A Whole New Ball Game (7 page)

Yep, talk later.

She turned off her phone. She missed Charlie, but once school started, they'd probably get so busy, they'd forget about staying in touch. Did that bother her? Well, of course. And yet, every time she tried to conjure up what Charlie looked like, Jack's face shimmered into her thoughts instead.

At 5:15 the following morning, Ava's alarm went off. With a groan, she slapped the snooze button. Then she heard the rain outside and groaned again. No way was she going to practice. She turned off her alarm and went back to sleep.

By the time she came down for breakfast, well after nine, the rain had mostly stopped, and Coach and Tommy were already back and showered. The only signs that they'd been out were the dripping ponchos hanging from the corner of the kitchen door.

“Hey, sport,” said her dad, who was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Tommy was hunched over a huge plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, shoveling forkfuls in as though he hadn't eaten
for three days. Moxy was lying under the kitchen table, waiting hopefully for Tommy to drop a piece of bacon or a lump of egg.

The newspaper was open in front of her father's plate. Ava could see the headline:
RETURNERS KELLY AND WHITLEY TO ANCHOR SACKETT'S OFFENSE
.

“Still can't get used to your hair,” said Tommy through a mouthful of eggs.

Ava raked her fingers through her hair. “Me neither. Already I can't get it to look like it did at the salon. But I don't care. I like it.”

Tommy nodded and swallowed. “Me too, Ave. I think you look awesome.”

Ava beamed. She'd sent Charlie a picture of her haircut this morning, and he'd texted back that he liked it too. She sat down and poured herself some cereal. “Rain's stopped. It feels cooler out there too. Do you guys have time to throw the ball around after breakfast?”

Coach grinned ruefully. “That's like asking a mailman to go for a walk on his day off,” he said with a chuckle. Then, noticing the disappointed look on Ava's face, he reached across the table and ruffled her hair. “Sure, I've got some time.”

“Me too,” said Tommy.

Ava's smile returned. She stood up and grabbed
an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.

Coach adjusted his half-glasses and frowned as he scanned the article in the paper. “Everyone's a coach,” he muttered softly, mostly to himself. “They all think they have the answers.”

“Morning!” Alex chirped, bouncing into the kitchen. She was always cheerful in the morning. Moxy's tail thumped under the table.

Ava, who had just bitten into the apple, looked up at her sister and stopped mid-chew.

Alex had straightened her hair. It swung and bounced around her shoulders as she flounced over to their dad and kissed him on the cheek.

Mrs. Sackett came into the kitchen, carrying a basket of clean laundry. She stopped in the doorway and gaped at Alex. “Sweetie! Your hair! How—how—um, straight it looks!”

Alex flipped her hair back and smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “I'm experimenting a little.”

“Great,” said Tommy. “Now you look like every other girl in Ashland. What is it with straight hair, anyway?”

“It's the style now,” said Alex simply. She got a cereal bowl out of the cupboard.

Ava glowered. Was this Alex's not-so-subtle way of telling her that she, Ava, ought to put
more effort into her own appearance? Ava had to admit, Alex looked pretty. But she also looked like every other ordinary pretty girl. Gone were her glossy curls.

Alex had clearly registered her sister's disapproval. She sat down heavily in the chair across from Ava and poured out some cereal. Then she placed the box directly in between them, so neither could see the other.

Tommy looked from one sister to the other with a bemused expression. “Trouble in paradise?” he asked.

“Can you ask Ava to hand me a spoon, please?” asked Alex.

“Ava, can you reach a spoon from the drawer behind you for your twin sister, Alex?”

Ava got a spoon from the drawer and handed it to Tommy, who handed it to Alex.

“Tommy, can you ask Alex to please not finish the good cereal?” Ava said from behind the cereal box.

“Alex, your twin sister, Ava, requests that you not finish all the good cereal,” said Tommy. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Coach put down his paper. He looked from one girl to the other over his half-glasses.

“What's going on with you two?” he asked.

“Nothing,” they answered in unison.

“Well, they've still got their creepy twin-speak going,” said Tommy with a grin. He stood up. “Come on, Ave. You finished? We'll go out back and you can kick to me.”

Ava jumped up. Alex continued to eat her cereal, intently reading the news on her phone.

The phone rang. “I'll get it,” said their mom, setting down the basket. She glanced at the empty phone holder and let out an exasperated sigh. “It would be
nice
if someone put the phone
back
in the
cradle
once in a while!” She ran into the other room. “It's in the couch cushion!” they heard her yell, but she answered on the fourth ring, just before it went to voice mail.

Coach set down his newspaper. “Honey, is something going on between you and your sister?” he asked quietly.

“I don't know,” Alex replied. “I mean, from my end I don't think so. But everything I do seems to annoy her these days. Or ‘antagonize,' ” she added. “That's a better word. I don't
know what I'm doing to antagonize her.”

“I think you ought to talk to her about it,” he suggested. “You two never stay mad for long.”

Alex nodded. “I guess so. She's also worried about you, and I'm finding her anxiety somewhat infectious.”

He put down his paper. “Worried? About me?”

“Yes, she says that people are paying attention to every move you make with the team—that they're all really critical here, and not as friendly as they act.”

He patted her hand. “Honey, there's no need for you girls to worry. People are just interested in football. For a lot of folks in this town the Friday night games are the highlight of their week, something to look forward to. They just want to hear about the team, that's all.”

Alex nodded, reassured as always by her dad's easygoing confidence.

Mrs. Sackett returned to the kitchen. “That was April Cahill, who lives down the street,” she said. “There's a neighborhood block party in two weeks, and we're all invited. I'm glad we have friendly neighbors!”

Coach gave Alex a rueful grin. “Yep. They are mighty friendly.”

That afternoon Alex broke her “not talking to Ava” rule by announcing she was coming along with her twin to see their dad's second practice of the day. Ava seemed pleasantly surprised.

The sun had come out, and the rain had cooled things off considerably. Alex felt like things had cooled off a little between her and Ava, too—her hurt and anger had dimmed from a huge flame inside her to more of a flickering light. Plus, she'd felt a twinge of satisfaction seeing the look on Ava's face when she noticed Alex's straight hair; maybe her sister
did
care a little bit about looking different from each other.

“Have you suddenly taken an interest in football?” Ava asked as the two sisters mounted the
steep stadium steps a few rows above the team locker room.

“Not exactly,” said Alex, pushing a silky strand of straight hair away from her face. “But I realized I haven't seen the high school yet,” she continued, settling into her seat and adjusting her fashionable dark sunglasses. “And I should really check it out, since it's right across the parking lot from Ashland Middle School. I saw on the website that the AMS student government has done some joint fund-raisers with AHS, so maybe I can do some networking today. Wow. There are a
ton
of people watching practice.” She scanned the bleachers. “Don't they have to go to work and stuff?”

“I guess it's like this every day,” said Ava. “They come and sit and watch. Some of them take notes. When Coach yells at PJ or Tyler or even Tommy, I see them whispering to one another, or writing stuff down. It's weird.”

Alex looked at Ava over her dark glasses. “Are you still worried about Daddy? He told me there was absolutely nothing to worry about. And haven't you noticed? He's a rock star in this town, from the amount of attention we always get when we go places.”

Ava shook her head. “I
am
still worried about him—he's under a lot of pressure. If they lose too many games this season, his job could be in trouble. Plus, I'm hearing people say he's being too harsh with some of the players. I heard that the mother of PJ Kelly, the quarterback, was complaining about Coach to one of the assistants.”

“How did you hear that?” asked Alex.

“Shane told me. He's Coach Byron's son. He's only six, but he's doesn't miss much.”

Alex furrowed her brow and stared down at the field. Hadn't their dad just told her not to be worried? Now Ava was saying there were a lot of reasons to worry.

Their dad whistled to a kid and called him over. They watched him talking animatedly, waving his arms and pointing.

“That's PJ,” said Ava. “See? The other players are talking behind Coach's back. And look at the people in the stands. People don't like it when PJ gets yelled at. What if they're complaining about Coach?”

Alex raised her sunglasses to look, a troubled expression on her face.

The two girls watched the team divide up into its specialty areas and head off with the
various coaches. Because it was the third day of practice, the players were now wearing some pads underneath their practice uniforms.

Just then, Alex noticed that four kids were making their way up the stands to where she and Ava were sitting. She couldn't see the ones in the back very well, but the girl in front was Emily, whom they'd met at the mall yesterday.

“Pssst,” said Alex to Ava. “Don't look now, but I think that group goes to AMS.” She bounced up and down excitedly. “And they look like they're coming over here to talk to us!”

As the group came closer, Alex saw Ava's face light up too. Alex followed her sister's gaze to a dark-haired boy who was bringing up the rear of the group. He grinned at Ava with a cute half smile.
Oh—that's Jack,
Alex realized. She recognized him from yesterday at the mall. When he'd been with his
girlfriend
. She looked at him coolly.

“Hey, y'all!” said Emily. “Oh my gosh, I love your hair, Al—wait, are you Alex or Ava?”

“Ava,” she said shyly. “And thanks!”

“Wow, you guys look so different!” Emily said. “Now we'll definitely be able to tell y'all apart!”

Alex kept a bright smile on her face, but she
was fuming inside. She didn't
want
to look different from Ava! And they weren't that hard to tell apart anyway, considering that Ava never wore anything nicer than jeans and a T-shirt.

“I heard you might be at practice today, so I wanted to introduce you to some kids,” Emily went on. “This is Jack, and you met Rosa yesterday at the mall. And this is Corey.” She gestured to another boy, who had reddish hair.

Alex looked at him for the first time, and all angry thoughts flew out of her head. She couldn't speak. All she could manage was a goofy smile. Corey was tall. Athletic. And heart-stoppingly gorgeous.

Wait, why was Ava nodding so coldly at him?

The girls sat down on either side of Alex and Ava and were soon chatting away. Alex did what she could to join in, but she could feel Corey staring at her. Every time she looked up, he looked hastily away. He and Jack were sitting just in front of them, but they turned around to join the girls' conversation.

“So Ava here is great at basketball,” Jack said to Corey, gesturing toward Ava.

Ava's ears turned red. Alex knew her well enough to know this meant she liked Jack. Her
heart sank. Well, of course, Ava
was
a good athlete, but Alex could only hear the flattery part. The nerve of the guy! He already had a girlfriend!

Speaking of girlfriends . . . She wondered if Corey had one. He seemed like he could be an ideal boyfriend candidate. She wondered if he was a good student. If so, he really would be perfect!

Then she heard Jack mention Corey's name. She tuned back in.

“Corey plays quarterback for AMS,” Jack said. “Although we could totally use him on the basketball team.”

Corey shrugged and scuffed a foot. “My older brother just graduated from AHS,” he said. “He taught me how to play football. I like to come to AHS practices because I learn a lot.” He turned to Alex. “Do
you
like sports?”

Alex still couldn't form words. Why did she have to get so tongue-tied around guys? She had no trouble talking to anyone else! All she could manage was a sort of gulping sound.