A Goal for Joaquin

by Jerry McGinley

  “I must not have met this Cocoa yet,” said Joaquin.

  “No,” Meta smiled, “if you’d have met her, you would’ve remembered her. Cocoa is one of a kind!” Both girls laughed.

  “I don’t know if I want to meet this girl or not.” Joaquin was blushing as he spoke.

  “Oh, I think you’ll like her,” Kari said. “You just look at kids in the halls tomorrow and try to pick out the girl who can run circles around every kid in this school.”

  “And who can hold her ground against any player male or female,” Meta cut in. “If you can pick her out of the crowd, then you’ve got a good eye for soccer players.”

  “I’ll look for her. But I better get going or I’ll miss my bus and have to walk home my first day at this school. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said as he found his locker and started to crank through the combination of numbers.

  “Yeah, we’ll see you, Joaquin. Let’s get together and talk about how we’re going to get the team going.”

  “That sounds great,” said Joaquin. “I’m sure glad you noticed my shoes. It made my first day at Willowdale a good one. See ya tomorrow!”

  “Hey,” laughed Kari, “you can’t miss us. There are only two hundred and fifty students here. You probably had ten times that many when you lived in California.”

  After Kari and Meta left, Joaquin walked through the hall trying to find the front exit where he was supposed to meet bus number eleven. He couldn’t wait to get home to tell his family about Kari and Meta. Even though he had spent only eight hours at Willowdale, he was convinced that he was going to enjoy his two and a half years there.

  Chapter 11

  His second day at Willowdale, Joaquin was distracted trying to figure out who Cocoa Mareno was. From the comments made by Kari and Meta, he expected to see a real Amazon woman hulking through the halls. They said she wouldn’t back down to any challenge. Joaquin assumed that meant she was big and strong. Every hour between classes, he scoured the halls for a large, muscular girl wearing Umbro shorts and a World Cup tee-shirt. That is the image that he’d formed. He saw no one that came close to the picture he had in his head.

  At lunch he sat next to Julio Rodriguez. They talked about school and about Joaquin’s life before he moved to Wisconsin. A few minutes before the bell was to ring, Joaquin asked Julio if he knew a girl named Cocoa Mareno. Julio looked surprised at the question. Joaquin detected a slight flush of color in his new friend’s cheeks. “You just moved here and already you’re asking about Cocoa? You don’t waste any time do you? How did you meet Cocoa already?” Julio asked with a suspicious smile on his face.

  “I didn’t meet her yet,” Joaquin answered. “I just heard that she was a good soccer player. I love to play soccer, so I was just curious about her. The way Kari and Meta talk, this Cocoa sounds like some kind of Wonder Woman.”

  “Wonder Woman? Yeah, you could describe her that way I guess,” Julio said. “Well, you just keep looking, Joaquin. When you see her, she’ll stand out. Cocoa will catch your attention. I guarantee you that.” Julio chuckled to himself as he stood up and stacked his wrappers and milk cartons on to his tray.

  “I can’t wait to see her,” Joaquin said, “but when I meet her I’m going to be ready to step out of her way. She sounds like a hard case to me.”

  Julio laughed and walked away without further comment. The bell rang and Joaquin hurried off to biology class. He was pleasantly surprised to see Kari and Meta sitting at a lab table in the back of the biology room. He hadn’t noticed them yesterday. Of course, he hadn’t met them until after school, so there was no reason why they would’ve stood out. When everyone in school is unfamiliar, all faces tend to blur together for the first few days. He walked over and said hello to them and then went over to the table where he was assigned to sit the previous day.

  The hour dragged slowly. Most of the time was spent watching a filmstrip about ferns. Joaquin was glad the projector made a loud beeping sound to let the teacher know when to advance to the next frame. He was afraid that without that sound he might have dozed off, and he certainly didn’t want to do that his second day in class. Though he was never a brilliant student, Joaquin prided himself on always giving his best effort in school. Most of the time that effort earned him high B’s, good enough to make the honor roll throughout most of his school years.

  Toward the end of the class period, after the fern filmstrip mercifully ended and after the teacher gave the assignment for the following day, there was a knock on the door. A student entered with a message for the teacher. At first Joaquin paid little attention. Then suddenly he got a good look at the messenger. Now Joaquin wasn’t what anybody would call a lady’s man, but he couldn’t help but gawk at this girl. She was beautiful. Joaquin tried not to stare, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  He first noticed that her hair and her skin were almost the exact same shade of golden brown. Her hair was long and silky straight with highlights that lit up the room like sunbeams. It was tied back in a long, loose ponytail. She was small, maybe 5’2 or 5’3, and she was obviously in very good physical condition. Her movements were as graceful as a dancer’s. When she turned to leave the room, she looked toward the students in the class and smiled. Her eyes were big and round, and the irises looked black as coal, except that Joaquin thought he saw a sparkle. He was reminded of a black onyx stone that his grandmother wore on a necklace when she dressed up for holidays and special occasions. He was surprised by the number of details he noticed in such a brief appearance.

  Joaquin was nearly dazed by the vision. After the girl left the room, Joaquin felt embarrassed. He hoped no one had noticed him staring. He slumped down in his chair wishing the bell would hurry up and ring. He heard a fake cough somewhere behind him but paid little attention. He heard two more coughs and knew that someone was trying to get another student’s attention. Being new in school, he assumed the signal was not directed at him. Finally, after two more coughs, he casually looked back over his right shoulder. He saw Kari and Meta looking directly at him. They were both laughing. He guessed they’d seen the way he had looked at the girl with golden hair, and he was sure they were laughing at him. He smiled in their direction. Kari mouthed a silent word to him. Joaquin was no lip-reader, but he had little trouble recognizing the two syllables that Kari was saying—Co-Co.

  At first he was confused. Why was she saying Cocoa? Then it hit him. The girl with the message. Kari was telling him that the girl who just left the room was Cocoa Mareno. At first he felt embarrassed. Then he felt annoyed, maybe even a little angry. There was no way the girl who just walked out of the room was the super-stud soccer player that he’d heard so much about. This supposedly was the girl who could keep up with any guy in school and not back down from any confrontation? No way, he thought. This girl was much too pretty to mix it up on a muddy soccer field. Soccer is a rough sport. He just couldn’t picture this goddess making sliding tackles or bouncing a ball off her forehead. He could see her playing the lead in the school play or maybe modeling for a magazine, but no way could he see her playing midfielder.

  When the bell rang, he gathered his books and headed toward the door. He didn’t look back at Kari and Meta. He resented the fact that they had played this joke on him about the mythical soccer queen. Maybe the whole thing was a big prank. Maybe they were lying to him about starting a team. Maybe that was their way of initiating the new kid in school. The idea that he’d been the brunt of a practical joke left him feeling empty inside. He could just imagine how they were laughing at him now.

  As he walked up the hall, he heard quick footsteps behind him. “Hey, Joaquin, wait up!” He recognized Meta’s husky voice. He didn’t look back. He was too angry about being treated like a fool.

  “Joaquin!” This time it was Kari’s voice. He reluctantly turned to face his tormentors, but there was no malice in their faces. They looked as friendly as they had yesterday when they asked him if he played soccer. “Hey, what’s your hurry? Yo
u’ve got four minutes to get to English. We wanted to ask you what you thought of Cocoa.”

  “You’re putting me on aren’t you?” He stammered as he spoke. “That’s the girl you told me about? I’m sorry, but for some reason she doesn’t look like she’d be such a tough player.”

  “Oh, you think just because she’s pretty she can’t play soccer?” Kari asked. “You think girls are too weak to play sports?”

  “No, I didn’t say that,” Joaquin felt like he’d been backed into a corner. “I just didn’t think she looked like a player. But I can’t pretend I didn’t notice she was pretty.” He flipped the hair from his forehead to the side. He could tell he was blushing.

  “Well, you’re going to be surprised when you see Cocoa on the soccer field. Hey, we better get to get to class,” Meta kindly changed the subject. “But we’ve got to talk about how we’re going to get a enough players to sign up in the next couple of weeks. We’ve got to have our proposal ready for the March school board meeting. So we need anybody you can talk into playing. See ya later!”

  “Yeah, maybe after school,” he said as his friends walked away. He felt stupid now for thinking that they’d tried to make a fool of him. He hoped they didn’t think he was a jerk who was friendly one minute and then cold the next. He didn’t know what to think. Could he really end up playing soccer on the same team with that girl with the dark eyes and long golden hair? It was too much to think about, so he strolled into English class.

  * * *

  During the next couple of weeks, Joaquin spent most of his free time with Kari and Meta. The three of them met daily to plot ways of rounding up enough players to convince school officials to approve their proposal to start a soccer team. Meta and Kari were always together, and they always seemed enthusiastic about having Joaquin join them. Everyday they met in the cafeteria after seventh hour ended. There they decided the plan of action for the day. Usually they walked to Kari’s house and studied lists of potential candidates.

  Sometimes Cocoa joined their planning sessions, but most days she either rode the bus home from school or walked downtown to Marge’s Cafe where she worked part-time waiting tables. Joaquin had mixed feelings when Cocoa joined the group. On the one hand he was always happy to be near her, but at the same time he felt awkward and shy around her. Some days he and Kari and Meta went to Marge’s Cafe for their strategy sessions. Joaquin always worried that he would spill his Pepsi down the front of his shirt or trip getting out of the booth and look stupid in front of Cocoa. Even though he tried to look at Cocoa as just another kid who liked to play soccer, still he had a tough time looking beyond those big dark eyes. In his honest moments, he had to admit to himself that he was developing a crush on Cocoa.

  Joaquin was successful in convincing Julio to add his name to the list of soccer recruits. He’d never played soccer before, but he was an excellent sprinter on the track team. He was defending conference champion in the 100 meter dash and had finished third in 200 meters. Since track was a spring sport, there’d be no conflict in his playing soccer in the fall. Joaquin convinced Julio that with his speed he could be a real asset to the team even if he had limited soccer skills and experience. A really fast player can save a close game by catching an opponent on a breakaway run at the goal. He can also serve as a decoy on offense. No team can ignore a lightning fast forward racing toward the net. Of course, Joaquin was pleased to have Julio sign up for the team because they had become friends. He looked forward to the fun of playing soccer next year season for a team with players who were his friends.

  Still in the back of his mind he couldn’t ignore the strongest passion for his playing on a new team—his burning desire to get revenge against Coach Sommers and his former teammates at Lakeshore. He couldn’t repress images of himself scoring the winning goal against Lakeshore. He loved to imagine the painful grimace of Sommers’ big red face.

  Chapter 12

  By the end of February, the soccer organizers had secured fourteen commitments to play on the team the following fall. In addition to Kari, Meta, Cocoa, Joaquin, and Julio, nine other students had agreed to play. Of this group three were eighth graders who would be freshmen in the fall making them eligible for the high school team. This group had been overlooked until Julio sat in on one of the after school planning sessions. Only six of the nine had ever played organized soccer, but they all gave their solemn promises that they wouldn’t change their minds. With fourteen commitments, the group felt sure they could convince the school board to sponsor a team.

  One day after school Joaquin was sitting in the school cafeteria with Meta, Kari, Cocoa and Julio. All were enthusiastically planning their presentation to the school officials. Confidence was running high about the possibility of actually forming a team. Reluctantly, Joaquin raised a question that took some joy out of the conversation. “I don’t want to change the subject,” he started, “and I don’t know that this is really important to start worrying about yet, but I was just wondering if any of the players in our group ever played goalkeeper. I mean, I know we can put somebody back there and teach them to try to stop balls from going into the net, but in order to win games we’re going to need a decent goalie.” Everyone was quiet, obviously surprised by the tactical question raised by Joaquin.

  Julio responded first, “Joaquin, we haven’t even got a team yet, and you’re worried about who’s going to play what position. I think we need to tackle one problem at a time.” He reached over and landed a fake punch on Joaquin’s shoulder. “Come on, man, let’s just worry about the school board now.”

  Kari gave Meta and Cocoa a funny look, then she turned to Joaquin. “Well, you’ve raised an interesting point, Joaquin. Actually, this is something we discussed when we started making plans for the team. You guys wouldn’t know this, but one of the most talented goalkeepers in the state just happens to be a student here at Willowdale.” Meta let out a little chuckle when Kari pronounced the word “student.”

  “Great, why didn’t somebody tell me?” Joaquin asked as he picked up the list of players and scanned through the names. “Which name is it? We should include him in our planning sessions. A good goalkeeper can be the heart of the team. Especially one just getting started. Wow, you really think he’s the best goalie in the state?”

  “His name’s not on the list,” Kari answered. “I said he was one of the most talented goalies in the state. I didn’t say he was going to play for our team.”

  “I don’t get it,” Julio cut in. “If he’s so good, why isn’t he signed up for the team?”

  “Yeah, we’ve got to talk to this guy. I can’t believe you haven’t mentioned this before.” There was a mixture of confusion and anger in Joaquin’s voice.

  “Well, there’s a slight problem with getting this guy to play on our team.” Cocoa spoke each word slowly and cautiously.

  “A problem?” Joaquin asked. “What kind of problem? If he goes to this school, he can’t play for another team can he?” He seemed dumfounded by the conversation.

  “Well, I’ll give you a hint about the problem.” Kari sounded sarcastic as she spoke. “Here it is in one word,” She paused a few seconds and then continued. “Here’s the clue—Monte.”

  “Monte. What’s that supposed to mean?” Joaquin was getting irritated by this mysterious conversation. “You guys aren’t making any sense.” He got that same hollow feeling in his stomach that he had the day he thought Kari and Meta were putting him on about Cocoa Mareno. For a second he wondered again whether this whole soccer thing was some elaborate scheme to make him look stupid. After what happened at Lakeshore, he was always a little suspicious of people when it came to soccer. He looked at Julio for support. “Do you understand what’s going on here?”

  Julio gave a disappointed laugh and nodded his head. “I think I know what Kari is talking about,” he answered.

  “Well, would you tell me? I feel like I’m lost in a deep dark forest here,” Joaquin said.

  Cocoa gave Joaquin a sy
mpathetic look and said, “Evidently, you don’t know who Monte is. If you did, you’d understand the problem.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know anybody named Monte. Maybe somebody can fill me in so I don’t feel like some kind of idiot.” This conversation was obviously taxing Joaquin’s patience.

  “Well, I’m sure you’ve seen Monte Rose around school,” Cocoa started.

  “Yeah, he’s here at least two or three days a week,” Kari cut in with a sardonic laugh.

  “You must have seen him,” Cocoa continued. “He’s the guy that’s either roaming the halls or sitting in the office. The kid with the bushy red Bozo the Clown hairdo.” She held her hands about six inches from the sides of her head to emphasize what she was saying.

  “You mean the guy who wears the baggy pants with pockets that are down around his knees? And the green hooded sweatshirt that we could all fit into at the same time? That’s the guy you’re talking about?” Joaquin was dumbfounded by the revelation. “This guy is the best goalkeeper in the state?” He paused to digest the realization. “I saw him doing laps around the gym floor on his skateboard the other day. I thought Mr. Henderson was going to have a heart attack. I don’t believe it.”

  “Now you know why we never brought it up.” Meta said resolutely.

  “I can’t believe this guy was a great player.” Joaquin sounded like he was about to collapse in a state of shock. “What makes you think he can even play?”

  “I’ve seen him play,” Kari answered. “He moved here from Milwaukee when he was in seventh grade. He’d been on the state Olympic development team and had traveled all over the country competing in tournaments and camps. He played club soccer in Madison the first year or two that he lived here. I watched him. He was unbelievable. Nothing could get by him. Heck, he must be six-foot-three, and his arms are like eagle wings. He moved like a cat and always seemed to know where the ball was going to be.” There was a hint of admiration in Kari’s voice.