Sleepover Club Goes For Goal! Read Online Free Page B

didn’t half hurt. I turned round and saw RyanScott smirking like anything.
    “Sorry,” he said, not looking sorry at all. “It was an accident, honest.”
    “Well just be more careful in future!” Mr Pownall told him crossly.
    I was
furious.
I bet Scotty-chops was trying to knock me out or something, just so I wouldn’t be in the team. Well, it was going to take more than that to stop me.
    I got the ball and dribbled it past Ryan, calling, “Come on then, get it off me!”
    Mr Pownall shouted, “Kenny… Kenny… Oh, I’ll tell you later!”
    Then he blew his whistle and we started on the exercises.
    I know that I shouldn’t say this, but they were really quite easy. I mean, it was the same stuff we do every week, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. But the way some of the boys played, you’d think they’d never even
seen
a football in their lives before. I mean, they were just so BAD! Even Danny McCloud seemed to be put off by all the noise the spectators were making, and that’s juststupid. Have you ever seen a professional footballer go to pieces in front of a big crowd? Of course not, they love all the attention – and so do I! I played the best I’d ever played in my life. It really helped when I looked across and Frankie, Lyndz and Rosie were going wild with their cheering. Even Fliss looked as though she was letting her hair down – a tiny bit!
    When it came to the actual match I was on
fire.
I mean, I was just so hot I couldn’t put a foot wrong. Danny, Ryan and I were on the same team and all our practising together really paid off. We could sort of tell where the other person was going to pass the ball; it was like telepathy or something. We played a blinder, and by half-time (which in five-a-side matches is after six minutes) we were three-nil up and we’d each scored a goal.
    “We’re all bound to get in the team at this rate,” Danny said as we were changing ends. “And if we play like this in the competition, I can’t see anyone beating us, can you?”
    Scotty and I had to admit that we did appear pretty invincible.
    The second half got even better. Neil Hughes in the opposite goal let his brain go walkabout again and kept handling the ball outside his area. We were awarded four penalties. We had this arrangement before the match that we’d take it in turns to shoot penalties. The other boy on our team, David Harper, said he wasn’t bothered. I think he was a bit intimidated by us actually. Anyway, I ended up taking two of our penalties. What do you mean, did I score? Of
course
I did! Scotty-chops missed his though, which was a shame. No, I genuinely felt sorry for him about that.
    By the end of the match, the score was 7–2 to our team. We’d played out of our socks, and we were as high as kites when Mr Pownall called us all over to announce the team. The gym had been going wild, but as soon as Mr Pownall said that he was ready to make his announcement it went deadly quiet.
    “In goal, we’ll have Alex Brown…”
    We commiserated with Neil Hughes and told him “better luck next time”.
    My heart began to thump and I preparedmyself for hearing my name next.
    “The rest of the team will be Ryan Scott, Danny McCloud, Bobby Brook and…”
    My name had to be next, it just
had
to be. I could hear Frankie and the others chanting “Kenny, Kenny, Kenny!”
    “… Charlie Acres. And the reserves will be…”
    I couldn’t believe it. I was better than all the others on the pitch and he hadn’t even picked me to be in the team. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be a reserve.
    “… Dean Sullivan and Michael Blackwell.”
    I wasn’t even down as a
reserve
! What had I done wrong?
    It was Ryan Scott who piped up first.
    “But what about McKenzie, sir?”
    “Yeah, she’s the best player here,” agreed Danny. “After me and Ryan of course!”
    Frankie, Fliss, Lyndz and Rosie came flying over. “Why haven’t you picked Kenny?” they demanded. “She played a