Hat Trick by Alex Morgan Page B

groaned. “I wish I could say the same. The last time we had a surprise quiz, it was an open book. Mr. Emmet is getting tough.”
    â€œHe did say there might be a quiz on the chapter last week,” I reminded him.
    â€œA whole week ago? How am I supposed to remember that?” Steven asked.
    I laughed. “There’s this great invention called a notebook and a pen. You can write stuff down.”
    He pretended to look surprised. “What will they think of next?” he joked. “But seriously, I’ve been busy with the boys’ winter league.”
    I nodded. “Yeah, the girls’ winter league has been keeping me on my toes too.”
    â€œHow’s Emma doing?” Steven asked. “She seemed really upset at the mall.”
    I shook my head. “You know Emma. She doesn’t stay down long. It’s just been weird. Emma’s not playing at all, and Zoe’s on a different team.” I sighed. “It’s just not the same. I miss the Kicks.”
    â€œYeah, I get it,” Steven said. His smile had vanished. “My good friend Jake didn’t make the league at all either. The competition was fierce at tryouts. We always used to talk about soccer. Now I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t want to bring it up and hurt his feelings, but avoiding it and not talking about it feels . . .” He trailed off as he tried to think of the right word.
    â€œLike an elephant in the room!” I suggested. “It’s like, no one wants to say it, but everyone knows it’s there.”
    â€œThat’s exactly it.” Steven beamed at me, smiling again. I smiled back, and I felt my cheeks getting a little red. I did mention that Steven has an awesome smile, didn’t I? “So I guess we’re both dealing with the same thing.”
    â€œYeah.” I nodded. “Emma is still Emma, and your friend Jake is probably the same old Jake. I guess we should just act normal around them. I mean, respect their feelings and not rub it in their faces or anything that we made the winter league and they didn’t.”
    â€œAnd just be ourselves,” Steven said. “And soon we’ll be playing with them again. Man, I can’t believe it, but I even miss Coach Valentine.”
    That really made me laugh. The boys’ Kentville Kangaroos had a tough coach. He filled in once for the Kicks coach, Coach Flores, and we missed our sweet and fun coach like crazy. In the end, we’d liked and respected Coach Valentine. He was tough but fair. One thing the Kicks couldn’t decide on was whether we loved or hated his corny jokes. They were way better than all the push-ups he made us do, anyway. But we wouldn’t trade Coach Flores for anyone—especially not Demolition Darby. (Yeah, I’d started calling her that in my head. Our soccer matches were starting to feel like those demolition derbies, where cars smash into one another on purpose.)
    As Steven and I walked into English class together, I felt like whistling, I was so happy. Steven was right. Soon the Kicks would be on the field together with Coach Flores at the helm. I just had to learn to deal with the Griffons and Coach Darby until then.
    That night I video chatted with Kara. I had filled her in on Sunday night about my stellar job as a bench warmer at the game, so she knew all about that. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her about the scrimmage, though.
    â€œAnd I tried to squeeze through instead of around the other players. Which was pretty stupid, because I ended up accidentally elbowing one of the Giraffes in the side,” I told Kara. I was a little embarrassed when I said the next words: “I got my first yellow card.”
    â€œWow!” Kara said, her eyes wide. “I mean, it sounds like you almost had to do it to get through to your coach, Devin. What did she say?”
    â€œThat’s what is crazy, Kara,” I said. “Coach was