by Alex Morgan
Mom, Dad, and Maisie were waiting by the front door, wearing pink T-shirts with GO, DEVIN in white letters across the front.
“Surprise!” Maisie cried.
“Those shirts are awesome!” I cried, hugging each one of them. “You guys are all awesome!”
“We’re so proud of you, Devin,” Dad said. “You never gave up this season, even when things got tough.”
It meant so much to hear my dad say that, and it made me think of Jamie—and how she might never hear those words from her dad. Which made me happier than ever that Emma and Frida had agreed to my plan.
The final game was being held at the field in Los Arboles, the “home” field for the Gators. When the Marshmallow pulled up, it was still about twenty minutes before Coach Darby had asked us to report, but I noticed that most of the players had already showed up. Everyone was full of nervous energy.
I waved to my parents and jogged over to Jessi, who was standing with Sarah and Zarine, the only other Griffons players who had also been on the Kicks.
“Oh, hey, Devin,” Zarine said. “I was just saying how weird it is that we’re playing against Grace, Zoe, and Anjali today.”
“See? We’re not the only ones who were having Kicks against Kicks anxiety,” Jessi said.
We all gazed across the field, where we could see Zoe and Grace starting to warm up.
“I miss our sock swaps,” said Sarah a little sadly.
We had this tradition on the Kicks. We all wore silly socks to each game—like striped or polka-dotted ones. Before every game we would sit in a circle and each would pass one sock to the person on our left.
I had worn my silly socks to my first Griffons practice, and Coach Darby had not been happy. So there had been no Griffons sock swaps. I really missed them too.
“I have an idea,” I said, and I jogged over to the Gators side of the field.
“Where are you going?” Zarine called out.
“Just follow her,” advised Jessi. “Devin’s ideas are always good.”
I approached Zoe and Grace.
“Hey,” I said. “Want to do a sock swap?”
Now, none of us were wearing silly socks. The Griffons socks had a pink stripe across the top, and the Gators socks had two purple stripes. But everyone knew what I meant—it was for old time’s sake, a gesture to show that we were still friends.
Zoe grinned. “Yes!” she said, and we moved to a quiet spot and sat in a circle.
It was so silly to be swapping socks that soon we were all giggling.
“Coach Darby’s going to flip if she notices we’re wearing purple stripes!” Jessi said.
I grinned at her. “Sometimes you have to let loose.”
Jamie walked by as we were finishing up. She rolled her eyes.
“You Kicks are so weird!” she said.
Then a woman ran up to us, and I didn’t recognize her because half of her face was painted Griffons pink, and the other half was Gators purple.
“Coach Flores?” Jessi asked.
“I had to come cheer on my Kicks!” she said with a grin. “And I had to prove that I don’t take sides.”
“That is awesome, Coach,” said Grace as we all got to our feet.
Then I heard Coach Darby’s whistle.
“Griffons! Time to warm up!”
We nodded toward Grace and Zoe and then ran back to the Griffons side. Coach Darby had us line up and do passing warm-ups up and down the field. (Luckily, she didn’t notice that some of us had mismatched socks on.) While I waited for my turn, I glanced over to the stands.
I spotted Steven and Cody, sitting in the highest row of the bleachers. The Spartans had lost their semifinals game, so it was pretty cool of them to come cheer us on.
Then I saw Emma and Frida in the stands, and I grinned. They’d done it! Emma was holding up a big sign that read GO! and Frida’s sign read JAMIE!
Jamie was behind me on the warm-up line, and I glanced over at her to see if she’d noticed. She didn’t at first, but then I saw her eyes get wide.
“Did you do this?” she asked me, and I couldn’t tell if I heard wonder or anger in her voice.
“Well, we all talked about it,” I said.
Jamie looked away from me. “You know I play better when I’m angry and bitter, right?” she joked, and I heard a catch in her voice. That was when I knew that she really liked the signs.
“If angry and bitter works, go for it,” I told her. “Just now you’ll have a cheering section.”
She looked at me. “Thanks, Devin,” she said with that smirk of hers, and then it was my turn to take the ball down the field, passing to Jessi.
Warm-ups flew by, and it was time for the game. Coach Darby gave us a pep talk.
“I know that some of you are worried,” she said. “You’re worried that the Gators beat us once before. But I’m telling you right now, that doesn’t matter. The only game that matters is the one you play today. And I believe we’re going to win!”
We launched into our pregame chant.
“I!” I called out.
“I!” everyone repeated.
“I believe!”
“I believe!” everyone yelled.
“I believe that we will win!” I cheered.
Then we chanted. “I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win!”
I didn’t think I had ever been that pumped up on adrenaline before. This was it! The championship! And now that I knew that Zoe and I would always be friends, no matter what, I could concentrate on the game.
So I was a little disappointed when Coach Darby didn’t put me in to start. She didn’t send Jessi in either. We sat on the bench and watched the first quarter, but I tried not to get too freaked out about it. I knew by now that Coach Darby had a plan in mind.
Jamie, Kelly, and Sasha started as forwards, and Jamie was on fire. She got the ball away from one of the Gators and charged down the field, making a goal attempt in the first two minutes of the game! The Gators’ goalie blocked it, but Jamie was right back on the ball. She passed it to Sasha and then got clear for Sasha to pass it back to her. When she aimed for the goal a second time, the ball whizzed past the goalie’s outstretched arms.
Jamie had made the first score of the game! Jessi and I launched off the bench, cheering and whooping for her. I could hear Emma, Frida, and my whole family screaming “Go, Jamie!” from the stands. Jamie flashed me the biggest smile ever as she took her place back on the field. She was the only one to score during the whole quarter, and the Griffons were up by one.
In the second quarter Coach Darby replaced the whole front line with me, Jessi, and Mirabelle. I knew that between the first three starters and us, we were probably the six strongest players on the team, and I wondered what Coach Darby’s strategy was going to be.
I was so pumped to be on the field! When the quarter started, I got control of the ball. Right away Grace and another Gator were on top of me. I turned my back on them to avoid them and dribbled to the left, but I couldn’t shake them. At the same time I kept my eyes open for my teammates, to see if I could pass.
Jessi ran into my line of sight, and I kicked the ball right between the two Gators. They weren’t expecting the move, and Jessi took the ball down the field.
I charged down after her, and Jessi passed it back to me. I saw Zoe rocketing toward me, and I got rid of the ball really fast, sending it to Mirabelle.
Mirabelle took it to the goal line and then passed it back to Jessi before the Gators defenders could steal it from her. Jessi sent it flying into the goal. She scored! Now we were up by two points!
A few minutes later Mirabelle had a shot at the goal. This time the goalie caught it. Then the goalie stood there, scoping the field as she decided who to pass it to.
“Hey!” Coach Darby called out. “That’s more than six seconds! Come on, Ref!”
The goalie’s mistake should have been called a foul—and given us a penalty shot. But hearing Coach Dar
by, the goalie quickly tossed the ball back into play, and the ref didn’t call the foul.
“Unbelievable!” Coach Darby fumed, and I wasn’t too happy either. The last thing we needed was a ref who wasn’t paying attention.
The Gators were still down by two points, and they started fighting back hard. They kept passing the ball to Zoe, who did her thing of zigging and zagging past our defenders. She made the next score of the game against Zarine at the goal. I wasn’t happy about that, exactly, but if somebody had to score against us, I was glad that it was Zoe!
The first half ended with a score of Griffons 2, Gators 1, so we were a pretty hopeful team as we regrouped on the sidelines.
“Jamie, Sasha, and Kelly, you’re back in,” Coach Darby said. “Devin, Jessi, and Mirabelle, stay limbered up. I’ll be putting you guys in last quarter.”
I nodded. She did have a strategy, just as I’d thought. I anxiously watched the third quarter from the sidelines. Would the Griffons keep our lead?
The answer was—no. Jamie scored again, but the Gators scored a whopping three goals.
“Man, their coach must have given them some pep talk,” Jessi whispered to me.
So the Griffons were down by one point when Jessi, Mirabelle, and I took the field again: Griffons 3, Gators 4. Coach Darby had taken our defenders aside, and they looked like determined warriors when they joined us on the field.
I was determined too. Determined to score. And I had my chance about three minutes into the quarter. Kristin, who was playing midfield, kicked a pass toward me that went a little wild and high. I saw two Gators running toward me, figuring it would be a free-for-all once the ball landed.
But I stopped them at the pass. Before the ball could land, I headed it. I had just been trying to keep the ball away from the Gators, but Mirabelle pounced on it and started dribbling it in the other direction.
I zoomed down the field, keeping pace with her. One of the Gators swooped in to try to steal the ball, and Mirabelle kicked it to me. I stopped it as it was skidding along the grass, and then I took it to the goal zone.
“Go for it, Devin!” someone yelled, and I took the cue. I sent the ball flying toward the goal.
It soared just over the goalie’s head. I saw her jump for it. The tips of her fingers skimmed the ball . . . but she couldn’t grab it. It went in!
“Go, Devin!” I heard my cheering section shout, and the score was tied, 4–4.
It was anybody’s game now, and both teams wanted it. The Gators got control of the ball next, and Zoe took it right past our defenders. She tried to score, but Zarine blocked it.
Right after that I kicked a pass to Jessi, and the ball went high. Before Jessi could get it, one of the Gators flew in front of her and batted the ball away with her hand! Another Gator recovered it and started dribbling.
“Hand ball!” Jessi yelled out, and I knew she was right. But the ref hadn’t blown his whistle—again!
I looked over at Coach Darby. That hand ball was a foul that would have given Jessi a penalty kick at the Gators goal—and a chance for us to break the tie! But Coach Darby just shook her head at me, and I knew she was thinking it was no use. If the ref hadn’t seen the foul, it was our tough luck.
Time was running out. This was a championship game, so if we ended in a tie, we would go into overtime. That missed call had made me angry, and I was going to do my best to make sure we didn’t end in a tie.
The Gators’ defenders were sticking tightly to me, Jessi, and Mirabelle. One of the Gators stole the ball from me (legally, this time), but I was relieved when Katie intercepted the Gators’ pass.
She kicked it back to me, and I was swarmed by Gators again. Jessi and Mirabelle could not get free of defenders, and I was sure we would lose the ball again.
That was when I saw Kristin, the midfielder who had kicked me the high pass earlier. She was completely free. I sent the ball zipping across the grass to her, and she was right on top of it. She took it to the goal line, shot, and scored!
The Griffons fans in the stands went wild. We moved in to continue play, but the ref’s whistle blew before any action happened. We had won!
All the Griffons swarmed onto the field, jumping up and down and hugging one another. Then we hurried to line up to slap hands with the Gators.
All the Gators looked sad, but my heart broke when I saw Zoe. Her blue eyes were filled with tears. I squeezed her hand instead of slapping it. I looked behind me at Jessi, and her eyes told me that she felt sorry for Zoe too.
I was happy and sad at the same time! As soon as the line was finished, Jessi and I ran to Zoe and hugged her.
“You played such a good game, and you scored!” I told her.
Tears were flowing down her cheeks now. “Thanks,” she said. “It’s just—I wanted to win so bad. But I guess if I had to lose to anybody, I’d want it to be you guys.”
“At least we won’t have to play against one another anymore,” Jessi said.
Zoe nodded. “I know. I think that’s partly why I’m crying. I’m relieved. I’m so glad this season is over and we’ll all be back to playing on the Kicks.”
“And when we’re all on the Kicks together again, we’ll be unstoppable!” I promised.
“Do you think Frida will be surprised?” Emma asked as we stood at the door of Frida’s house one week later before the premiere party of Mall Mania.
“She’s going to love it that we all match her party décor!” Zoe smiled.
Zoe was talking about our outfits. She’d had the great idea that we should dress in orange and pink to go with the party theme. Now that the winter league was over, we suddenly had a lot of free time on our hands, and we’d spent much of the past week together. Mostly we’d helped Frida get ready for her party. We’d gotten together almost every day after school to work on the pink-and-orange decorations.
Then yesterday after school, while Frida had been in Los Angeles for the red carpet premiere of Mall Mania, Zoe, Emma, Jessi, and I had gone to the mall to shop for outfits and gifts for Frida. It was just like old times, and any weirdness from when we’d been competing against one another was gone. I felt both happy and relieved. The Kicks were back!
“I have to admit, we look pretty good,” I said. “And that’s thanks to you, Zoe!”
Zoe had helped us each pick out the perfect outfits. Emma and Zoe wore orange, and Jessi and I wore pink. Emma looked adorable in a ruffled orange polka-dotted top, while Zoe had found an orange cardigan. I had on this supercute pink button-up blouse, and Jessi wore a pink V-neck pullover.
“I love the theme you came up with!” Emma said, holding up a paper department store shopping bag. “Shopping chic!”
We were supposed to look like we were going to the mall. Zoe had us wear sunglasses even though it was night. We had them pushed back onto the tops of our heads. We carried shopping bags from different mall stores, stuffed with orange and pink tissue paper. Inside was what Zoe called hostess gifts for Frida. She said that when someone throws a party, you should bring them a little present. I had picked out a box of yummy-looking chocolate truffles.
Mrs. Rivera opened the door and smiled. “You look great! Wait until Frida sees you. She’ll love it,” she said as we walked into Frida’s house. It had an open-floor layout, so from the front door you could see all the way to the back of the house. Leading from the door to the living room was the orange-and-pink “red” carpet.
“Do you think anyone can tell they’re bath mats?” Emma whispered loudly as we walked down the carpet.
I shook my head. “No, it looks great!”
The only pink-and-orange carpet we’d been able to find had been fluffy bath mats. We’d helped Frida by duct-taping them together on the back, creating one long carpet. It looked really good!
“Say ‘cheese’!” Frida’s older brother, Mateo, said. He popped in front of us with a camera, and we had to pose, just like we were on the real red carpet.
“Cheese!” we all said, grinning broadl
y and wrapping our arms around one another.
We continued to follow the carpet into the living room. Festive pink and orange balloons filled the ceiling and were tied to the backs of the folding chairs that had been brought in, so everyone would have a place to sit and watch the movie’s TV premiere. We had helped Frida create decorations by filling pink-and-orange gift bags with tissue paper. We had glued the Mall Mania logo onto the bags. They were scattered around the room, creating pops of color.
The room was filled with Frida’s family and with kids from school, mostly Frida’s drama club friends. I spotted Cody, Steven, and Hailey and was waving to them when Frida came running over. “Oh my gosh! You all look fabulous!” she shrieked as we all got tangled up in a big group hug.
“So do you!” I said as I pulled away so I could get a better look at her. Frida wore a long pink-and-orange maxi dress that swept the floor.
“Mateo!” Frida called. “We need a group picture!”
Frida’s brother came over with his camera. “Your paparazzi is here.”
We posed for some more photos. I felt just like a movie star too!
“How did it go last night on the red carpet, Frida?” Emma asked when Mateo was done. “Tell us everything. Was Brady there?”
Frida laughed. “Of course he was there, Emma.” Then she got a faraway look in her eyes. “It was amazing. Like a dream. All these people calling my name, taking my picture. I even signed some autographs!”
“Wow, we better get yours now before you’re too famous to hang out with us anymore,” Jessi joked.
“Never!” Frida cried. “I’ll always need my friends.” Then her tone changed. “There was one moment that almost ruined the entire evening,” Frida added dramatically. “My heart stopped. It could have been the worst thing ever!”
Emma gasped. “What happened?”
“Brady brought Star Evans with him as his date,” Frida said, and Emma groaned. “When they got out of the limo, I saw that Star had on the exact same dress that I had on!”
“Oh no!” I said as my hand flew to my mouth. All that time spent finding the perfect dress, only to have someone else wearing it too! “What did you do?”
