TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: My Biggest Fan

  Chapter 2: Lunchtime Loser

  Chapter 3: Freshman

  Chapter 4: Hotshot

  Chapter 5: Scrimmage

  Chapter 6: Hit by a Truck

  Chapter 7: The Threat

  Chapter 8: Varsity Tradition

  Chapter 9: “You’ll Be Sorry!”

  Chapter 10: Help from Eddy

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Glossary

  Lacrosse Words You Should Know

  Discussion Questions

  Writing Prompts

  Internet Sites

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  CHAPTER 1

  MY BIGGEST FAN

  It was Sunday afternoon. I was sitting on the edge of the comfy couch in the TV room of my house.

  I’d been flipping the remote at lightning speed. I was going back and forth between two channels that most people never even watch.

  My friend Eddy’s head was hanging upside down next to me. “Peter,” she said. “Really. Stop!”

  Yes, Eddy is a girl. Her real name is Meredith Parker, but she took the “Ed” from the middle of “Meredith” and made it into “Eddy.”

  Eddy was sitting on the couch. Her feet were hanging over the back. Her head was where her legs should have been.

  She rolled her eyes. “Can you please stop changing the channel for, like, half a second?” she said.

  Eddy knows me pretty well. We’ve been neighbors since we were babies. We grew up together. And she knows that I use the remote control faster and better than anyone.

  “Eddy,” I replied, “Georgetown is playing Johns Hopkins on channel 122, and Cornell is playing Duke on 183!”

  I’d been switching between two big college lacrosse games pretty much nonstop since Eddy had come over an hour earlier. I guess it was making her kind of crazy.

  “Well,” she said with a big sigh. Then she lifted her head and flipped around to lie on her side for a while. “I guess I can forgive you if it’s lacrosse. I mean, you deserve to celebrate. And tomorrow’s the big day.”

  Eddy was right about that. I was celebrating. And that’s because last week, I’d become the first ninth grader at River City High School to make it onto the varsity lacrosse team.

  Eddy is my biggest fan. When they announced the team on Friday, I thought she was more excited about it than I was.

  I don’t know why Eddy said tomorrow was the big day, though. I thought the big day was tryouts last week. Tomorrow was just the first day of practice.

  What could be exciting about that?

  CHAPTER 2

  LUNCHTIME LOSER

  “So, are you nervous?” Curtis asked the next day.

  He and I were sitting in the cafeteria at lunch, poking at the chicken-fried steak on our trays. Well, that’s what the lunch lady called it, anyway. It was really a mushy pile of meat on top of a mushy pile of noodles.

  It didn’t look like steak to me. It looked more like dog food.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “A little, I guess,” I replied. “Mostly I’m excited to get out there and play.”

  Lacrosse is my favorite sport by far. I also run track, but I don’t love it like I love lacrosse.

  Curtis is a lacrosse player too. He didn’t make the varsity team, though. I guess he was pretty jealous. The good news for him was he would be the captain of the junior varsity team. That sounded pretty good to me. Besides, the JV captain always gets to start on the varsity team the next year. Everyone knows that.

  “Yeah,” said Curtis. “I know what you mean. I hope being captain isn’t going to mean I can’t have fun anymore.”

  I nodded. “That’s what I’m worried about too,” I said.

  I stabbed at the noodles on my plate, but they were all stuck together. When I tried to pick up just one, the whole clump came off the plate at the same time. “I mean, what if being on varsity is tougher than I think it will be?” I asked. “What if I can’t handle it?”

  Curtis shook his head. “You’ll be fine,” he said. “Hey. There’s Coach Tory.” Curtis pointed to the lunch line.

  I turned around. The coach was holding a tray, which was filled with steak, two dishes of Jell-O, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, three cartons of milk, a salad, a roll, and a huge piece of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

  “You should go and talk to him,” Curtis said. “You’re only a freshman. You’re going to have to push for field time.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said.

  I took one last look at the glob of noodles and dog food on my tray. “I’ll be right back,” I told Curtis.

  I walked over to Coach Tory. He was handing over his money to the cashier at the end of the line when I reached him.

  “Coach?” I said. I was too quiet. He didn’t hear me. “Coach?” I tried again, a little louder.

  “Huh?” the coach said when he finally heard me. It startled him and his tray almost tipped over. Luckily, only one of the milk cartons fell off, and I caught it easily.

  “Oh!” Coach said, looking down at me. He’s tall. “Nice catch. Peter Stiles, right?” he asked.

  “That’s right,” I replied. “I’m the new freshman on the varsity team.”

  “I remember,” Coach said. “What can I do for you?”

  “Well,” I said, “I know I’m a freshman, but I was hoping I’d be able to get some real field time this season.”

  Coach raised his eyebrows at me. “You think you’re that good, Stiles?” he asked.

  “I guess so, Coach,” I said.

  I looked at my shoes. I started to worry that it had been a bad idea to talk to him.

  He looked down at me, squinted, and said, “First practice is today, so we’ll see how you do. But remember, Hurley Johnson is captain, and he’s a senior. And he’s also an attackman. He will be tough competition for you out there!”

  Then Coach Tory walked off. I went back to the table, where Curtis was still playing with his food. “How’d it go?” Curtis asked when I sat down.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “Hurley is going to be hard to beat for field time.”

  “Yeah,” Curtis said, nodding. “But you can’t expect to be the number-one man on offense. Just play good enough to start, and you’ll get plenty of time on the field.”

  I nodded. Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Eddy.

  “Hi, guys,” she said. “Peter, you ready for history class?”

  “Yes,” I said, sighing. Another lunch hour, over too soon.

  CHAPTER 3

  FRESHMAN

  The guys on the varsity lacrosse team were much bigger than I thought they’d be. Especially Hurley Johnson.

  “Hey, freshman!” he said as I walked onto the field.

  I was carrying my crosse in one hand, and my helmet in the other. It felt good to wear the varsity uniform, even just to practice.

  That is, it felt good until Hurley started picking on me.

  “You sure that uniform isn’t too big for you?” Hurley teased.

  He and another player were tossing a ball back and forth. The other player was as tall as Hurley, but much skinnier. And he threw the ball at Hurley really, really fast.

  “Hey, Nick,” Hurley said. “You think this freshman can handle varsity lacrosse?”

  The other boy laughed. “Not a chance, Hurley!” he said loudly.

  That made me pretty mad, but I couldn’t start anything with these two.

  “Don’t worry about them,” another player said, standing next to me. “You’re Peter Stiles, right?”

  I nodded. “That’s me,” I said.

  “I’m Stan Kim,” the guy said. “Good job making the team!”

  “Thanks,” I replied. At least someone was happy to have a freshman on the varsity team.

  A sharp whistle blow snapped us all to attention.

  “Okay, guys,” Coach said when we’d all gathered around him. “We’re just going to run some drills today. Everyone, get in line for eagle-eye!” Then he blew another sharp blast on his whistle.

  Everyone started getting into groups of six. I looked around. Then I spotted a group of five guys to join.

  I was excited. Eagle-eye is my favorite throwing drill.

  Players line up, three on three, and toss balls in a pattern among themselves. Sometimes you do the drill with three, four, five, or even six balls to make it harder.

  “Let’s get going, boys!” Coach called out. Suddenly a ball was coming right at me. I quickly pulled up my crosse, caught the ball, and tossed it off to the guy across from me.

  “Listen for my whistle to switch!” Coach warned us. That meant that every time he blew his whistle, the pattern would flip, and the balls would have to be thrown in the other direction.

  So far, everything was going pretty well. I was glad Hurley and Nick weren’t in my group. I had a feeling Hurley would try to make me mess up, and Nick’s throws were so fast, I might have missed one.

  After a while, Coach walked around and added a ball to each group. That made it harder, but I kept up.

  “Woo! Go Stiles!” I heard. I glanced over to the sideline. Eddy was there, cheering me on. It felt good to see my friend on the sideline.

  “Who is that girl?” I heard Hurley say to Nick as he caught a ball and passed it on. “Cheering for the freshman? He’s the worst player on the team!”

  Nick laughed. He whipped a ball to the next player in t heir group.

  “She should be cheering for me! The captain!” Hurley added. “Look, I’ll prove it!”

  Suddenly, he caught a ball. He cradled it for a moment, and then whipped it away — right at me!

  I saw it coming, but there was no way I could catch it and keep the pattern alive in my own group. One ball was coming from my group. There was one ball in my crosse that I needed to throw on to the next player. And a rocket ball was coming from Hurley. I didn’t know what to do.

  So I just threw the ball I had. Then I ducked. The ball Hurley had thrown sailed over my head.

  Nick laughed. “Nice catch, freshman!” he called over.

  “Yeah,” called Hurley. “How’d you make this team, anyway?”

  CHAPTER 4

  HOTSHOT

  “I can’t believe he did that!” Eddy said. It was Tuesday morning and we were walking to school together. She was still mad about what happened during practice the day before.

  “He said it was an accident,” I replied. “Coach yelled at him about it. He said if it was an accident, then Hurley needs more ball-control practice. But I don’t think it was an accident.”

  “Me either,” Eddy said. “Hey, there he is.”

  We had just reached the front of the school. Hurley and Nick were hanging out near the front door. When I looked over, I noticed Nick pointing at me. Then Hurley started walking over.

  “Oh great,” I said. “Here he comes.”

  “Just keep walking,” Eddy said.

  Someone grabbed me by the shoulder. “What?” I said, turning around.

  It was Coach Tory. “I just wanted to let you know that you did great at practice yesterday,” he said with a smile.

  “Oh, thanks,” I mumbled.

  “You must have done eagle-eye before, huh?” he asked with a wink.

  “Yes, sir,” I said.

  “He sure has, Coach,” Eddy added. “He’s been going to lacrosse camp every summer since he was six!”

  “Is that right?” Coach asked. “Well, it shows. Keep it up, Stiles.” He walked off.

  But Hurley had caught up to us, and he’d heard the whole thing.

  “You think you’re some kind of hotshot, Stiles?” he said. He gave me a little shove on the shoulder.

  “No,” I said.

  “If I see you trying to kiss up to the coach again, I’ll have to do something about it,” Hurley said, poking my chest. “You got it?”

  “Back off,” Eddy said from behind me.

  “You’re just afraid a freshman is better than you,” she added. “It’s so obvious.”

  Hurley glared at Eddy. Then he gave me one more little shove and walked back over to Nick.

  “The bell’s going to ring any second, Peter,” Eddy said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the entrance.

  But my mind wasn’t on homeroom. I was too busy worrying about what would happen during practice that day.

  CHAPTER 5

  SCRIMMAGE

  The day went by too fast. That always happens when I’m nervous about something. If I’d been looking forward to practice, the day would have felt like a hundred years.

  After school, Curtis and I met in the locker room. We got ready for practice.

  “Well, it’s a good thing you’re on the same team, right?” Curtis said as he pulled on his JV jersey.

  Then he went on, “I mean, if Hurley played at a different school, he’d be able to check you all the time. Then he could do some real damage.”

  “I guess so,” I replied. “Of course, if he played at a different school, he probably wouldn’t know I existed.”

  “Good point,” Curtis replied. “And good luck.” He slammed his locker and left.

  I finished getting ready. Then I headed out to the field.

  “Okay, guys,” Coach said as we gathered around. “I want to start with a scrimmage today.”

  A scrimmage? That meant Hurley and I could end up on opposite teams. Then he could check me!

  “I’ll pick the teams today,” the coach went on. “I want Peter and Hurley to attack for team A. Nick and Stan will attack for team B.”

  That was a relief. Hurley wouldn’t be able to check me if we were on the same team.

  Coach selected the rest of each team. Then Hurley and Stan squatted for the face-off.

  Coach placed the ball between them. He backed off and blew his whistle.

  The face-off was over pretty fast. Hurley brought in his shoulder and knocked Stan over.

  Stan tried to get the ball, but he missed. Then Hurley took control of the ball and started up field.

  I was totally open, but Hurley ran the ball up and went for the shot himself. He was a typical ball hog.

  But as he got close to the crease, the other team’s defense closed in. Stan got back on his feet. He reached his crosse in, stick-checked Hurley, and knocked the ball loose.

  Then, quickly, Stan scooped up the ball and looked down the field. In a flash, he made a great pass to Nick.

  It was easy for Nick to score. My team’s defense didn’t have time to react.

  Coach blew his whistle to note the goal. Then he blew it again.

  “Sidelines, team A,” he yelled. We all ran over to the coach while team B threw the ball around.

  “Hurley, you should have passed that ball off,” Coach Tory said. “We’re not out here for glory, all right?”

  “Sorry,” Hurley said. But he didn’t sound like he meant it.

  “And, Hurley?” Coach added. “Let’s try you on defense. Peter, I want to see you take a strong attack. All right?”

  I nodded. “Okay,” I said.

  “Defense?” Hurley snapped. “I’m the number-one attackman, Coach!”

  “Take it easy,” Coach replied. “You’ll get back on attack later on. But right now I want to see Peter as number one. And you’re looking like you might have slowed down a little, Hurley. We’ll work on your speed in drills after the scrimmage.”

  Hurley looked like he might fall over.

  I kind of felt the same way. I was the number-one attackman for our scrimmage team!

  It was pretty exciting, but it made me worry even more about Hurley’s bullying.

  “Okay,” Coach said, and his clapped his hands. “Play ball. Get out there.”

  Stan beat me in the face-off, but I didn’t let it get to me. He was bigger than I was, and it was my first face-off on varsity. Plus, a few seconds into play, I heard Eddy cheering for me from the sidelines.

  “Your dorky friend is back,” Hurley said as he ran past me during play. “You better tell her to shut up.”

  I tried to ignore him. Stan moved toward our goal, but Hurley got to him in time and threw his shoulder into Stan’s side.

  Stan lost control of the ball and Hurley scooped it up.

  “Look out, freshman!” he shouted. Then he whipped the ball right at my head.

  I know he was hoping it would hit me, or at least that I’d miss. But I got my crosse up, caught the ball, and took off toward team B’s crease.

  Goal!

  I couldn’t believe it. I’d scored my first goal as a varsity player, even if it was just in a scrimmage! Then, the next thing I knew, something slammed into me, and I was flat on my back.

  CHAPTER 6

  HIT BY A TRUCK

  I must have blacked out for a second. When I opened my eyes, I saw Coach’s face looking down at me. The whole team was gathered around, and Coach was kneeling over me.

  “He’s all right,” he said as I opened my eyes. “Just had the wind knocked out of him. Hurley, have a seat on the bench. Everyone else, get ready for some drills,” he ordered.

  Coach looked at me and added quietly, “Take your time, Peter. Then hit the showers.”

  He got to his feet and walked over to Hurley, who was sitting on the bench with his helmet off, looking angry.

  Suddenly, Eddy appeared. “Are you okay, Peter?” she asked.

  I slowly sat up with a groan. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I replied. “I only have one question. Why was someone driving a truck across the lacrosse field?”

  “A truck?” Eddy asked, confused. “What are you talking about?”

 

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