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  Gretchen’s attitude was already annoying Laura. “We did just fine without you,” Laura said.

  Gretchen glanced down at the brace on Laura’s knee. “Oh, yeah, I remember you,” Gretchen said with a laugh. “When we beat you, you wouldn’t even shake hands with us. Real nice.”

  Beth pointed at Laura’s knee and gave a small, mean laugh.

  “I guess I won’t have much competition to be the setter, will I?” Beth said. “It looks like you won’t be playing for a while.”

  Laura narrowed her eyes. Ella could tell her friend was mad, so she tried to calm everyone down.

  “Hey, listen,” Ella said. “I know we were rivals before, but we’re on the same team now. We might as well try to get along.”

  There was a long pause. All the girls stared at each other.

  Finally, Ella spoke again. “Anyway, welcome to the Rockets,” she said. “We’re happy to have you on our team.”

  Gretchen smirked. “This isn’t your team anymore,” she said. “It’s our team now.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Not the Same

  For the first four weeks of the season, the Rockets practiced hard. They were working on all of their techniques and skills to get ready for the tournament season. That meant Ella was spending a lot of time on the court with Gretchen and Beth.

  During practices, they got along okay. For the most part, Ella kept to herself. She didn’t want either girl to say anything mean to her.

  Since Beth was the setter, she worked with both Ella and Gretchen, setting them up for spikes.

  Ella thought Beth was a good setter, but she wasn’t as good as Laura.

  Laura was excited, because her knee was starting to feel better. The physical therapy was down to only once a week, and her knee felt better every day. She knew that after a few more weeks, she’d be able to start playing again.

  When the first tournament rolled around, Ella was nervous. She wasn’t sure how it was going to go, especially since she had two new teammates in the picture.

  Ella had gone out of her way to be nice to the new girls, but they hadn’t exactly been nice back.

  Beth and Gretchen didn’t talk trash to Ella’s face anymore, but she did keep overhearing them whispering, and they also rolled their eyes during practice a lot.

  To make things worse, they never cheered on their teammates. They didn’t even celebrate with the team after a good practice.

  The Rockets opened their season’s first tournament with a match against a team called the Blazes.

  At the start of the first game, the Rockets jumped out to a 5–0 lead. Ella hadn’t gotten a chance for a kill, but she could tell it was going to come. The Rockets were clearly the better team. She was going to have the chance to play her heart out during the game.

  On the next serve, the Blazes returned the ball. A Rockets player got the ball over to Beth.

  Ella was in perfect position for the spike. Beth was in the center of the court, facing directly at Ella.

  It should be an easy set for the spike. But instead of setting the ball up for Ella, Beth played the ball backward, over her head.

  Gretchen was behind Ella, and she leaped up for the kill. She slammed the ball to the ground on the other side of the court. The Rockets led 6–0.

  Ella was surprised that Beth hadn’t set the ball to her. But since the play had turned out well, she didn’t think much of it.

  After a few more plays, however, Ella began to feel mad.

  Every time the ball came to Beth for a set, she played the ball directly to Gretchen.

  It didn’t matter where anyone else was on the court. The ball always went to Gretchen.

  Gretchen was a good player, so she usually scored a point. Sometimes, though, Gretchen was not in the best position to receive the pass. Then the spike attempts missed the mark, giving points to the Blazes.

  As the game moved on, Beth and Gretchen made more and more mistakes. The other girls tried to get in, but Beth seemed to block them.

  Finally, Coach Stiggle called a time out.

  “What’s going on out there?” she asked as the girls crowded around her.

  No one responded. “Come on, you two, spill it,” she said, looking directly at Beth and Gretchen.

  Neither one of them said a word.

  “Okay,” Coach Stiggle said. “Get back out there. And play like a team.”

  CHAPTER 7

  The Problem Grows

  The team went back out on the court. But none of the players talked to each other. They all looked upset.

  The tension made everyone play badly. Beth spread her passes around a little more, but she still sent most of her passes to Gretchen.

  The Rockets were strong enough that they were able to carry the team to a couple of wins.

  They made it to the championship match of the tournament.

  Most of the team was unhappy, though. They weren’t playing as a team, so even winning wasn’t much fun.

  When they went out on the court for the championship match, everyone but Beth and Gretchen looked sad.

  No one tried to hurry through their warm-ups, and no one smiled. Except Beth and Gretchen. They seemed to be having a good time.

  Before the match started, Coach Stiggle called the team together. “All right girls, here we go!” she said.

  She looked at each girl in turn, smiling at each of them. She frowned when none of the girls smiled back.

  Then she went on, “This is our first chance to win a tournament this year. I know you guys have it in you. Now let’s go out there, have some fun, and play the best we can!” She smiled widely.

  Instead of cheering like they usually did, the girls just mumbled and walked onto the court. Ella didn’t even feel like playing anymore.

  On the first few points of the game, Beth tried to set the ball only to Gretchen.

  One of the sets went directly out of bounds. One was a good set that Gretchen spiked for a kill. Beth’s third set was way off target and went out of bounds.

  Two of those three plays would have been better if Beth had set the ball toward Ella instead.

  The Rockets started to argue with each other. Then Beth set the ball over the top of Ella’s head to get it to Gretchen.

  Ella was really mad. “That’s it!” Ella yelled. “Are you ever going to set the ball to anyone else?”

  Beth just glared at her.

  Coach Stiggle hadn’t heard, so nothing happened. Ella was so angry that her face felt hot.

  The rest of the match didn’t go any better. Beth kept forcing passes to Gretchen, leaving open teammates to stand and watch.

  The Rockets played poorly as a team, and no one was surprised when they lost the match. No one talked in the locker room afterward.

  The next two tournaments were full of losses too. Ella still wasn’t getting the ball very often.

  Gretchen and Beth were good enough to get the team through early-round matches, but the Rockets were not able to win a championship.

  After a loss in the championship match of another tournament, Ella had finally had enough. In the locker room, she stormed over to Gretchen and Beth.

  “Listen, you guys,” Ella said, “we’re never going to win a tournament if we don’t play like a team.”

  “You don’t know anything about winning,” Beth snapped. “How many tournaments have you won? We won a bunch with the Lakers.”

  “That’s because there were other good players on the Lakers, too, and you played as a team,” Ella said. The other girls stared up at her. “It wasn’t just you two,” Ella went on. “No matter how good you are, we’ll never win if you hog the ball.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Laura’s Return

  At practice the next week, Gretchen and Beth refused to talk to Ella. But Ella didn’t care, because Laura was back at practice! Her doctors had said that her knee was healed enough to play.

  She and Ella were both thrilled. The other girls seemed happier, too. Having Laura back meant
that the team might share the ball a little more. And maybe, just maybe, it would start to be more fun.

  The next weekend’s tournament was going to be one of the toughest ones of the season. It was a regional tournament, so teams were coming in from all over to compete for the championship.

  At practice, Beth and Gretchen paired up to work on drills, and Ella stuck with Laura. It looked like the team might be even more divided than ever.

  Before the tournament, Laura pulled Ella aside. “I have an idea,” Laura said. “Let’s give them a taste of their own medicine. Every time I get the ball, I’ll set it to you, no matter where you are.”

  Ella thought about it for a minute. “No way,” she said finally. “We have to play the way we normally would, if we want to have a chance to win.”

  “Why?” Laura asked. “We should treat them how they’ve been treating us. They’ve been treating you bad all season. Now they’ll know how it feels.”

  Ella sighed. She was tempted. She’d hated being left out and feeling like the team was under the control of Beth and Gretchen.

  On the other hand, though, she didn’t think the Rockets could win a tournament without the whole team playing together.

  “No, Laura,” Ella said quietly. “It won’t work. I’m sorry, but we have to play as a team if we’re going to win.”

  The Rockets opened the tournament with a match against a team they had beaten many times. On the game’s first point, the ball was sent to Laura for a set.

  Gretchen was right in front of her, set up for an easy spike. And Laura came through, setting the ball perfectly to her.

  Gretchen reacted slowly. She seemed a little surprised that the ball was coming her way. But she recovered, jumped high, and spiked the ball for a kill.

  Laura ran right to her and extended her hand. “Nice kill!” Laura yelled. Gretchen slapped hands with her.

  The rest of the match was easy. Laura set up all the hitters on the team for kills.

  Beth still passed to Gretchen more than the others, but once in a while she did send the ball to other players for kills. The Rockets rolled to the victory.

  After two more wins, the Rockets were headed to another championship match.

  But then they realized something. They were scheduled to play against the Lakers.

  As the teams headed out on the court for warm-ups, one of the Lakers players walked over to Ella and Laura.

  “I see you’ve taken in our outcasts,” the girl said, motioning to Gretchen and Beth. “They weren’t ever good enough for the Lakers anyway.”

  Gretchen and Beth overheard the comment. They started to walk over to the Lakers player. Both of them had angry looks on their faces. But Ella stopped them.

  “Really?” Ella said. “We think they’re great teammates. And they’ve been a great addition to our team. In our next match, you’re going to find out just how good they really are.”

  The Lakers player stared at her and walked away. Gretchen and Beth looked at Ella. They couldn’t believe what they had heard. They were speechless.

  Ella smiled at them. “Are you ready to beat them?” she asked. “I sure am.”

  Gretchen and Beth, still a little stunned, nodded. Then all three girls jogged out onto the court.

  The match was quick and easy for the Rockets. Beth and Laura fed their teammates all over the court for easy kills. They shared the ball, and they shared the credit.

  Ella and Gretchen both had dozens of kills. The Rockets won the first two games.

  At the end of the third game, the score was tied. Ella had the serve.

  “Come on, Ella, you can do it!” Gretchen shouted.

  Ella knew what to do.

  Thud. Thud. She bounced the ball twice. Then she held it out in front of her in her left hand. She stared it down.

  Then she pulled it back in and bounced it twice more. Thud. Thud.

  Finally, she charged forward and flipped the ball into the air. She pounded a jump serve across the net.

  It landed perfectly between the other team’s players for an ace.

  The Rockets rushed to the middle of the court and celebrated together.

  Ella couldn’t stop smiling.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bob Temple lives in Rosemount, Minnesota, with his wife and three children. He has written more than thirty books for children. Over the years, he has coached more than twenty kids’ soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. He also loves visiting classrooms to talk about his writing.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  When Tuesday Mourning was a little girl, she knew she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. Now she is an illustrator who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. She especially loves illustrating books for kids and teenagers. When she isn’t illustrating, Tuesday loves spending time with her husband, who is an actor, and their son, Atticus.

  GLOSSARY

  championship (CHAM-pee-uhn-ship)—a contest that determines a winner

  competition (com-puh-TISH-uhn)—a contest

  congratulate (kuhn-GRACH-uh-late)—to tell someone that you are glad that they did well

  control (kuhn-TROHL)—to make something do what you want

  ignore (ig-NOR)—take no notice of something

  ligaments (LIG-uh-muhnt)—the tough band of tissue that connects bones

  physical therapy (FIZ-uh-kuhl THAIR-uhpee)—the treatment of injured muscles

  powerful (POU-ur-fuhl)—having great strength

  rivals (RYE-vuhlz)—someone you’re competing against

  target (TAR-git)—a goal or an aim

  tension (TEN-shuhn)—a strain in a relationship

  threat (THRET)—a warning

  tournament (TUR-nuh-muhnt)—a series of contests

  VOLLEYBALL WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  ace (AYSS)—a serve that cannot be passed by the receiving team

  assist (uh-SIST)—passing or setting the ball to a teammate who spikes the ball for a kill

  block (BLOK)—a defensive play in which a player deflects a spike by the other team

  bump (BUHMP)—to pass the ball with your forearms

  dig (DIG)—to pass a spiked or rapidly hit ball, saving it from hitting the floor

  foul (FOUL)—a violation of the rules

  hit (HIT)—to jump and strike the ball with an overhand, forceful shot

  hitter (HIT-tur)—the player who spikes the ball over the net

  jump serve (JUHMP SURV)—a serve in which the server tosses the ball into the air, jumps, and hits the ball over the net

  kill (KIL)—a spike that results in a point

  outside hitter (OUT-side HIT-tur)—a position played from the left or right front spot on the court. These players take most of the spikes in a game.

  serve (SURV)—to put the ball into play at the start of a point.

  set (SET)—to play the ball up into the air, near the net, so that it can be spiked

  setter (SET-tur)—the player who sets the ball for a teammate to hit

  spike (SPIKE)—a forceful hit designed to drive the ball to the floor on the opponent’s side of the net

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. When Gretchen and Beth joined the Rockets, they were rude to their new teammates. How should they have acted? What could Ella and Laura have done to help make the Rockets more of a team after Gretchen and Beth joined?

  2. When Laura got hurt, Ella was more concerned with helping her off the court than with shaking hands with the other team. The Lakers said she was a bad loser. What do you think? What would you have done?

  3. Some of the girls in this book call names and tease other girls as a way to help them win. What do you think about that?

  WRITING PROMPTS

  1. Near the end of this book, Laura tries to get Ella to play selfishly. Have you ever acted selfish or seen someone act selfish during a game? What happened? Write about it.

  2. Laura is really upset when she gets hurt and isn’t able to play. Have you ever had to sit out from your favorite
sport for any reason? What happened? How did you feel? What did you do about it?

  3. Ella has been perfecting her jump serve. Choose your favorite sport, and pick something you’d like to learn how to do in that sport. What is it? Why do you want to learn that? Write about it!

  OTHER BOOKS BY JAKE MADDOX

  Being captain of the cheerleading squad is harder than Amanda thought. Can she figure out how to inspire the rest of the squad in time to make it to the biggest cheerleading competition of her life?

  Annie’s been practicing her heart out in order to make the basketball team this year. But as she tries out, things keep going wrong. Can she take the pressure, do her best, and make the team? Annie won’t let anything stand in her way!

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  Jake Maddox Books are published by Stone Arch Books,

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