The Academy III: Tournament of Champions (The Academy Series Book 3) by Layton T.Z

Author:Layton, T.Z.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: First Touch Books for Young Readers
Published: 2023-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

ENTRY #15

Four Suspects and a Train to Germany

* * *

At first, I thought a giant banana with legs had rushed the field. Or maybe a fan wearing a yellow shirt.

Then I realized it was JoJo in her bright goalie jersey, sprinting towards the ball rolling through the penalty box. She must have raced all the way upfield for the corner kick, knowing it didn’t matter if she got caught out of position because it was surely the last play of the game.

No one was marking her. She had caught everyone, including her own teammates, by surprise. With the goal looming, JoJo plowed through the crowd of players and struck the ball hard with her right toe.

Wait—a toe ball?

I winced.

Please, please never kick the ball with your toe. It’s impossible to control. The rest of JoJo’s form was terrible too. It was obvious she didn’t know how to plant her foot in the right position, lean over the ball, balance her body, and strike with her laces. I know she’s a goalie, but her form was so bad I wondered if she had ever taken a shot before.

Ninety-nine times out of one hundred, that toe-poke was going in the stands. Or anywhere but on target.

But this time, JoJo’s wild toe ball whipped through the crowd of players, somehow avoiding a deflection, and splashed the net in the right side of the goal. The Perseus Amsterdam keeper had drifted to the left, worried about John and Patrick, and didn’t see JoJo’s shot until it was too late.

The home crowd fell silent, and the players on both teams watched, stunned, as the ball bounced and then settled in the goal.

The referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game. The final score was 1–1. We had tied Perseus Amsterdam, which meant we were advancing to the knockout rounds!

As our team started celebrating and our opponents hung their heads, JoJo ran straight to Burg, put a finger in his face, and began shouting.

“How ’bout that, yeah? You like that, cheeseburger? A girl just won the game. Beat your sorry team at the last second. What’s that? Got nothing to say? Want some fries with that loss, cheeseburger? Whatcha think about girls playing now? Huh? Huh? Cat got your tongue?”

Burg shuffled his feet and tried to walk away, but JoJo followed him and kept throwing barbs. Wow, she was mad. I ran over to intervene before she started a fight or got a red card and missed the next game. She pushed me away and kept going after Burg. Then Brock and John got between them, and the rest of my teammates helped out, surrounding JoJo so she had nowhere to go. At last, the wild light in her eyes dimmed and she thrust a gloved fist in the air.

We chanted her name and whooped in celebration.

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