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  Suddenly thinking of her father, Chloe wondered aloud, “What is the deal with Dad and that kitten?”

  “I know, right?” Andrew said, turning around. “Smitty sleeps in the bed with him now and attacks Mom’s toes. Dad thinks it’s hysterical. It’s like he’s having a midlife crisis or something.”

  “Don’t people usually go on a cruise or get a fancy sports car?” Chloe asked.

  Andrew raised his hands in the air and shrugged. “Dude, Dad doesn’t need any more sports cars.” He was right. Their father had a garage full of pricey cars.

  Chloe looked out the window, admiring the beautiful homes and manicured lawns as they slipped past. She knew that she lived a privileged life, but luxury didn’t mean her family was perfect or happy.

  Far from it.

  “It’s a cat-tastrophe!” she said absentmindedly. “Get it? Cat. Tastrophe.”

  “I get it, I get it, Hemingway,” Andrew said. “Guess that’s why you’re the one going to camp and I’m the one staying home with a tutor.”

  “Yeah, that stinks,” Chloe said sympathetically. While she was away, Andrew had to have a math and writing tutor. His grades had fallen during the year, and his parents wanted him to make it to High Honors Algebra.

  Karl made the last turn onto Makena’s block. “We’ll have fun while you’re away,” he said. His first words since they had gotten in the car. Andrew made a fist and offered a bump to Karl.

  “That’s right, baby. Karl’s going to take me to Long Island Sound to do some fishing!”

  Karl smiled from the driver’s seat.

  “You can catch a snack for that kitty cat!” Chloe said with a chuckle.

  They pulled up to the house. Makena and Val were already outside. Naturally, they were passing a ball back and forth. Val waved. Chloe wasn’t sure who was happier to get out of the car, her or her brother. Not that it mattered. She was sure these were going to be the best two weeks of her life.

  3

  Two hours and a hundred miles later, the girls piled out of the Walshes’ minivan.

  “OMG, this place looks like Hogwarts,” Makena said to Chloe as they dragged their bags out of the back of the van.

  Chloe agreed, peering up at the beautiful boarding school’s ivy-covered walls and stone dormitories.

  “Dude, I know!” Val said. “I keep expecting Harry, Ron, and Hermione to come zooming by on their broomsticks.”

  Chloe stopped and smiled at them both. Thrilled as she was to be attending two weeks of soccer camp, her true joy was hanging out with her Soccer Sisters. Yes, Makena and Val were her teammates, but to Chloe, they were way more than that. They were the kinds of friends who feel like family.

  “Girls, I’m going to drop off the paperwork and get your rooming assignments,” Makena’s mom said. “Can you wait here with the bags for a minute?”

  The girls all shrugged in agreement, and Val grabbed a ball.

  “Mac! Think fast!” Val sent a hard pass Makena’s way. Though Makena barely had time to react, she still managed to bring the ball gracefully to a stop. Chloe laughed. That was Makena.

  Makena, who went by “Mac,” lived and breathed soccer. Chloe couldn’t remember the last time she hadn’t seen her friend wearing a soccer jersey. Tall, and getting taller, with strawberry-blond hair and a sprinkling of freckles, Mac had the heart of a lion. Things on the field changed when she wasn’t around. The team’s energy fell. Without her, something was missing—something big.

  Makena sent a high looping pass to Val. Chloe thought Val was going to trap the ball with her thigh, but at the last second she turned around and basically sat on the ball as it hit the ground and bounced up, hitting her in the rear end.

  “Oh, nice butt trap!” Chloe yelled. Val grinned, took a bow, and then began to juggle the ball with ease.

  Val Flores was the youngest and smallest girl on their squad, but she was fierce, feisty, and fast. The Breakers liked to call her Val the Bee because she was always buzzing in and could deliver a serious sting. She had black hair so dark it sometimes looked blue, big brown eyes, and a bright smile that contrasted with her cocoa skin. When she grinned, it could light up an entire room. Chloe totally understood why Andrew was such a sucker for Val.

  Val passed the ball to Chloe, who flipped it up with her foot and caught it in her hands.

  “Nice,” Mac said.

  Chloe grinned at her friends. “I’m so psyched to be out of Brookville, I cannot tell you,” she said. “And to be with you two nuts!”

  “Watch this!” Makena launched herself into a cartwheel down a steep hill, which turned out not to be the best idea. She totally wiped out and slid face-first into the grass.

  “Blech,” she said, spitting out a mouthful of dirt.

  Chloe laughed. “Stick to soccer!”

  “Oh, here comes my mom,” Makena said. “We better all be in the same room.”

  Mrs. Walsh approached, waving a white sheet of paper. The girls got serious. Makena ran over and grabbed the paper out of her mother’s hand. She looked at Val and then at Chloe.

  She smiled.

  Huge grins broke out on Val’s and Chloe’s faces too.

  “We’re all together. Grays West. Room 204.”

  Chloe and Val rushed over to peer at the paper. Sure enough, it confirmed what their parents had requested:

  GRAYS WEST/204

  V. Flores

  C. Gordon

  M. Walsh

  “Here’s the map,” Mrs. Walsh said, pointing toward a white-shingled dormitory at the end of a small yard. “That’s Grays, right there. I think you guys are in the left-hand side. The other side is Grays East.”

  Makena’s mom hugged all the girls good-bye. Chloe could see she was looking closely at each of them for signs of tears.

  “You want me to come get you settled in?” Mrs. Walsh offered.

  “Nah!” all three said in unison.

  Chloe smiled to herself. No tears in this group.

  “Let’s go, dudes!” Val yelled and started dribbling the ball forward, lugging her bag behind her so it flipped over onto its side every third or fourth step. Chloe gave her giant duffel a tug. It didn’t budge. Ugh. Why had she brought so much stuff?

  “Ever heard of wheels?” Makena said, taking the other side of Chloe’s bag with a grunt. “Man, what’s in here? Andrew come along as a stowaway or something?”

  Chloe grinned. She had a lot of friends. Like a lot, a lot. She’d always been popular. Kids—and even adults—were envious of her parents’ money and the fact that she lived in the biggest, most expensive house in town.

  A lot of kids just wanted to be friends with her because of all those things. Chloe knew that.

  There was something different about her Soccer Sisters. Makena and Val were Chloe’s friends because they shared a passion and because they had been through so much together.

  Mud. Sweat. Tears.

  They won, and they lost.

  Together.

  Always.

  There are no slackers on a soccer field, their coach often said. Everyone worked. Everyone ached after a game. Give it your all or don’t play. You earned the respect and the friendship of your teammates. To Chloe, that made those friendships sacred. They were real. They had nothing to do with what she possessed. They were about what she did, who she was inside, and what she and her soccer friends shared together.

  Chloe could still remember the game that had made her understand the difference between her other friends and her Soccer Sisters. It was a cold, dark, windy afternoon match in the spring. The girls were literally playing in the middle of a nor’easter. Sleet skidded sideways across the field as the girls tried to get a foot on the slippery ball. Chloe’s parents were appalled that the game had not been canceled. They were convinced their daughter would come home with pneumonia, hypothermia, or a bunch of other things that end in ia.

  It did feel a little crazy at the time, Chloe had to admit. But it was clear from the first whistle that both sides had come to play. The game was a battle, and that day Chloe learned that Soccer Sisters are basically warriors. Not the Hunger Games–weapons kind of warriors, but girls who will play to win and never give up. The final score was Breakers 0, Fusion 1. The Breakers may have lost, but they weren’t defeated, and they had left the field more bonded than ever.

  When Chloe walked the halls of school the next day and her eyes met one of her Soccer Sisters’ eyes, there was a nod. An understanding.

  We play for keeps.

  “Hey, guys! Wait up!” a voice called. Chloe saw another teammate, Jessie, shuffling up behind her.

  “Hi, Jessie,” Chloe said.

  “Isn’t this place the coolest?” Jessie said between huffs and puffs. She could barely walk—she was so bogged down by bags, balls, a fan, a backpack, a water bottle—basically a one-girl caravan of stuff.

  “You need a hand?” Makena asked.

  “Nah, I’m good,” Jessie said. She waved her pinkie at them—it was the only part of her body not carrying something. Picking up some speed, she moved past Makena and Chloe, heading for the dorms.

  The two girls looked at each other.

  “Now, that’s embarrassing,” Makena said with a smirk, giving Chloe’s giant bag another tug. Soccer Sisters were also pretty competitive.

  Ahead, Chloe saw Jessie pass Val with just a quick nod. As she watched, Chloe saw a piece of paper slip out of Jessie’s bag and land on the walkway.

  “Jessie! You dropped something!” Chloe called, but Jessie didn’t hear. She turned right into the east side of the building. Val
watched her go and then turned left into the west side.

  Makena was watching too.

  “How do you think it’s going to go with those two?” Chloe asked.

  Makena scrunched up her face. She knew exactly what Chloe was talking about. Over the winter, Jessie and Val had had issues. Jessie had acted like an uber-bully, convincing Val she didn’t belong on the team just because she lived in a different town. Val never told anyone about the bullying until it got so bad that she considered quitting. Of course, Makena and Chloe and the rest of the Breakers never would have let that happen, but still, they had kept a protective eye on Val ever since.

  “I think it will be fine. They’ll never be best friends, but they’re past all that,” Makena said confidently. After a pause and a sigh, she added, “Or at least I hope so.”

  Chloe and Makena and the giant duffel finally made it to the entryway, and Chloe stooped to pick up the piece of paper Jessie had dropped. She flipped it over and saw that it was Jessie’s rooming assignment sheet:

  GRAYS EAST/201

  I. Hardie

  J. Palise

  S. Wilson

  She folded the paper and slipped it into the waistband of her soccer shorts.

  “I hope Jessie remembers where she’s headed,” she muttered to herself.

  Val was waiting for them at the base of the stairs, chatting with a young woman holding a clipboard who was checking off names as campers arrived. Her name was Flavia, and she said she was from Brazil. Flavia had long, dark hair, strapped down by a ponytail holder, that flared out down her back like a long, flowing skirt.

  “Hi, girls,” she said sweetly. “I am going to be your keeper.”

  “Our what?” Val asked with a snicker. “You’re our goalie? Awesome!”

  Flavia laughed and tried again. She spoke with an accent and broke up her words in a cadence that made it clear it still took a little thought for her words to come out in English.

  “I am a defender,” she said to Val with a light laugh and a twinkle in her eye. “But, I’m sorry to say, a terrible goalie!” She looked to be in her early twenties and was lean and fit. Chloe thought her tan, muscular calves and thighs actually looked like a dancer’s legs. She liked Flavia immediately. Her smile and easy laugh conveyed a calm, warm quality.

  “Are you our counselor?” Chloe asked, trying to help.

  “Sim,” Flavia said. “Ben vindas! That means welcome in Portuguese. Please go up to your rooms, unpack, and put on your shoes. We will play at four o’clock.”

  “We’re playing today?” Chloe asked. She had assumed they would start in the morning.

  “Oh yes,” Flavia said. “We play and tonight we do the evaluations to make the levels. OK. Hurry. See you in one half an hour.”

  Chloe, Val, and Makena scrambled to their room. There were three beds in total: one single and a bunk. They each got their own dresser, desk, and bookshelf. Val scampered up to the top bunk; Chloe was happy to take the single. Looking around the tight quarters, she imagined what it would be like to live and attend school in this place. Kind of like camp all year, she guessed. Probably pretty fun. But was it hard to be away from home all the time? She’d already seen long faces and tears from some of the younger girls at World Cup Soccer Camp.

  Chloe paused and searched her feelings.

  Excited? Check.

  Happy? Check.

  Hungry? Check, check.

  Homesick? Not at all.

  Chloe felt the scratch of the paper in the waistband of her shorts. She fished the folded paper out and tossed it onto the bottom bunk.

  Naturally, Makena was the first one ready. She flopped onto the bed, and the paper flew up into the air. Chloe saw her catch it and casually give it a scan.

  Chloe bent down to put on her shin guards and heard Makena gasp. She sucked in her breath as if she had just eaten a giant bug, sat up, and banged her head on the top bunk.

  “Uhhh! No!”

  “What?” Chloe asked, trying to remember what the paper said.

  “It can’t be.”

  “What can’t be?”

  “This can’t be right. It just can’t. Val, is this right? Thiscan’tberight!” Makena yelled, taking no breaths.

  Val had gone down the hallway to check out the bathrooms. Makena’s eyes were bugging out of her head as she scanned the paper, looking at it again and again as if doing so might change the letters.

  “What’s the matter?” Chloe asked, trying to sound calm.

  “I cannot believe it,” Makena repeated, still ignoring Chloe’s question. She got up, started toward the door, and ran right smack into Val, banging her in the leg.

  “Ouch!”

  “Here!” Makena shoved the paper at Val.

  “What?” Val asked, rubbing her knee. “What’s the matter?”

  “This.” Makena said. “This is the matter. Look.”

  “OK, I’m looking,” Val said in a bored voice.

  Chloe moved to read over her shoulder. Suddenly, Val looked up.

  “Duuude,” she said ominously.

  “‘Dude,’ what?” Chloe asked. “Why are you saying ‘dude’ like that? That’s a bad ‘dude.’”

  “No. Way,” Val said, looking at Makena. “Are you serious?”

  Makena nodded.

  “Are you sure?” Val said.

  Makena continued nodding, stunned and speechless.

  Now Chloe was getting mad. Why were they so upset? The paper just had Jessie’s rooming assignment. She looked again.

  Val turned to Chloe, shook her head, and said, “This is not awesome.”

  Makena exploded. “Not awesome? Not awesome? This is terrible!”

  Enough. Chloe grabbed Makena by the shoulders and looked her square in the eye.

  “Will one of you please tell me what the heck is going on here?”

  4

  Makena seemed to have lost the ability to communicate. She just looked at Chloe, wide-eyed.

  “It’s Skylar,” Val said in a flat tone.

  “Skylar?” Chloe asked. The name seemed familiar, but she could hardly imagine why her friends were totally freaking out.

  “Skylar,” Makena said with a nod, like she was uttering the name of a very bad dog. She sat down on the bed and morosely held up the sheet, pointing to the name: S. Wilson.

  Chloe narrowed her eyebrows, concentrating. Skylar? Skylar?

  “Skylar from New Jersey Skylar,” Val said, and then it hit Chloe like a ball to the belly.

  “Ohhhh, that Skylar,” Chloe said sympathetically. “That is not awesome. You’re right.”

  Last year, Skylar Wilson had been a guest player for the Breakers during a summer tournament in Canada. A strong player their coach had somehow known, she was supposed to come and play in just a few games. But the girls soon found out that she lived by a different set of rules. Bad ones.

  One toxic player had affected the whole team to a shocking degree. But most of all, she had affected Makena. Makena had been sucked in and, in trying to be cool like Skylar, had broken just about every rule about what it meant to be a Soccer Sister. She and Skylar snuck out of the team’s hotel, played terribly (Makena missed an important penalty kick), lied to Makena’s mom, and even ran away to New York City for a day. Makena nearly got herself kicked off the team. Of all the trouble Makena had been in over the years—and there was plenty—the summer of Skylar was by far the worst.

  The last anyone had heard of Skylar, she had pulled the fire alarm in the Toronto hotel where all the teams were staying. All heck broke loose. As usual, Skylar tried to deny it, but the security cameras busted her once and for all. She was sent home from the tournament, never to be heard from again.

  Until now.

  In Grays East.

  Right across the hall.