Chapter Two

Sitting at the family computer, I had started getting ready to burn a new CD. My friend Ariel and I had recently started making mixtapes for the car rides with my mom, and she would often come over. She was sitting on the couch with my sister, Ashley, when the phone rang.

“Zach, Neil is on the phone,” my mom said, handing me the landline.

“Tell him I say hi,” Ashley said over the TV. She and Ariel were watching Miss Congeniality for what seemed like the hundredth time.

“I’m sorry, man. My mom said that Friday is the only day that works for a sleepover,” Neil started.

“Meh. That’s okay,” I quipped, “I’ll see you at practice, or you can come over some night soon.” Did you meet with Coach Matt?”

“Yeah, he was on top of me over my eye contact. He said I didn’t watch the person going for the goal enough to get a sense of where the ball was going, but I don’t know. I thought I had done well.”

“When we started the exhibition, you were on top of it! He was probably just being hard on you. Coach Cleary told me that he saw potential if I put in the work. But he got on me about my left foot passes again.”

“You did say you noticed they were a little off. Did he give you any tips on how to make them better?”

“He told me to practice passing back and forth on a wall — something about repetition, the more I practice getting over the ball and controlling my weight, the better. A one-touch pass is better than a two-touch, but I think I’ll have to work on my rhythm. What about you? Coach Matt must’ve had advice.”

“Oh, totally! He wanted me to be more confident and to work on my dives for the ball. I guess I was acting scared when we were practicing, and the strikers kept psyching me out. Do you think you’d be free to practice sometime next week? I can help you with your passes if you help me with my dives.”

Looking over to the living room, Ariel and my sister were deep in conversation; my mom wasn’t there, so I shouted, “Mom, can I practice with Neil this week?” My sister and Ariel both looked in my direction. Without waiting for an answer, I asked, “Can you call me again after this weekend?”

Hanging up the phone, I returned to my CD playlist, “Ariel, what else do you think we should put on here?”