Goal Line by Tiki Barber

Author:Tiki Barber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Published: 2011-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

* * *

AS TIKI RODE THE BUS TO SCHOOL MONDAY morning, his mind was troubled. All the other kids were horsing around, laughing, making lots of noise—but Tiki just stared out the window, watching the streets of Roanoke roll by.

He knew he should be happy, but he wasn’t. Sure, he had a lot to be happy about at Hidden Valley—a football starter, the winner of the essay contest, taller and bigger and stronger than his identical twin—but the Eagles and their future crowded his thoughts.

Yes, they’d won their first two games. But this last one had been a real nail-biter. The Eagles could easily have lost. They’d been behind at halftime, and their many rookies and eighth graders had made a ton of mistakes. Ronde had had to throw a fit to get them to play their best in the second half, and even then the Eagles had barely pulled out the victory.

What was it going to be like next time they fell behind? Because it was a long season, and Tiki knew they would not always have a big lead to sit on. Were locker room explosions going to be a regular feature? And would they always work to inspire the team?

Tiki thought not. Getting yelled at once might get you to play harder, but getting yelled at all the time was no good for anything. You just got down in the dumps and played worse.

The Eagles locker room had been happy after the game. But he wondered if some of the players were mad at Ronde now. He guessed he’d find out at practice if there were lasting hard feelings, but he knew for sure that things had better improve if the Eagles wanted to repeat as champs, let alone have an undefeated season.

That was another thing that bothered him. All this talk about going undefeated was no good. It made them think about the distant future instead of concentrating on this game, this play, this moment.

There was so much he wanted to say to his teammates. Maybe he’d give another speech, just for them, he thought. Then he shuddered at the vision. Giving speeches was not his thing, even if he had done well at it last week.

He filed off the bus with the rest of the kids, still full of worry. But before he could duck inside the school building, he was waylaid by Laura Sommer. “Hel-lo! Earth to Tiki?” she began, grabbing him by the arm and turning him to face her.

Laura was tall with long blond hair, and had thick glasses with black frames that sat off-kilter on her nose. “We need to talk,” she said in a tone that didn’t allow for argument.

She practically dragged him off to the side, until they were standing next to the big elm tree that shaded the school entrance. “What’s up?” he asked her.

“I have a favor to ask you,” she began.

“Uh … okay.” She probably wanted to do an interview with him for the school paper, he figured.

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