I dropped my bag onto the bench by the field and walked over to a cluster of soccer balls. I pulled one out of the group with my foot and started dribbling it around slowly. I glanced at a small group of girls who were also trying out for the team. They were all talking and laughing together.

I went back to dribbling the ball around, focusing all my attention on it, trying not to think about the group of girls standing on the other side of the field.

“Hi,” I heard someone say from behind me. I stopped the ball with my foot and turned around—it was the girl I had briefly spoken with in science class on my first day of school. She had her long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. “Aven, right?” she said.

I breathed heavily from working with the ball. “That’s right.”

“I’m Jessica,” she said, tightening her pony tail. “We were watching you with the ball.”

My stomach sank. Of course they were watching me. I tried not to let my shoulders slump. “Oh?”

“You’re really good. How long have you been playing?”

“Oh,” I said, a little more brightly. “Since about second grade. How about you?”

“This is my second year. I’m sure you’ll make the team.”

I hoped my smile wasn’t so big that I looked spastic. “You think so?”

“Definitely. You have really good control over the ball.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re going to love being on the soccer team,” Jessica went on, like I had already made it. “It’s so fun when we have away games. Last year we did makeovers on the bus, and we prank-called Coach Fuller on her cell phone from the back. That’s her over there.” Jessica pointed at a short, stout, gray-haired woman, who was intensely studying a piece of paper on the other side of the field. “After like the tenth time we did it, she started yelling, ‘I’m going to call the cops on you, you hoodlum!’ Everyone on the bus could hear her.” She laughed. “It was hilarious. Olivia filmed her on her phone.” She gestured at the group of girls. I assumed one of them was Olivia. “We’ll show you the video. It’s so funny.”

“That sounds like fun,” I said. “I hope I make it.”

“You’ll love it. We also have pizza parties, and last year we had a team slumber party.”

Coach Fuller called us over to get started.

“I guess we’d better go,” I said to Jessica.

She smiled at me. “Yeah, let’s go.” She motioned for me to follow her, and even though I walked beside her on the way to the coach, I felt more like dancing.