T.J. and the Hat-trick by Theo Walcott Read Free Book Online

‘Even more difficult to hit a head teacher at that distance, I should think. Has it ever happened before, Rob?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Rob replied seriously. ‘I’ll have to look it up when I get home.’
    ‘It’s not funny, Dad,’ TJ said. ‘You heard him. Mr Burrows banned football.’
    ‘You hit that ball hard, TJ. I was impressed. It was just bad luck that it hit the head teacher. And there are other places you can play football. Maybe if we tried again we’d be able to get you into Hillside.’
    ‘Dad! I’ve got all my friends here.’ The words tumbled out of TJ’s mouth. ‘I know we’re not much good, but Mr Wood says he can coach us and I believe him. And anyway, he says Mr Burrows will change his mind.’
    ‘I was joking, TJ,’ Mr Wilson said, smiling. ‘If Mr Burrows doesn’t change his mind, he’ll have a lot of mums and dads banging on his door wanting to know why!’
    When school finished the following day, TJ persuaded the others to go to the park. Mr Wood had been strangely cheerful all day.
    ‘He’s got a plan,’ TJ said. ‘So we’d better be ready, hadn’t we? We know what we have to do to get better.’
    ‘Oh, what,’ said Tulsi, ‘so you’re in charge now, are you? You got us in this mess in the first place. Why couldn’t you just catch the ball like a normal goalie?’
    ‘TJ’s right,’ said Rafi. ‘We never had enough time to practise. Come on, Tulsi, give it a try.’
    They tried to play the way Mr Wood had told them, controlling the ball and passing and moving around. TJ was just starting to enjoy himself when he heard a shout and saw the Hillside kids racing into the park on their bikes.
    ‘When Mrs Singh told us about the match we knew it couldn’t be true,’ jeered Krissy. ‘We knew you’d never play us. We heard you haven’t even got a pitch.’
    ‘Not yet,’ said Rafi defiantly. ‘But we will have.’
    ‘So why did you call the match off, then? You’re just scared, that’s all.’
    They didn’t wait for a reply but rode off laughing. TJ heard one of them say ‘useless’ and there was another burst of laughter. Somehow, none of them felt like playing football after that.
    They were in the playground on Monday morning when the car arrived. ‘What
is
it?’ said Rafi, as they gazed in awe at the low-slung red vehicle that had just pulled into the teachers’ car park. ‘Is it a racing car?’
    ‘It’s a Ferrari F430 Spider,’ said Rob. ‘Top speed, 196 miles per hour.’
    ‘It doesn’t look like a teacher’s car,’ said Tulsi, and then she gasped as they saw a tall black man climb out of the driver’s seat.
    ‘What?’ said TJ.
    ‘Don’t you know who that is?’ gasped Tulsi . ‘It’s Marshall Jones. He plays for Wanderers. What’s he doing here?’
    Marshall Jones looked lost. Then he saw them watching him, and he walked through the gate towards them. TJ thought that maybe Tulsi was going to faint. It looked like her legs had gone wobbly.
    ‘Hey!’ Marshall said, flashing them a gleaming smile. ‘I’m looking for Johnny Wood. Is this the right place?’
    ‘You mean
Mr
Wood?’ asked TJ.
    ‘I guess. He’s a tall guy. Wears a blue baseball hat.’
    ‘That’s him. But what . . .?’
    ‘Can you find him for me?’
    TJ nodded and ran off to fetch Mr Wood. He didn’t have to run far, because Mr Wood was already walking towards them across the playground, smiling broadly.
    ‘Hey, Marshall,’ Mr Wood said, hugging him. ‘I see you’ve already met the kids I was telling you about. Now you’d better come and meet my boss. He’s called Burrows.’ He led Marshall off towards the office, but as he went he turned and winked at them over his shoulder.
    ‘I’m in shock,’ said Tulsi. ‘Am I dreaming? Tell me that really happened.’
    ‘It happened, all right,’ said Jamie. ‘But I don’t know what it means.’
    Then Rodrigo surprised them all. ‘Marshall Jones,’ he said. ‘Wanderers. Striker. Very good. I