Shaken Up

by Alex Morgan

  “Of course I’ll be at your game,” Dad said. “I scheduled Maisie’s practice for later this afternoon.”

  After breakfast Mom, Dad, Maisie, and I left for the Pinewood Rec Center. Pinewood was a nearby town that was a lot fancier than Kentville, which meant it had a super nice soccer field. When the school league started up and I was playing with the Kicks again, the nice soccer field would probably be the thing I missed most about being on the Griffons. The Kicks’ field was decent, but not as fancy as Pinewood’s.

  We got to the field at eight fifteen sharp. The game started at nine, so Mom, Dad, and Maisie went to stake out the best spot in the bleachers, while I went to warm up with the team.

  There were eighteen players on the Griffons, and eleven at a time were on the field during a game. When I’d first joined the Griffons, the only players I’d known had been Jessi, Zarine, and Sarah, all from the Kicks; Mirabelle, who’d been on the Kicks briefly, before transferring to Pinewood; and Jamie, who had tried to sabotage the Kicks.

  It hadn’t been easy getting to know the other twelve members of the team—not because they’d been unfriendly (although a few of them had been, to begin with) but because Coach Darby hadn’t done a lot of teamwork exercises with us. That had changed a little bit once she’d seen that we played better once we had learned how to communicate with one another.

  “Devin, ready?” Coach called out to me.

  “Ready!” I called back, and then I launched into our pregame ritual—which I had taught the team.

  I did a cartwheel. “Lauren!” I cried, naming one of my teammates.

  Lauren did a cartwheel. “Katie!” she called out.

  Every player took a turn until every girl had been called on. By the time the last girl had done her cartwheel, our energy was pumped up for the game. We got even more pumped up by getting together in a circle and doing the “I Believe” chant together.

  “All right, girls. Let’s do some passing drills to warm up!” Coach shouted, and everyone hurried to line up.

  Before the drills started, I looked up into the stands. There were Dad, Mom, and Maisie. I checked to see if Steven and Cody were there, like they had said they would be, but I didn’t see them anywhere. That bugged me a little bit. On Thursday and Friday, Steven had walked with Hailey to English class again, and I hadn’t had a chance to remind him about the game.

  “Devin, look alive!” Coach called out, and that was when I noticed the ball whizzing past my feet. The drill had started, but I hadn’t been paying attention.

  “Sorry, Coach!” I called out, and chased after the ball.

  It wasn’t the best way to start things off. I tried to really focus for the rest of the warm-up, to get my head in the game. The Griffons had just started winning, and we couldn’t afford to lose if we were going to win the championship!

  When warm-up was over, Coach Darby called out the starting lineup. I was psyched that she put me in midfield with Jessi and Sasha. I hadn’t had a strong start to the winter season, but I had worked hard to prove to Coach Darby that I was a good player. The fact that she was starting me showed that she believed in me.

  So I was feeling pretty good when I got out onto the field. The Gophers got control of the ball first. Jessi swiped the ball from the Gophers’ forward as the girl was dribbling down the field. Then Jessi passed it to me.

  I dribbled toward the Gophers’ goal. From the corner of my eye, I could see one of the Gophers coming for me. I needed to pass, and Jamie was open. I slowed down, and then I kicked.

  As I connected with the ball, I felt my foot slip. Instead of shooting straight to Jamie, the ball veered sharply to the right—and directly in front of the feet of one of the Gophers!

  Jamie scowled and chased after the ball. I looked down. What had happened? And then I noticed that my right shoe was untied.

  What an embarrassing pass! And I couldn’t just stop and fix my shoe, so I ran around with my lace flapping until the next time-out was called.

  “Nice pass back there, Devin,” Jamie said, walking past me. “You know you’re on the Griffons, right?”

  I cringed inside but didn’t answer her. That had been a horrible attempt at a pass. Yes, it had been an accident, but I felt like I deserved her comment.

  I didn’t do anything else embarrassing for the rest of the quarter, thank goodness—but I didn’t score any goals either. So I wasn’t surprised that Coach Darby benched me when the quarter was up—although, thanks to goals by Jamie and Sasha, the Griffons were up, 2–0.

  Jessi flashed me a sympathetic look as I jogged off the field and Tracey ran in to replace me.

  I watched the second quarter from the bench. The Gophers were having a rough game. Jessi, Jamie, and Tracey each scored—and the Gophers couldn’t manage a single goal.

  At halftime Tracey ran back to the bench, her dark eyes shining.

  “I scored a goal! Finally!” she said. “This must be my lucky game.”

  Jessi was grinning too. “I’m one third of the way to my hat trick,” she boasted. Then she looked up at the stands. “Even though it doesn’t look like Cody’s here to see it.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Although, I’m kind of glad Steven wasn’t here to see me make that pass.”

  I was itching to get back into the game, to prove to Coach that I was a better player than that pass. But I didn’t get my way. She kept me on the bench for the rest of the game.

  Jessi got to play one more quarter. She made a second goal, but she didn’t get her hat trick. The Gophers managed to score twice, but that wasn’t enough to save them. The Griffons won, 7–2.

  When the game was over, I stood up, pasted a smile onto my face, and cheered with the rest of my team. But I didn’t jump up and down or hug anybody. I just didn’t want to, which was not like me at all. Normally I’d have been really happy for my team, no matter what.

  What is wrong with me? I wondered.

  “Devin, what’s bugging you?” Jessi asked me.

  “Being benched,” I replied, but that wasn’t all of it. Something was wrong, and I could feel it.

  Was I losing my soccer mojo?

  “Well, cheer up,” Jessi said as we walked back to the stands. “In a little while you’ll be eating pizza and laughing when Emma accidentally gives herself another tomato sauce mustache.”

  “That’s right. I’d forgotten about our pizza date,” I replied. Last night my four friends and I had all texted and checked our schedules and decided that we could meet for a Saturday lunch. Anytime I got a chance to be with Jessi, Emma, Zoe, and Frida all in one place was a good time. I hoped our get-together would be the pick-me-up I needed.

  “Devin, you hardly played!” Maisie cried out loudly as she ran toward me, followed by our parents.

  “Ugh, Maisie!” I snapped, and then Maisie got that sad look she got when her feelings were hurt.

  I sighed. “Sorry. I just didn’t need the news blast about how I got benched.”

  “Everyone has a bad game from time to time,” Dad said. “The important thing is that you tried your best.”

  “I tried my best, but my shoelace came untied,” I said. “It’s so unfair!”

  “Life isn’t always going to be fair,” Mom said. “You just have to make the best of it.”

  “I guess so,” I replied. “Mom, after we get home, can you give me a ride to Pizza Kitchen? I’m meeting my friends there at noon.”

  “Oh, honey, you should have checked with me,” Mom said. “I made appointments for you and Maisie at the dentist at noon.”

  I groaned. “Do I have to?”

  “Devin, you haven’t had your teeth checked since we moved to California,” Mom said. “I would be a terrible parent if I canceled this appointment.”

  “No, you’d be a great parent for letting your daughter spend some much needed social time with her friends,” I said, hoping desperately to change her mind. But she was not moved.

  “Sorry, Devin,” Mom said firmly, and I knew there wa
s no point in arguing.

  Talk about not fair! Instead of having pizza with my friends I was stuck going to the dentist.

  I turned to Jessi. “Tell everyone I’m sorry,” I said. I couldn’t bear to text them myself. I was too bummed out.

  I was silent for the ride home, but it didn’t matter, because Maisie kept talking and talking about her team’s first game tomorrow. After we got home, I showered and got dressed for the dentist, and I made sure to bring my earbuds with me to the car so I wouldn’t have to listen to Maisie the whole way.

  To be honest, I was pretty nervous about going to the dentist. Back in Connecticut I’d had the same dentist for as long I could remember, Dr. Benson. He was an okay dentist. His walls were painted the color of pea soup, and the music he played didn’t have anybody singing along. Going to the dentist was never fun, but at least I’d always known what to expect.

  I had no idea what this new dentist would be like—and I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.

  Mom finally pulled up in front of a little brick building painted yellow. It looked cheerful, I thought. Once we got inside, the walls were painted pale blue, and there were rainbows on them. I looked around and saw a colorful set of blocks and some plastic trucks, and then I realized I was the only kid in the waiting room older than ten.

  “Mom, is this a little kids’ dentist?” I hissed as we sat down on a blue couch to wait.

  “Dr. Sonya is a pediatric dentist, yes,” Mom replied.

  “So a dentist for little kids,” I repeated. “But I’m not a little kid!”

  Mom sighed. “No, you’re not, but you’re not an adult yet either,” she said. “I’m sure Dr. Sonya has lots of other patients your age.”

  The receptionist looked up from the desk. “Ms. Burke, which of your daughters would like to go first?” she asked.

  “Maisie!” I said.

  “Me!” Maisie cried out at the same time. Of course. Only someone like Maisie would be excited about going to the dentist.

  “I’ll stay with Maisie,” Mom said. “It’ll be your turn soon.”

  Twenty minutes later a young guy in a white coat came into the waiting room.

  “Devin? I’m Marc. I’ll be cleaning your teeth today,” he said.

  “Okay. Um, thanks,” I said, and Marc ushered me into a room with one of those big chairs with the little sink attached.

  Marc cleaned my teeth with one of those scrapey things, and then polished them, and it didn’t hurt as bad as I remembered. When he finally finished, he tried to hand me a sticker of a smiling puppy that said, MY TEETH ARE CLEAN! but that was just too much.

  “No, thanks,” I said, and Marc shrugged.

  Then he led me to another room, where Maisie was sitting on a regular chair with Mom and wearing a sticker with a smiling duck on it that read, NO CAVITIES!

  “This must be Devin,” said a woman in a light blue doctor’s coat. She had a friendly smile and wore her long, dark brown hair in a single side braid. “I’m Dr. Sonya. Have a seat.”

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Devin, do you want Maisie and me to stay?” Mom asked.

  “No. I think I got this,” I replied, trying to sound as mature as possible.

  “I got no cavities, Devin! Bet you can’t beat me!” Maisie challenged me as Mom walked her out.

  “It’s not a contest, Maisie,” I said wearily.

  “I’m sure you’ll do just fine, Devin,” Dr. Sonya assured me.

  I settled into the dentist chair, a dental assistant named Kathy came in, and Dr. Sonya began to poke around in my mouth. It was slightly less annoying than when Marc had been scraping my teeth, because Dr. Sonya was a lot gentler.

  “Okay, Devin,” she said after a few minutes. “I see you have three cavities.”

  “Three?” I asked, horrified.

  “Do you floss your teeth every day?” she asked.

  I had to think about that. I pretty much flossed only when Mom said, “Devin! Don’t forget to floss your teeth tonight!”

  “Um, not really,” I admitted.

  “So, you might want to start flossing regularly,” she said. “In the meantime we’ll get you an appointment to have those three cavities taken care of.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

  Kathy brought me back to the waiting room, and Mom went to the counter to get our paperwork. I saw her eyes go wide when she saw that I needed another appointment.

  She actually turned around and said, “Three cavities, Devin?”

  I shrugged.

  “I win! I win!” Maisie cried triumphantly.

  I ignored Maisie. I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but Mom was taking forever at the counter.

  Finally Mom finished up, and we left the office. Maisie was skipping and singing the whole way back to the car.

  “I win! I win! I win!”

  “Quiet, Maisie. It wasn’t a contest!” I snapped, and I slammed the door when I climbed into the front passenger seat.

  “Was so!” Maisie said. “Devin might be better at soccer than me, but I’m better at teeth!”

  I looked at my mother. “Mom!” I pleaded.

  “Maisie, there was no contest,” Mom said. “I am very proud of you for having no cavities. But please don’t make Devin feel bad about it.”

  “Okay,” Maisie said as the car pulled out of the parking lot. “Maybe I can help Devin. Dr. Sonya said I should keep doing exactly what I’m doing to keep my teeth clean. I can show you how to brush and floss the right way when we get home, if you want.”

  Thanks to messing up in the game and being benched and missing lunch with my friends, I was in a terrible mood. So when Maisie said that, I was sure she was trying to rub in the fact that I had three cavities and she didn’t.

  I exploded. “MOM! Make her stop.”

  “Now, Devin, Maisie’s just trying to be nice,” Mom said.

  “She is NOT trying to be nice,” I said. “How can you not see that? She’s trying to bug me on purpose.”

  “I am not! I’m trying to help!” Maisie protested. But I swore I detected a defiant little twinkle in her eyes. I wasn’t buying the innocent act.

  “Devin, lower your voice, please,” Mom said.

  “Yes, lower your voice,” Maisie added.

  “See what I mean?” I asked Mom.

  “I’m just trying to be nice because you lost the cavity contest and I won,” Maisie said.

  “It was NOT a contest!” I insisted.

  “Was so, because I said so,” Maisie said.

  I turned to look at the backseat. “SHUT UP ALREADY!”

  “Devin!” Mom scolded. She looked at me, shocked. “We do not say ‘shut up’ in this family! You know that! Now calm down, young lady.”

  “You need to tell Maisie to calm down,” I argued.

  “You are both behaving badly,” Mom said. “Maisie, no television for you this weekend.”

  Maisie pouted, and I felt pretty happy about that—until Mom dropped the next piece of news.

  “And, Devin, no phone or video chatting this weekend,” Mom added.

  “WHAT?” I shrieked. “But I need to video chat with Kara. She’ll wonder what’s wrong.”

  “You may text her right now and explain that you can’t chat with her tonight,” Mom said. “Then you will give me your phone when we get home.”

  Things could not be any worse, I thought as I took out my phone to text Kara. Then I noticed a text from Coach Darby.

  Our game with the Grizzlies has been moved to tomorrow. 2 p.m. in Rancho Verdes.

  “We have a game tomorrow,” I announced.

  “No fair!” Maisie wailed. “I have a game tomorrow. We can’t both have a game!”

  “We’ll figure it out when we get all the details,” Mom said with a sigh. “Honestly, can’t you two girls stop arguing just for five minutes?”

  I put my earbuds in and listened to music on my phone for the rest of the ride. Obviously things could get worse, and they already had—be
cause Dad coached Maisie’s team, and he couldn’t be in two places at once. And Mom wouldn’t want to miss Maisie’s first game either. Which would mean no cheering section in the stands for me.

  I knew we were close to home, so I sent my text to Kara.

  Can’t video chat this weekend because of a stupid fight with Maisie. Everything is awful.

  Kara replied quickly.

  Yep, that frowny face summed things up exactly.

  I could barely eat my dinner that night, I was so upset about the absolutely awful day I’d had. It didn’t help that Maisie was bragging to my dad about her awesome dental checkup. But I let her talk, because I didn’t want to get into any more trouble! It was time for things to get better, not worse.

  When dinner was over, Maisie went up to her room, but my parents asked me to stick around so they could talk to me.

  “Devin, we don’t want you to worry about us not coming to tomorrow’s game,” my mom said in a gentle tone. It didn’t help. I was still mad at her for not realizing that the fight about the dentist was all Maisie’s fault. “Maisie’s game is at one, and yours is at two. We can do both.”

  “But they’re so close together,” I pointed out.

  “Maisie’s game won’t be as long as a middle school game,” Dad said. “We might miss the first few minutes of your game, but we will be there. I promise. I haven’t missed one of your games yet, and I’m not about to start now!” He smiled. “Okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay,” I said flatly, not believing they could possibly make it in time. “Can I be excused now?”

  My mom and dad exchanged glances before my mom answered, “Of course.”

  I headed up to my room to not video chat with Kara and to not text with Jessi, Frida, Emma, and Zoe. I figured I would go stare at the wall until I fell asleep. But the problem was, I couldn’t fall asleep. I kept staring at the trophy on my shelf, remembering how it had almost fallen onto my head. And when I did fall asleep, I tossed and turned all night.