Win or Lose by Alex Morgan Read Free Book Online Page B

belly laugh. It felt good after all the highs and lows of this crazy day.
    â€œThanks,” I said as I finally stopped laughing. “I needed that.” Usually when I started laughing over the frowny face, Kara forgot whatever it was she was mad about. But not today.
    â€œSeriously, Devin, those girls are mean!” Kara was still angry. “You need to say something.”
    â€œWe just won our first play-off game. They have to let this go. Don’t they?” I asked hopefully.
    Kara blew out a deep breath. “If they don’t, you really need to talk to the coach about it. It’s one thing if they’re mad. It’s another if they’re bullying you over it or trying to get the other players to not pass you the ball.”
    â€œLet me give it some more time,” I told her. “Maybe they were just angry after the game and didn’t really mean it, about not passing the ball to me. But if not, I guess I’ll have to talk to Coach.” I sighed. “Why does this have to be so complicated? We just won our first play-off game! We should be celebrating. They’ve got to stop being mad at me.”
    â€œI hope you’re right,” Kara said.
    â€œI forgot the other bad news.” I filled her in on how the boys’ team had lost.
    â€œAnd then Steven totally blew me off after the game,” I said as I made my own frowny, mad face.
    â€œWait! Are you sure he didn’t say anything else?” Kara asked.
    â€œPositive,” I sighed.
    â€œHe was just disappointed, that’s all,” Kara said. “After all, it had just happened. It’s not like he even had time to wrap his head around being booted from the play-offs before you showed up.”
    â€œI know. You’re right,” I said. Kara always knew how to make me feel better. “And on the bright side, both the Cosmos and the Kicks are still in the play-offs!”
    â€œState championships, here we come!” Kara grinned.
    As a team the Kicks had come so far. At the start ofthe season nobody would have thought we could make it to the league championships, let alone even have a shot at state. We were all finally playing to our full potential. Coach was awesome and really motivating us. It would stink if this stupid newspaper article caused a rift in the team that would hurt our playing. If we wanted to be champions, the Kicks had to start getting along!

CHAPTER SEVEN

    â€œSo Jessi will marry Jake Washington, and they will live together in an apartment in Rio de Janeiro, where Jessi will work as a graphic designer. They’ll drive around in a PT Cruiser and have ten kids!” Frida read from her notebook, and everyone started laughing.
    We were sitting outside in the library courtyard at lunch on Monday. Frida was leading us in a game of MASH, which was supposed to predict your future. I loved how silly all the outcomes were.
    â€œI don’t know how you’ll fit all those kids into a PT Cruiser,” Emma said, and laughed.
    I wiggled my eyebrows at Jessi. “So, Jake Washington, eh?” He was in our gym class.
    â€œComing up with the names of four boys wasn’t easy. Wait until it’s your turn!” Jessi said. Of course, Cody had been the first boy she had named. Frida had then countedand randomly crossed off an item from each list: boys, careers, numbers, cities, types of cars, and MASH (which stood for “mansion, apartment, shack, or house”) until only one remained for each.
    Frida turned to Zoe. “Your turn! First, name four boys.”
    Zoe shrugged. “I don’t even know if I ever want to get married.”
    â€œFine,” Frida said. “We’ll skip that part. Name four jobs.”
    As Frida and Zoe played, Jessi turned to me.
    â€œI heard Coach Flores wasn’t here to teach her gym classes today,” she said to me. “I wonder if we’ll have practice.”
    â€œThey would have made an