Read Online T.J. and the Hat-trick by Theo Walcott - Free Book Online Page A

as if his shirt might burst apart at any moment, but there was nothing they could do about that. They ran out onto the field just as the Hillside minibus arrived.
    There was nothing old or tatty about the Hillside kit. Their boots clattered on the playground as they walked over to the pitch in gleaming red shirts and green shorts. Their teacher, Mrs Singh, stopped them at the edge of the pitch.
    ‘Is this it?’ she said to Mr Wood. ‘Are you seriously expecting us to play on this?’
    ‘It may look a bit strange,’ Mr Wood said, ‘but it’s perfectly playable.’
    ‘Looks like it’s had chicken pox,’ said Krissy.
    ‘Or plague,’ replied Kelvin.
    ‘Why do we have to play against them?’ Krissy demanded. ‘We already know they’re rubbish.’
    ‘Well, let’s prove it, shall we?’ Mrs Singh said. ‘Over there, please. Start your warm-ups.’
    ‘Well?’ said Mr Wood, walking over to the Parkview team. ‘What are you all staring at?’
    Mrs Singh had laid out cones on the pitch and the Hillside team were already dribbling balls in and out of them in a well-practised routine. ‘They’re really good,’ gulped Rafi.
    ‘And their kit hasn’t got holes in,’ said Tulsi, frowning.
    ‘And it fits them,’ added Jamie gloomily, as his shirt threatened to split.
    TJ pulled on his goalkeeping gloves. He was determined that, whatever else happened, he wasn’t going to make a single mistake today. After all, it might be his last ever appearance in goal.

C HAPTER 18
    ‘YOU CAN STOP feeling sorry for yourselves,’ Mr Wood told them. ‘There’s nothing special about that lot. I’ve watched them play. That teacher has trained them to play like robots. You guys, you’re much better than you think you are, and you’re definitely better than
they
think you are. Besides, you’ve got your supporters to think about. Look!’
    People were pouring out of the school and onto the playground. There were mums, dads, grandparents and just about every child in the school. All the dinner ladies were there, waving pink pom-poms in the air . The school cook was there, and even Mr Coggins, the caretaker. Janice and the dinner ladies started chanting: ‘PARKVIEW . . . PARKVIEW.’ They’d worked out a whole routine with the pom-poms and the rest of the crowd joined in with the singing. It made TJ feel excited and nervous at the same time.
    ‘They won’t mind if you lose,’ Mr Wood said. ‘They know it’s your first match. They just want to see you play good football. They want to be proud of the school, so let’s get on with it.’
    ‘Mr Wood?’ asked Tulsi. ‘Who’s going to be ref?’
    ‘Mrs Singh. Rodrigo, you’re captain. You toss up. Go on.’
    Rodrigo gave Mr Wood a huge grin and jogged over to the centre circle.
    ‘Heads or tails,’ demanded Mrs Singh.
    ‘
Sim
,’ said Rodrigo, looking confused.

    ‘I said, do you want heads or tails?’
    ‘
Que?
’
    Mrs Singh sighed and showed Rodrigo the coin. He pointed to heads and she tossed. Parkview would kick off.
    Standing in goal, TJ remembered what Marshall had said at the Wanderers match – how he hated not being able to make things happen on the pitch. That was exactly how TJ felt. He forced himself to concentrate as Kelvin tackled Rafi and won the ball. Kelvin played it out to the wing, but suddenly Tommy was snapping at the heels of the startled Hillside winger, forcing him into a mistake. The ball spun out for a throw-in. TJ smiled. Tommy reminded him of Gary Devlin, the City player.
    From the throw, Rodrigo controlled the ball quickly and passed it back to Danny. Rafi yelled for the ball and ran into space. Just for a second, TJ thought that Rafi was going to start on one of his crazy dribbles, but instead he spotted Tommy racing down the wing. It would have been a great pass if Rafi had kept his eye on the ball. Instead, he kicked thin air and fell flat on his back.
    As the crowd groaned and Rafi picked himself up, Krissy was onto the ball in