Chapter Nineteen: Dreams Really Do Come True (Aameera, Alexa, Miss N)

The rising bell rang and Jade yawned loudly as she climbed out of bed.
“Another Monday morning, the start of another week,” she sighed.
“Swimming champs this week, and hockey trials. I’m so excited!” Roxanne leaped out of bed, her loud announcement waking the rest of the girls who were still only semi-conscious.
I’m a little nervous too, but mostly excited!” Roxanne was talking to herself, nobody was really listening to her but she continued talking about her upcoming events with much enthusiasm.
“When is the gala?” mumbled Annie from across the dorm, not really interested in the answer.
“It’s on Friday and it’s being held at Braxton House as usual because they have such a beautiful swimming pool. All the best swimmers in the country are coming down and we’re all staying at Braxton House after the gala. We're also having a big fancy dinner so that we can get to know some of the other swimmers.”
“Mmm, sounds fun,” said Annie, rolling her eyes. The gala, the dinner, the other swimmers, none of it really sounded that exciting at this time of the morning.
“And the hockey trials? When are they?” asked Calipso, already dressed and making her bed.
“They’re on Saturday afternoon. All the best hockey players in our region will be there as well as a few international coaches. They will be looking for talented hockey players to award sports’ bursaries to overseas schools and universities. Can you imagine how great it would be to impress one of them and be chosen to play hockey overseas? Now that would be a dream come true!” said Roxanne, full of hope and wishful thinking.
The week that followed was rather uneventful as the girls spent most of their time studying for exams. They found that testing each other made it much easier to remember and learn their work, so they allocated a different subject to each day of the week and they all took turns asking and answering questions. Except Annie. Aside from Maths, she felt she knew her work very well, so she spent all her time in the library working through pages and pages of sums and equations. She loved Maths, but she was worried about making careless errors and wanted to make sure that she had gone over everything as well as she possibly could. Roxanne also missed a few group study sessions because she was feeling anxious about the gala. She spent every spare minute down at the pool practicing for her big event, the individual medley.
After lunch on Friday, Roxanne packed a small bag to take with her to Braxton House and then asked her friends to wish her luck. They all hugged her and promised to be on the stands to watch her races straight after Biology with Miss Jiggleweed. It was always exciting to watch as the various schools competed against each other, even more so when Roxanne finished in the top three.
Biology seemed to last forever and the girls were worried that they would be kept in after the bell if they hadn’t completed their experiment. But ten minutes before the end of the lesson, Miss Jiggleweed told them to pack up their equipment, whether they were finished or not, and, surprisingly, she dismissed them early.
Chelsea and Charlotte were the first to race out the door, and once they had dropped their books off and signed out with Mrs Glover, they skipped along the path to Braxton House.
The girls arrived just in time to see Roxanne win the freestyle race, and then the backstroke and breaststroke races. They cheered excitedly as they watched race after race. Chelsea was thrilled that she was able to watch Kyle come first in two of his races too.
The last two events of the day were the boys and girls individual medleys. If the winner of the girl’s race was from Fernwood, they would receive a special school trophy and their name would be printed on the swimming board in the school hall. Roxanne was desperate to win it. The swimmers stepped onto the starting blocks and took their marks. The gun fired and they were off. Roxanne’s dive gave her a good start and she was in the lead. She managed to stay a good distance in front of the others for most of the race until the last length of freestyle. The girl in the lane next to her, from Langdon High School, suddenly started to catch up until they were right next to each other. They were meters away from the wall and it looked like Roxanne was losing the battle, when suddenly, from somewhere, she gathered the last of her strength and kicked her way into first place. The crowd roared and everyone was on their feet. She had done it! Roxanne's friends were on their feet and the noise from the crowd was deafening. What an end to the gala. The girls were jumping up and down in excitement when they spotted Miss Jiggleweed three rows in front of them doing the same thing. Her left hand was in the air but her right hand was holding the hand of the gentleman sitting next to her.
“Who is that with Miss Jiggleweed?” asked Charlotte as they all leaned forward to have a closer look.
“It’s ‘The Nut’!” squealed Annie. “Miss Jiggleweed and Mr Walnut!”
As they watched, the two teachers turned to each other and laughed. Mr Walnut bent down to whisper something in Miss Jiggleweed’s ear and in response she giggled and turned a slight shade of pink.
“'The Nut' and 'The Weed', who would have thought?” said Jade. “They actually make a great pair.”
“They do, they look so happy,” agreed Annie.
After the short prize giving, the crowds slowly started leaving the pool area. Roxanne spotted her friends just before they reached the gate and quickly caught up to them. They all smothered her with hugs and kisses, they all felt so proud of their sporty friend. They then watched her rush off and join the other swimmers. They knew that she was looking forward to mingling with all the visitors from the other schools and making new friends. Each school group had been allocated a dormitory at Braxton House where they would spend the night after their dinner. The after-party, however, continued late into the night and neither the coaches nor the swimmers seemed to notice. When Roxanne did eventually see what the time was, she started to feel a little anxious about her hockey trials the next day and she knew that she had to be sensible and have a good night’s rest. So she slipped away quietly and found herself a bed in the corner of her temporary dorm. As she lay down, she realised how exhausted she felt and it wasn’t long before she was fast asleep.
The next morning Roxanne woke up early and joined the other early risers for breakfast in the Braxton House Dining hall. She ate quickly and then rushed back to Fernwood to meet the hockey girls. Everyone at Fernwood was at breakfast, so she rushed to the dorm to exchange her swimming bag for her hockey bag and went up to the fields to hit a few hockey balls. She ran around the field a few times to warm up and when her team eventually arrived they practiced a few short corners and then sat down to discuss their positions and game tactics. Once all the school teams had arrived, Roxanne and her fellow teammates spotted Mrs Dothesplitz introducing a group of strangers to all the other coaches. They realised they were the international coaches and they suddenly felt very nervous.
A few minutes later, Mrs Dothesplitz’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker as she called the first two teams to take their places on the field. Fernwood was only playing in the second match so they found a seat on the stands to watch. Roxanne was about to sit down when someone behind her yanked her arm. She spun around and saw Annie’s little face staring anxiously into hers.
“Come with me!” she ordered, pulling Roxanne by her shirt sleeve.
She followed Annie to where the rest of the Super Six were standing and she noticed that they also had anxious looks on their faces.
“What?” she asked concerned, although she was a little disappointed to be missing the game being played behind her.
“It’s about our dreams,” said Jade, “It’s important.”
“We all dreamt about you last night and it’s not good, so we’ve come to warn you,” said a worried Charlotte.
“Warn me about what?” asked Roxanne, starting to feel more than a little worried herself.
Calipso decided to speak up and be the one to tell Roxanne the news.
“You’re going to play very well today. However, at some point you’re going to be in the perfect position to score a goal but when Jennifer passes the ball to you, it’s going to be deflected off one of your opponents' sticks and hit you in the face. You’re going to split your lip and pass out and the first aiders are going to have to rush you off the field. You’re not going to go back onto the field and you’re not going to be considered by the international coaches for a chance to play overseas or for a bursary.”
Roxanne was speechless.
“So, all you have to do is move out of the way every time Jessica passes you the ball,” suggested Jade.
“I can’t do that Jade!” replied Roxanne, looking horrified at the idea.
Just then, the whistle blew to signal the end of the first match and the next two teams were making their way onto the field.
“I have to go,” said Roxanne, turning and running onto the field to her position in the center.
The whistle blew and the second match began. In the first half, both teams struggled to get the ball anywhere near the goals as the defenders on both sides were playing exceptionally well. Just before the half-time whistle blew, Fernwood nearly scored a goal from a short corner but the girl playing wing was too quick and she hit the ball out. The second half was just as tough. There were only a few minutes left and Roxanne was desperately hoping that her team would score to win the game. She tackled the wing and dribbled the ball past the left-half and then the left-back. The sweeper from the other team charged towards Roxanne but she managed to pass it to Jessica just in time. She ran to the top of the 'D' and shouted to Jessica to pass it back to her. Jessica hit the ball hard but, out of nowhere, the sweeper dived back and tried to intercept the pass. In that instant Roxanne knew what was going to happen. She dived forward onto the grass but held her hockey stick in the air with her left hand. The ball flew through the air where she had been standing seconds before, and as her stomach hit the ground, the ball somehow deflected off her stick in the direction of the goals. The goal keeper wasn’t expecting such brilliance, who would have? She reacted too slowly to stop the ball and it flew into the top right-hand corner of the goal box. It all seemed to happen in slow motion for Roxanne and when she finally realised what had happened, her teammates were pulling her off the ground and hugging her. And once again, the crowd were on their feet, cheering for Roxanne. She dusted the mud and grass off her shirt and off her knees. The final whistle blew and the rest of Roxanne's team just about carried her off the field. They were the winners of the match, thanks to Roxanne's amazing goal. When she looked up, she saw five girls running onto the field towards her. It was her best friends and she was so excited to see them. She hugged them all without saying a word, but they knew what she was thinking and they felt so relieved – relieved, happy and proud of their friend once again.
They sat together to watch the rest of the matches and couldn’t stop talking about Roxanne’s brilliant goal. Once all the teams had played, Mrs Dothesplitz confirmed that the provincial team would be announced the following week. The visitors then left the stands and headed for their school buses while the Fernwood girls walked back to their hostels. The Super Six wandered slowly along the path, not in any hurry, when Roxanne heard someone calling her name. She turned and saw that it was Mrs Dothesplitz. She ran towards her coach who hugged her star player tightly.
“You were unbelievable Roxanne, what an incredible goal! I’m so proud of you!”
“Thanks coach, but I had a little help,” she replied, thinking about the helpful warning she received from the rest of the Super Six, not her teammates as Mrs Dothsplitz was probably thinking.
“There’s someone who would like to meet you,” said Mrs Dothesplitz. Her coach led her to the table where they had all been sitting and the strangers that she had seen earlier stood to shake her hand.
“Hi Roxanne, my name is Robert McDougall,” said the tall, skinny man in a Scottish accent.
“Afternoon Sir,” she replied in a shy voice.
“You played very well Roxanne, and as for that goal, it was quite something. You really stood out on that field today, and we’d like to offer you the opportunity to play for the Golden Swallows, and come on tour with us to France.”
Roxanne couldn’t believe what she was hearing, the Golden Swallows were currently ranked the number one Girls' Junior Hockey team in the world.
“Thank you, thank you so much, I would love to!” she replied, overwhelmed with excitement.
“Your coach will discuss the contract with you and your parents. You will have to miss a few days of school during hockey season so you will need to first get permission fro your principal, but there is no rush. We will meet with you next month to finalise the arrangements so there is plenty of time to worry about the minor details.”
Roxanne thanked Mr McDougall over and over and then shook hands with him again before running back to her friends. She told them the news and they were thrilled. They all knew how much it meant to her.
That night, as the Super Six sat in their dorm discussing everything from the gala, Miss Jiggleweed and Mr Walnut to the dreams the night before. And there was the goal and the Golden Sparrows. Roxanne couldn’t help thinking how lucky she was. Lucky to be at such a good school, lucky to have such sporting talent, and lucky to be in the dorm under the stairs. But most of all, she felt lucky to have such wonderful friends. She watched them as they relived her individual medley and that amazing goal and they seemed even more excited than she was. It was really thanks to all of them that she scored the goal that made the coaches notice her and then select her for the Golden Sparrows. “Dreams really do come true...” she thought to herself, “...in every sense of the word!”