Out of Bounds Read Free Page A

Maeve.
    â€œWell, I’ve been practicing a lot since then,” Charlotte said. “You know me,” she laughed. “I get totally into things.”
    â€œThat’s a sweet trick,” Katani said.
    â€œVery cool,” Isabel agreed.
    â€œOnly a few seconds left,” Katani said, turning back as the game started up again.
    Maeve handed Charlotte back the coins. “Keep them for a while,” she said.
    Charlotte was about to put them back in her pocket when Megan’s mom popped up again, knocking the coins into the air. Charlotte caught one of them, Katani caught another, but the third one fell under the bleachers.
    â€œNo!” Megan’s mom yelled toward the field, oblivious to what she’d just done.
    One of the Twisters had been running the ball toward the goal when a girl from the Tornadoes suddenly appeared and stole the ball. It was close to the line, but Avery’s whistle did not blow.
    The whole Twisters’ bench stood to watch in horror as the Tornadoes’ player dribbled the ball all the way down to the other end of the field and scored the winning goal.
    â€œNo way!” Megan’s mother was already off the bench and on the field. “That ball was completely out of bounds!”
    From where they were sitting, it was difficult to tell who was right and who was wrong. But Avery hadn’t called a penalty. And Avery knew what she was doing when it came to soccer.
    Charlotte crawled under the bleachers to search for the coin. By the time she found it, there was a big commotion on the field. Megan’s mom was arguing with Avery, who was trying her best to stand her ground. And Megan’s mom was pretty scary with her yelling and her finger pointing right in Avery’s face. Avery looked very little standing next to her. Suddenly, both coaches were on the field and everyone was talking loudly at once.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Charlotte asked, poking her head out from under the bleachers.
    Maeve had been totally focused on what was going on with the argument on the field. “Megan’s mom keeps yelling that Avery’s call was bad, that the ball was out of bounds, even though nobody says out of bounds in soccer.”
    As Megan’s mom continued to shake her finger at Avery, Marty jumped off the bench, and, in a flash, was running toward the field barking his head off.
    â€œYikes,” said Isabel as the girls began to chase after Marty, while poor Charlotte, who was still crawling through the bleachers and hurrying to catch up, caught her pants on the corner of the bleachers and ripped the seat of her jeans. Disaster! Underwear Showing Alert!
    Great, another embarrassing moment in the life of Charlotte Ramsey. Why don’t we just hold up a sign. Well, no time to think about it now, Charlotte thought. Standing up, she took off her warm, cuddly sweatshirt and wrapped it around her waist. Life was about to get very cold, she realized as she climbed back up on the bleachers to see what was happening and felt the fall wind whipping through her light jersey…and her pants.
    Maeve managed to catch Marty first and was doing her best to hold him still. He barked wildly at Megan’s mom, who was barking wildly at Avery.
    â€œYou better keep ahold of that vicious dog,” Megan’s mom yelled over to Maeve.
    â€œVicious dog! I don’t think so,” whispered Maeve furiously under her breath, but she did try to shush Marty.
    It was easy to tell which girl was Megan. She was the Twister who’d had the ball stolen from her in the final seconds of the game. Even if Charlotte hadn’t seen the play, she would have been able to tell from the embarrassed look on the girl’s face as she listened to her mother rant on and on about how that ball was out of bounds, and how Avery had failed to make the correct call. Charlotte could tell that Megan wished she was anywhere but on that field.
    â€œI feel really sorry