Win or Lose Read Online Free Page A

Defenders, one of you needs to stop the attacker. I’ll take goal. Got it?”
    We nodded, and Coach ran over to the goal. Then she blew her whistle.
    Grace kicked the ball to Giselle, one of her eighth-grade friends. Giselle took off for the goal, and Brianna darted out from the defensive line and tried to get the ball from her, but Giselle got off a shot before Brianna could stop her.
    Coach caught the shot with both hands, and then tossed it back to Grace. “Good! Keep going, Grace!”
    We got the hang of the drill pretty quickly. Grace kept kicking balls to the girls on the attackers line, and each attacker tried to make it to the goal while the defender tried to block her. I noticed, though, that Grace was kicking the ball to every attacker except me. When she finally did, the ball sailed over my head.
    â€œSorry, Devin,” she said in a flat voice, and I could tell she didn’t mean it. I knew she was still mad.
    â€œAll right, lines. Switch sides. Devin, you take the middle this time!” Coach called out.
    I switched places with Grace. As soon as the lines wereset up, I made a point to shoot the first ball to Grace—properly. I wanted to show her I wasn’t going to get into some kind of silly fight with her. If Grace noticed, she didn’t show it.
    After the drill we had a scrimmage. Even though it was nice to have goals with nets, the field was a total mess, and we kicked up mud and dirt as we ran. By the time practice ended, our legs and uniforms were caked with it.
    â€œWe can’t go to Debi’s Dresses looking like this!” Frida wailed as we walked off the field.
    â€œIt’s just a little dirt,” Emma said.
    â€œAre you serious? We’re mud monsters,” Frida said.
    â€œMaybe we can shower and change before we go,” Jessi suggested.
    I pointed to the parking lot, where Jessi’s mom’s minivan had just pulled up. “It’s four-thirty. Zoe’s there already. She’ll kill us if we’re really late.”
    Emma nodded. “That’s true. We’d better go.”
    We grabbed our bags and jogged up to Mrs. Dukes’s car. She popped the hatch for us so we could stow everything in the back. Then we piled in.
    â€œMy goodness, you girls are a mess!” she exclaimed.
    â€œThe field was supermuddy,” Jessi reported, sliding into the front passenger seat. “But we’re kind of late as it is. We should get to Debi’s.”
    Mrs. Dukes nodded. “It’s not that far.”
    Debi’s Discount Dresses was in a strip mall in Kentville, sandwiched between an Italian restaurant and a store thatsold video games. Mrs. Dukes dropped us off in front and went to look for a parking spot, and Emma, Jessi, Frida, and I went inside.
    The shop was small with a big 360-degree mirror in the middle and a couple of old-looking couches pushed against the wall. There were racks and racks jammed full of all different kinds of dresses.
    Zoe had her back to us because she was looking in a mirror. She had on a hot-pink strapless dress with a short but kind of puffy skirt.
    â€œOh my gosh! You look gorgeous!” Emma cried.
    Zoe spun around. “You’re finally here! I just—” She stopped, and her face fell. “You guys are so dirty!”
    â€œWe came right from practice,” Jessi said quickly. “So come on, let’s try on some dresses.”
    Just then Zoe’s mom came out of the back room with another woman, who had short black hair with bangs. She had on a navy-blue dress, black heels, and a silver necklace. She looked like one of those people who was always perfectly neat from head to toe.
    Zoe’s mom looked surprised. “Girls! I didn’t realize you had practice today.”
    â€œWell, with the play-offs and all . . . ,” I said. “We got here as soon as we could.”
    â€œHello, I’m Debi,” the dark-haired woman said, pronouncing it