T.J. and the Winning Goal (2 page)

C
HAPTER
2

‘WHAT ARE YOU
doing?’ TJ asked Rob, who was scribbling busily in his notebook.

‘I’m just mapping out Tulsi’s runs,’ replied Rob. ‘It’s not as hard as you’d think, because most of the time she just waits on the edge of the area. Look.’

Rob’s diagram was like a small, spiky ball. There were one or two little spikes where she’d run to either corner of the area, or back a little way towards the centre circle. TJ laughed. ‘It’s like the one you did the first time we played a match,’ he said.

‘You’re right,’ said Rob. ‘And in every other match.’

He flipped through the pages and TJ saw that all the diagrams were the same. ‘But Tulsi’s a really good player,’ said TJ. ‘And she scores goals.’

‘Not as many as last season,’ Rob told him, shaking his head. ‘Last season she got fifteen. She was top scorer in this league. But she’s only scored four so far this season. The other teams have worked out
how
to defend against Tulsi. They get someone to mark her, and they make sure someone’s there to cover if she beats them.’

‘Maybe you should tell Tulsi all that,’ said Mrs Patel, leaning over to look in Rob’s book.

‘I don’t think so,’ Rob replied. ‘I tried once, but it didn’t do any good.’

‘I’ll tell her myself,’ Mrs Patel said. ‘After all, the Wanderers manager listens to you, Rob, so I think Tulsi should pay attention.’

Rob was embarrassed. It was true that the Wanderers manager had taken his advice once, but he hated people talking about it. ‘No, please, Mrs Patel. It won’t do any good. Honestly.’

Mrs Patel shook her head. Then she smiled. ‘Maybe she’ll score this half,’ she said. ‘That’s what we need.’

Not long after the kick off, Tulsi’s chance arrived. Two of the Norton players collided
with
each other in the centre circle and the ball ran free to Kira Jones. She sprinted forward. In front of her, Tulsi had her back to goal with a defender right behind her as usual. The midfielder hit a sharp pass to Tulsi’s feet and carried on running into the penalty area, screaming for a return pass.

Tulsi ignored her. She back-heeled the ball, deceiving her marker, and turned to take a left-foot shot. But once again a second defender was waiting. She blocked Tulsi’s shot and played a swift pass into midfield. The Norton players streamed forward and scored a perfect breakaway goal.

‘Bad luck, Tulsi,’ called Mrs Patel. ‘Better luck next time! Come on, Canby!’

Rob just shook his head. ‘That was a brilliant run that Kira Jones made,’ he said. ‘She was taking advantage of how they put that extra defender on Tulsi. Tulsi should have passed. If she had then it
would
be one–nil to Canby.’

‘I think Kira Jones agrees with you,’ said Jamie. ‘Look at her face!’

The Canby Road captain was walking back into her own half. She didn’t even glance at Tulsi. And before Canby Road could kick off again, TJ saw their coach waving from the touchline.

‘Oh no,’ said Rob. ‘She’s taking Tulsi off.’

Tulsi glanced towards the touchline, and quickly looked away again. Then the coach called her name, and she couldn’t pretend any longer. She walked very slowly off the pitch, her head down. A small girl with a blonde pony tail ran on to replace her. They saw Tulsi speak angrily to the coach and then walk off towards the changing rooms. ‘I’d better go and make sure she’s all right,’ said Mrs Patel anxiously. ‘Thank you for coming, boys.’

‘This is horrible,’ said Jamie. ‘I wish
we
weren’t here.’

‘I think it’s going to get worse,’ Rob said. ‘This new girl is pretty good.’

The blonde girl was a very different player from Tulsi. From the moment she arrived on the pitch she began to make energetic darting runs – into the corners, back towards the centre circle, and from side to side along the line of defenders. Kira Jones won the ball in midfield and instantly hit a pass towards the corner flag. The new girl was after it in a flash. She caught up with the ball and laid it back to Kira, then sprinted towards the goal. Kira played the ball into her path, but instead of shooting she pulled it back unselfishly across the goal and one of her team-mates smashed it into the net.

‘That was a proper team goal,’ said Rob, making a note of all the passes. ‘It’s almost as if Canby have an extra player now.’

‘Here they come again,’ said Rafi, who had stopped messing around with his ball and was watching the game intently. ‘This is pretty good.’

Canby Road tore the Norton team to pieces. They scored three quick goals and ran out 4–1 winners. ‘How is Tulsi going to get back in the team?’ said TJ. ‘They were a lot better
without
her.’

‘It’s not that simple,’ said Rob. ‘Tulsi’s right about one thing. She’s very good at scoring goals. That other girl didn’t score once. Tulsi could easily be as good as her. Better. She just has to listen to what Mr Wood says. It’s not as if he hasn’t told her. It’s not as if
we
haven’t told her.’

They walked back towards the changing rooms and saw Mrs Patel emerging with Tulsi beside her. They walked to the car and Tulsi didn’t look back.

‘Hey, Tulsi,’ TJ called after her. ‘Tough luck.
I
bet the next time you’ll get a hat-trick.’

The car doors slammed. TJ looked helplessly at his friends. They’d all seen the tears on Tulsi’s face. They waved half-heartedly as the Patels’ car drew away.

C
HAPTER
3

ON MONDAY MORNING
Tulsi was still in a terrible mood. ‘She shouldn’t have taken me off,’ she said. ‘If they passed to me more then I’d score more goals. It’s obvious.’

‘Right,’ said TJ. ‘It was a shame. Still, at least your team won. You’re top of the league.’

‘I suppose. But now Carla Stamp has got my place. Everyone says she played really well.’

‘That’s true,’ agreed Rob, and Tulsi’s face fell. ‘But she didn’t score any goals,’ Rob continued. ‘And that’s what you’re good at.’

‘Hey, thanks, Rob,’ said Tulsi, brightening up a little.

‘You lot,’ Jamie interrupted. ‘The bell’s gone. We don’t want to annoy Mr Wood. He’ll be picking the team soon for the Regional Tournament.’

Parkview School had recently won their District Tournament, and that meant they would soon be travelling to play against the best teams from all over their part of England. None of them wanted to miss out on that. So they ran to class.

‘Settle down, everyone,’ Mr Wood said as his pupils filed in. ‘We have two special visitors today. You’ll probably remember them.’

Mr Wood always dressed smartly in the classroom, but today he was wearing a dark-grey suit that looked new and a white shirt that seemed to shine with a light of its own. Then TJ saw the visitors and his heart sank.
The
inspectors were back, Mr Turvey and Mr Grayson. He couldn’t see why Mr Wood should be pleased. The last time the inspectors had been here they had made all the teachers miserable, especially Mr Burrows, the head. But then TJ realized that the inspectors were smiling – even Mr Grayson, who TJ had never seen smile before.

‘We’ve come to give you good news,’ Mr Turvey said. ‘It’s been absolutely remarkable the way this school has improved in such a short time, and we’ve written a report that says so. I don’t know how you’ve managed to get all this painting and decorating done—’

‘It was our mums and dads,’ Jamie interrupted, putting his hand up.

‘And grandmas and grandpas,’ added Rafi.

‘Everyone helped,’ said TJ.

‘Indeed,’ said Mr Grayson. ‘Everything has changed. We’ve seen the tremendous project work on food and football – and the school’s outstanding achievements in sport. I believe you have four football teams now, Mr Wood?’

Mr Wood smiled. ‘That was Mr Burrows’ idea,’ he told them. ‘The school has gone a little crazy about football.’

‘Well,’ said Mr Turvey, ‘you are all about to win an award for being the region’s most improved school. You deserve it. And jolly good luck in the regional football tournament too.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Mr Wood when the inspectors had left. ‘Don’t let all that praise go to your heads. We’re going to need more than luck to win the tournament. You remember how hard the last one was. We have to be really fit. So this afternoon in Games we’re going to do the beep test
again
. We’ll see if your fitness has improved since the last time.’

TJ glanced round at Tulsi. She had a big smile on her face. The last time they’d done a beep test, on a school visit to the Wanderers training ground, Tulsi had been the fittest person in the whole of Year Six.

‘Do you think you’re going to win again?’ asked TJ at lunch time.

‘Sure,’ said Tulsi. ‘I’m just as fit as I was then.’

‘Well, I’m going to try and beat you,’ laughed TJ. ‘All the extra training I’ve been doing must have helped a bit.’

Outside on the playground that afternoon Mr Wood laid out rows of cones, then he sent Year Six off to jog around the field to warm up. ‘Line up here,’ he said when they returned.

TJ looked along the line and saw that
nobody
was breathing hard. They were all definitely fitter than before. ‘When you hear a beep, run to the next set of cones,’ Mr Wood said. ‘At the next beep you turn and run back. The beeps will speed up, and once you’ve been late for two beeps I’ll call you out. Everyone ready? Off you go.’

Rob was running alongside TJ.

‘Definitely better,’ he said after the first few runs, glancing at his watch. ‘Last time, the first person dropped out after two minutes. We’ve been going for four already.’

Just as Rob spoke TJ heard Mr Wood’s whistle and the first person jogged over to wait beside him. Slowly at first, other people dropped behind the beats until only about half the class were left. TJ looked along the line again. ‘Jamie’s still going,’ TJ said to Rob. Jamie had been one of the first to go before.

‘What do you expect?’ said Rob, smiling,
as
they turned to the beep. ‘After all that trouble we went to, to help him get fit.’

The next beep caught TJ by surprise. He was late. ‘Get a move on,’ said Rob, gritting his teeth. ‘This is where it starts to hurt.’

‘Come on, Tulsi,’ called Mr Wood. ‘You can do it!’

The group waiting beside Mr Wood had grown. Everyone who was still running had played in the school team at some time. Beside Rob and TJ there were Rafi and Portuguese Rodrigo, and Tommy the skateboarder. They were urging each other on in a group. Then came Jamie, Ariyan, Leila, Ebony, Cameron, Danny and Tulsi.

But Tulsi was falling behind. TJ couldn’t believe it, but he had no breath to say anything more to Rob. At the next beep they heard the whistle, and Tulsi was walking back to Mr Wood.

The beeps came faster and faster. Now
there
were only four runners left: TJ, Jamie, Rob and Rodrigo. At the next beep Rodrigo and Jamie were finished, but TJ hardly noticed. All he could think of were those terrible beeps. He saw Rob pull half a metre ahead of him, and sure enough at the next turn Rob was on time and TJ was half a second late. TJ put on a spurt and caught up with Rob, but his lungs were bursting and his muscles felt as if they were on fire. Another beep, and another, and suddenly TJ knew he was beaten. His legs simply wouldn’t do what he told them any more. He struggled to the side and bent over, gasping for air, as the whole class applauded Rob,
turning
, running, turning, and finally stopping.