The Lacrosse Mix-Up

by Mike Lupica

  Even though he hadn’t started the school year with them in September, they’d already become close friends. Not only had the twins found out how good Oliver was at lacrosse, but they discovered he was an even better teammate.

  It was why Oliver had asked to be a midfielder instead of an attacker, which was the position he’d played when his family lived in San Francisco. Oliver told Ms. Moriarty that he felt he could help their team the most at midfield. That way, he could easily switch between offense and defense as needed. He was fast enough to come in behind Zach and Zoe and Kari when there was a scoring chance, then get back on defense to help out Mateo in the goal.

  “Oliver is a great scorer,” Ms. Moriarty told the Warriors. “But he thinks he’d be most useful to the team playing both offense and defense.”

  But when the twins brought up Mateo’s damaged stick to Oliver at the lunch table, it was as if he’d chosen to play only defense.

  “I didn’t break it!” Oliver quickly said. “I promise on our friendship.”

  “Oh, no, that’s not why we’re asking,” Zoe rushed to say.

  “We’ve just got a mystery on our hands,” said Zach. “Zoe and I were wondering if you noticed anything when you collected the equipment yesterday. Anything that might be some kind of clue.”

  Oliver let out a huge sigh of relief and smiled.

  “It sounds like I’m part of a different kind of club now,” he said. “A mystery club.”

  Zach and Zoe locked eyes from across the table, then smiled at Oliver.

  “Exactly,” Zoe said. She suggested he close his eyes, because that always helped her when she was trying to remember something.

  “Picture the storage closet,” she said. “What did you see when you gathered our stuff yesterday?”

  The closet was in the back of the room across from Ms. Moriarty’s desk in their classroom, C-12.

  Oliver did what Zoe had asked, and closed his eyes. Then he began describing to Zach and Zoe what he’d seen.

  “The sticks were leaning up against the wall,” he said, “the pocket ends touching the floor. The masks and balls were in a bin next to them.”

  Oliver opened his eyes now.

  “It was my first time bringing out the equipment,” he said. “But as far as I could tell, everything was pretty much where it was supposed to be.”

  “Nothing seemed out of place?” Zoe asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Oliver said. “The door to the closet was already open when I came back to the classroom for our stuff. I walked right in because I knew you guys were out on the field, and I couldn’t wait to get out there, too.”

  “Wait a second,” Zoe said. “You said the door to the closet was open?”

  “It wasn’t wide open,” he said. “But, yeah. It was open enough that all I had to do was give it a little push.”

  Zach looked at Zoe.

  “Was the door open when you brought out the equipment last week?” he asked his sister.

  “Nope,” she said. “How about when you brought it out the day before I did?”

  Zach shook his head. “Closed,” he said.

  “That’s because Ms. Moriarty always keeps it shut,” Zoe said. “She doesn’t want us looking back there daydreaming about all the fun we’re going to have after school. So the rule is: door closed, minds open when we’re in class.”

  “Do you think somebody might have been in there right before I was?” Oliver said. Then quickly he shook his head. “But if that’s what happened, why would they tear a hole in a stick they knew Mateo needed to play?”

  “I’m not saying anybody would do something like that on purpose,” Zoe explained. “But maybe it was an accident. It’s possible one of the sticks fell, and someone stepped on it and tore the webbing without realizing. It’s dark in the closet, so anything could happen.”

  Zach scratched his head. “So now we’ve got two mysteries going,” he said. “One about a hole in the pocket of a lacrosse stick, and another about an open door.”

  When Oliver and Zach looked over at Zoe, she seemed happier than if she’d just scored a goal.

  “Why the smile?” Oliver asked, curious.

  “The bigger the mystery,” Zoe said, “the happier we’re all going to be when we solve it.”

  “And now we’ve got our first clue,” Zach said.

  Zoe nodded. “That means we’re finally on the scoreboard.”

  * * *

  That night at dinner they told their mom, Tess Walker, about the mystery and their newest clue. Tess already knew about Mateo’s stick from when Zoe told her at dinner the night before. She’d offered to sew the webbing back together, but the twins told her that Mateo’s parents had already agreed to buy him his own goalie stick. He’d taken such an interest in the sport that they were signing him up for private lessons.

  “Seems to me,” their mom said, “that if you can find out who was in the storage closet before Oliver, you’re going to be well on your way to finding out what happened to Mateo’s stick.”

  After dinner, Zach and Zoe went upstairs to finish their homework. Then their mom watched from the porch as they rode their bikes on the sidewalk in front of their house. Every time they’d pass her, she’d wave at them and smile.

  “Mom!” Zoe called out to her at one point. “You never stop smiling.”

  “If you had the view I have right now,” Tess Walker called back, “neither would you.”

  Later that evening, they grabbed their sticks and tossed a ball around in the backyard.

  After they’d put their sticks away and washed up for bed, Zach came into Zoe’s room.

  “If one of our teammates had done something to that stick, they would have said so, right?” Zach said.

  “One hundred percent,” Zoe replied.

  “And we know practically all of the players on Middletown West from other sports,” he added. “None of them would do anything to hurt our team, even if they did somehow end up in our classroom.”

  “Nobody in our whole town would,” Zoe confirmed.

  Then Zach had an idea. He told Zoe that he was going to volunteer to bring out the equipment for lacrosse practice tomorrow.

  “Wait,” Zoe said. “I was about to make the same suggestion!”

  “So you’re thinking what I’m thinking . . .”

  “Isn’t that the way it usually works with us?”

  “Before I bag up the equipment,” Zach said, “I can snoop around the closet for more clues.”

  Zoe grinned, and then corrected him with a wag of her finger.

  “Not snoop,” she said. “Investigate.”

  They high-fived before Zach returned to his own room, suddenly as excited about the next day at school as he was about their next game.

  FOUR

  When they were back in class after lunch the following afternoon, Ms. Moriarty gave them all a reading assignment. This always made room C-12 as quiet as the school library. It was fine with Zach and Zoe Walker. They loved reading as much as they loved sports. Ms. Moriarty always said that reading was just about the greatest adventure of all.

  “There’s still nothing better than the first page of a really good story,” Ms. Moriarty often told her class. “Once you open that book, you’re stepping into the writer’s imagination, and your own. Then you get to take a magical journey together.”

  They had been reading for only a few minutes when Zach and Zoe looked up at the same time. They weren’t the only ones. It seemed the entire class had lost their concentration all at once, and it didn’t take long to figure out why. There was a sudden and persistent scratching sound loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Neither Zach nor Zoe said anything. The rules for reading time were the same as the ones about the storage closet door:

  Mouths closed and minds open.

  So Zoe
looked at up their teacher and tapped her ear, as if to say, Are you hearing what the rest of us are hearing?

  “Okay,” Ms. Moriarty said. “I’m going to be the one to break the no-talking rule. Because we appear to have some background noise today.”

  “What is it?” Malik asked, looking around.

  “Probably the branches from the trees outside,” Ms. Moriarty said. “Mr. Parker said he needs to hire someone to trim them back.”

  Mr. Parker wasn’t just the custodian at Middletown Elementary. He was one of the most popular people in the whole school. Zach and Zoe noticed he was always working to make things better for all the kids in every classroom.

  “It’s likely just some dry branches scraping against the roof,” Ms. Moriarty said. “See if you can block out the noise as best you can and get back to your reading.”

  Before they did, the twins glanced over at each other. Once again, it was as if they were sharing the same brain. They wondered if the scratching sound from outside their classroom might be a clue about what had happened inside just days before.

  The twins prided themselves on how they could dedicate their full attention to any task, whether it was sports or a school assignment. But there were too many distractions now for them to concentrate on reading. The mystery of Mateo’s lacrosse stick, the open closet door, and now a scratching noise in their classroom.

  On top of everything else, a sudden rainstorm came though Middletown, which meant lacrosse practice was canceled.

  Without a practice, the twins would take the regular bus home as soon as the bell rang. That meant Zach would have to wait another day to get back inside the storage closet.

  On the bus ride home, Zach could tell that something was bothering his sister.

  “You look worse than Mateo did when he found out his stick was broken,” Zach said.

  “I feel worse,” Zoe said.

  Zach nudged her shoulder. “We still have time,” he said. “The closet isn’t going anywhere.”

  “I know,” she said, “but all we ended up with today is a whole lot of waiting. Waiting for you to get inside the closet. Waiting for our next practice.”

  “But what about the scratching noise?” Zach said. “That might have been a clue.”

  Now Zoe smiled.

  “Aren’t you always telling me that you don’t get any points for what might have happened?” she teased.

  “You mean like a basketball shot you thought was going in, but didn’t?”

  “Right,” Zoe said.

  “But remember something from all the other mysteries we’ve ever solved,” Zach said. “Sometimes the things that don’t make sense in the middle of a mystery make perfect sense after we’ve solved it.”

  “You’re right,” Zoe said. “And we are going to solve the mystery of the damaged lacrosse stick.”

  “We’re going to stitch this whole thing together like Mom did with my baseball glove,” Zach said.

  He reached over with his fist, and Zoe bumped it with her own.

  “It’s still just the first quarter,” Zach said to his twin.

  Zoe nodded. “And Dad says nobody ever wins the game in the first quarter.”

  “Or loses it.”

  FIVE

  At dinner, Danny and Tess Walker asked the twins if they’d made any progress solving their latest mystery.

  “Well, today in class, there was a scratching noise that seemed to be coming from the roof,” Zoe said. “Ms. Moriarty thought it was just the tree branches rubbing up against the building.”

  “We’re not even sure if that’s a real clue,” Zach said. “But it’s something.”

  “Except,” Zoe said, “Ms. Moriarty let me run behind the school before Zach and I got on the bus. I didn’t see any limbs touching the outside of our classroom.”

  Zach cleared his throat. “Zoe didn’t tell me where she’d been until we were riding home,” he said. “For a while there, I thought I might have to solve the case of my missing sister.”

  Zoe grinned at her brother.

  “I was just investigating,” she said. “Like you’re going to do tomorrow when you look around the storage closet.”

  Now Zach was the one grinning, just at their parents.

  “She thinks she’s the lead detective,” he said, throwing a thumb in Zoe’s direction.

  “Do not,” Zoe said. “We’re equals.”

  “As long as you’re the equal in charge,” Zach said, and everyone at the table laughed.

  “I just want to figure this out so badly,” Zoe said, slumping in her chair.

  Zach chuckled. “That’s no surprise.”

  “And,” their dad said, placing a hand on Zoe’s shoulder, “I have complete confidence that the two of you will crack this case the way you do every mystery.”

  They had finished their dessert by then. Strawberry shortcake, one of the twins’ favorites. But none of the Walkers were in any rush to leave the table. It was everybody’s favorite part of the day. The twins got to tell their parents everything that had happened at school.

  But it was more than just Zach and Zoe talking. It was the way their parents listened. Tess Walker told the twins that it was a rare gift to be a truly good listener.

  “I don’t want either one of you to get discouraged,” Danny Walker said. “Just do what you always do, in school or in sports: power through when you get to the hard parts. This is just like a game. Not everything is going to go your way.”

  “We didn’t even get to practice today,” Zoe said, resting her head in her hands. “It started raining right before the bell rang. By the time the clouds were gone and the sun came out, our bus was almost all the way home.”

  “Well,” Tess Walker said, “if you need some sports activity, the weather outside looks pretty sweet right now.”

  “How about we take our minds off lacrosse for a few minutes,” Danny Walker said, “and play a little Walker family basketball in the driveway.”

  “But, Dad,” Zach said, “it’s lacrosse season right now.”

  “Your dad knows that,” Tess Walker said. “But in his heart, basketball is never out of season.”

  They all quickly cleared the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. Zach and Zoe were already wearing their sneakers. Their parents went to get theirs. It was decided that tonight it would be the Walker women against the Walker men.

  The twins noticed their mom was wearing new sneakers.

  “Do you think those shoes are going to make you faster, Mom?” Zach asked, winking in her direction.

  “Totally,” she said. “Even though I was always quick enough to guard your father when we were your age.”

  “Oh yeah,” Danny Walker said. “At least in your mom’s dreams.”

  “Uh-oh,” Zoe said. “It sounds like it’s game on already.”

  “May the best team win,” Zach said.

  They decided to play a game of seven baskets. The first team to reach seven won. Zach and his dad got ahead, 5–2. The last basket had come on a nifty pass from Zach. He didn’t go behind the basket hanging above the garage, like he had in lacrosse. Instead, he dribbled from one corner to the other. Then he made a pass to his dad at just the right moment. Danny Walker cut for the basket and scored.

  Tess Walker apologized to Zoe.

  “Turns out I’m a little slow in my new, fast sneakers,” she said.

  But when Zoe threw her the ball in the next play, Tess Walker sunk her longest basket of the game.

  “Yeah, Mom!” Zoe said, and ran in for a high five.

  It was finally 6–6. Zoe and Tess had the ball. Zoe was dribbling outside when she said, “Let’s get good spacing, Mom.”

  “My little girl sounds like a coach,” Danny Walker said.

  “That’s because she is,” Zach said. “In everything.”


  “Now let’s see her crack the case of our stellar defense,” their dad said.

  Tess waved her arms to show she was open. Danny gave her lots of space, almost daring her to take the last shot. But Zoe faked a pass and drove between her dad and brother for the layup that won the game.

  “Tomorrow we’re back to being on the same team,” Zoe said to her brother, taking a deep breath.

  “Exactly where we want to be,” Zach said.

  “Powering through,” Zoe said. “Right, Dad?”

  SIX

  As soon as his teammates started for the field the next afternoon, Zach went straight for the closet in room C-12. It felt like he was moving in on the goal.

  Today, the door was closed, the way it always was except on the day Oliver gathered the equipment.

  Zach opened the closet door and slowly and carefully looked around the space. He knew practice couldn’t start until he got there. But he also wanted to search the room thoroughly so he could report any clues he found to Zoe. Everything seemed to be in order. The lacrosse sticks, including Ms. Moriarty’s and Mateo’s new goalie stick, were leaning against the wall. The helmets and balls were in the bin.

  One thing Zach did notice was a few crumbs that looked like they might have come from a cracker or cookie. He found them on the floor near the sticks, but figured Mr. Parker hadn’t had a chance to sweep up yet. They were probably left over from their afternoon snack.

  Zach grabbed the green army sack on the shelf and used it to start packing up the sticks, helmets, and balls. He slung the bag over his shoulder and headed outside—though he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that he wouldn’t be bringing a good clue back to Zoe.

  But as Zach walked down the hallway, he passed Mr. Parker’s office and noticed the door was open. He could hear Mr. Parker talking to someone on the phone.

  Zach didn’t want to eavesdrop. But it wasn’t as if Mr. Parker was keeping his voice low. So he slowed down just a bit. Right then, he heard Mr. Parker say, “Sounds like C-12 might be having the same issue.”