Read Online Katie's Secret Admirer by Holly Webb - Free Book Online

“You do know how grateful I am to you for putting up with my moaning, don’t you?” she added, smiling a bit shamefacedly.
    Megan just grinned at her. “It’s fine – don’t start stressing about that as well.”
    Katie grinned back, relieved. “I tell you what though, I’m really looking forward to this game.” She slammed her locker door shut so hard that the whole row shuddered, and the rest of the team, scattered round the changing rooms, stared at her. She giggled. St Luke’s had better watch out!”
    St Luke’s certainly weren’t prepared for the avenging angel that was Katie Ryan that afternoon. And the rest of her team looked a bit bemused as well. It wasn’t that Katie was playing selfishly – Sarah and Cara still got plenty of time with the ball – but somehow, whenever the play was up front, Katie seemed to be in exactly the right place at the right time with a very determined expression on her face. By half-time Manor Hill were three goals up, and the St Luke’s team were displaying a range of grimaces from confused to upset via very, very sulky.
    â€œWow!” Megan handed Katie a cup of orange squash and grinned at her. “I should think you need that. Two goals! And setting that one up for Sarah! Can we get you really annoyed before all the league matches? I haven’t had to do anything; I felt like leaning on the goalpost and having a snooze.”
    Mrs Ross happened to be right behind Megan, to hear this, unfortunately, but thankfully she didn’t take it too seriously. She did decide it was time for a team pep-talk though.
    â€œRight, listen up everybody! You’ve played brilliantly today – so far. But please don’t go getting too complacent. I know the St Luke’s coach and she’s very good. Right this minute she’s going to be telling her team that they need to pull out all the stops, and they’re going to come back on the field desperate to claw back some goals. If you’re not careful you could be in trouble – just remember that if we can score three goals in a half, so can they, and then they’d be just one away from winning. So, concentrate please, all of you!” Mrs Ross waited until the girls were all chatting amongst themselves again, and then sought out Katie, who was smiling happily into her squash. Seeing the coach coming she tried very hard to assume the expression of somebody who was not in the slightest bit complacent.
    â€œWell done, Katie! That was brilliant, two great goals – and I was really pleased with the goal you set up for Sarah as well. It’s great to see you girls playing for the team rather than trying to get goals for yourselves. Really good!”
    The second half was as Mrs Ross had predicted – St Luke’s were desperate. But they were so desperate that they were flailing about all over the place. Katie, watching one of their forwards lose possession to Cara through a silly mistake, felt like telling them just to calm down a bit, to stand back and think instead of running frantically after the ball with no idea what they were going to do with it if they got it.
    When they shook hands at the end of the game, Manor Hill were celebrating a four-nil win. At least something was going right, finally! The St Luke’s team climbed dismally into their minibus, and the Manor Hill girls headed off to change again.
    Katie was changed in double-quick time, eager to get off and meet Mum and tell her how brilliantly the match had gone. While she was waiting for Megan to get her socks on, she rooted round in the front of her rucksack for her lip balm, a present from Annabel that she did actually use.
    â€œOh no.” Katie’s voice sounded almost frightened.
    Megan, who was hopping on one leg as she pulled her sock on, looked up in surprise and tried not to overbalance. “What’s the matter?”
    Katie pulled a familiar-looking