Kendall's mouth dropped but she recovered quickly. "I was... kidding, you know. But, hey, if you're really going to try out, I might as well warn you now. It seems to me that you've got as much of a chance as Rick Greene over there."
I glanced up just in time to see Rick hurrying into the locker room carrying a gym bag that was big enough to tackle him.
I shook my head. She had no idea that sometimes the underdog had a weird way of surprising everyone around him. To most people, I was the underdog without a chance, but in my mind, I knew I was the most likely candidate to come up with a great story.
"Kendall," I said with as much fake sweetness as I could. "I hope you don't mind if I excused myself." I pushed open the door to the girls locker room and stared into the Nike gym bag I'd packed the night before for my PE class. Suddenly I wished the extra t-shirt I'd brought wasn't the baby blue Football Clinic t-shirt that I had gotten when I was fourteen.
My dad's old t-shirt seemed to bring me a little bit of luck. Maybe it's exactly what I needed. Besides, I had always worn that shirt every Sunday in the park with Harry. I was curious if he'd recognize the distinct blue color he had spent so many hours making fun of. Slipping the shirt over my head with confidence, my mind focused in on the questions id been trying to ignore all day.
What would it be like to be back in Harry's world for the first time in more than two years? But more importantly, what would he say when he realized that I was his main competition for the starting quarterback job, not Glenn Dixon? Harry and his dad were the only people outside of my own family to ever see me pick up the ball. While my skills on the field wouldn't come as much of a shock to him, I knew the rest of Pine Creek was in one hell of a surprise.
"Cheerleading tryouts were yesterday, sweetie. So sorry." The coach returned to his infamous clipboard.
"That's why I am here now."
"I was only trying to save you the embarrassment." He still hadn't looked up.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"That's a nice shirt you've got on there."
"Yeah, I wore it for a reason."
Coach Hedge stopped writing and looked up at me. "You're not afraid of me."
"Is there a reason to be?"
The coach smiled. "I like you, very cheeky. Name?"
"Maggie Prescott." I said firmly.
"Prescott, eh? Your brother played for me."
I nodded. "Yeah. John."
"Fine boy. Fine athlete, too. And know that I know about John, I have to ask. Is that t-shirt from a time you went to the clinic or is it just one of your brother's hand-me-downs?"
I hesitated for a second before answering. "I've been to the clinic."
It wasn't really a lie. I mean, I had gone to the clinic with my mom to pick up John from practice plenty of times. Although his purple Allitz shirt was folded neatly in my dresser back home, it just didn't seem to have quite the effect on me as the baby blue did.
Coach Hedge nodded as if he was considering being impressed before he returned to jotting notes on his clipboard.
"I would have never expected this from you, Mags."
I sucked in my breath and tried to steady my legs, which had suddenly gone weak. There was only one person in the world with a voice that can make me feel that way.
