by Chris Ashley
This was a walk that came from the eyes. And those eyes had hushed the crowd around the pitch. They had Lee Raynor walking backwards and the rest of Rock Star Whites looking for their mums. The World Champion was coming for them.
Wasim took his eyes off of the Champ to look over at his brother again. This was what he’d wanted ever since he’d seen the firework come into the mosque and the fingers sticking up on the bus, and especially after he’d seen Atif’s battered face during the week.
He hadn’t caused any explosions and everyone he knew was sickened by the sort of people that had. So what had happened since – the fighting and the name-calling and the being left out – was not fair! And now here was someone to stick up for them.
But it was just like when he’d had the chance to send a Wasim rocket shot against Robert Bailey in his Woodley Wanderers trial. Suddenly, Wasim wasn’t sure he wanted it.
The walk only lasted seconds, and so did the silence, because suddenly – WHACK! – Sayid sent the duffle bag he was carrying thundering into the ground. The fighter’s eyes burned one more flame and then, quick as the punches that made him the best in the world, his arms shot into the bag.
“You! You! You!”
And out came the silky green Nike football shirts like the one that he was wearing. He threw them at Rock Star Whites – one each.
“Yours, yours, yours. Hurry up, lads. It’s showtime! I’m up front.”
And Sayid set the ball on the centre spot and leaned over the ref. He gave him a kiss on top of his bald head and blew the whistle hanging round his neck. The crowd howled with laughter and roared as Sayid passed the ball to Charles, who was still putting his shirt on but managed to get it back to him. Then the Champ took the ball around Faizhan and hammered a shot at goal. The shot hit Atif on the chest, but he managed to get the ball down to his feet and clear it.
And that was it. It was football now and everything else forgotten.
The Champ had done his bit by then. He did a few juggles to get a laugh but actually, he might have been the best in the world at boxing, but he definitely wasn’t the best at football.
After a few minutes he went into a tackle and pretended to be fouled and rolled over and over to get more cheers and pretend jeers.
“OK, OK,” he clowned, “I give up. You guys are too tough for me. . .” And, pretending to be out of breath and limping, he made his way to the side.
Everyone knew that he was joking and that he had been a really good sport. They cheered and clapped him off.
But one voice shouted louder than the others. It was Khaled, who Wasim had seen leading a group down to the playground when it had ‘kicked off’ outside school.
“Hey, Sayid!” he shouted. “How come you played for them – for the Whites?”
Then Sayid Akram’s eyes flashed again and he turned back to the pitch to face the shout. It was silent again.
“I didn’t,” the Champ grinned. “I played for the Greens.”
There was silence. Then one clap. Then two. Then everyone was clapping. They all got it. The Champ had broken the them and us.
Wasim felt an arm round his shoulder. It was Uncle Zan, with Mr Holloway next to him, slurping away at a cup of tea.
“What do you think of that, Wasim? Just like Mr Holloway’s story. A football match to bring people together. I know Sayid’s dad from his mosque. He’s a real champ, yes?”
Wasim nodded slowly. And then he was nodding some more – Sayid was talking to him.
“OK, mate. Can you sub for me?”
Wasim couldn’t stop nodding. The World Champ was pulling off his green football shirt and handing it over. Wasim just stared.
“You’d better get on there, mate.”
And Wasim found himself in a proper World Champ’s Nike football shirt running on to play for Rock Star—To play for the Greens! And it turned out that it was against the Whites. Because, from another bag, Sayid had produced a set of proper white Wanderers shirts, real ones, just like they sold in the club shop. And he had given them to the AC Wizards.
Wasim looked around at his teammates. His excitement turned to nervousness. But it had been OK for a World Champ Muslim to play for the Greens, so now it had to be OK for a Year Five Muslim to play for them. This wasn’t black and white, or Asian and English. It was coming together – green shirts against white ones. So it wasn’t about winning. . .
But Wasim Ahmed was Wasim Ahmed and he always tried to win, and, whatever they were thinking, he was there to help the Greens out. So, soon he was crunching into tackles against Atif, Faizhan and the others.
Then Gary Raynor got the ball on the centre spot. Wasim called for it and the ball came. He went round one, two and BLAST! The ball hit the back of the five-a-side net and rocked it backwards.
The crowd were all still there, and there was a roar they could have heard in Las Vegas.
That should have been the best bit. But it wasn’t!
Wasim’s massive green shirt was everywhere – the cheers seemed to have given him ten sets of lungs. And then he got the ball at the back and was ready to start a new attack. The rest of the green shirts had moved up, ready, and were calling for the ball.
Except for one of them. It was Lee Raynor. He was a smoker already, and now he was wheezing and bending down with his hands on his knees.
Wasim glanced up to pass and he could see Mr Holloway in his cap and blue blazer, and huge trousers pulled almost up to his chest by his red braces. Wasim looked up one more time and it could have been his imagination, but he was sure Mr Holloway was mouthing something to him from behind his plastic cup. What was it?
And then Wasim caught sight of Lee Raynor bending over and he worked out what the old man was saying.
“Right up his jacksie!”
And Wasim hit it.
That was the best bit!
ALSO AVAILABLE:
Wasim the Wanderer
(selected for Boys into Books 5-11)
Wasim One Star
(A Scholastic Best Book of the Year)
Wasim’s Challenge
(shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Awards)
Praise for other Wasim titles:
“A character that primary school children and teachers will recognise and respond to with pleasure.” Guardian
“Ashley has a lively style with . . . contemporary vocabulary. Full of everyday action and humour.” Books for Keeps
CHRIS ASHLEY
One of Chris Ashley’s greatest heroes was a boxer, Mohammed Ali. He won an Olympic gold medal for his country and the day he arrived home wearing it around his neck, he was not allowed to buy a hamburger in his home town . . . because he was black. It was them and us.
But Ali was such a brilliant boxer, as well as a fantastic character, that just a few years later the whole world was cheering him on. It was just us when Ali was boxing, people forgot everything except that he was “The Greatest”.
It’s just us in most schools that Chris knows. Children aren’t like some grown-ups, they like things to be fair, so they choose their friends based on what they are like and what they can do. Nothing else matters.
Chris has two wishes. He wishes grown-ups all around the world could learn from children. And he wishes he could have met Mohammed Ali. The Greatest!
Read more about
Wasim’s adventures!
Wasim the Wanderer
Chris Ashley Illustrated by Kate Pankhurst
No one at school can score a goal like Wasim! So he is trying out his football skills for Teamwork 10,000 and that might just lead to a trial with the Woodley Wanderers! But how can he play his best football with Robert Bailey lurking around every corner – and then on the football pitch too?
Wasim One Star
Chris Ashley Illustrated by Kate Pankhurst
Wasim wants to be a One-Star swimmer. But when the day comes to take the plunge, Wasim’s up to his neck in trouble. When Wasim gets ordered out of the pool for talking to the new bo
y, Wayne, his chances of getting his One Star vanish. Will Wasim be a star or must he wait until next year for his chance to shine?
WASIM’S CHALLENGE
Chris Ashley Illustrated by Kate Pankhurst
Wasim’s class are off to Snowdonia on a Challenge by Choice week and he can’t wait! And that’s not the only challenge Wasim is facing – this year he has secretly decided to fast for Ramadan for the first time. But as usual, nothing goes right for Wasim, and when a box of Mars bars disappears, he becomes prime suspect. Can he prove his innocence and complete his challenges?
Also available from
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
PURPLE CLASS AND THE HALF-EATEN SWEATER
Sean Taylor
Mr Wellington’s precious cricket sweater is in the bin, Shea and Jamal have to do a half-hour sponsored silence, Jodie says there’s a werewolf on the class trip, and Ivette’s surprise birthday cake gets sat on. Four crazy stories about the funniest class ever.
“Crammed full of zany and exuberant characters and the mishaps and mayhem that ensue.” Jake Hope, Achuka
SITA, SNAKE-QUEEN OF SPEED
Franzeska G. Ewart
When Yosser’s best friend, Kylie, comes back from Thrill City she is full of amazing stories about the best ride there – Sita, Snake-Queen of Speed! Yosser knows that she MUST go on the ride… but how? An opportunity presents itself when Kylie’s dad’s prize ferret, Thunderball Silver the Third, mysteriously goes missing just days before the Grand Ferret Championships. Will Yosser and Kylie fid a way to catch the ferret-thief and earn enough money to make their dreams come true?
