The Kick Off by Dan Freedman

Author:Dan Freedman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2012-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

After school, Jamie had popped home to get changed and have another quick flick through Kenny Wilcox’s book. Before he left, he even slipped in twenty minutes of French vocab to keep his mum sweet.

Then he sprinted straight down to Sunningdale. He didn’t want to be late. Danny had said 6 p.m. Jamie was there for 5.50.

Just knowing that Danny and the rest of the First Eleven squad wanted Jamie to train with them gave him such a massive lift. The frustrations of the day seemed to fly away.

For Jamie, having a ball at his feet made him feel the same way his mum must when she had a big mug of tea in her hands. It relaxed him. Made him feel comfortable.

When the others arrived and they picked the teams, Jamie was one of the first people that Danny picked to be on his side. He brimmed with pride as he took his place behind Danny, waiting to see who else they were going to have on their team.

By the time the game started, Jamie felt super confident. He made sure that he never rushed himself in possession, always taking time to pick out the right pass. He played a couple of one-twos with Danny that completely split open the opposition defence.

Whenever he had the opportunity, he skipped down the line. He even hit the post when he cut inside and hit a shot with his right foot. He struck it so sweetly he almost didn’t feel it.

They finished the session by playing the Crossbar Challenge, to see who could hit the crossbar first from the edge of the area. Jamie and Danny were the only ones who hit the bar with their first attempts.

“You looking forward to the matches tomorrow, then, Jamie?” said Danny as they sat down behind the goal watching the others trying to hit the bar. Danny was undoing his sweaty shin pads from the back of his heavily muscled calves.

“Yeah – I’m well up for it,” said Jamie. “I can’t wait to play in a proper competitive game for Kingfield. I only joined in January.”

“Oh, right,” said Danny. “So you’re in with Dillon Simmonds and that lot, are you?”

“Yup.” Jamie tried to keep the grimace from his face when that ugly name was mentioned.

“Sounds like a pretty good team, with him at the back and you in attack. Bet Marsden’s happy with his lot this year?”

Jamie gritted his teeth, drawing the air in through the sides of his mouth. He was going to have to tell Danny that he was in the B’s. It was so embarrassing. Danny probably wouldn’t want him to train with the Firsts any more when he found out. But there was no point in Jamie lying. Danny would find out soon enough.

“Yeah . . . well, that’s not the team for tomorrow, anyway. I’m . . . sort of . . . in the B’s,” Jamie said. He felt like he’d let Danny down in some way. “I had an absolute nightmare in the trials.

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