Sleepover Club Goes For Goal! Read Online Free

us.
    “Yeaah!”
    “All right!”
    Everyone seemed to be leaping around and punching the air. I was yelling louder than anyone. This could be my big chance. Some big football scout might spot my talent and train me to be the first female professional footballer in Britain. I was definitely up for it.
    The only thing that worried me was the extra practice I’d have to do if I was going to make the team. Extra practice would of course mean spending more time with the boys. And we all knew what
that
would mean. Yup – trouble from Frankie and the others. But I thought they would understand how much a place in the team would mean to me, I really did. But I was wrong about that too.
Very
wrong.
    “So you’re finally going to choose them over us, are you?” demanded Frankie when I tried to explain things to her in the playground the next morning.
    “It’s not like that,” I explained. “It’s not a case of choosing. I need the boys to practise with, that’s all. Once the competition’s over, I won’t play with them so much. I promise.”
    The others looked at each other.
    “We don’t believe you,” said Fliss coldly.
    “Believe what you like,” I snapped.
    “It seems like we’re not enough fun for you any more,” said Lyndz sadly. “You don’t like playing with us, do you?”
    “Yes I do! It’s just that I like playing football, and you don’t play do you?”
    The gang all stared at each other with these really weird looks on their faces.
    “What’s up with you?” I demanded.
    “If football’s
that
important to you, I don’t really think we have that much in common, do we?” asked Frankie. Her voice sounded cold, but when I looked at her, her eyes were really sad.
    “Yes we do!” I didn’t want Frankie getting upset. We’d been best mates for ever.
    “But if we asked you to choose between us and football, you’d choose football, right?” demanded Rosie.
    That was a tough one.
    “I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s just that this competition is kind of important to me rightnow. When it’s over, everything will be back to normal, you’ll see.”
    It was the answer that they didn’t want, but I guess it was the one that they’d expected to hear. They just sort of shrugged and turned away from me, just like that. I’ll never forget the way that felt. Even when Danny called me over for a game of footie, I felt kind of lonely and a bit empty inside.

Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that the Sleepover Club broke up then and there over my football, right? Well we didn’t, not really. I mean, we still hung round together – it’s just things were a bit strained. I didn’t spend time with my mates like I used to, and when I
did
see them, they always seemed to be planning things together which didn’t include me. But that didn’t really matter because I was spending all my time practising for the trials for our five-a-side team anyway. Mr Pownall had announced that they would take place on September 15th, and he’d put upa notice inviting anyone who was interested to watch.
    I’d tried to be really good when I was with the others and not mention football at all. It just wasn’t worth the aggro. But on the days running up to the trial I was so hyper I just couldn’t help myself.
    “You
will
be coming to watch the five-a-side trials, won’t you?” I asked them on Monday afternoon in our craft lesson. We were up to our elbows in papier-mâché, and Fliss was trying hard to pretend that she was enjoying it. She
hates
getting her hands dirty.
    They exchanged glances and looked all embarrassed.
    “Well actually, we’ve planned to go rollerblading in the park after school on Wednesday,” explained Frankie quietly.
    Rollerblading
! They never used to do that.
    “How long have you been rollerblading?” I asked, trying not to sound annoyed that they hadn’t told me about it.
    “A few weeks now,” gushed Fliss. “It’s well cool. I was terrified at first and