Lucy’s “Perfect” Summer by Nancy Rue Read Free Book Online

tugged at Lucy’s shorts. “What does LCSC mean?”
    “Las Cruces Soccer Camp!” Lucy shouted above the other voices. Only they had all stopped, which meant Lucy’s words echoed across the field and up and down the bleachers like she was screaming through a megaphone.
    “That’s the kind of spirit I’m talkin’ about!” the man with the microphone called out. “Everybody — Las Cruces Soccer Camp!”
    The crowd yelled it with him — except for Lucy who put her hands up to her burning face. The way the kids around them were staring at her, she wanted to hold up a sign that said, “Yes, I Have the Biggest Mouth in the Mesilla Valley.”
    But the attention went back to the man on the stage on the other side of the field, who introduced himself as Hawke Somebody. Everybody cheered when he said his first name, and Lucy figured they’d all been to his camp before. She was definitely feeling like the new kid.
    Hawke said welcome to the camp and he was glad they were all there and he liked hanging out with soccer players because they were the coolest people in the world. More cheering. Lucy joined in this time, because he was right about that.
    “We do have some rules here,” he said.
    A couple of people booed.
    “And one of them is, no booing.”
    The crowd laughed.
    “I’ll tell you the rest in just a bit,” Hawke said, “but first I want you to get a taste of what you all came here for — and what’s that?”
    “Soccer!” the crowd yelled.
    “What’s that — I didn’t quite get it.”
    “Soccer!”
    “One more time, and I think I’ll have it.”
    “SOCCER!”
    Lucy grinned as she shouted with them. It was definitely her all-time favorite word.
    While everyone was still cheering, two teams ran out onto the field, and Hawke announced that they were the winners of last year’s camp play-offs, here to inspire the camp with one quarter of exhibition soccer.
    Play-offs. Lucy felt another thrill go up her spine. Mr. Auggy had said that was when the ODP people would be there.
    She looked around Dusty at J.J. He was forming his own favorite word with his lips: Sweet.
    A referee in a real uniform, with black socks and everything, blew a whistle, and the game started. A team of all girls was playing a mixed team, and everybody looked like they must be in middle school. Only not Lucy’s middle school. These kids took their positions behind the center line on each side without looking at each other to make sure they were in the right place like Carla Rosa always did — in spite of all the hours Lucy had spent working with her in her backyard — or redoing their ponytails like Veronica, or punching each other for no reason like Oscar and Emanuel. From the moment a tall girl with muscles in her calves received the ball from the kicker over the center line, they were so intent on the ball, Lucy could almost hear their brains working.
    Work the ball sideways and backward till everybody gets into position.
    Kick it out to a wing player.
    There’s too much defense here — get it back to the midfielder.
    The team with the ball — the all-girl team — kept it while the offensive players moved into the attacking half of the field. The midfielder sprinted like a deer toward the goal so the wing would have somebody to pass it to. Lucy was a midfielder. She just didn’t always have a wing there, since that was supposed to be Veronica.
    The other team wasn’t making it easy for the all-girl group. Some of the defense was spread out to the wings, but they didn’t leave the middle open. They could get the ball anytime, and Lucy hoped they would, just to make it interesting.
    One boy tried, running at the girl with the calves to challenge her just as her foot met the ball for a pass. It went wild and bounced out of bounds, and the official blew his whistle.
    “Bummer,” Dusty said.
    Everyone got into position for a goal kick — all except Calf Girl. She marched up to the referee, her face the color of one of