Philip and the Girl Who Couldn't Lose (9781619501072) Read Free Page A

a
smile.
    “ I made a joke. You asked me if I
listened to you, and I said what?”
    Philip shook his head. “You’re
hilarious. Don’t you see how serious this is? This girl thinks
she’s like the champion of the world. Now, she wants to play both of us. At the same time. Against
only her! You gotta come. We gotta beat this girl.”
    Emery got up from the table.
    “ Okay. Let me tell me mom I’m going
out.”
    Philip followed his friend into the living
room.
    “ Mom, I’m going . . .”
    “ Go, go,” Emery’s mom interrupted,
waving him toward the front door.
    “ See,” Emery whispered as they left the
house. “I think she hates me.”
    “ Never mind your mother. Look, there
she is.”
    Jeanne stood on the sidewalk, leaning against
a tree. She studied the two boys as they approached. She smiled and
said, “This is Emily?”
    “ Who’s Emily?” Emery asked,
confused.
    “ She thinks you’re Emily.”
    “ I’m no Emily. Emery. Emery,” he repeated. “Jeremy.”
    “ Jeanne,” Jeanne said.
    “ Emery.”
    “ Whatever.”
    Emery took a quick dislike to the girl. “I
hear we’re gonna play football,” he said.
    “ You want to? Your friend needs some
help.”
    Emery looked at Philip then back at Jeanne.
“Let’s play,” he announced.
    The three children returned to Mrs.
Moriarty’s front lawn.
    “ I’ll kick to you again,” said
Jeanne.
    Philip and Emery moved to one side of Mrs.
M.’s property.
    “ Listen, Emery. When I get the ball,
you block her. Knock her over, and I’ll score the
touchdown.”
    “ Why don’t you let me carry the ball,
and you knock her down? She punched you in the nose, not me, so you
should . . . POW!” Emery slapped his hands together in front of his
face.
    Philip considered. “Sure.” The image of
Jeanne flying through the air proved too much for Philip to resist.
“This is gonna be great.”
    “ Ready, you guys?” Jeanne
called.
    “ Kick,” Philip yelled back.
    Jeanne sent the ball their way. Philip
ignored the ball and waited for Emery to grab it.
    “ Go, Philip,” Emery ordered as he
tucked the ball under his arm and followed Philip down the field.
When they neared Jeanne, she made a quick move and slammed into
Philip, who flew off his feet straight into an astonished Emery,
and both boys went down in a tangle.
    Emery hurriedly got to his knees. “What are
you tackling me for?” he cried in exasperation. “You’re not
supposed to tackle me.”
    “ I didn’t tackle you. She smashed me
into you.”
    “ You were supposed to smash into
her.”
    “ I tried. She didn’t let
me.”
    “ What do you mean she wouldn’t let
you?”
    Emery looked around. “Where’s the ball?”
    “ Hey, you two,” came Jeanne’s
voice.
    The boys turned and saw Jeanne standing at
her goal line, fists on her hips, one foot on the football.
    “ Touchdown.”
    Philip scrambled angrily to his feet.
    “ What do you mean touchdown? It’s our
ball. How’d you get it?”
    “ Emily fumbled, and I grabbed it before
it hit the ground. That means I can run with it and
so… touchdown, ” she crowed.
“You and Emily don’t have another friend you can get, do
you?”
    Philip and Emery looked at each other,
flabbergasted.
    “ Don’t call me Emily,” Emery shouted.
“I’m—”
    Mrs. Moriarty interrupted, “Come on in for
lunch, kids. Oh, Emery. Hello. You come, too.”
    Jeanne skipped toward the back door, and
after she flipped Philip his ball, she said, “You lose again.”
    Silently, Philip and Emery followed her into
Mrs. Moriarty’s kitchen.
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    After school Monday, Philip sat with Emery in Emery’s
backyard.
    “I still can’t figure out why you tackled me
yesterday,” Emery complained.
    “Why do you keep saying I tackled you? I told you a
million times yesterday and a million times today. I didn’t tackle
you. Why would I tackle you? She knocked me into you.”
    “Why’d you let her?”
    “Let her? Who let her? She just