Lily Out of Bounds Read online

  Chris called for a substitution.

  “LJ!” he called. Lily shook her head. She was feeling better, she told herself.

  “Let’s go, Coach,” the referee said. “In or out.”

  The Wildcats had the ball at midfield and were ready to play. Their coach began to complain that Lily was wasting time. She tried to straighten up.

  “Out,” Chris said. “Now.”

  Lily begrudgingly went to the sideline.

  “Great playing, LJ,” Chris said, “Get some water. Take it easy. You took quite a hit.”

  Lily collapsed on the ground. Her coach flashed a look of concern. They both knew the Lily James of last season might have thrown a tantrum for having to come off the field–even because of injury. Last year, her emotional behavior had resulted in a two-game suspension. But LJ had vowed this season would be different. She wasn’t going to let her temper get the best of her, even if that meant waiting out the last three minutes on the bench.

  Plus, the ache in her side was no joke.

  The Wildcats came back strong. From the kick-off they moved down the field as one, stringing passes together, working as a team. A tall, thin winger, playing on the outside, took the ball all the way down to the corner flag. Lily struggled to get to her feet. She wanted to yell, “Stop her!” The words wouldn’t come. A feeling of dread joined the cramp in her side.

  Olivia, the Bombers’ clutch defender, read Lily’s mind and came in at the last minute. She blocked the cross. Somehow the ball deflected off the winger.

  Bombers’ ball. Avery, the left midfielder, picked it up for the throw-in.

  But Lily watched as Colby sauntered over and took the ball from Avery’s hands.

  Colby bent down to tie her shoe, black hair flopping over her headband. By now, the Wildcats’ coach’s face was as red as her hair. Lily worried she was going to explode like some kind of cherry bomb.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” the coach bellowed, pointing at Colby.

  “Play on!” the referee warned. Colby kept tying her shoe.

  “Olivia, go take it,” Lily’s coach yelled from the sidelines. Olivia sprinted over, grabbed the ball from next to Colby and threw the ball up the line. Lily saw Colby laugh and jog back onto the field.

  “One minute left,” Lily heard Chris mutter under his breath. “Look alive, defense!”

  The Wildcats’ center midfielder took control and moved the ball into the Bombers’ penalty area. Olivia stepped up to defend. Lily held her breath. Her stomach started to hurt again. When was the referee going to blow the whistle?

  As Olivia came in for a tackle, Lily and the rest of the field heard a howl.

  “Owww!! My ankle!”

  It was Colby. “I stepped in a hole!”

  Lily watched, worried, as Colby ripped off her black headband and rolled on the ground.

  “Coach!” the referee called Chris onto the field. After a few seconds, Chris helped Colby limp to the sideline. She plopped down a few feet from Lily and gave her a wink.

  “Time, Ref!” The coach of the Wildcats was incensed. “Time!” She wanted minutes added onto the game clock.

  “Reese,” Chris called. He needed a substitute on the field. “Get ready. Quickly.”

  The referee had his hand on his watch. He was holding the time. Lily groaned. Reese had already taken off her shoes. She thought the game was over.

  “This is outrageous!” Lily heard one of the parents yell.

  As Reese scrambled to get ready, Colby suddenly rolled over, ran to the sideline, and said, “Coach, I’m okay now!”

  “What?” Chris had a tense look on his face. “It’s okay, Colby. Just take a rest and get some ice.”

  “No, really. Look, I’m fine,” Colby said, jumping up and down to prove her point.

  Chris looked at Reese, who was still trying to jam her foot into her cleat. He sighed, “Okay. Go. Now!”

  The spectators booed as Colby retook the field. She was running fine. Clearly, nothing was wrong with her ankle. The referee took out a yellow card.

  “What’s that for, coach?” Lily asked.

  “For wasting time,” Chris answered with a shake of his head. The whistle blew. Lily had to admit Colby didn’t look very injured. She could hear the whispering from the parents on the other side of the field.

  The Wildcats gave one final push, but then time finally did run out. Lily collapsed in a heap when she heard the whistle blow three times. She was thrilled to have vanquished the defending champs, but when Lily saw Colby sprint off the field, questions filled her mind. Was Colby faking? Was she wasting time? And, most importantly, was she right for the Bombers?

  Chapter 2.

  “Victory!” Lily shouted across the messy hotel room. “Can I have this one?”

  “Sure,” Colby nodded. “Victory. That’s what it’s all about, right?”

  Lily ripped the word from a colorful sheet of temporary tattoos. Vaulting a pile of dirty soccer clothes, she ran into the small bathroom to get some water while Vee and Olivia sorted through the rest of the tattoo choices.

  “How long do I have to hold it?” Lily yelled.

  “Fifteen minutes,” Colby answered.

  “Fifteen minutes?” Lily came out of the bathroom with a wet washcloth on her arm.

  “I’m kidding,” Colby laughed. “Sucker!”

  Lily gave Colby a look.

  “Thirty seconds,” Colby laughed. “Love the look on your face. Just be sure to lift the paper off slowly so it doesn’t tear.”

  “Look at this one,” Olivia said, holding up a flaming soccer ball. “This one is like your shot today, Vee.”

  Vee smiled. “How long do they stay on again?”

  “About a week, depending on how many showers you take and how sweaty you get.”

  “Whaddya think?” Lily asked, showing off her right arm. Bright green and orange letters covered her skin.

  “Oh, love it,” Colby said. “We’re going to kill ‘em tomorrow.”

  “Can you believe the looks they were giving us at dinner?” Lily asked.

  “I didn’t know we were all staying in the same hotel,” Olivia said. Coming face-to-face with the Baton Ridge Thunder at dinner that night had caught most of the girls by surprise. The Bombers had won their second game easily, and now they faced the Thunder in tomorrow’s final.

  “The whole tournament is staying here,” Colby told them. “It’s SOP.”

  “What’s ‘sop’?” Vee asked.

  “Standard. Operating. Procedure,” Colby answered. “Duh.”

  “The girl in the salad line looked like she wanted you for dinner, Colby,” Vee shot back.

  “Oh, whatev,” Colby said.

  “Do you know them?” Vee asked.

  “Nah, not really. I might have seen one or two of them at a soccer camp or something over the years. They think they’re all that.”

  “They seemed to know you, dude,” Vee said in voice that Lily recognized. Her friend Vee was not digging Colby.

  Colby started to respond, but a loud knock on the door interrupted her. All four girls squeaked in surprise.

  “Anyone hooomm-eeeeee?” Avery’s mother, Mrs. Dwyer, asked, sticking her head into the room.

  “Hi-iiiiiiiiiii,” the girls answered in unison. Mrs. Dwyer was the Team Mom and their chaperone for the night. She was nice enough, but she had a habit of singing the end of her sentences. Most of the girls couldn’t help but do the same in response. Lily, Colby, Olivia and Vee had been assigned the hotel room that connected to the one that Mrs. Dwyer shared with Avery, Sue and Reese. The rest of the Bombers were with their parents in rooms down the hall

  “I’m collecting stinky socks. Anyon-eeeeeee?” Mrs. Dwyer said. Pinching her nose, she looked with disgust around the room. There were muddy shoes on the beds, clothes pouring out of duffle bags, soccer balls and shin guards strewn on the floor, and one particularly alarming blue puddle on the worn rug in front of the television.

  Avery’
s mom bent down to investigate the stain.

  “Melted popsicle,” Lily offered. “Blueberry bomb.”

  Mrs. Dwyer nodded and took a few steps back.

  “Well, I can see you’re all anxious to have clean uniforms for the big game tomorrow. I’ll wash tonight and have them for you by 6:30 tomorrow morning. Okay? Breakfast is at 7 a.m. in the lobby, so be sure to come dressed to go to the game.”

  The four girls scrambled to gather their ripe belongings. Shreds of grass dribbled from Lily’s socks as she handed them over.

  “They’re still a little wet,” Lily said. “Just sweat. I think.”

  Mrs. Dwyer backed out of the room holding a pile of uniforms.

  “Lights out in half an hour. Big game tomorro-ooow!” Mrs. Dwyer said with a coy voice and a sour face.

  “Okaaay,” the girls mimicked in singsong reply.

  Colby closed the door behind her.

  “Oh, so glad she’s go-ooone,” she said, and all four Bombers collapsed in giggles.

  “Man, I’m so sore,” Olivia said, rubbing her thighs.

  “Me too,” Lily said. Her legs hurt when she walked, sat, lay down. She plopped down on the bed next to Vee and admired her new tattoo.

  “This is nothing, girls,” Colby said. “When you go to ODP, you have, like, three practices a day, and then you hit the gym. Now’s that’s how you get sore.”

  “What’s ODP?” Olivia asked.

  “What’s ODP? Are you kidding me? ODP is the Olympic Development Program. You know, where they pick the girls for the national team? Abby Wambach? Alex Morgan? Hello?”

  Olivia shrugged her shoulders, embarrassed.

  “You guys need to starting learning about REAL soccer if you want to be taken seriously,” Colby went on.

  Colby had Lily’s full attention. Lily wanted to play soccer for the rest of her life. She wanted to score the winning goal in the World Cup. She wanted to win a gold medal at the Olympics. She wanted to make it to the top, and if Colby could help her get there, she was all ears.

  “There are going to be some big time scouts at this game tomorrow.”

  “Scouts for what?” Lily asked.

  “College,” Colby said solemnly.

  “College! We’re not even in 8th grade,” Lily said.

  “Yeah, college. If you aren’t on the recruiting radar by 8th grade, you might as well just forget it.”

  “Come on, Colby.” Vee rolled her eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Is it?” Colby replied. “Mark my words, they’ll be there tomorrow and they’ll be watching. Which is why we have to win. No matter what.”

  “No matter what?” Vee muttered, shaking her head. She jumped off the bed, grabbed her toothbrush, and headed for the bathroom. As she pushed open the door, she leaned back and asked, “Hey Colby, how’s your ankle?”

  She closed the bathroom door behind her without waiting for an answer. Colby ignored the question and motioned for Lily and Olivia to come closer.

  “I saw an awesome hot tub out behind the restaurant,” she whispered.

  “Yeah, so?” Lily asked.

  “Let’s go check it out. We can loosen up our sore muscles. It’ll be perfect.”

  “It’s pitch black out there,” Olivia said.

  “Exactly. We’ll have it all to ourselves.”

  “Mrs. D is never going to let us go-oo,” Lily pointed out.

  “Who said we’re going to ask? We just have to wait until everyone’s asleep,” Colby said.

  “We will get in so much trouble,” Olivia whispered.

  “It’s only a crime if you get caught,” Colby said. “And we’re not going to get caught. Trust me, all the big players warm down in a hot tub. It’s just what we need.”

  Chapter 3.

  Lily James’s heart thwapped in her chest like the churning blades of a helicopter. Somehow, Vee was sleeping soundly in the bed next to her. Lily couldn’t imagine how all the jumping and thudding her heart was doing wasn’t keeping her friend awake.

  Thwap. Thwap. Thud. Thud.

  Was Colby really brave enough to sneak out of the hotel room in the middle of the night?

  Sure, Lily wanted to soothe her sore muscles like a pro, but she’d never done anything like sneak out before. She’d never even contemplated doing anything like that. Lily saved her most daring exploits and passionate moments for the field. The rest of her life—in school, with family and friends—she hovered right on average.

  Thwap. Thud.

  This was insanity.

  But it was also exciting. Colby was exciting. Lily loved her cool tattoos. She envied Colby’s wild hair. Colby was different, in the best kind of way. Lily gathered a section of her own strawberry blonde hair around her finger as she lay in the bed. For games she always wore a long ponytail, or when she was feeling crazy, two French braids. Next to Colby, Lily’s hair was basic and boring. How was anyone going to notice Lily next to someone like Colby?

  Vee rolled over. Lily could tell Vee didn’t get Colby. Vee wasn’t very good at hiding her feelings. Was what Colby had done during the game really that wrong? So she tied her shoe at the end. Big whoop. It’s dangerous to play with your shoelaces undone. And she twisted her ankle. Not her fault she stepped in a hole. Lily thought Vee was being a little hard on Colby.

  Lily adjusted her pillow and felt a twinge in her side. She hurt all over. Getting the wind knocked out of her was a new, awful experience. Maybe it would be good to relax in a nice warm tub. Lily felt herself calming down, the helicopter circling in to land. Yawning, she pulled the covers over her shoulder and nestled down into the soft sheets. The room was pitch black and quiet.

  She was pretty sure Olivia and Colby were already asleep, anyway. Well, it would have been fun, Lily thought. I’m no chicken. I’m brave too. She closed her eyes and started to doze, relieved she didn’t have to prove it.

  She didn’t feel the first poke. The second one made her sit straight up.

  “What?” Lily cried out.

  “Shhhhhhhhhhh,” Colby said. “Here.”

  Lily’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she saw Colby and Olivia standing over her bed. Vee shifted slightly next to her. Lily noticed Colby and Olivia both had streaks of black under their eyes.

  “Is that eye-black?” she asked.

  “Let’s move,” Olivia ordered.

  “Here,” Colby said again, shoving something into Lily’s hands.

  “What’s this?”

  “T-shirt and shorts. Unless you want to go naked? I don’t have a bathing suit. Do you?”

  “Oh, right,” Lily said. Silently, she changed her clothes. “What time is it?”

  “Midnight.”

  Lily realized she must have fallen asleep.

  “Coast is clear, team,” Olivia said in a soft staccato voice after poking her head out into the hallway. Lily suddenly imagined her teammate with a fine career in the military.

  The three girls crept silently down the hall to the stairs. Their room was on the fourth floor. Quickly, the trio found themselves in the lobby. The receptionist was busy on her iPhone and didn’t seem to notice the three barefoot girls scurrying by. They found the door that said PATIO and slipped outside.

  It was that easy.

  Hot vapor swirled invitingly in the cool night.

  Colby went first. Making a face that said the water was scalding hot, she slid slowly into the Jacuzzi.

  “Ahhh,” she whispered. “Now that’s awesome.”

  Lily and Olivia climbed the steps. Lily paused before getting in. She looked around, but saw only potted plants. She heard muted voices from people in the parking lot behind the hotel.

  “Get in,” Colby urged.

  Olivia went next. Then Lily slipped her foot into the steaming water.

  “Ow!” Lily cried, yanking her foot back. She hadn’t been in too many hot tubs in her life. “That’s hot! Really hot.”

  “You get used to it,” Colby said, lounging in the corner, her arms res
ting on the sides.

  Lily tried again. She could not believe people did this on purpose. Her skin was going to fall off. Olivia, the budding Navy SEAL, didn’t seem to be having any problem, Lily noticed.

  “Since you’re up,” Colby said, “How about turning on the jets? The button is right behind you.”

  Lily reached back, hit the green button, and saw the pool come to life. Colby and Olivia immediately started trapping bubbles in their t-shirts and shorts. It’s now or never, Lily thought. She marched down the first few steps, sucked in her breath, and slowly sank down in the water.

  “This. Is. The. Life,” Colby said, her head tilted back, black hair sticking up in front like a tuft of grass.

  Lily had to agree. “I feel like a celebrity,” she said, moving closer to one of the jets. “Plus, I really do think this is helping my muscles.”

  “I wonder what the Thunder will be like tomorrow? I hear they’re really tough,” Olivia said.

  “Me too,” Lily agreed.

  “Piece of cake,” Colby said. “They have matching bags and stuff. Think that makes them good or something.”

  Lily turned to the side to massage her sore back. “Man, that really hurt today.”

  “Yeah, but you got us the free kick; that’s all that matters,” Colby said.

  “How is your ankle?” Lily asked. “Did you step in a hole or something?”

  Colby rubbed her leg and smiled. “I saw that in the USA-Brazil game. It must have eaten up at least the last three minutes. Just like in the World Cup.”

  “You mean you didn’t really step in a hole?” Olivia asked.

  “Look, all the pros do it. Don’t you guys watch soccer on TV? When you’re ahead, you gotta do what it takes to eat up the last few minutes of a game. I didn’t make it up.”

  Of course Lily watched the World Cups, men’s and women’s. There was a lot of falling down in the final minutes, no question about it. It just had never occurred to her that it was something U13 girls could do.

  “But Colby, isn’t that cheating?” Lily blurted out.