Hat Trick by Alex Morgan Read Free Book Online Page A

Kicks lost, we were sad and upset, but we always bounced back. I always ended up shaking it off and laughing with my friends. But it wasn’t going to work that way on the Griffons.
    Soccer had suddenly stopped being fun. Soccer, my passion, the driving force of my life. Right now I didn’t even feel like playing anymore.
    And that was a scary thought.

Jessi and I were hanging in my room after the game, waiting for her mom to pick her up, when Zoe texted us.
    How did your game go? she asked.
    We lost, 3–2 , I typed back.
    Sorry! Zoe texted. Gators won 3–1. Grace is on my team. I passed it to her twice and she scored!
    â€œWhat is she, giving us a play-by-play?” Jessi grumbled. I could tell she was upset about losing.
    I wasn’t upset, but I didn’t feel like texting much either, so I replied with a.
    Jessi sighed. “Sorry. I’m happy for her. I just wish we could have won too.”
    Zoe’s next text was a photo of her and some of her Gators teammates. They wore green uniforms—and mismatched striped socks! Jessi and I both noticed that detail right away.
    â€œNo way! That’s our Kicks ritual!” Jessi cried.
    â€œI guess their coach doesn’t mind if they don’t wear regulation socks,” I said.
    â€œHey, maybe that’s why we lost,” Jessi said. “We didn’t get to do our lucky sock swap. Maybe we’re, like, cursed!”
    I thought about that. I wasn’t a very superstitious person, but I did always believe that somehow the sock swap brought us luck. But I knew it was more than that.
    â€œIf we’re cursed, it’s because we’re not acting like a team,” I said. “We don’t even huddle before a game.”
    Jessi nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But now I’m starting to feel like we’re cursed, ending up on the Griffons!”
    I almost said, Well, at least we’re still playing soccer , but I just couldn’t get the words out—because for me, it wasn’t even true! I had sat on that bench the whole game!
    The more I thought about it, the more being benched bothered me. Even after Jessi went home, I was still thinking about it. I thought about it during our Sunday whole wheat spaghetti dinner, and I thought about it watching the football game on TV afterward.
    I had a vocabulary quiz at school the next morning, and that distracted me for a little bit. (Which is about the only good thing you can say about a vocabulary quiz, right?) Then at lunch I found another distraction—although this one was almost as bad as being benched.
    Jessi and I walked into the cafeteria together, like we always did. And we walked toward our table, the one we always sat at with Zoe and Emma. The only problem was, Zoe and Emma weren’t sitting at our usual table.
    Jessi frowned. “That’s weird. Maybe they’re running late,” she said as we draped our backpacks over the edges of our blue plastic seats.
    But then I spotted Zoe. She was sitting at a table with Grace and Anjali—two Kicks who were now on the Gators with her. She saw me looking at her and then got up and dodged through the tray-carrying students to reach me. It reminded me of how she was on the field, weaving through other players like a little lightning bolt.
    â€œHey, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m sitting with Grace and Anjali today,” Zoe said. “We wanted to go over yesterday’s game while it’s still fresh in our minds.”
    â€œSure,” I said. “But you’re not deserting us forever, right?”
    â€œOf course not!” Zoe said, and then she gave me a quick hug and darted off again.
    â€œOkay, well that explains Zoe,” Jessi said. “But what about Emma?”
    I scanned the lunchroom as I opened up my lunch bag, but Jessi spotted her first.
    â€œThere she is! At that corner table!” Jessi said, pointing.
    â€œWho are those people