Hot-Shot Harry Read online

  HOT SHOT HARRY

  ROB CHILDS

  Contents

  Chapter One Five-a-Side

  Chapter Two In Goal

  Chapter Three Injury Time

  Chapter Four County Cup

  Chapter Five Semi-Final

  Chapter Six The Final

  Chapter Seven Golden Goals

  Chapter One

  Five-a-Side

  “Hot-shot!” yelled Harry.

  Harry always shouted ‘Hot Shot’ when he scored a goal. That was why people called him Hot-Shot Harry.

  Harry had just scored his second goal. It gave Gateway School a 2–0 lead in the final of the local Five-a-Side Festival.

  Brad was the team’s main defender. He ran towards Harry, and they slapped hands.

  “Great goal, Hot-Shot!” cried Brad. “I bet we win the match now.”

  Just then the other side took a shot at goal. But Gateway’s goalie Charlotte dived and grabbed the ball.

  “Good save, Charlie!” cried Harry, giving her a thumbs-up sign.

  At half-time, their teacher told the players not to relax.

  “Remember, anything can happen in five-a-side soccer,” Mrs Phillips said. “The game isn’t over until the final whistle.”

  The second half of the match had only just started when the opposition scored.

  The striker for the other team sent the ball flashing past Charlotte. She didn’t stand a chance.

  Harry was furious.

  “You’re rubbish, guys!” he shouted. “Where was the marking?”

  “Cool it, cousin,” said Leela. She was the other striker. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault.”

  “Don’t tell me to cool it!” snapped Harry. “I’m captain.”

  Leela gave a little shrug and turned away. She knew there was no point in trying to argue with Harry.

  They didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the game. Not even when Harry scored a third goal.

  “Hot-shot!” he cried. “That’s my hat trick.”

  The three goals made Harry the team’s top scorer in the tournament. He had beaten Leela’s total. She knew he wouldn’t let her forget it.

  The six members of the squad got their medals and Harry held up the silver trophy for the cameras.

  “Well done, everyone,” Mrs Phillips said. “Gateway School will now be in the County Finals next month.”

  “We seem to do better at five-a-side,” said Brad. He was sitting on a bench in the boys’ changing room and gazing at the medal in his hand. “We’ve lost too many matches this season playing eleven-a-side on a big pitch.”

  “Yeah,” Harry agreed. “That’s because we get rid of some of the dummies when we play with just five players.”

  Brad shrugged. “So which dummies are left in the five-a-side team?”

  “My cousin, for a start,” said Harry.

  “Leela? She’s good. I mean, she’s dead fast,” said Brad.

  “Yeah, but it’s not just speed you need, is it?” argued Harry. “You need a bit of strength and skill on the ball.”

  “I suppose so – but she can still score goals…”

  Brad saw the look on Harry’s face, and shut up. He didn’t want to be put in the captain’s list of dummies.

  In the girls’ room, Leela and Charlotte were also talking.

  “He’s cute, your cousin,” said Charlotte with a grin as Leela came out of the showers, drying her long black hair.

  “Harry?” Leela asked in surprise.

  “Who else? How many other cousins you got?” asked Charlotte.

  “I’ve got hundreds. And none of them are cute.”

  “Well, Harry can be – sometimes,” Charlotte said.

  “Really?” replied Leela. “Maybe you won’t think he’s so cute, Charlie, when I tell you he reckons all girls are dummies.”

  Chapter Two

  In Goal

  The boys were having a lunchtime kick-about on the playing field.

  “Watch this!” cried Oliver.

  He was always looking for new ways of celebrating a goal, but he was better at football than gym.

  He did a clumsy cartwheel across the grass, followed by a bumpy forward roll.

  “Ground’s too hard,” he muttered, rubbing his shoulder.

  Brad laughed. “That needs a bit more practice, Ollie.”

  The girls were sitting on a grassy bank nearby.

  “Just look at that lot,” laughed Charlotte. “What a bunch of idiots!”

  “Sure are,” Leela agreed. “I’m almost glad they won’t let us join in.”

  “You sound as if you want to,” Charlotte said.

  “No way,” said Leela.

  Then the ball came rolling towards them.

  “Boot it back, Charlie,” shouted Harry.

  But Leela pounced on the ball and dribbled it to the goal.

  “Come on, just give it back,” Harry demanded, but Leela kept on running, with the ball under control.

  Brad tried to tackle her, but Leela skipped past him.

  Another member of the Fives squad, Ravi, was in goal, standing between the bags being used as posts.

  “Come on, then,” Ravi shouted to her. “Bet you can’t beat me from there.”

  Leela’s shot swerved past him and went between the bags.

  “Goal!” she cried, and did a perfect cartwheel and forward roll. Leela was a member of the school gym club.

  Harry pulled a face. “Huh! You ought to be on telly,” he grunted.

  “I will be one day,” she told him with a grin. “Scoring at Wembley.”

  “No chance!” said Harry.

  Ravi called across the field. “Hey! Charlie! You want to play in goal?”

  Harry gave him a dirty look. “I told you. No girls.”

  “Why not?” Ravi argued. “She’s the best keeper we’ve got.”

  “She’s the only keeper we’ve got,” Harry said. “You’re no good.”

  “I’m better than you,” Ravi snapped.

  “You wish,” said Harry.

  “Yeah? Come on, then. Prove it!” Ravi yelled.

  Leela liked seeing somebody else standing up to Harry.

  “Yes, let’s see how good you are in goal, Harry,” she said. “If you dare.”

  Harry couldn’t back down now.

  “OK, then, I don’t mind going in goal for a bit,” he said. “But you two still can’t play.”

  “That’s all right,” Leela smiled. “We’ll just watch.”

  The two girls stood right behind the goal, knowing that would annoy Harry and might help to put him off.

  “Clear off!” he told them.

  “No,” said Charlotte.

  “Charlie wants to watch you in goal.” Leela grinned. “She thinks you’re cute.”

  Charlotte giggled. Harry glared at both of them.

  “Keep your eyes on the game, not Charlie,” Leela told Harry.

  “Mark your man,” Harry shouted at his defenders. “Ravi – you take Ollie. Brad, back him up.”

  Oliver was very hard to mark. He seemed to drift into spaces that no other players had noticed.

  He found a space now. As the ball floated onto the goalmouth, Ollie timed his run perfectly. He reached the ball before Harry, kicking it past him and between the bags.

  “Oops!” giggled Charlotte. “You missed that one, Harry.”

  “A bit slow off your line there,” mocked Leela.

  “Like to see you do any better,” Harry snarled as he tramped past to collect the ball.

  “Charlie would have saved it,” Leela said.

  Harry booted the ball away as hard as he could.

  Harry was soon called into action once more. This time he made a fine save, diving onto the ball and stopping it.
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  “Good stop,” said Charlotte.

  But another goal soon wiped the smile off Harry’s face. He got a hand to the ball, but he failed to stop it. The ball hit one of the bags and went in.

  Harry lay on the grass, furious.

  “Bad luck,” said Charlotte.

  Leela did not say anything. She didn’t need to. Ravi, however, couldn’t resist.

  “Do you still think you’re better than me in goal?” he grinned. “Or Charlie?”

  Harry jumped up and lashed out with his fists, taking Ravi by surprise. Then Ravi knocked Harry down onto the ground.

  “Fight! Fight!” went up the chant from the other boys, and a crowd gathered round to watch.

  “Uh-oh,” hissed Leela, taking Charlotte’s arm. “Look, a teacher’s coming. Let’s go.”

  Ravi and Harry were still throwing punches as Leela dragged Charlotte away.

  “Shame,” said Charlotte. “I’d have liked to see who won.”

  Chapter Three

  Injury Time

  Harry and Ravi were banned from playing in the next eleven-a-side match. The team missed both boys. They also missed a lot of chances. Gateway lost the game.

  “We were awful,” Oliver groaned as the players left the field.

  “Not my fault,” Brad muttered. He was captain for the day.

  As they sat on a bench outside the school building to take off their boots, Harry came over. He had been watching the game from the touchline.

  “We deserved a draw,” he said, pulling a face.

  Oliver peeled a chunk of mud from between his studs and tossed it away. He had scored twice in the match, but was cross that he had not made it a hat-trick.

  “Wish we got paid for scoring goals,” he said.

  “Yeah,” Harry agreed. “I’d be rich!”

  “Yeah, right,” grunted Brad.

  “Hey! I’ve just had a great idea!” cried Oliver, jumping up – and standing right in a puddle of water in his socks.

  “What’s that?” asked Harry.

  “Getting paid for scoring! We could be sponsored for every goal.”

  Harry liked the sound of that. “Yeah, we could raise loads of money!”

  “But the season’s nearly over,” said Brad. “It wouldn’t be worth it.”

  “The Fives!” Harry exclaimed. “We could get people to sponsor us in the County Finals!”

  Mrs Phillips thought it was a good idea, too, when the boys told the teacher of their plans the next day.

  “What do you want to raise the money for?” she asked.

  “We want to send it to that school in West Africa,” Harry said. “The one we’re twinned with.”

  “You mean Saint Francis School in Kenya,” Mrs Phillips told him, with a smile.

  “We could buy some sports stuff for the kids there to use,” Harry went on. “Soccer kit, boots and footballs.”

  Brad and Ravi designed a sponsor form in art class that afternoon, and the other players made posters to tell people about the project.

  “We want the whole school to back us,” said Leela. “Everybody can take a form home and get sponsors.”

  “The more money we raise, the better,” agreed Charlotte. “But we don’t have much time.”

  The County Finals were only a fortnight away.

  The players trained in the sports hall. Today Harry was on top form.

  “Got my shooting boots on,” he cried after scoring again.

  “Shooting boots?” laughed Oliver. “You mean your scruffy old trainers!”

  “They might be old, but they’re deadly,” Harry said with a grin. “I can’t miss when I’m wearing these things.”

  He was wrong.

  In the next attack, Harry got past Brad but Charlotte still stood in his way.

  Harry did a little shimmy, hoping to wrong-foot her, but Charlotte was not fooled. She held her position, knowing Harry could not try to dribble past her, as no-one else was allowed into the goal area.

  Harry was forced to shoot early, but she stuck out a foot and got the ball to safety.

  Leela was the first to realise that Charlotte was hurt.

  “What’s up, Charlie? Are you OK?” Leela asked.

  “It’s my ankle,” Charlotte groaned, taking off her right shoe so that she could rub the sore area. “I think I’ve twisted it.”

  Charlotte went off and Ravi took her place in goal. He started well enough by making a smart save, but then he let the ball slip through his grasp into the net.

  “Try and get part of your body behind your hands,” Mrs Phillips called to him. “That gives you another way to stop the ball.”

  “It’s only a practice,” Ravi said under his breath. “Doesn’t matter if I let in one or two goals.”

  But by the time the session ended, Harry had scored another three goals.

  “You’re a rubbish goalie,” he said to Ravi in the changing room. “Charlie’s better than you on one leg.”

  “Huh!” Ravi retorted. “I wasn’t trying, was I?”

  “Course you were. You’re just useless,” said Harry.

  “Cool it, you two,” said Oliver, stepping between them. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just hope Charlie’s fit again soon.”

  At that moment, Mrs Phillips was looking at Charlotte’s ankle.

  “I think it will need to be strapped up for a while,” she said.

  “I’ll be all right for the Fives, won’t I?” Charlotte asked.

  “You’ll have to be,” Leela told her. “None of the boys are any good in goal.”

  Chapter Four

  County Cup

  “It’ll be awful if we don’t score any goals,” Brad remarked. “Loads of kids are helping to raise money.”

  “No worries,” Harry said. He was sure he would score.

  “If the worst came to the worst,” said Oliver, grinning, “we could collect the money for each goal we let in!”

  Even Harry was now worried about Charlotte’s ankle injury. She was still limping around school and had taken no part in practice sessions.

  “I’ll be OK,” she said again and again. “I don’t need to kick the ball, anyway. I throw it most of the time.”

  At last Mrs Phillips decided Charlotte was just about well enough to play.

  “At least people won’t see the strapping on my leg,” grinned Charlotte. “I’ll be wearing my lucky red trousers.”

  Charlotte had worn the same pair of tracksuit trousers for the whole season.

  The squad arrived at the city’s main sports centre for the finals in high spirits. The eight teams had all brought lots of supporters and there were plenty of people to cheer.

  “Come on, the Reds!” shouted Harry’s dad as Harry led the side out into the arena. “Show them how good you are.”

  Secretly, Harry’s dad hoped that Gateway were not going to be that good. He had agreed to pay two pounds for every goal that Harry scored and a pound for other scorers.

  Gateway were in Group A, made up of four teams. After the first game, Harry’s dad began to think the day might turn out to be pretty cheap. Gateway failed to score at all, losing 2–0 to Ashfield School.

  The players couldn’t believe how bad they had been.

  “We were rubbish!” groaned Oliver, who had missed the best chance of the game.

  “If we don’t win the next game, we’ll be out,” Brad moaned. He had scored an own goal.

  At least Charlotte’s ankle wasn’t too bad, although it did still hurt a little.

  “How does it feel?” asked Leela, while they watched another group game being played.

  “OK,” Charlotte lied.

  Leela said nothing more. She knew that Charlotte would hide any pain for as long as possible.

  It was soon Gateway’s turn to play their second match. That started as badly as the first.

  Even if Charlotte had been fully fit, she would not have been able to stop the ball going into her net after only a minute’s play.

  “Nev
er mind, Gateway,” called out Mrs Phillips. “Just get on with the game.”

  And the players got on with it. Leela drove the ball low into the bottom corner of the net, and danced a little jig of delight.

  Then Harry’s marker slipped. That gave Harry enough space to blast the ball past the keeper. Now Gateway led 2–1.

  “Hot-shot!” Harry yelled then carried the ball back to the centre-spot himself. “Come on, guys! More goals mean more money.”

  Harry scored the next goal, too, shooting home from Oliver’s pass to secure a 3–1 victory.

  After the other two teams had played their next match, Ashfield topped the group. Gateway had one more game to play, against Denton School.

  “We’ll qualify for the semis if we win or draw,” said Oliver, checking the tables on the big display board.

  “Yeah, but if Denton beat us, we’re out,” Ravi said.

  Oliver gave a shrug. “Well, we’ll just have to make sure we win.”

  “A draw will do,” said Brad.

  But Harry was not playing for a draw.

  “We’re going to win,” he told his team. “And score as many goals as we can.”

  There were lots of goals. Neither side could hold onto a lead for long. At the final whistle, it was 3–3, and Oliver had scored a hat-trick.

  “Told you it’d be a draw,” grinned Ravi.

  “Yeah, well, at least we scored a few,” said Harry, although he was cross that he had not added any goals. His best effort had clanged against the metal crossbar, but it did not go in.