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  Tiki was glad when Coach kept Adam on the sideline. With the Eagles down by fourteen, Wheeler wanted every last point he could get. He sent Justin in with the play.

  Tiki felt a thrill go through him. Screen pass. To him. Yes!

  Manny delivered the ball right on target, and Tiki took it from there. Once again he wound up dragging two Rockets with him. This time all the way into the end zone!

  The extra point brought the Eagles within a touchdown at the half. But as he trotted off the field with his teammates, Tiki was not in a good mood. Not at all.

  No matter how many points they managed to score, if the defense kept giving them up, the Eagles’ dream of an undefeated season would be gone before it even got started.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE CAPTAIN SPEAKS

  * * *

  RONDE FLUNG OPEN THE LOCKER ROOM DOOR so hard that it banged. The noise suddenly silenced a locker room full of worried murmurs.

  Taking one look at his teammates’ faces, Ronde burst out, “What in the world was that?” as he flung his hands wide. “Was that football? I don’t think so!”

  Kids were looking at one another guiltily. “It’s not just one or two of us. It’s all of us!” Ronde went on. He couldn’t contain his feelings.

  Ronde half-expected Coach Wheeler or one of the other coaches to grab him, to stop him. But the whole locker room stayed still and silent. Ronde, the captain of the Eagle defense, had the floor.

  “We may be talented,” he said, “but if we keep playing stupid, we’re gonna get beat!” He might have been one of the smaller players on the field, but no one had a bigger heart.

  “Defense!” he shouted. “When you hit somebody, you’ve got to put them on the ground! Receivers, you got a route to run? Three steps and cut? Then count one, two, three! If you add a step or cut too quick, the ball’s not gonna be there for you.

  “You new kids,” he said, scanning the room and taking in all the rookies with a fiery glance, “I know you haven’t seen much action before. Most times, seventh graders ride the bench their first year, but this year we need you guys. And we need you to play like you’ve been here awhile. Remember what you learned in practice. And okay, you’re gonna make mistakes. So learn from them, and learn fast, because we’ve got a mission, and it doesn’t include losing.”

  Finally he looked around the room again, singling out the veterans on the team—his fellow ninth graders. “You guys,” he said, “I’m not kidding. We’re gonna go nowhere if we don’t set an example for these kids. We know how to win, so let’s go out there and show it!”

  “Yeah!” yelled a few of the Eagles, clapping their hands. Others nodded, while a few were still looking down at their feet.

  Coach Wheeler didn’t look kindly on players criticizing their teammates. Last year’s quarterback, Cody Hansen, had caused several near fights among his teammates that way. Somehow, though, when Ronde spoke up, everyone got quiet and listened.

  Ronde looked over at Coach Wheeler, expecting him to be mad. But to his surprise, Coach had a crooked, surprised smile on his face.

  “Thank you, Ronde,” he said. “Kids, that’s your captain speaking, and I couldn’t agree more.” He turned to Tiki. “You want to add something, Captain?” he asked.

  Tiki shook his head. “No, thanks, Coach. I’ve been giving more than enough speeches lately. And Ronde said it all.”

  This got an appreciative laugh. They’d all been in the auditorium for Tiki’s speech that same afternoon.

  “Okay, then,” Coach Wheeler said, clapping his hands three times. “We’re only down seven points after all that dreadful football we played. So let’s get out there and play our game—our real game! As Tiki said this afternoon—even if he doesn’t want to repeat himself—we’ve got to play proud!”

  “Yeah! Play proud!” several of the Eagles roared.

  “Okay, team, get out there!” Wheeler said.

  Ronde opened his mouth wide and made as much sound as he could. Then he joined the crush of his teammates, crowding back through the doorway on their way out to the field.

  North Side Junior High was a big school—much bigger than Hidden Valley—and they’d always been a football powerhouse. Last year they’d made the play-offs, only to be knocked off by the Eagles in the first round. This year they were out for revenge. They had the Eagles right where they wanted them too—a touchdown behind, away from home. Now they meant to move in for the kill.

  Ronde knew it, but he also knew that they wouldn’t be expecting a burst of energy from the Eagles coming out of the locker room.

  He was right. On the kickoff Ronde flew headlong at the ballcarrier, hitting him square in the upper arm and knocking the ball free.

  Ronde didn’t see what happened after that (he was quickly smothered by a pair of Rockets), but he could tell by the groan from the crowd that the Eagles had recovered the fumble.

  Instead of starting the second half on defense, desperately trying to stop the Rockets from going up by fourteen, the Eagles now had a chance to tie the game. Starting on the Rockets forty yard line, the offense got to work.

  Ronde watched from the sidelines, cheering his lungs out as Tiki ran for twelve yards and a first down. It was amazing to see his twin bowl over the opposing players like that. Last year Tiki would have bounced right off them. Now he was much bigger and stronger, and it was the defenders who were getting knocked down!

  Ronde felt a brief pang of jealousy. Still skinny and short, he had to make up for it with his speed and leaping ability, knocking the ball away from wide receivers who were six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier.

  But for now all Ronde cared about was that Tiki keep on plowing through the defense. “Go, TIKI!” he yelled, making himself hoarse as his twin rushed for another eight tough yards, down to the Rockets twenty.

  Next Manny faked a handoff, then rolled to his right and found Frank Amadou in the back of the end zone. Frank made a tremendous leap and came down with the ball, but he landed with one foot out of the end zone! Cheers turned to groans on the Eagles sideline.

  But they need not have worried. On the very next play Tiki burst through the line like an bullet, running straight up the gut for an easy touchdown.

  “Unstoppable!” Ronde screamed, punching the air. “Yesss!!!”

  Adam’s kick tied the game, and Ronde strapped his helmet back on. Now it was his turn.

  The Rockets went to work from their own twenty yard line. Ronde lined up against their number one wide receiver, Zach Martin. Last season, Martin had scored ten touchdowns in the Rockets’ twelve games, as Ronde knew because he studied all the stats. Ronde was good at math, and he knew Zach was seven inches taller than he was.

  No matter. Today Zach would not be scoring a single touchdown. He would not be catching any long passes. Not with Ronde covering him like a barnacle on a rock.

  On this drive the Rockets kept the ball on the ground, grinding out first downs and eating up the clock. Ronde understood their strategy. It was the same one the Eagles used when they played against high-powered offenses: Keep the ball out of the other team’s hands.

  It turned out to be a good strategy. The Rockets, taking advantage of the younger Eagles defenders, used fake handoffs, misdirection plays, and draw plays to move the ball into Eagles territory.

  At the Eagles twenty-five, with third down and two to go, Ronde got a sudden shiver up his spine. They were going to put it into the air, he just knew it. He could feel it.

  Sure enough, the quarterback faked a handoff and then dropped back to pass. Ronde gave his man a vicious bump, sending him sprawling out of bounds. That meant Zach Martin was now out of the play.

  Then, seeing that the quarterback was having trouble finding an open man, Ronde went straight for him. He blindsided him just as he was about to throw. The ball flew straight up, and Ronde leapt to grab it. He hauled it in just as a huge offensive lineman slammed him to the turf, but he held on to the ball!

  Tiki found
him and helped him up. “That’s what I call playing proud!” he told Ronde.

  “You run that ball in, Brother,” Ronde said, gripping his twin’s hand in a mutual fist-lock.

  “Watch me.”

  As the ref blew the whistle for play to resume, Ronde ran off the field. He accepted hugs and high fives all around, but he noticed that the players were already watching the offense go to work. This was a determined team, so different from the one that had showed up to play the first half.

  Ronde smiled, feeling deeply happy. This was the team he remembered from last year—refusing to go down, refusing to lose.

  On instructions from Coach Wheeler the offense now went to the air. Manny fired off successive darts to Felix and Luke for a pair of first downs. And then it was Tiki time. After faking a pass to Felix, Manny then dumped the ball off to Tiki along the sideline.

  The cornerback went for him, but Tiki just threw him off. The corner crashed into his teammates on the sideline, nearly bowling them over.

  Tiki was already down the field, butting headfirst into one of the safeties, knocking him flat on his backside!

  This was a totally new Tiki. He still had the cutback moves. But he now also brought another element to his game—brute force.

  Ronde could only imagine what Tiki must be feeling now, as he knocked defenders over with sheer strength and determination. But of course, identical twins have an uncanny ability to get inside each other’s thoughts, and Tiki and Ronde were no exception.

  Ronde watched, holding his breath as Tiki pulled one last spin move and stumbled forward into the end zone. “Woo-hoo!!” Ronde shouted. “Tiiii-kiiii!”

  The bleachers were quiet, but the Eagles’ sideline erupted in enough noise for a whole stadium. The quarter ended after Adam’s extra point, with the Eagles leading for the first time, and the teams switched ends of the field for the kickoff.

  Ronde was ready for anything—but not for what happened next. Just as he was about to lay a big hit on the return man, a freight train ran into him from the right and sent him flying. He hit the ground with extreme force, and a body landed on top of him.

  “Ooof! Ow, that hurt!” Ronde yelled, pushing the guy off him. As he did so, he was shocked to find that it was one of his own teammates, a new kid on special teams.

  “What in the—”

  “Sorry. Sorry, Ronde!” the poor kid said, backing off. Ronde looked down the field, but he already knew what had happened. He could tell by the roar from the stands that the returner had gone all the way for the touchdown.

  “I had him, man!” Ronde shouted at the kid, who’d obviously made the team because of his speed and strength. He’d sure hit Ronde hard! “What did you think you were doing?”

  “I … I guess I was running with my head down,” said the kid, peeking at Ronde guiltily. “I thought … I thought you were…”

  “You thought I was him,” Ronde finished for him.

  “I said I was sorry,” the kid said, on the verge of tears.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it,” Ronde told him, clapping him on the back. “It’s gonna be okay. Let’s go. We’ve got a game to finish.”

  He trotted off to the sideline with the kid right behind him. Just as they got there, North Side kicked the extra point to tie the game back up.

  “What’s your name again?” Ronde asked him.

  “Rio. Rio Ikeda.”

  “Don’t worry, Rio,” Ronde told him as they ran back onto the field to receive the kickoff. “I’m gonna get those points back right now, and you’re gonna help me.”

  “Me?”

  “Just stay to my right the whole time,” Ronde told him. “And look alive.”

  “Huh?”

  “Stay alert. You never know what I might do.”

  The kid looked puzzled, but he did as he was told and lined up to the right of Ronde.

  Grabbing the kick, Ronde took off to his left. There was no time to check if Rio was to his right. The Rockets were after him, and closing fast!

  Ronde turned the corner and headed downfield. He leapt over one Rocket who was sprawled on the ground beneath him, and made another defender miss, but soon he saw that the jig was up. Two Rockets were about to slam into him.

  That’s when he wheeled around and tossed the football—right into the arms of a shocked Rio, who was trailing Ronde, just as he was supposed to. Rio was so surprised that he almost dropped the ball.

  But he didn’t. Remembering Ronde’s warning, he stayed alert, and when the ball suddenly came his way, he was able to react in time.

  The defenders slammed into Ronde, but he was no longer the man with the ball. All by himself Rio now put his exceptional speed to work. By the time the Rockets could react, he was three steps past them, racing untouched the rest of the way to the end zone!

  Again Ronde knew from the moan of the crowd that his trick had worked. Not only had he put his team back out front, but he’d turned a lemon into lemonade, helping Rio Ikeda go from zero to hero in one single play!

  Adam kicked the extra point, and the Eagles now spent the rest of the fourth quarter fending off a ferocious Rockets counterattack.

  The game ended with a Hail Mary pass that wound up getting intercepted by Alister Edwards, another new starter making another big play!

  In the end the Eagles had their victory. It had been hard won, but to Ronde it was very satisfying. He and Tiki had brought their “A” game, and Ronde’s speech at halftime had made all the difference in the world.

  Play proud. It was funny, thought Ronde, how his speech had had the same message as Tiki’s.

  But really, the saying didn’t belong to either one of them.

  It was their mom’s.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD

  * * *

  AS TIKI RODE THE BUS TO SCHOOL MONDAY morning, his mind was troubled. All the other kids were horsing around, laughing, making lots of noise—but Tiki just stared out the window, watching the streets of Roanoke roll by.

  He knew he should be happy, but he wasn’t. Sure, he had a lot to be happy about at Hidden Valley—a football starter, the winner of the essay contest, taller and bigger and stronger than his identical twin—but the Eagles and their future crowded his thoughts.

  Yes, they’d won their first two games. But this last one had been a real nail-biter. The Eagles could easily have lost. They’d been behind at halftime, and their many rookies and eighth graders had made a ton of mistakes. Ronde had had to throw a fit to get them to play their best in the second half, and even then the Eagles had barely pulled out the victory.

  What was it going to be like next time they fell behind? Because it was a long season, and Tiki knew they would not always have a big lead to sit on. Were locker room explosions going to be a regular feature? And would they always work to inspire the team?

  Tiki thought not. Getting yelled at once might get you to play harder, but getting yelled at all the time was no good for anything. You just got down in the dumps and played worse.

  The Eagles locker room had been happy after the game. But he wondered if some of the players were mad at Ronde now. He guessed he’d find out at practice if there were lasting hard feelings, but he knew for sure that things had better improve if the Eagles wanted to repeat as champs, let alone have an undefeated season.

  That was another thing that bothered him. All this talk about going undefeated was no good. It made them think about the distant future instead of concentrating on this game, this play, this moment.

  There was so much he wanted to say to his teammates. Maybe he’d give another speech, just for them, he thought. Then he shuddered at the vision. Giving speeches was not his thing, even if he had done well at it last week.

  He filed off the bus with the rest of the kids, still full of worry. But before he could duck inside the school building, he was waylaid by Laura Sommer. “Hel-lo! Earth to Tiki?” she began, grabbing him by the arm and turning him to face her.

  L
aura was tall with long blond hair, and had thick glasses with black frames that sat off-kilter on her nose. “We need to talk,” she said in a tone that didn’t allow for argument.

  She practically dragged him off to the side, until they were standing next to the big elm tree that shaded the school entrance. “What’s up?” he asked her.

  “I have a favor to ask you,” she began.

  “Uh … okay.” She probably wanted to do an interview with him for the school paper, he figured. Something about winning the prize and giving the speech.

  “We’re always looking for a new angle, for something different,” she explained, motioning with both arms like she was showing him the shape of a newspaper. “And we’ve decided—‘we’ meaning me, Mrs. Flanagan, and the rest of the editors—that we’d like you to join the staff of the Weekly Eagle!”

  “What? Me? I don’t—”

  He was about to say that he didn’t get it, but she didn’t give him time.

  “We’ve been looking to do an advice column. You know, answering letters from kids who have problems. And we thought, who better than you?”

  “Huh?”

  “You were so great giving that speech—everyone thought so—and you obviously understand so much about everything.”

  “But I—”

  “And I hear kids have already started asking you for advice. So we figured you could be our new star columnist! Say yes, okay? Good. It’s a deal.”

  She grabbed his limp hand and shook it, like it meant they had a deal. Laura was persuasive, Tiki had to give her that. Pushy, some would have said.

  “I—”

  “Great!” she chirped, giving him a big smile full of braces. “So we’ll print an announcement in this week’s paper, asking for letters to be sent to ‘Dear Tiki,’ and then you can start answering them in the next edition!”

  She clapped her hands together and squealed with joy, jumping up and down. “Fantastic!”