Out of Bounds (22 page)

S
unday was sunny and bright, the perfect day for the final game of the girls' soccer championship.

Everyone was there to watch the Twisters and the Tornadoes.

It was a perfect day to celebrate. Despite the Kiki/ Queens of Mean fiasco, the talent show had been a huge success. The sold-out performance paid for itself and alleviated some of the tax burden on the theater.

Kiki's father approached Maeve and her parents to suggest that Maeve record a few songs at his studio. He thought she had
potential
. But Maeve's parents said she was way too young. She was disappointed, but didn't make too big a deal of it because in her heart, Maeve kind of knew her parents were right. She wasn't ready for the big time…just yet.

The Beacon Street Girls sat together watching Avery ref the last big match between the Twisters and the Tornadoes. Maeve's dad was sitting with Mr. Martinez. They were deep in conversation. Mr. Martinez had so many wonderful ideas for Mr. Taylor on how to convert the Movie House to a viable
nonprofit, and Mr. Taylor asked him to be his accountant. Taking on the Movie House as a client meant that Mr. Martinez would have to come east more often, which made the entire Martinez family happy.

Who knows, Isabel thought. If things went well, maybe her dad would open a branch office here. Or relocate altogether…it could happen.

Everyone was doing their part to help the Movie House. Already Avery's mother had been talking about doing another fund-raiser for them. Fund-raisers were her thing. And the Movie House would be more fun than most of the charitable causes Mrs. Madden took up.

There were two minutes to go in the game. The Tornadoes were ahead. Megan's mom was yelling from the stands. She was so loud that all of the other parents were turning around to look at her. None of the parents could seem to believe she was acting that way again. The girls just looked at each other. Katani mouthed “out of bounds.”

“It's only a game, for goodness sake,” Mrs. Martinez said loudly, but the comment was lost on Megan's mother, who was yelling so hard she couldn't hear it.

It was getting tough to take. The opposing team was floundering, which was just the way Megan's mom wanted things. But Megan wasn't doing any better. What had started as the best game Megan had ever played was descending into chaos and missed shots.

Everybody in the stands knew there was only one person to blame.

“Out of bounds!” Megan's mother yelled. It was her favorite call.

Katani turned to Charlotte and Isabel, “I told you so.”

“I guess some people never learn,” Isabel shrugged.

Suddenly, unable to stand it another minute, Avery blew her whistle.

The game stopped. Everyone looked around, trying to figure out the call. There was no such thing as
out of bounds
, which is what Megan's mom kept yelling. But they all watched in amazement as Avery stood there staring up into the bleachers. She didn't speak or move. She just kept looking directly at Megan's mom.

Everyone held their breath to see what Megan's mother was going to do. Marty stood at attention, ready to leap in and protect Avery at a moment's notice.

Megan's mother stood up and stared back at Avery.

Katani counted, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four…”

Megan's mother sat down.

Avery blew her whistle.

The Twisters won the game in double overtime. And with the help of her teammates, Megan was able to score the winning goal of the season.

As they walked off the field, Mr. Taylor approached Avery and Charlotte. “I forgot to give you this,” he said, handing them an old leather-bound book. “The cleaning people found it this morning in the lobby. I saw your names in it, and figured, in all the excitement, you must have forgotten where you left it.”

Charlotte recognized the Houdini book immediately. “She came!” Charlotte said to Avery, who still didn't quite understand what was going on.

Charlotte flipped open the front cover and discovered the book plate.
This book belongs to: Charlotte Ramsey and Avery Madden
. Below the book plate was a simple inscription:
Thank you for a magical evening
.

“Miss Pierce,” Avery said, finally getting it.

“I can't believe she came,” Charlotte said.

At least for that one magical evening, Miss Pierce must have decided that it was okay for her to be out of bounds.

Avery and Charlotte were hurrying to catch up with the rest of the Beacon Street Girls and tell them all what had happened when, out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte saw something…could it be? It was.

Suddenly, Avery, Charlotte, and Marty were off and running…chasing a vision in pink.

B
ecause of her performance, Keisha, the baton twirler, made a lot of new friends, most of them boys who were totally in awe of her baton fire power. Billy Trentini in particular thought Keisha was a great athlete and couldn't stop talking about her. “Did you see that baton go flaming in the air? It totally rocks,” he kept saying…over and over. Keisha was beginning to get a little annoyed.

Anna and Joline were assigned twenty-five hours of community service, which included helping Mr. Taylor clean up after Saturday matinees and reading to elderly people at a retirement home around the corner from the theater. Mrs. Fields made them write an apology to everyone who was in the talent show. The parents and teachers were really upset about their bad behavior, but most of the seventh grade at Abigail Adams just shrugged it off. After all, it was the Anna and Joline show. No surprises there.

Mrs. Fields made Kiki go help out in the kindergarten after-school program for a week. She hoped Kiki would learn how to be patient and to share.

Henry Yurt and the other cheerleaders were asked to perform at the high school cheerleaders' annual fall banquet. They received a standing ovation.

Isabel was asked to help design sets for the eighth-grade play. She said okay, as long as she had help painting.

Kiki's father asked if he could use Marty for a TV commercial. Avery thought that would be just “too cool.”

 

To be continued…