Settle the Score (9 page)

I held my breath, waiting for a sarcastic comment, but instead Jamie looked at the ground and shrugged.

“I would if I had a ride.” She sounded embarrassed. “But I don't. My brother has practice, so I've got to leave with my dad now.” She gestured to a jeep parked in the lot. I saw an older man sitting in it, talking on his cell phone. I guessed that was Jamie's father.

“Don't go anywhere,” I told her. “In fact, come with me.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to my mother. “But, Devin, my dad is waiting,” Jamie protested.

“This will take only a second,” I insisted. I spotted my dad and Maisie talking with Jessi and her mom while my mother was packing up the camp chairs.

“Hey, Mom,” I said. “Jamie needs a ride to the Burrito Bowl. Can we give her one? Please?” The words came out in a rush.

Jamie pulled her arm away from me. “It's okay, Devin,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Of course we can give Jamie a ride,” my mom answered, ignoring Jamie's eye roll. “Do you need a ride home too?”

Jamie nodded. “I live in Riverdale,” she said.

“That's only one town over,” Mom said. “No problem, Jamie. You're welcome to ride with us.”

“I don't want to be a bother,” Jamie protested. Her cheeks got a little red.

“Like I said, no problem!” Mom answered cheerfully. “So it's settled then?” She smiled at Jamie. I couldn't believe it, but Jamie actually smiled back.

“Thanks, Mrs. Burke. I'm just going to go tell my dad,” Jamie said as she raced off to the parking lot.

Before I knew it, my mom was wrapping her arms around me, giving me a big hug. “You know, sweetie, I am so proud of you as a soccer player. But I'm also so proud of the person you are too.”

Mom knew everything that Jamie had put me and the Kicks through during the regular season, so she understood how reaching out to Jamie now was, well, complex, to say the least.

“Aw, Mom,” I said. Now it was my turn to feel embarrassed, with Mom getting all mushy with me on the soccer field. But it felt really nice to hear her say that.

Jamie came running back and said she could come with us, and minutes later we were in the Marshmallow, heading to the Burrito Bowl.

“Devin, Dad said we could have lunch at the Burger Hut while you're eating burritos,” Maisie called from the front of the van. “Burritos are gross!”

Jamie and I were sitting in the very back row. It was actually hard to get back there; you really had to worm your way into those seats, but whenever I had a friend in the car with me, we always sat there. At least that way we could get a little privacy to talk, without Maisie being right next to us. Usually it was Jessi and me crammed next to each other. Today Jessi had caught a ride with Mirabelle.

“Good for you!” I called back. I looked at Jamie and shrugged. “Maisie's a picky eater,” I explained.

“Not my little sister,” Jamie said. “She'll eat anything that doesn't eat her first!”

I laughed. That was funny. And not like the Jamie I knew.

“Hey, wait,” I said. “Isn't your sister a ballerina? I thought most dancers just nibble on lettuce and stuff like that.”

Jamie laughed. “Not Jodi. She's like a human garbage can. She'll devour whatever you put in front of her.” Suddenly Jamie's eyes narrowed as she glared at me, all traces of a smile gone from her face. “Wait a second. How did you know my sister is a dancer? Have you been talking to Mirabelle?”

I felt my palms begin to sweat. Jamie looked mad! I didn't want her to think we'd been talking about her behind her back. We
had been
talking about her, but it hadn't been in a mean way.

Before I could answer, she crossed her arms and turned her head away from me, looking out the window. “So this is some kind of pity invitation, huh? I should have known.”

“Jamie, no, it's not like that,” I tried to explain, but Jamie just stared out the window, not turning her head.

I sighed quietly. To be honest, I did feel sorry for Jamie. That was part of the reason why I'd invited her. Nobody deserved to miss out on celebrating our team's win. I didn't think it was fair that Jamie's parents couldn't understand that.

Oh well,
I thought. At least I had tried, and we'd managed to have a real conversation for about two and a half seconds. I wished I hadn't mentioned her sister.

Luckily, Maisie helped ease the awkwardness of the situation. “Jamie,” she called into the back. “Do you have a dog? Because I really want one!”

“No, Maisie,” Jamie answered her. “My parents say it's too much work, so we've never had one.”

“That's what my parents say too!” Maisie grumbled. “But I would walk it every day, and feed it, and it could sleep in bed with me at night too.”

Usually I got annoyed when Maisie tried to take over the conversation when I had a friend around. Today I was relieved. Jamie uncrossed her arms and seemed to thaw out a bit, and I felt better. I didn't want Jamie to be uncomfortable. I silently thought,
Thank you
as Maisie chatted on about wanting a dog, her latest obsession.

When we pulled up in front of the Burrito Bowl, as Jamie and I wormed our way out of the backseats, Maisie gave Jamie a big smile and said “Woof!”

Jamie shook her head and started laughing. Again, I felt grateful to my little sister for lightening the mood.

Most of the Griffons were already inside the restaurant and had pulled tables together in the back, saving enough seats for all of us. Jamie and I went up to order our food. The guy taking the orders was pretty cute, and I felt really dorky asking for the Cluck-cluck-tacular Chicken Burrito Bowl, but he didn't seem to notice. I guessed he was used to it.

I met up with Jessi at the soda machine. It was this really cool one where you could pick from what seemed like hundreds of different flavors. We weren't allowed soda at home. My mom called it poison. But I decided I needed a treat after our win. So I started mixing a bunch of different flavors of soda in the same cup.

“Raspberry cola, fruit punch, and supersour limeade?” Jessi watched, wrinkling her nose. “Yuck.”

I tasted it and made a face. Yuck was right. It actually did taste like poison! I dumped it out and started my soda experiment over again.

“So how'd it go?” Jessi asked as she shot a glance at Jamie, who was sitting at the Griffons' table.

I sighed. “Pretty good, until I ruined it by asking about her sister and she got suspicious and accused me of inviting her out of pity.”

Jessi shook her head. “Devin, I don't know why you're bothering.”

“We're all in this together, Jessi. We're a team,” I reminded her. “And Jamie should be part of celebrating our win. We are going to the championships, after all!”

“Yes we are!” Jessi cheered. “We did it!”

“Did you hear yet about the Gators game?” I asked, curious as to who we'd be facing in the finals.

“I texted Zoe, Frida, and Emma, but they didn't reply yet,” Jessi said. “I guess we'll find out soon!”

I decided to stick with a mix of cherry vanilla cola and root beer. I took a sip. It was delicious.

Everyone was chatting excitedly as we sat down to eat. “It's getting rowdy in here!” I said above the din.

“Rowdy?” Kristin asked. “You haven't seen anything yet!” She stood up and started clapping her hands. “
P
is for ‘party,' and
A
is for ‘all right,' ” she chanted, and soon some of the other girls joined in on the cheer.

“
R
is for ‘rowdy,' and
T
is for ‘tonight.'
Y
is for ‘you,' and you know what to do.” At this part, Kristin pointed at all of us.

“Party!” we yelled as we jumped to our feet, cheering.

We were getting some weird looks from the other people eating at the Burrito Bowl. I smiled apologetically at the couple sitting closest to us.

“Sorry,” I said. “We're just super-excited. Our soccer team made it to the winter league championship game!”

They smiled at me. “Congratulations, sweetie,” the woman said.

“And we're not the only ones!” Jessi announced. She was holding her cell phone in her hand. “The Gators beat the Gazelles. We'll be facing the Gators in the championship game!”

The room grew quiet for a second as everyone thought back to our last game against the Gators and how it had ended in defeat. Then the silence was broken.

“We'll beat them this time!” Tracey said encouragingly.

“We've got this!” Kelly added.

Courtney chimed in. “We will not be defeated!”

For everyone else on the team, it was Griffons versus Gators for the title of winter league champs. But for me and Jessi, it was also Kicks versus Kicks!

After our celebratory meal, my family picked me and Jamie up in front of the Burrito Bowl. Maisie was sitting in her usual chair behind the driver's seat, with a smear of ketchup on her cheek.

“Hey, Devin, can I listen to the new Brady McCoy song on your phone?” she asked as we climbed into the van.

Jamie looked at me. “You're a Real McCoy?” she asked in a way that instantly made me feel embarrassed for liking Brady McCoy. I was no mega fan like Emma, but I had downloaded all his songs.

“His latest single, ‘Beat of My Heart,' is great to run to,” I explained, trying not to sound too defensive.

“So can I, Devin, please?” Maisie pleaded.

I dug my phone and earbuds out of my bag and handed them to her. “Here you go, Maisie.”

Maisie put the earbuds in and was bouncing in her seat, singing along to herself, while Jamie and I got settled in the back. My mom and dad were in a deep conversation about repainting the dining room, so I knew Jamie and I would have some privacy. I hoped our conversation would go better this time.

“Do you think we can beat the Gators?” I asked, thinking it was a safe bet to talk about soccer.

Jamie frowned. “Maybe if we can take your friend out, the little one. She's too fast.”

What did Jamie mean, take Zoe out? I had heard that sometimes, in more aggressive soccer games, opposing players who were threats were targeted with rough play. If they were injured, they couldn't cause as much damage on the field. While I wanted to win the championship game, there were some things I would never do. And this was one of them.

“Zoe is my friend, but even if she weren't, I'd never agree to playing dirty like that,” I said, a little heatedly.

“I know. Devin the Girl Scout,” Jamie said in a mocking tone.

“You know, maybe I
am
a Girl Scout,” I said. I couldn't help but get angry. “But if I remember right, the Girl Scout beat the cheater last time the Kicks played the Rams.”

The words were out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop them. Part of me was glad I'd said them. Jamie had tried a lot of underhanded tricks to undermine the Kicks' confidence during the play-offs. It hadn't worked. In fact, it had made the Kicks even more determined to beat the Rams on the field, fair and square.

I braced myself, ready for a nasty retort, or at the very least the silent treatment for the rest of the ride home.

“Yeah, well, it's easy to be a Girl Scout when you've got the perfect family,” Jamie replied. “Not all of us do, you know.”

“I don't see how your family has anything to do with you cheating and playing dirty tricks on the Kicks,” I answered.

Jamie shifted in her seat, her gaze focused on her sneakers. She shrugged. “Of course you wouldn't. You're perfect Devin, who even tries to be nice to me after what a jerk I've been to you. I don't expect you to understand.”

“I'm not perfect, Jamie,” I said as I thought back to that time right after the earthquake. “In fact, a few weeks ago I felt like everything was coming apart. You saw me and how I was playing. I was going through a really tough time. So if you want to talk about it, I might understand more than you'd think.”