Page 27 of Better Than Revenge

The guy looked around confused. So did Theo. He picked up the ball, then glanced up at the sky like God himself wanted to join their game.

The guy with the ball they’d been using held his up as if to show he hadn’t done it.

I rolled my eyes and decided to solve the mystery for them. “Sorry!” I screamed, cupping my hands around my mouth. “Can we have it back?”

At the sound of my voice, Theo searched the yard directly surrounding them until he finally discovered us beyond where he’d been looking.

I held up my hands when he saw me like I was really going to catch the ball if he threw it from there. Could he throw it this far? Obviously not, because he said something to the other players and headed our way. The rest of the group resumed their game.

“You throw that, Soccer Star?” he asked, but he was really looking at Maxwell and Lee as he approached, like they were the only ones he believed could’ve accomplished the feat.

“She kicked it,” Deja said, collecting the ball from him. “What do you think about that, Mr.Starting Kicker?”

“You kicked it?” That seemed to be even more unbelievable to Theo. “From here?”

I pointed at the net, ready to admit it wasn’t as amazing as he seemed to think it was. “I was aiming for that.”

His eyes drifted to the net, then back to me. “Yeah, accuracytakes some work. But your power”—he raised his eyebrows—“that was impressive.” He gave me a nod of respect.

Maxwell raised his hand. “What’s it called when you throw a ball to someone and it hits the ground?”

He furrowed his brow. “An incomplete pass?”

“Oh!” we all said at the same time.

He chuckled, then turned to rejoin his friends.

“You think I could be better than him!” The words came pouring out as if some subconscious part of my brain thought them up, because the fully functional part of my brain was shocked by them. This was the first time I’d kicked any sort of ball in nine months. Who did I think I was? “If I practiced.”

Theo stopped, turned slowly, then gave me a once-over almost as intimidating as his mom’s.

Deja made a weird noise I couldn’t interpret. Did she think it was a terrible idea?

Max gave a surprised “Huh.”

And I just stood there as Theo assessed me from head to toe, seriously considering my question. He closed the distance between us and asked in a serious voice, “You want to be the kicker for the school football team?”

“What? No. I don’t know if I could getthatgood. I just want to show him up. March onto the field one practice, kick a field goal in front of the whole team, and then shrug Elle Woods style and say,What, like it’s hard?” Maybe it would humiliate him so much that he would quit football.

“Epic,” Maxwell said.

“Whynottry out to be the kicker for the team?” Lee said. “Itwould accomplish your goal of taking it from him. And his suffering would last all year, just like what he did to you.”

Could I?

Theo stood there silently, as if waiting for me to make the decision. But I wasn’t sure if it was so he could laugh in my face or tell me how to make it happen.

“When are tryouts for next year’s team?” I asked.

“Second Saturday in April,” Theo said.

That was only a month away. Not nearly enough time.

That’s when I saw Jensen, over Theo’s shoulder, join the football players on the grass. He gave fist bumps and said something with a laugh like he was perfectly fine. Like his whole life hadn’t been yanked out from under him last week. Instead, he was acting like he was about to claim his crown as king of the school and wear it our entire senior year. In his hand was my Target bag and he was digging out his stuff like it was Christmas morning.How did he getthat?

“Yes,” I said. “I want to try out to be kicker for the football team. But I will only try out if all of you objectively tell me after I practice for the next four weeks that you think I can make it. I am not going to set myself up to be embarrassed again.”

Maxwell raised his hand to the square. “I swear on my life I will tell you if you suck.”