1 The Pirates of Doom Charlie Bumpers my mom yelled What I turned back to the car to look at her I was in a hurry to get to my first soccer practice with my new team the Pirates Your water bottle she called holding it out of the car window I ran over grabbed it and turned to run I didn’t want to be late And your soccer ball she said I ran over and got that too See you I said I turned back and ran Wait she called again Dad will pick you
Hector and Tommy up at 5:30 Okay I said You’re welcome she said Thank you I yelled back over my shoulder I was eager to find my team It was my first year in the ten-and-under league and by some miracle my two best friends Hector Adélia and Tommy Kasten were on my team They were both excellent players And my mom said that our coach Mr Carmody had been a college soccer coach so I figured he knew everything The Pirates were going to rule the soccer season We would score a million goals Or at least fifty Even though we don’t keep score in this league At least the adults say they don’t keep score They say they want us to have fun and work on our skills and not worry about winning and losing But I think they do keep score I know I do It seemed like there were a thousand kids at the fields behind the high school all searching for
their new teams I wandered around looking for the Pirates It was like trying to find one matching pair in a huge drawer of unmatched socks There was a six-and-under league an eight-and-under league and a 10 and under league and this was the first day of practice for all the teams Finally I spotted Tommy and Hector walking together Hey Tommy Hector I yelled They both turned and waved I jogged over and greeted them with a double high five This year is going to be awesome Tommy said Can you believe we’re all on the same team The Pirates Hector said More like the Proud Pirates Tommy said The Proud Punishing Pirates I added The three of us together Tommy said solemnly raising his hand will be known as the Pirates of Doom Arrrrr Stupific I said Stupific is a word Tommy and I made up that means stupendous and terrific all mixed together
We’re on Field 4 over there Hector said pointing to a far corner of the field We trotted over When we got there we found some boys playing but they looked really small This can’t be our team said Tommy Maybe your dad got the number wrong Hector I don’t think so Hector said He showed me the number on the letter they sent Hey look Charlie Tommy nodded toward one of the boys There’s Trevor You know that little guy from your class Trevor I couldn’t believe it Trevor never even played soccer at recess What was he doing there
