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goal,” Linh-Mai broke in. “Everything always happens so fast.”
    Steve snorted. “I would have scored.”
    Edison was sure Steve would have scored, as surely as he himself would have scored a few weeks ago, before the choking started. It was nice of Linh-Mai to say anyone could miss an open goal, but it had never happened to him before, and he knew if it continued he was finished as a striker.
    He couldn’t think of anything to say, except, “Sorry.”
    â€œThat really helps,” Steve scoffed.
    Edison knew that if he was in Steve’s place, he’d be upset too. If he was the team’s best goal scorer, and he was left on the bench because there was a new striker, and he could only watch as his replacement lost the game … Yes, he’d be upset. But he found himself muttering, “Give it a rest.”
    Steve’s voice rose. “Who are you telling to give it a rest?”
    Julie turned around in her seat. “Leave it, Steve — all right?”
    Shay added, “We didn’t lose because of Edison, Steve. You know that.”
    Jillian called from the back, “We lost because we sucked — all of us.”
    â€œWe sucked big time,” Jessica put in.
    Julie slumped back in her seat. “We’re useless.”
    Mr. Field turned around from the front and ordered, “That’s enough!” He told Mr. Grease, “Let’s find somewhere to pull off the highway.”
    Mr. Grease turned sharply into a woods road and stopped.
    Mr. Field said, “Everybody out.”
    Steve jumped out and stood with his arms folded and his back to everyone. Matthew, Jason, and Brandon walked slowly to the side of the dirt road with their heads down, their shoulders slumped, and their hands pushed deep into their pockets. Toby, Amy, and the twins stood in a silent huddle. Linh-Mai, Shay, and Julie joined them, and Julie muttered, “We may as well give up and go home now.”
    Edison wandered up the road and stood by himself.
    Linh-Mai followed. “Don’t mind Steve. He gets mad easily. He always goes on a rant when we lose. It’s just the way he is.”
    â€œBut he’s right.”
    Toby, joining them, asked, “Right about what?”
    â€œHe’s right that I should have scored. I lost the game for you. Sorry.”
    Toby punched him lightly on the shoulder. “If I said sorry every time I screwed up, I’d never stop talking.”
    He ambled back toward the van as Mr. Field called, “Someone get a ball. We’re playing soccer — girls and Mr. Grease and me against the boys.”
    â€œI don’t feel like playing,” said Julie.
    â€œMe neither,” said Steve.
    Mr. Field ignored them. He was already pacing out a length on the woods road and improvising goals with fallen branches. He started kicking the ball around with Mr. Grease. Amy, the twins, and Toby joined in. Amy miskicked the ball and it rolled toward Linh-Mai and Edison. Linh-Mai dribbled it back to the group.
    â€œI guess you’re on your own, Toby,” said Mr. Field. “You’re the only boy playing, so it’s Julie, Linh-Mai, Jillian, Jessica, Amy, Mr. Grease, and me against you.”
    â€œYou don’t stand a chance,” said Toby.
    Julie, Amy, and Linh-Mai stood on one side of him, and the twins on the other, passing the ball backward and forward while he tried to intercept. When Linh-Mai charged past Toby and headed for the boys’ goal, Matthew, Brandon, and Jason ran to stop her. She passed to Jessica, but Shay ran from the side of the road and took the ball. Julie, following hard on his heels, pushed him into the muddy ditch beside the road. While Matthew and Brandon pulled him out, the girls waltzed the ball easily past Toby and into the goal.
    They danced in a circle, their hands in the air, chanting, “Girls rule!”
    The boys ran back onto the pitch. Shay robbed Julie of the ball and the