Free Playing With the Boys by Liz Tigelaar Page B

put us up to anything,” Pickle quickly interjected. “She just told us about football tryouts. And we think you should do it.”
     
     
    “Do what?” Max said as she came back into the living room holding a bag of tortilla chips.
     
     
    “Lucy’s going to try out to be Beachwood’s new placekicker,” Charlie said as she collapsed onto the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table.
     
     
    “Really?” Max asked.
     
     
    “No,” Lucy argued. “I only told Martie I’d think about it. And I have.”
     
     
    The girls waited for Lucy’s answer. Finally, Pickle broke the silence. “Well, don’t keep us hanging—what’re you gonna do?”
     
     
    “Nothing,” Lucy said. “I’m not trying out. I can’t be a girl on a boys’ team. It’s just . . . crazy.”
     
     
    “She’s right,” Max agreed. “It’s crazy. And I bet smelly, too. Boys stink.”
     
     
    “But some of those football boys are ridiculously cute,” Pickle pointed out.
     
     
    “It’s not about cute boys,” Charlie said adamantly, then nodded to Max. “Hey, you wanna share those chips?” Mouth full, Max reluctantly passed the bag over. Charlie turned back to Lucy, continuing. “It’s about showing what you can do.”
     
     
    “She’s right,” Pickle agreed. “No one has a leg like you, Luce. And forget soccer! If you make this team, you have a chance to do what no one else has ever done at Beachwood. There’re only a handful of girls who’ve done it anywhere .You have a chance to really stand out and be a star!”
     
     
    Lucy sighed. She never wanted to stand out. She wanted to fit in. “I don’t know . . .” she said hesitantly.
     
     
    “Seriously,” Pickle prodded, “if you did this, it’d be incredible. Legendary . You’d go down in the annals of history.”
     
     
    “Ew.” Max cringed. “Don’t say anal.”
     
     
    Pickle threw a pillow at her. “I didn’t!”
     
     
    As Max and Pickle began to argue about the difference, Charlie looked Lucy in the eyes.
     
     
    “Lucy,” she said, her voice serious and slow, “if you do this, you’ll be like, the toughest, most hard-core athlete in the school.”
     
     
    Pickle nodded. “You’ll be our hero.”
     
     
    Lucy’s stomach filled with butterflies. This was a big decision. Huge , in fact. She didn’t want to disappoint the girls. They seemed so excited about the idea. Would it kill her just to try? But before she could answer, the front door burst open. Her dad was holding two large pizzas.
     
     
    “Who’s hungry?” he asked.
     
     
    “Me!” Max jumped up happily. “I’m starving!”
     
     
    Lucy’s dad took a few slices for himself and let the girls go eat in Lucy’s bedroom. As they headed in with napkins, soda, and pizza, Lucy made sure they weren’t looking and ran back to give her dad a hug.
     
     
    “Thanks,” she said,“for doing this for me.”And then she hurried to snag some pizza before Max inhaled all of it.
     
     
     
The next day, school felt endless. Lucy spent every period staring at the clock above each classroom door, torn. She hadn’t said anything about football tryouts to anyone besides the girls—not her dad; not Annie, when they talked for two hours on the phone last night; not even Benji, who’d stuffed a note in her locker saying that he was sorry she hadn’t made the team and asking if she wanted to go see the new Will Ferrell movie this weekend. She hadn’t yet run into him to tell him that she’d already seen it with her dad, although she’d considered not telling him and just seeing it again. But the truth was, she was too preoccupied with her immediate future to worry about her weekend plans. And even though Martie had delicately asked if she’d made a decision, she’d avoided answering. She just didn’t know what to say or do. She knew she didn’t belong on a boys’ team. But the workout clothes stuffed in her locker said something different. She’d grabbed them at the