儿童英语读物 The Soccer Mystery CHAPTER 3 “You’ll Be Sorry!”

“You’re not eating very much breakfast, Benny,” said Grandfather Alden the next morning.



“I’m not hungry,” answered Benny. “I’m worried.”



“Worried? About the results of the soccer tryouts?” asked his grandfather.



“Yes. I’m not that good at soccer yet,” said Benny. “I need lots and lots of practice before I can be as good as Elena Perez.”



“Elena Perez? I know Dr. Perez and her husband, but I’ve never met their daughter Elena,” said Grandfather.



“Elena is a very good soccer player,” said Jessie.



“Yes,” said Violet. “She’ll definitely be put on a team. But what if players who are beginners — like me — aren’t put on a team?”



She was thinking of the conversation they had overheard among Gillian, Stan, and Craig. If Stan had his way, beginning players like Violet and Benny wouldn’t be allowed to play at all.



“If you aren’t put on a team, none of us will play in the league, either,” said Henry.



Just then Mrs. McGregor came in with Soo Lee. When her cousins offered her breakfast, Soo Lee shook her head. “Hurry,” she said. “It’s almost time to go to the community center to see which soccer teams we are on.”



The Aldens finished their breakfasts quickly. Benny drank all of his orange juice and finished his cereal, but he didn’t ask for seconds as he usually did. Although he felt better knowing that his brother and sisters would help him, and would not play soccer without him, he was still a little worried.



When they got to the community center, they had to make their way through a large crowd of children who had gathered around the bulletin board by the front door.



Robert Post pushed past them as they reached the lists of teams. “Ha,” he said to the boy who was with him. “I’m on the Bears. That’s Stan’s team and it’s the best. I knew I’d be on it. We’re going to win every game.”



Violet’s heart beat faster as she followed Henry, Jessie, and Soo Lee to the front of the crowd. She reached down and caught Benny’s hand.



Benny reached out with his other hand and tugged 1 on his older brother’s shirt. “Am I on a team?” he asked.



Henry looked down with a big grin on his face. “You sure are,” he said. “You and Violet are on the same team, the Panthers. Gillian is your coach.”



“Yeah!” said Benny. He let go of Violet’s hand and waved his arms in excitement.



“Oh, good,” said Violet. She was very relieved, and very happy, too.



“I’m on your team also,” said Elena to Violet. She came up behind the Aldens and pointed 2 over Jessie’s shoulder to her name on the list. “I was on Stan’s team — the Bears — but I asked to be put on Gillian’s team. I like Gillian.”



The Aldens saw then that Elena’s name had been on Stan’s list, but had been crossed out.



Jessie said, “I’m on Craig’s team, the Hawks 3. I like Craig. But I don’t know anybody on my team.”



“Henry and I are on the Bears, too,” said Soo Lee. “With Robert.” She didn’t sound very happy about it. “And look, Henry, you’re going to be one of the goalies. Robert is going to be the other.”



“Okay, everybody,” said Stan. “Time for practice. Let’s go!” He raised his silver whistle and blew it loudly.



Although Violet and Benny were beginners, they weren’t the only ones on Gillian’s team who were just learning to play soccer. Gillian divided the fifteen players on her team into three groups. She put experienced players in each group to help teach the beginners how to play.



“Good, Violet,” said Gillian, when Violet kicked a pass right back to Elena.



Then she showed Benny how to run and kick the ball better. She was very patient and Violet and Benny soon understood why Elena had wanted to be on the team that Gillian was coaching. They were learning a lot and it was fun, too.



Jessie, who was standing 4 at the front of two lines of players, kept glancing over at Violet and Benny and Elena. They were laughing together and seemed to be having such a good time!



“Okay, team,” Craig said. “We’re going to do a drill to practice getting to the ball first. You won’t be able to get a goal if you let players on the other team get to the ball first.”



He stood between the two lines of players and held the ball up. “When I throw the ball out in front of me, I want the player at the front of each line to run out and try to get to the ball first. The first player who gets to the ball, wins.”



Craig threw the ball. But Jessie hadn’t been listening. She’d been watching her brother and sister on Gillian’s team.



“Jessie!” cried Craig, throwing up his hands. “What’re you doing? You have to pay attention!”



“Sorry!” said Jessie, and ran out to try to get the ball. But the other player got there first.



“That’s okay. We’re going to practice this some more so you can try again,” said Craig. “But you have to pay attention.”



“I will,” Jessie promised. She did better after that, but she still kept glancing over at the Panthers.



Henry and Soo Lee were paying attention to what they were doing on Stan’s team, but they weren’t having fun.



Stan talked all the time, just as Craig did. Unlike Craig, however, he didn’t say very encouraging things.



“That’s terrible!” Stan shouted at Soo Lee when she kicked a ball at the goal and missed. “You’ll never win if you make stupid mistakes like that! Next!”



Behind Soo Lee, Stan’s younger brother Robert snickered. “That was bad,” he said as he ran past Soo Lee. Then he kicked the ball he was dribbling 5 right into the goal and right past Henry. He turned to Soo Lee with a smirk 6 on his face. “That’s the right way to do it,” he told her.



Stan didn’t seem to notice that his brother was being a bad sport. He just blew his whistle and said, “Next!”



Henry and Soo Lee tried hard and did their best. But no matter how good anyone on the Bears was or how hard a player worked, Stan never said anything nice. “Run faster!” he barked. “Kick the ball harder!”



“This is awful,” Soo Lee whispered to Henry.



“I know,” said Henry, glancing over toward the other teams. “No coach on any other team is yelling like Stan is.”



Robert overheard Henry. “Those teams are losers,” he said. “Forget about them. We’re going to be the winning team.”



Henry and Soo Lee looked at each other. Each knew what the other was thinking. If they weren’t having fun playing, winning didn’t mean anything.



At the end of practice, Stan said, “That’s it for now. You’ve got a lot of work to do. You Bears looked like a bunch of clumsy bear cubs 7 out there today.”



“Come on,” Henry said to Soo Lee. “Let’s go tell Stan we want to be put on another team.” As the rest of their team walked off the field, Henry and Soo Lee walked up to Stan.



“We’d like to be put on another team, please,” said Soo Lee.



Stan looked down at Soo Lee and frowned. “What are you talking about?”



“My cousin and I would like to be on another team.”



“Why?” asked Stan, frowning harder. “The Bears are the best team, and you are good players. Why would you want to be on another team?”



“Because we aren’t having any fun,” said Henry boldly. “We want to play on a team that is fun to play on.”



“Fun? Fun?” Stan said, as if he had never heard the word before. “You’re not supposed to have fun. You’re supposed to win!”



“We know. But we want to have fun, too,” said Soo Lee.



Stan put his hands on his hips 8. “Fine,” he snapped. He pointed toward Gillian’s team. “Go play on her team if you are not interested in winning. But I’m warning you, you’ll be sorry!”