Coach C. I expect all of you to do the same.”
“Okay, let’s stretch,” Coach C ordered.
Jeff was actually surprised that Coach J had been as gracious as he had been. Jeff had hoped Coach would quit, but this was probably as good as they could hope for under the circumstances.
When they finished stretching, Coach Johnston broke them into two teams of eight—taking three of his starting players, one of them winger Danny Diskin, and putting them with what was clearly the second team—which Jeff and Andi were both assigned to.
Shortly after the scrimmage began, Andi made a steal at midfield and quickly shot a pass to Diskin on the left side. She ran into an open space, and Diskin slipped a neat pass to her, with only one player—Mike Craig—between her and the goal. They were playing without goalies—Bobby Woodward and his backup, Allan Isidro, were doing diving drills with Coach C—because the point of the scrimmage was to work on their passing and shooting skills.
Andi faked as if to go to her right, then cut left and slipped past Craig—who ended up sprawled on the ground trying to recover from the fake. Since she was a lefty, she transferred the ball smoothly to her left side and kicked it high into the corner of the goal. Even with a goalie that shot would have been unstoppable.
Just as the ball hit the net, Arlow, peeling back too late, slammed into her from behind and took her down. Coach J’s whistle blew, but Jeff barely heard it. He was racing at Arlow, as was Diskin.
Diskin got there first, with Jeff and Stevie Gillum close behind. Diskin slammed into Arlow and sent him flying. Arlow was up in an instant, red-faced, charging at Diskin.
He never got there. Coach C had seen the fracas and raced in to grab Arlow, pinning his arms and lifting him off the ground to stop him before he could get to Diskin. Coach J ran in behind him, blowing his whistle repeatedly.
“Everybody stop!” he yelled.
Gillum was helping Andi up.
“You okay?” Coach J asked her.
“Fine,” Andi said. “Fine.” She was breathing hard, clearly a little shaken up, but there was no sign of blood or anything else wrong that Jeff could see.
“Who hit me?” she asked.
“Who do you think?” Jeff answered.
Coach J’s face was dark with fury. “Let me remind you all of what I told you before we started today,” he said. “We are a team. We do not knock our teammates down. In fact, Arlow and Diskin, those hits would probably get you ejected in a real game. Coach C, take these two and run them up and down the bleachers five times. Then send them to the showers.”
“Coach, I think Diskin was standing up for his teammate,” Coach C said. “I don’t think this merits equal punishment.”
Coach J put his hands on his hips for a moment as if deciding how to respond. “Well, Jason, when you’re in charge, you can make those calls,” he finally said. “Until then, please follow my instructions.”
Coach Crist smiled—but it seemed like an angry smile. “You got it, Coach. Come on, boys.”
Arlow turned to glare for a moment at Andi, who glared right back. Diskin walked over to her and pointedly gave her a high five, saying, “Sure you’re okay?”
She nodded.
“Great play,” he said loudly. “I hope everyone else noticed.”
He jogged after Coach C, who had his arm around Arlow and was talking to him.
“Okay, seven-on-seven the rest of the day,” Coach Johnston said. “Goalies, between the posts.” Then he paused for a moment before adding, “Nice play, Carillo.”
Ron Arlow was long gone by the time the rest of the team reached the locker room. Jeff was relieved. Diskin was still there, and Jeff asked him what had happened when they’d hit the showers after running the steps.
“Nothing, really,” Diskin said. “Maybe he was just tired. I certainly was. He didn’t say a word to me until he was almost dressed. Then he just said, ‘You really think it’s okay to have her on a boys’ team?’ I said, ‘Only if she can play—and Andi can play.’ He stared at me for a second, shook his head, and walked out.”
Zack Roth, another of Arlow’s cadre of friends, decided to stick up for his buddy.
“Ron just wants to win,” he said. “Just like Coach wants to win. I heard the assistant varsity coaching job is going to be open next year and this season is Coach J’s audition. He honestly thinks having a girl on the team will hurt morale, hurt our season. You saw what happened out there today.”
“Yeah, we all did,” Jeff said.
“Hey, she wants to play with the boys, she’s gonna get knocked around,” Roth said.
“Don’t be such a tool,” Mike Craig said. “That was a dirty play.”
“This coming from the guy who got faked out of his shorts by the girl,” said Terry Trang, another of Arlow’s friends.
“Don’t you see? That’s the point,” Jeff said. “She’s good. She can help us—if you guys will just let her play.”
“Well, Michaels, I agree with you on one count,” Roth said. “She can certainly help us more than you can.”
“Yeah,” Trang chimed in. “Maybe you can get your daddy to go on TV and say it’s not fair you aren’t playing.”
Jeff took a step in Trang’s direction, but Diskin cut him off.
“Easy, Michaels,” he said. “One fight a day is enough for one team. Let’s all just cool it and get out of here.”
“Yeah,” Craig added. “What is it those guys say in The Three Musketeers?”
The book had been on the summer reading list for incoming sixth graders.
“‘All for one, one for all,’” Diskin said.
“That’s it,” Craig said. “Let’s try that. At least let’s try to try that.”
Jeff was all for that idea. But he wasn’t very confident it would happen in this locker room anytime soon.