Suddenly, Coach shouted from the sidelines: “Dominic, you’re a natural! Great ball control. Remember to look up when you can, so you can avoid defenders.”

  Dom glanced up and grinned. Coach Everett was standing beside Grandpa, and both were watching him.

  “Sure thing, Coach!” Dominic called back.

  The rest of the players began arriving, and the team started warming up. After a few minutes of passing back and forth in partners, the Rockets lined up for drills.

  They worked on passing, defense, and corner kicks. Dom’s teammates — with the exception of Nathan and Johnny, who sat on the sideline — seemed excited that he had decided to take the field. They cheered him on in drills and sprints.

  After practice, Carlos came up to Dom and gave him a high five. “Hey, you looked good out there today,” he said. “Can’t wait to see what you’ll do in an actual game.”

  “Thanks, Carlos,” Dominic said, smiling. Practice had been tough, but it had left him feeling invigorated. When he was playing, that anxious aching in his stomach disappeared, and he had fun.

  * * *

  That Friday, the day of Caleb’s surgery, Dominic was feeling more anxious than ever. He showed up to practice because Grandpa had forced him to, but Dominic did not want to be there.

  I should be at home waiting for Mom’s call to hear how the operation went, he thought.

  Coach called a huddle at the beginning of practice, but Dominic spaced out and didn’t listen. When the team took the field, Dominic went to sit on sideline with Nathan and Johnny, who were fooling around as usual. Their jokes and pranks were the perfect distraction.

  When the rest of the team was scrimmaging, Nathan and Johnny dared Dominic to skip back and forth along the sideline, singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

  Dominic took the dare, singing, “Her fleece was white as snooooooow!” and skipping as high in the air as he could. The rest of the players paused, confused by the scene.

  “Keep playing, team!” Coach called. “Don’t pay attention to the distraction.” Then, to Dominic, he said, “If you can’t take this seriously, Dominic, you’ll have to sit out of the game tomorrow night.”

  Embarrassed that Coach had yelled at him in front of everyone, Dominic shouted back, “I don’t even want to play! In fact, I hope we lose tomorrow!” He stomped over to gather his things, not saying a word to Nathan or Johnny. Then he went to sit at a picnic table by the parking lot, where he waited until Grandpa came to get him.

  CHAPTER 6

  RESULTS

  After practice, Dominic got into the car without saying goodbye to anyone — even ignoring Johnny and Nathan.

  Grandpa could tell something was wrong right away. “How was practice today?” he asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Dominic replied. “I just want to know how Caleb’s doing.”

  “We haven’t heard anything yet, but they should be calling any minute,” Grandpa said. “There’s a soccer game on tonight. What do you say we watch it while we wait?”

  Dominic smiled. At least it would be a distraction. “Sure thing, Grandpa,” he replied.

  As soon as they got home, Dominic and Grandpa grabbed a snack from the kitchen, but before they could do anything else, Grandpa’s phone rang. Immediately, Dominic felt his stomach get tight with worry.

  “Hello?” Grandpa said into the phone. Then he paused for a minute.

  Dominic stood still as he watched, almost afraid to move.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” Grandpa cried. He wiped tears from his eyes, but Dominic could tell they were happy tears.

  “Was that Mom?” Dominic asked when Grandpa had hung up. “What’d she say?”

  “They won’t know for sure until the lab results are back tomorrow, but the doctors removed the growth, and they think the tumor is the harmless kind,” Grandpa replied. “If the results are good, they’ll all come home tomorrow.”

  Dominic hugged his grandpa. For the first time in months, he felt truly happy.

  * * *

  When Dominic woke up the next morning, he was relieved thinking about Caleb’s surgery. But then he remembered something else — his soccer game tonight.

  I really messed up at practice yesterday, he thought. I have to make it up to my teammates by putting in my best effort in the game tonight.

  Dom spent the day practicing his moves outside and watching soccer games on TV.

  When it was nearly time to go, Grandpa stuck his head out the back door and called to Dom, “You almost ready, champ?”

  Dominic ran inside, filled up his water bottle, gathered his soccer equipment, and headed to the car.

  * * *

  When Dominic arrived at the field, the sun was starting to set, and the floodlights over the field had been turned on. Most of his teammates were already warming up. Dom went onto the field to join them, but no one said hi or even looked in his direction.

  They must be upset about yesterday. Can’t really blame them, Dominic thought, so he went to sit on the bench instead.

  Soon Coach walked over and sat down. “Hey, Dominic. Can we talk about what happened yesterday?” he said. “I’m upset that you weren’t taking practice seriously, and I think some of your teammates are upset, too.”

  Dominic sighed. “I wasn’t being a good teammate, and I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he said. “I was having a bad day. My brother had his surgery yesterday, and we’ll find out today if he’s okay or not.”

  “That must be scary. But the way you were acting yesterday wasn’t acceptable, even if you were nervous about your brother. In the future, I’d rather you come talk to me than disrupt practice,” Coach said.

  Dominic nodded in response.

  “In the meantime,” Coach continued, “I think some soccer will do you good. It’ll give you something else to focus on — like having a good game.” With that, Coach smiled, stood up, and walked out to center field for the coin toss.

  The Rockets won the toss and chose to kick off. The referee placed the ball at the center of the field and stepped back. Dylan, the Rockets’ center forward, ran up and passed the ball to his teammate on the left, David. They tried to advance, but one of the Warriors darted in, stole the ball, and broke toward his team’s goal.

  The Warriors’ player passed the ball to a teammate, who gave it a strong kick into the net. After just forty-five seconds of play, the Warriors had scored their first goal.

  The ball was put back into play, and two of the Rockets passed the ball back and forth as they moved up the field. But when they got inside the goalie box, a Warriors’ defender lunged and stole the ball away, knocking it out of the defensive zone.

  The Warriors managed to advance the ball all the way to the Rockets’ defensive zone before Nathan attempted to steal it. He darted forward, but since he hadn’t practiced much, he ended up tripping the player with the ball.

  “Foul!” shouted the referee, pointing at Nathan. “Penalty kick for the Warriors!”

  The Rockets groaned as they got positioned on defense for the penalty kick. The Warriors player ran at the ball and kicked it hard into the right-hand corner of the net. The score was now 0–2.

  CHAPTER 7

  TIME-OUT

  At halftime, the Rockets were still down by two. The players were all sitting on the bench when Dom glanced up and saw his parents walking over from the parking lot.

  Dominic was shocked. What are they doing here? he wondered.

  His first thought was that something had gone wrong with Caleb. But then he saw that his mother was carrying Caleb, who was asleep on her shoulder, and he could tell how relieved they all were. Dominic ran over to them, eager to see his little brother.

  “The doctor said Caleb is going to be fine,” Mom said, handing Caleb to Dad and giving Dominic a tight hug.

  Dominic’s stomach did flips. “Hey, buddy!” he said to his little brother, pulling gently on his foot. “You excited to see me play some soccer?” Caleb responded with a sleepy smile.

  “How’s the game going?” Dad asked.

  “Not good,” Dominic said. “The score is 0–2.”

  “Well, there’s still time,” said Grandpa. “Let’s see what you can do out there.”

  As his family went to sit by the other fans, Dominic joined his teammates, who were gathered around Coach in a huddle.

  Dom tapped his coach on the shoulder. “Coach,” he said, “can I go in soon?”

  Coach nodded. “Can you promise me you’ll focus on the game?”

  Dominic nodded eagerly. “You got it, Coach.”

  “Okay, how about you take Dylan’s place at center forward,” Coach said. “On the next break in play, you can go in.”

  Dominic was nervous and excited as he got ready to sub in for Dylan. He could hear Johnny and Nathan sitting on the bench and making gross noises by blowing into the crooks of their elbows. The noise was so distracting that Coach called a time-out after a couple minutes and pulled Dominic aside.

  “Dom, I really need your help,” Coach said. “Your friends are distracting the team. I’ve tried everything. Could you talk to them before you go in?”

  “I’ll try,” Dominic said.

  As the ball was put in play again, Dominic went over to Nathan and Johnny. “Come on, guys,” he said. “My parents are here, and I really want to play. Can you knock it off for a while?”

  “Nah, I don’t feel like it,” Nathan said. He and Johnny both laughed.

  “You guys,” Dominic said, “the team is in trouble, but I think we can help! Maybe it will be fun.”

  “Fun would be if my parents stopped making me come here,” Nathan said.

  “Look,” Dominic said, “My family is here and I —”

  “Okay, okay. Just leave us alone,” Johnny said. “We’ll be quiet.”

  As Dominic turned back toward the field, he heard the spectators cheer. The Rockets had scored their first goal. The score was 1–2.

  Dominic ran over to Coach Everett. “They promised to stay quiet,” he said. “Can I go in please?”

  Coach smiled. “All right,” he said. “You’re in. Tell Dylan to take a breather.”

  Dominic ran onto the field as quickly as he could.

  CHAPTER 8

  TAKING THE FIELD

  Dominic watched his teammates pass the ball back and forth, but even when he was wide open, he never got the ball. He was frustrated, but after skipping out on practice yesterday, Dom understood why they wouldn’t pass to him. They thought he was a goof-off.

  Next time he was open, Dominic waved his arms and shouted, “Over here!”

  But Seth had the ball. He looked right at Dominic, then passed to another teammate.

  I have to do something to prove myself, Dominic thought. But what?

  Just then, a nearby Warriors’ player stole the ball from the one of the Rockets. Dominic saw his opening. Nobody — not even the players on the other team — were paying much attention to him.

  I’ll use that to my advantage, he thought. No one will see me coming.

  Dominic darted forward and stole the ball back from the opposing player. Almost immediately, three Warriors swarmed him.

  Finally, Dominic thought. He pretended he was about to dribble to the goal, but just when the other players near him started to run forward, he put his foot on top of the ball, pulled it back toward him, spun around, and headed in a different direction.

  Dominic had a head start toward the goal, but soon two Warriors were beside him again. Dominic did another fake, pretending to go toward the sideline, but then he turned and darted forward with the ball. The other players were left in his dust. Now there was nobody between him and the other team’s goal.

  Dominic was only ten feet from the goal, but the goalie was waiting for him, ready to keep him from scoring. Remembering the fakes Grandpa had taught him, Dom pretended he was about to kick the ball directly into the net. But at the last minute, he spun and kicked as hard as he could into the far upper corner of the net.

  Dominic watched as the ball hit the net, hardly able to believe he’d just tied the game.

  CHAPTER 9

  FINAL MINUTES

  After Dominic’s goal, the Warriors took possession of the ball at the centerline. A few minutes later, though, one of the Rockets’ players stole it. Just like before, the Rockets kept passing the ball back and forth, but they were having trouble advancing down the field and toward the opposing team’s goal.

  The Rockets still weren’t passing to Dominic. Only this time, there was a different reason.

  The Warriors are guarding me too closely, Dominic thought. Every time I move, at least two defenders follow me.

  Johnny, however, was also on the field and was standing wide open near the sideline. With his reputation as a troublemaker, none of the Rockets were even thinking about passing to him. He was in the exact position Dominic had been in just a short time ago.

  “Two minutes left!” Coach Everett shouted.

  Dominic desperately tried to get free so someone could pass the ball to him. At last, he saw his chance. One of the Warriors guarding him got distracted, and Dominic darted forward, away from the other defender.

  Sure enough, one of Dominic’s teammates spotted him and passed him the ball. Once he had the ball, Dominic took off. Three Warriors defenders stood between him and the goal, but he faked each of them out until he was alone and inside the 18-yard box.

  But the goalie was ready. He stood with his arms out, expecting Dominic to pull another fake and shoot in the opposite direction.

  Just then, Johnny ran down the sideline toward the other side of the goal, about ten feet from Dominic. The goalie, who was still focused on Dominic, didn’t seem to notice him.

  There couldn’t be more than a minute left in the game. Dominic knew he had to do something — and quick.

  He drew back his leg, pretending he was about to kick the ball as hard as he could into the goal, but at the last minute, he spun around and passed it to Johnny, who was waiting on the opposite side of the goal.

  Johnny seemed slightly surprised and fumbled the ball, but he recovered quickly. The goalie didn’t have time to get to the other side, so Johnny easily kicked the ball into the goal.

  There was whooping and cheering from the sidelines as the Rockets took the lead 3–2.

  Dominic looked over at his family. They were cheering and clapping. Caleb, awake now and sitting in his mother’s lap, also clapped his hands.

  There were only thirty seconds left in the game — not enough time for anything more to happen. The Warriors passed the ball back and forth a few times, but soon the referee blew his whistle.

  The game was over.

  The Rockets gathered to celebrate, high-fiving each other and then lining up to shake hands with the Warriors.

  As everyone gathered up their things, Coach said, “Don’t forget practice on Monday. Our second game is next Saturday night, and we need to keep working hard!”

  Dominic grabbed his bag and hurried over to his family. He couldn’t wait to give his little brother a hug.

  Forget practice? Dominic thought as he left the field. I can hardly wait!

  AUTHOR BIO

  Rebecca Wright writes short stories and novels for young readers. In her free time, she enjoys playing and watching soccer, reading, and cooking.

  ILLUSTRATOR BIO

  Aburtov has worked as a colorist for Marvel, DC, IDW, and Dark Horse and as an illustrator for Stone Arch Books. He lives in Monterrey, Mexico, with his lovely wife, Alba, and his crazy children, Ilka, Mila, and Aleph.

  GLOSSARY

  ache (AKE) —

  to hurt in a way that is constant but not severe

  anxious (ANGK-shuhss) —

  worried

  embarrassed (em-BARE-uhsst) —

  made someone feel ashamed and uncomfortable

  focused (FOH-kuhsst) —

  concentrated

  fumbled (FUHM-buhld) —

  in sports: lost control of the ball after you have touched it

  impressed (im-PRESST) —

  made people think highly of you

  professional (pruh-FESH-uh-nuhl) —

  in sports: making money for doing something others do for fun

  reaction (ree-AK-shuhn) —

  an action in response to something

  reluctantly (ri-LUHK-tuhnt-lee) —

  done with hesitation

  reputation (REP-yuh-TAY-shuhn) —

  your character as judged by other people

  scrimmage (SKRIM-ij) —

  an informal game, often done for practice

  surgery (SUR-jur-ee) —

  medical treatment that involves repairing, removing, or replacing injured or diseased parts of the body

  tumor (TOO-mur) —

  an abnormal mass of cells in the body

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  Dominic discovers that soccer is a good activity for him to do when he is feeling nervous about his brother’s health. Do you have a hobby that always makes you feel better? Talk about it.

  When Dominic gets really nervous, he ends up fooling around instead of playing as part of the team. What do you think he could’ve done differently in these situations? Talk about the possibilities.

  Even though Dominic struggles with soccer at first, he practices and improves so that he can help his team. Discuss a time when you had to practice in order to get better at something.

 

1 2 3