The Comeback Challenge by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online Page B

us?” the coach asked, interrupting his thoughts.
    Mark realized he hadn’t heard a word that Coach Ryan had been saying.
    “Uh, yes, sir,” he mumbled.
    The coach looked at him for a long moment, then addressed the team in general. “Okay, then, let’s keepour cool out there. Just do what you’ve learned in practice. I want to see some heads-up ball.”
    As the Scorpions prepared to take to the field for the second half, Mark noticed that Craig was going in as part of the backfield
     lineup. He flashed his friend a broad smile.
    But that smile faded quickly. From the stands came a sound he had been dreading hearing.
    “What do you mean, you’re taking Mark out tonight!” Mr. Conway’s voice sounded angry. “His grandparents and I have planned
     a special family dinner together!”
    “Well, I’ve already accepted an invitation for Mark and me, to have dinner with Mark’s best friend, Craig, and his mother,”
     Mrs. Conway replied venomously. “Do you even know who Craig is?”
    Mark couldn’t help but notice the sidelong glances his teammates were giving him. His face turned red, and his stomach burned
     as if he had swallowed a hot stone. He quickly ducked his head, pretending to tie his shoelaces.
    He felt a tap on the shoulder and whirled around. Craig was standing there, an openly concerned look on his face.
    “Hey, listen —” he started to say. But Mark cut him off.
    “It’s nothing,” he muttered. “Let’s just go play some soccer, okay?”
    The Tigers had possession of the ball at the start of the second half. They moved into Scorpion territory quickly, attempting
     a goal within the first two minutes. But Charlie Burns was on his toes. The Scorpions’ goalie sent the ball almost to the
     center circle, where Johnny Mintz trapped it. But there were too many Tigers surrounding him, and he immediately passed it
     off to Mark. Mark dribbled it across the halfway line and into Tigers territory.
    It didn’t take long for an invasion of defenders to close in on him. He passed the ball to Vince. But a Tiger tackler got
     to it at the same time, and a struggle for possession began. As another Tiger moved in, Mark did the same. The four players
     twined their legs around the ball until it jiggled free.
    Vince and Mark were the closest to the ball as it skidded through the grass. The two of them scrambled toward it at the same
     speed. But Mark got there just a little ahead of Vince. He thrust his foot forward to take in the ball.
    Wham!
    A jolt on his hip sent him sprawling.
    At first, he thought a Tiger defenseman had snuck up on him. But when the stars in his head cleared, he saw Vince dribbling
     the ball away in the direction of the Tigers’ goal.
    Vince knocked me over to get the ball?
Mark thought incredulously. But he had to believe what his eyes were showing him. Except for Vince, no one else had been
     around him. There was no other conclusion to make: Vince had stolen the ball from him!

8
    M ark stood up and dusted off his uniform. His leg was smarting where he had fallen on it. But he barely noticed the pain.
    “Are you okay?” Coach Ryan called from the side-lines. Mark waved to him to show he was all right and jogged down the field
     to catch up with the action.
    But he wasn’t okay. Something had happened to him the minute he saw Vince with the ball. As the throbbing in his leg faded,
     his blood seemed to boil throughout the rest of his body.
    Mark was angrier than he had ever been in his life.
    If he wants to play an “every man for himself” game, he thought, then so be it. I’ve tried to make this front line work, but
     I can’t do it alone. So I’ll play it Vince’s way from now on.
    And with that he threw himself into the play with a savageness he’d never shown before. When the Scorpions had possession
     of the ball and were moving it toward the Tiger goal, he charged into every play like a wild animal. Twice he committed fouls
     that cost the Scorpions free kicks.