The next morning, for once, Calum wasn’t running late for school.
Instead, he was walking through the streets of identical houses in his estate, talking football with his neighbour Erika.
Erika had recently moved to Scotland from the USA. Her ‘mom’ was a ‘soccer-crazy’ American and had started coaching the P6 girls’ football team the moment she arrived in Caleytown.
Erika and Calum spotted Leo waiting for them outside Mr Aziz’s shop.
Leo’s hair still had a dent in it from his pillow. He looked groggy. “Sleep well, Leo?” Erika laughed.
“Huh?” Leo rubbed sleep from his eyes. “I couldn’t sleep after Cauldfield’s penalty.” He and Calum bumped fists.
“Oh, Scotland has a team?” Erika teased. “I’ve seen the US teams at the men’s and women’s World Cup Finals but I’ve never seen Scotland play.”
Calum and Leo rolled their eyes.
“Speaking of tournaments, my mom says there’s some big news for both school teams today. She wouldn’t say what.”
Hearing that, Calum and Leo picked up the pace, rushing to school to find out the big news.
***
There was going to be a meeting at lunch time, but rumours were already spreading fast. During their kickabout at break, Jordan was whispering to Caleytown’s P6 goalkeeper Ravi and red-haired midfielder Lewis. He had popped the collar up on his polo shirt.
A few other players hung about waiting for a game to start.
“If Mr McKlop’s got another match planned, I’d better be playing up front this time,” Jordan said in Calum’s direction.
Calum was busy putting on the old, battered boots Mr Aziz had given him.
Upset at getting no response, Jordan tried again. “Haven’t you returned your boots to the museum yet?” He laughed at his own joke.
“I’ll do it next week,” Calum said, to take the wind out of Jordan’s sails. “After my dad buys me a brand new pair from Total Soccer this Saturday.”
The corner of Jordan’s collar flopped down.
Saturday can’t come soon enough. Calum grimaced as the old boots dug into his heels and scratched the tops of his feet. The left one was taped up because it had split open during the last big match.
The players formed teams of two for a game of doubles. Leo went with Calum, and Jordan paired up with Lewis. Caleytown’s blond central defender Janek formed a team with the wiry right wingback Ryan.
In goals, Ravi checked his precious quiff one last time before sliding on his gloves, picking up the ball and kicking it straight to Jordan.
Jordan only just controlled the ball before shouting from outside the box. “Let me show Museum Boots how it’s done.”
Although he was a pretty good defender, Jordan wasn’t so hot with the ball at his feet.
“Wait for it,” Leo said under his breath to Calum when Jordan set off on a solo dribble. Lewis tried to stay open for a pass but even he knew a pass wasn’t going to come his way.
Sure enough, Jordan barely made it past Ryan before he lost control of the ball. Calum leapt on it and fired a pass to Leo. Calum tried to ignore the old boots nipping at his heels with every step as he ran into space. Leo spotted the run and threaded a through pass between the other pairs.
“This’ll be fun,” Calum heard Jordan scoff as Ravi ran out to narrow the angle, the stylish keeper’s big quiff of hair blocking out even more of the goal.
With no time to shoot, Calum took the ball past Ravi, who wasn’t up for diving on the damp Astroturf.
“I’ll show you, McPride,” Calum said through gritted teeth. He planted his right foot and was about to smash the ball into the empty net when…
CREECHHHHHHH
Calum’s right foot popped out through a new hole in the front of his boot. Off balance, Calum flapped at the ball with his left foot but only managed to tap it wide of the open goal.
“Ah ha ha ha ha!” Jordan howled, holding his sides just to make sure everyone knew exactly how much he was laughing. The others joined in, even the defender Janek, who was normally quite quiet.
“Yep, Saturday can’t come soon enough,” Calum muttered to himself.
