win . . . win . . . , I repeated over and over as I jogged around the track, my ponytail bouncing against my neck in time with the chant. Win . . . win . . . win . . . It was Thursday afternoon, and Coach Darby was putting us through another grueling practice to prepare for our semifinal game coming up on Saturday. We would be playing the Grizzlies. We had beaten them the last time we’d played them—but no thanks to me. The last Grizzlies game had come right after I had been shaken up by my first California earthquake. Coach Darby had started me in the game, and I’d gone offsides in the first few minutes! Right after that I had missed an easy pass that had been intercepted by one of the Grizzlies, and they’d gone on to score! I’d lost focus after that, and I’d missed another easy pass—and that was when Coach Darby had benched me and put Jamie in my place. As I jogged another lap now, I practiced one of the techniques Zoe had taught me. I pictured the Grizzlies game in my head.
