Starting Eleven Read Online Free Page A

something first . . .’
    ‘I was very pleased though,’ said Lily from behind me.
    Now my face was even redder than before. I didn’t know what to say.
    ‘We’re really happy and plan to get married as soon as we can . . .’ Lily added, grinning like a cat.
    ‘
NO!
’ I shouted as Killer walked in.
    ‘What’s the matter with you, boy?’ he asked me.
    ‘Nothing, sir,’ I replied.
    ‘Good. In that case sit down and be quiet. And that goes for the rest of you too.’
    ‘You’re weird,’ whispered Chris.
    ‘I didn’t do anything!’ I whispered back. ‘Honest!’
    ‘DALJIT!’ shouted Mr Kilminster.
    ‘Sorry, sir,’ I mumbled as Killer glared at me.
    ‘You’d better be,’ he threatened, his face going redder than a strawberry. Redder than my face too.
    I looked at Lily and she blew me a kiss.
    *
    At lunch time I asked Chris what he’d meant after the trial.
    ‘Eh?’ he asked, looking at me like I had a sausage growing out of my head.
    ‘You said “not if some of them don’t make it in time” –
remember?
’ I reminded him.
    ‘Oh, that,’ he said. ‘I was just talking. I didn’t mean anything by it.’
    ‘Oh . . . never mind,’ I said, trying not to sound disappointed. I had hoped that he’d have some amazing plan but he obviously didn’t. ‘We need to get sorted for the second trial,’ I added a bit more cheerily.
    Chris scratched his head. ‘How?’ he asked.
    ‘I don’t know. But it’s going to be really difficult. We have to play better than we did.’
    ‘We will – have faith,’ he replied.
    ‘I wish someone
could
make half of the other lads late for the trial,’ I said.
    ‘Why don’t you write a letter to Santa Claus, ’ suggested Chris, teasing me.
    ‘It’s not funny,’ I told him. ‘We
have
to be in the starting eleven on Saturday . . .’
    ‘I wanted a hamster when I was six and my dad told me to write to Santa and I got a hamster,’ Chris told me.
    ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I remember. You let it out onto the street and it never came back, did it?’
    ‘My dad found it,’ he said. ‘A car ran it over. Mum said it went to Hamster Heaven.’
    I grinned.
    ‘Adults are so
stupid
sometimes,’ added Chris. ‘Like there’s a heaven for hamsters . . .’
    I was at home with my dad, watching
The Simpsons
, when Chris called for me. I answered the door and he walked in, acting all shady, with a backpack on across his shoulders.
    ‘What’s up?’ I asked.
    ‘Can you come out for a bit?’ he asked in a whisper.
    ‘Why are you whispering?’
    ‘Can you?’ he repeated.
    ‘I’ll have to ask . . .’
    My dad looked at his watch when I asked him. ‘Where are you going?’
    ‘With Chris,’ I told him. ‘He’s in the hallway.’
    Dad got up and walked out into the hallway with me.
    ‘It’s OK, Mr Singh,’ Chris said when my dad asked him where we were going. ‘It’s just over to the church – my mum wants us to help with fundraising and there’s a quick meeting today. It’ll be over by seven-thirty . . .’
    ‘Oh,’ said my dad, smiling. ‘That’s a great idea. Something worthwhile for you layabouts to do. It’ll stop you playing on those silly computers, won’t it? Just make sure you both get home on time, OK?’
    ‘Thanks, Dad!’ I beamed.
    ‘And call me if you need a lift,’ he said.
    ‘OK,’ I replied as I followed Chris out of the front door.
    I waited until we were three houses away before I pulled my best friend up.
    ‘What are you on about?’ I asked. ‘What fundraising?’
    Chris grinned. ‘Relax,’ he told me. ‘We’re going to help a good cause.
Our
cause.’
    He didn’t say anything else until we got to the end of the road. Abs and Jason were waiting there for us. They looked as puzzled as me.
    ‘This better be good,’ Abs warned Chris.
    ‘My mum didn’t want me to come so I had to get my dad to say yes.’
    ‘Yeah,’ added Jason. ‘My mum isn’t happy either. I have to be home for