Juice - Eric Walters [0]
Eric Walters
orca soundings
Copyright © 2005 Eric Walters
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Walters, Eric, 1957
-Juice / Eric Walters.
(Orca soundings)
ISBN 1-55143-351-6
I. Title. II. Series.
PS8595.A598J93 2005 jC813’.54 C2005-900338-3
Summary: When a new coach comes to their school, Michael and his teammates are convinced that steroids are the way to compete.
First published in the United States, 2005
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005920402
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council.
Cover design: Lynn O’Rourke
Cover photography: Eyewire
Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 5626, Stn. B.
Victoria, BC Canada
v8R 6S4
Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 468
Custer, WA USA
98240-0468
08 07 06 05 • 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in Canada.
Printed on 30% post-consumer recycled paper,
processed chlorine free using vegetable, low VOC inks.
For those who know that when
you play the game fairly, you win,
no matter what the score is.
Other titles by Eric Walters, published by Orca Book Publishers
War of the Eagles
Caged Eagles
Three on Three
Full Court Press
Hoop Crazy
Long Shot
Road Trip
Off Season
Underdog
Overdrive
Grind
Triple Threat
Chapter One
“Everybody shut up and listen!” Dave yelled.
The huddle fell silent, but the noise of the crowd rolled out of the bleachers and washed across the field. I’d never heard a crowd so loud. Then again, I’d never played in front of this many people, or in this big a game. There were thousands and thousands of people, and everybody was yelling and screaming and cheering like crazy.
“I need everybody to focus!” Dave said. “Forget about the crowd, forget that this is the most important game any of us are probably ever going to play in. Forget about everything except what’s going to happen on this field in the next half a minute.”
Dave was the co-captain of the team. A senior and the strong safety, he called all of our defensive plays.
I looked past him to the big scoreboard at the end of the stadium. There were thirty-one seconds left and we were up fourteen to twelve. That was good. The problem was that they had the ball on our twenty-seven yard line. The bigger problem was that all twelve of their points had come from their field goal kicker. The biggest problem was that he hadn’t missed from this distance all season.
It was awful to think that we could lose even though we hadn’t let them get into our end zone to score a touchdown. We were going to lose to some scrawny little kid named Luigi, who couldn’t have weighed more than a 120 pounds. Some kid who’d never even seen a football game before his family moved here from Europe last summer. Maybe he still didn’t understand the game, but he could kick a football like nobody’s business. I’d heard that there were college scouts in the crowd who’d come from around the country just to see him play.
“Moose, are you listening?” Dave barked.
I startled back to reality. “Of course I’m listening,” I mumbled through my mouth guard.
“We’re going to blitz,” Dave said.
“Who’s going to blitz?” one of the corners asked.
“Everybody.”
“What?” somebody gasped. “You’re joking, right?”
“Does this seem like the time for a joke? I want everybody to blitz.”
“But if we all blitz, then the quarterback just has to lob a little pass to a receiver and he’s gone for a touchdown.”
“He’s not thinking about passing,” Dave said. “He’s going to take the snap, spin around and hand off to a back