Chase Your Goal

by Bernadette Hellard

  Lily spun around and high-fived Phoebe in delight. ‘Great rebound, Phoebs!’

  Phoebe tried to act cool and grin back, but her eyes were shining. Lily had called her ‘Phoebs’. No one had ever given her a nickname before.

  Just as the teams were positioning themselves for the next centre pass, the final whistle blew. The Gems had won! Phoebe joined her teammates in cheering, but they also remembered to shake hands with the Burra players.

  ‘Good game.’

  ‘Well played.’

  Lily whispered in Phoebe’s ear as they walked off the court. ‘Isabella and Jade got an envelope each. Two more clues! Can you stay around for a little while so we can all look at them?’

  Phoebe nodded – but then her dad appeared in front of her. ‘How about all of those intercepts!’ He wrapped her in a big bear hug. ‘Now, off to the soccer to see some of Max’s magic!’

  Chapter Nine

  Oh, no! I forgot about Max’s game! How can I explain that I don’t want to go?

  Phoebe really didn’t want to go over the whole story about the mystery puzzle. It was important to her because it felt like it was the one thing that tied her to her teammates. But if she took the time to explain all that to her dad, she might miss the whole thing!

  ‘Um … Dad, I want to stay around the club for a while,’ she said.

  Her dad’s expression changed from smiling to frowning instantly. ‘You don’t want to come to support your brother, even though he comes to support you?’

  ‘It’s not that,’ Phoebe hastened to reassure him. ‘I wanted to watch one of the senior games to … um … to see if I can pick up any skills. I can walk home later,’ she added hopefully.

  Dad nodded in agreement. ‘Okay, my zlata, but make sure you don’t get home too late.’ He kissed her gently on the head, turned and headed for his car.

  Phoebe watched for a moment, feeling a little guilty about not telling her dad the whole story, but then, when the coast was clear, she spun on her heel and raced towards the clubrooms, where the rest of the team was heading. She felt a zing of excitement at the idea of a mystery to solve.

  Inside the clubrooms, all the girls clustered around a table against one of the windows. Lily pulled a crumpled square of paper out of a pocket in her tracksuit pants and put it on the table. Sienna placed her square there, too.

  ‘Before we see the next clues, maybe we should read the riddle again, just to be sure we didn’t miss anything,’ Lily suggested.

  Jade read it aloud.

  ‘Here is a puzzle to be solved by you,

  when you are all down at the court.

  Look out for a clue, or maybe two;

  don’t rush, give it plenty of thought!’

  As soon as she finished reading, Jade placed her square on the table. It had lots of letters, but none of them made any sense!

  Everyone stared at this new clue, their eyes travelling from one square to the other.

  ‘Quick, Isabella, add your clue!’ Maddy said.

  Isabella carefully placed her clue next to the others.

  There was a burst of excited babble. A celebrity was involved!

  Maddy began to shuffle the squares around, trying to match them up so that they made sense. Charlotte helped her, shifting the four squares around to see which combination worked. The rest of the team looked on, offering suggestions, which made their puzzle-solving even slower!

  After a few tries, Jade yelled, ‘Stop there! That’s it! Look!’

  Prani jumped up and down on the spot. ‘Yay! A birthday party! With a celebrity!’ Wide-eyed, she breathed, ‘Imagine if someone famous was there … Ooh, even better – imagine if it was a famous person’s party!’

  Jade cut her off with a wave of her hand. ‘Come off it, Prani. As if the whole team would be invited to a famous person’s party.’ She smirked. ‘Especially since I’m the only one here who actually knows a celebrity.’

  Phoebe mentally rolled her eyes. They had all heard before about Jade’s cousin who had been on Big Brother. But she looked down at the four clues, again. It did seem to be about a birthday party – and it did say ‘celebrity’.

  We just need more clues, she decided. Hmm … More clues …

  ‘There might be more clues if we turn the cards over,’ spoke Phoebe, quietly. ‘Maybe there’s some colour on the back of the new squares.’

  Several of the girls were talking at once, so most of them didn’t hear Phoebe. But Maddy, who was standing next to Phoebe, did. With a much louder voice, she called out, ‘Turn the cards over!’

  Phoebe was right. The new clues did have colour on the back! A new urgency fell on the girls, and they all leant in closer to examine the other side of each square.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Isabella exclaimed, waving both hands at the cards. ‘Can anyone else see that? I reckon it’s a photo – look! That bit is hair, and that bit could be part of a nose … or maybe an ear.’

  Maddy and Lily tilted their heads and squinted.

  ‘Or maybe a chin,’ said Maddy.

  ‘It’s definitely a photo, though,’ added Lily.

  Finally they agreed to rack their brains over the next few days to see if they could crack the message. Lily, Sienna, Jade and Isabella each took back their clues, but as they all wandered out to watch the Under 17s play, they couldn’t help but continue to speculate about the team mystery.

  Chapter Ten

  At the beginning of training the following Wednesday, Phoebe took off her jacket and put it on the bench near her water bottle. She was just retying her ponytail when she saw Maddy run up to join the group.

  ‘I got a clue! I got a clue!’

  Charlotte bounded over. ‘Me too!’

  ‘Really? Awesome!’

  ‘Give us a look!’

  ‘Nah, we should wait until everyone’s here, otherwise Sienna will miss out.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about this and I reckon …’

  ‘Where did I put it? …’

  Everyone was talking at once. The excitement was contagious. Prani and Isabella started dancing on the spot, and Lily and Maddy chanted over and over, ‘Let’s do it now! Let’s do it now!’

  Phoebe stood nearby, staring at a pebble on the ground in front of her. What if I don’t get a clue? What if whoever’s sending the mystery clues doesn’t like me? She took a deep breath, trying to shrug off the thought.

  ‘Okay, girls,’ called Janet, once Sienna had arrived. ‘Come over here so we can start.’

  But everyone was so caught up in the clues that no one heard!

  ‘Girls!’ Janet shouted. This time she had a very serious expression on her face. ‘Right. Listen carefully because I do not want to have to repeat this. Obviously there’s something exciting going on, but you all know that while we are training or playing a match, you need to listen to me and pay attention. Do you understand?’ She glared at the girls.

  Phoebe swallowed nervously. She distinctly heard a loud gulp from Prani.

  Janet grinned suddenly. ‘But make sure you tell me what it is when the mystery’s solved!’

  The girls’ eyes lit up. Even Janet wanted to know what the mystery was!

  Janet then sent the whole team for a warm-up lap of the football ground that was next to the netball courts. It began as a subdued jog for the first hundred metres, but Sienna bounced back quickly from being told off. She took something out of her pocket with a flourish. To everyone’s delight, she pulled on a pair of huge red sunglasses. At each corner of the glasses, there was a green plastic parrot perched high, poking into her hair.

  She playfully jiggled them up and down on her nose. When she spoke, she drew out each word slowly for effect. ‘I reeeally need these today, because this way, I can check out those boys over there at footy training!’

  At that, all eyes turned towards the large group of boys kicking footballs in a complicated drill that covered the entire stretch of grass.

  Phoebe turned back to watch Sienna, and chuckled when she sa
w that Sienna was now somehow wearing the glasses upside down.

  They jogged slowly. All of the girls were more interested in Sienna’s glasses and the boys at training than in focusing on their warm-up.

  Suddenly, one of the red footballs the boys were kicking around rolled under the fence, right in front of Phoebe. Phoebe stopped to pick it up, then passed it from one hand to the other, looking to see who had kicked it out.

  ‘Here! Kick it to me!’ one of the boys called from the goal posts.

  Phoebe smiled and kicked the ball over the fence to the blond-haired boy who had his arms raised.

  ‘Thanks, Phoebe! See you at the fete!’ he called. He waved at her and then turned away, kicking the ball towards one of the other boys.

  Phoebe turned to start jogging again, but quickly noticed that every girl in her team had stopped and was staring at the boy. Then, one by one, their focus shifted until all of them were staring at Phoebe. She looked back, puzzled by the sudden silence. It didn’t last long.

  ‘Who’s he?’

  ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘How do you know him?’

  ‘Do you know any of the others?’

  Phoebe started walking, surrounded by her teammates, who were peppering her with questions.

  ‘That’s just Jordan,’ she replied, shrugging a shoulder. She was a bit stunned to be at the centre of attention. ‘He’s my brother’s friend. He comes over to our house all the time.’

  ‘Oh, you lucky thing!’ Jade said, sighing.

  ‘He’s sooo cute!’ said Sienna.

  ‘Do you like him?’ asked Prani.

  Phoebe shrugged both shoulders this time. ‘Sure. He’s nice.’

  Prani giggled. ‘No, we mean, do you like like him?’

  Phoebe blushed. She answered ‘Not really’ – but was so quiet that no one actually heard her answer. They started to tease her.

  ‘You looove him!’

  ‘You want to kiiiss him!’

  ‘You want to maaarry him!’

  Prani made loud kissing noises in Pheobe’s right ear, then Lily wrapped her arms around her, forcing her to stop walking. ‘Oh Jordan, I love you sooo much!’ she said, in a squeaky-high extra-girly voice.

  Phoebe grinned, shoving Lily away. She glanced over her shoulder to check that Jordan was out of hearing range. If he heard them, she would absolutely die from embarrassment. Every time he came over to see her brother, she’d have to hide in her bedroom. Luckily he was too far away to have heard.

  Phoebe turned back around, relieved. ‘Well, if you’re going to the fete, you can see him there,’ she said.

  ‘In that case, I’m going to be at the fete all day!’ said Jade.

  Phoebe smiled and took in what was happening.

  For the very first time – finally! – she was really in the middle of this group.

  Not on the side looking in.

  Not feeling too shy.

  In the middle.

  The only thing was that all the girls were so wrapped up in their conversation that they hadn’t noticed Janet approaching from behind! One by one, they spotted her frowning behind Phoebe, and their faces sobered up, guiltily.

  Lily, unaware, continued to squeal at Phoebe. ‘But I caaan’t live without you!’

  ‘Well,’ said Janet, ‘if you get moving on the warm-up, you won’t have to live without her!’

  Lily screwed her face up when she heard her mother’s tone. She gave her a small wave, then turned to start jogging, muttering to everyone. ‘Just run. Trust me. Don’t say another word!’

  Chapter Eleven

  During the passing drills, the usually loud chatter was absent. The girls felt guilty about not doing the warm-up run properly and wanted to show Janet that they were not going to muck around anymore. Each girl concentrated on passing the ball straight to her partner.

  Janet nodded approvingly when she called them to gather together again. ‘Today we are going to be doing a drill so that you can practise leading out for a centre pass. “Leading out” means that when the whistle blows, you move in front of your opponent so that you’re free to take the centre pass. For our practice, I want you to line up behind the transverse line in pairs.’

  No one moved. The whole team had blank looks on their faces. Janet raised her eyebrows at the group.

  Phoebe was too shy to ask Janet what she meant. She knew that Janet had explained this a few weeks ago, and that she should remember what the transverse lines were.

  ‘Um … Mum … Which one is the trans-whatever line, again?’

  Phoebe was relieved that Lily had spoken up.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ Janet replied. ‘I should have realised you might not remember.’ She smiled at the group of girls. ‘The transverse lines are the lines that divide the court into thirds,’ she explained, ‘which means that there are two of them.’ She pointed to the nearest one. ‘That’s the transverse line I’d like you to line up behind.’

  Understanding dawned on the faces of all the girls. They headed to where Janet pointed.

  ‘Okay, now decide with your partner who will be the attacker and who will be the defender.’

  While each pair decided this, Janet grabbed a netball. She stood in the centre circle.

  ‘When I call “play”, the attacker will run forward in a straight line to try to catch the ball I pass you. Defenders, you stick with your partner. You might even manage to intercept a pass.’

  Phoebe and Charlotte were the first to try. When Janet called ‘play’, Charlotte, who was attacking, attempted to run in a straight line towards Janet. Phoebe ran with her. When Janet passed the ball, Phoebe stretched her arm in front of Charlotte and tapped the ball away so that Charlotte couldn’t grab it.

  ‘Good try, Charlotte. Nice work, Phoebe. Okay, next.’

  Once each pair had a turn, the partners swapped roles. Phoebe began to notice that some attackers attempted different strategies to break free.

  ‘Okay. We’ll stop there,’ said Janet. ‘I noticed that we started with a straight lead, which was good. That’s what I wanted. But when that didn’t work, what did you do instead?’

  ‘I tried to change direction.’

  ‘I dodged a bit.’

  ‘I ran out wider.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Janet. ‘Even though I wanted you to practise a straight lead, I was impressed that you tried other things when that tactic didn’t work. Well done, everyone.’ Janet paused for a moment and glanced at Jade. ‘What did you try, Jade?’

  ‘I dropped back for a lob pass,’ Jade replied, confident as always.

  ‘Yes. Does anyone know why that might not always be a good idea?’

  Jade’s superior smirk faded when she realised that she may have done something wrong, but Janet noticed and hastened to reassure her. ‘It can be a very good move sometimes, Jade.’

  Isabella raised her hand to answer Janet’s question. ‘Um … You could have a tall player on you, and she could jump and get the pass?’

  ‘That’s exactly right.’

  For the rest of the practice session, all the girls tried extra hard with everything Janet asked them to do. They didn’t dare talk about the mystery. But Phoebe couldn’t help sneakily checking her watch. She could hardly wait for training to finish so they could see what Maddy and Charlotte’s clues were.

  There was just one thing still bothering her, and it had niggled at her mind all throughout the training session. So far, six of the girls had been sent clues. Phoebe and Prani were the only ones on the team who hadn’t received one.

  What if it ends up that I’m the only one who doesn’t get a clue?

  Chapter Twelve

  When training had finished, every one of the girls headed to the clubrooms. Usually they mucked around, shooting goals, until one by one they headed home. Lily and Janet were always the last to leave. This week, however, with hasty excuses of a ‘team meeting’, they had about ten minutes to see if they could solve the riddle with the help of the latest two myste
ry clues.

  Charlotte and Maddy didn’t waste any time putting their clues down on the table next to the four they already had. Lily muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear, as she puzzled over the words.

  Maddy’s clue read:

  Charlotte’s square revealed whole words as well:

  ‘Flip me?’ Prani giggled. ‘Maybe we have to do gymnastics for a celebrity!’ She bent backwards until her hands reached the ground behind her and flipped her legs over one at a time. She righted herself and flung her arms above her head. ‘Tada!’

  Maddy jumped in to have a go as well, but her backwards flip was much less successful than Prani’s. She ended up sprawled in the corner, laughing.

  ‘Don’t forget the finish!’ Prani reminded her.

  Maddy sprang up. ‘Tada!’ they yelled in unison, their arms flung wide.

  Completely ignoring them, Lily kept muttering to herself, trying to work out where the two new clues should fit in with the others.

  ‘Well, now it’s starting to make a bit of sense,’ said Jade.

  ‘We can sort of guess what most of the message might be – it’s a birthday party, somewhere in Marrang,’ Maddy mused.

  ‘But what on earth does “Flip me over” mean?’ said Lily.

  Just at that moment, Janet stuck her head around the doorway. ‘Girls! What are you up to? Your parents are asking where I’ve hidden you all!’

  Everyone jumped in surprise. They had been so engrossed in the puzzle clues that they’d forgotten where they were!

  As they scrambled to pick up their belongings, Sienna shoved all the clues into her sports bag. ‘I’ll keep them until next week, okay?’ she asked.

  Everyone agreed, but Jade delivered a parting comment as she started running towards her mum’s car. ‘If you lose them, Sienna, I’ll flip you over – and leave you upside down!’