Starting Eleven Read online

  I looked over at Chris, who shrugged.

  ‘What’s the TV thing about?’ I asked.

  ‘Just wait and see,’ said Miss Rice. ‘All will be explained next week . . .’

  *

  Lily and Parvy stood in the car park with us as we waited for lifts home. The rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peek through the clouds. But it was still windy and cold.

  ‘So, did we play well then?’ asked Parvy.

  ‘No!’ said Abs, being childish.

  ‘Don’t be like that!’ said Jason. ‘You did OK.’

  ‘Yeah,’ added Abs. ‘But if we’d had all boys we wouldn’t have lost . . .’

  ‘We all played OK,’ said Chris. ‘But not good. Abs is just being silly.’

  ‘Yeah – we’ll just have to do better next week,’ I added.

  ‘You will,’ said Lily. ‘You need to stop running like a headless chicken and pass me the ball more . . .’

  ‘Why?’ I asked.

  ‘Because, my dear, I’m better than you,’ she explained.

  ‘Don’t call me that!’ I moaned.

  She pinched my left cheek. ‘Don’t be like that,’ she said in a baby voice.

  ‘OWW! Gerroff – that hurts!’ I shouted.

  ‘Oh, don’t be such a wimp,’ said Parvy.

  ‘Yeah, Dal,’ added Chris. ‘You’ll want to wear a skirt next . . .’

  As they all burst into laughter, I rubbed my cheek and wondered what would happen in the next game. Would we win or lose? And what was the TV thing about? I turned to my friends.

  ‘Are you all OK for training on Tuesday?’ I asked.

  ‘YEAH!!!!’ said everyone apart from Jason.

  ‘Rushie Reds, Rushie Reds, Rushie Reds!’ he sang.

  ‘Oh, do stop singing,’ Lily told him.

  I looked at Lily and she blew me a kiss.

  ‘Are you coming too?’ I asked, hoping that she’d say no.

  ‘Of course, darling,’ she replied. Why did she have to speak to me like that? I felt my face turn the colour of beetroot. Lily walked off and joined her mum, who was talking to Miss Rice.

  ‘Great,’ I said to her just before she went, but I didn’t mean it. I was just praying for my dad to stop talking to the other parents and take me home.

  Not that I was too desperate to get away. It had been great fun. I’d made the squad and been picked for the starting eleven. We might have lost our first game but we were definitely going to get better.

  Rushton Reds were going to be the best soccer squad in the whole league. And me and my friends were going to be right at the heart of the team. I’d spent ages wanting to be part of a team, playing proper games.

  And now I had that chance I wasn’t going to lose it.

  I was a Rushton Red!

  ‘You OK, Dal?’ asked my dad. I hadn’t even noticed him walk over to me. I’d been too busy daydreaming.

  ‘Yeah!’ I said, beaming. ‘I’m great!’

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bali Rai thinks he is a very lucky man. He gets to write all day if he wants to, or to go into schools to speak to his readers about what they think of his books. He loves films, music, reading, seeing friends and watching his beloved Liverpool FC.

  Bali played for his school team as a defender and loved it. He has been a lifelong football fan since he began watching Match of the Day at the age of four with his dad. He enjoys talking and arguing about Liverpool FC and would like to be Rafa Benitez’s or Steven Gerrard’s personal servant, but if this does not happen he is happy to carry on writing for his thousands of fans.

  Bali was very honoured that his short novel Dream On (about a young footballer) was chosen for the first Booked-Up list and was made available to every Year 7 school child.

  Bali’s books are now in ten languages and he also gets to travel all over the world to meet his readers. He hopes that he can encourage anyone to have a go at writing and to find a love of reading. He has won lots of book awards and really enjoys winning the ones that are voted for by the real readers – you!

  Bali lives in his home city of Leicester. He has a lovely new wife and a football-crazy daughter.

  Also by Bali Rai

  Don’t miss any of the books in this fabulous football series:

  SOCCER SQUAD: MISSING!

  SOCCER SQUAD: STARS!

  SOCCER SQUAD: GLORY!

  SOCCER SQUAD: STARTING ELEVEN

  AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 04773 7

  Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK

  A Random House Group Company

  This ebook edition published 2014

  Copyright © Bali Rai, 2012

  Illustrations copyright © Mike Phillips, 2012

  First Published in Great Britain

  Red Fox ISBN 9781862306547, 2012

  The right of Bali Rai to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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