Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang

Author:Van Hoang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

* * *

Even though she’d scored the winning goal, the girls didn’t treat her any better. Whispers echoed in the locker room, and she heard snippets of the conversation.

“Did you see the way the ball flew?”

“Yeah, like there was a ghost or something.”

“Do you think she did it?”

“Maybe, but how?”

“Who knows. She’s such a freak.”

Thom hid her face in her locker, breathing in the smell of old sneakers and the chemical singe of chlorine. The elation she’d felt from the game was quickly diluted with shame and guilt and confusion. If she avoided the ball, she was a coward, but if she won the game, she was a freak. What was she doing wrong? She wished Ma wasn’t working late again. She wouldn’t be by to pick Thom up for another hour.

After everyone left, Thom found herself back on the soccer field. A dewy mist had settled over the grass, and she felt the chill seep in through her sweats and hoodie.

“Monkey King?” she whispered, hoping he was still there. Silence. The field was empty. The boys’ soccer team had gone home; the track-and-field runners were long gone. She would practice alone then. The Monkey King had shown her that she could still play soccer even though she was superstrong. With more practice, she could play better, score more, become an excellent teammate. She grabbed a ball from the storage bin and placed it in front of the goal.

Out of habit, she glanced left and right before pulling her leg back and delivering a kick. The first shot was too strong. The ball crashed into a goalpost, which skidded back by a foot.

The second shot was way too weak. The third was better. After a few rounds, she realized she had to keep it at about a tenth of her actual kick strength, and then she decided she needed to divide that in half again.

“Not bad,” a voice said out of nowhere.

She jumped. The Monkey King giggled. “You really need to stop the invisible thing.”

“What if someone sees me?”

“Can’t you change into a man or something? Isn’t that one of your powers?”

“I can transform into other animals, yes, but humans are so ugly. Why would I want to hide this face?” His furry head popped up in front of her. He batted his eyelashes and then disappeared. “Let me see what you can do.”

Thom took a deep breath. “Okay.” She kicked the ball but got nervous, now that she knew she was being watched, and miscalculated. The ball rolled forward a few feet.

“Weak. You underestimate yourself.”

She tried again.

“Better, but stop holding back,” he said.

“I have to hold back. I’m too strong.”

“For this world, yes. For the mortals. But not with me.”

She wished she could see his face. There it was again—that tease, a glimpse, a mention of this other world, one she might belong to more than the one she was in. She wanted to ask more about it—no, to see it. “Are there others like me?”

“Like you?”

He hesitated, and hope rose.

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