Gracie (7 page)

 

Gracie (Carly Schroeder) and her father (Dermot Mulroney) get in some serious training.

 

Bryan Bowen (Dermot Mulroney) and Lindsay Bowen (Elisabeth Shue) discuss Gracie with Coach Clark (Andrew Shue).

 

Chairwoman Bowsher (Leslie Lyles), Lindsay Bowen (Elisabeth Shue), Gracie (Carly Schroeder), and Bryan Bowen (Dermot Mulroney) at the School Board hearing.

 

The Bowens
(left to right:
Elisabeth Shue, Carly Schroeder, and Dermot Mulroney) receive the good news that Gracie will be given a chance to try out for the soccer team.

 

Gracie (Carly Schroeder) has a grueling tryout as her best friend, Jena (Julia Garro), and the rest of her family (Hunter Schroeder, Elisabeth Shue, Trevor Heins, and Dermot Mulroney) watch the action.

 

Gracie (Carly Schroeder,
front)
walks by the cheerleaders
(left to right:
Emma Bell, Bernadette York, Jessica Asch, Amy Dannenmueller, Jennifer Garagano, and Karen Summerton) as they warm up.

 

Gracie (Carly Schroeder) on the bench at the big game.

 

Gracie (Carly Schroeder) takes a shot.

 

The cheerleaders at the game, screaming for Gracie
(left to right:
Bernadette York, Jennifer Garagano, Amanda Knox, Amy Dannenmueller, and Manting Chan).

 

Andrew Shue with the director (and brother-in-law) Davis Guggenheim

 

Davis Guggenheim setting up a shot.

Even though I was grounded, I knew Mom was taking the boys to the dentist that Friday and Dad wouldn't be home from work for a while. I took a chance and instead of going straight home after school, like I was supposed to, I took Peter up on his invitation to join the pickup game at the old stadium.

Jena came with me, always wanting to be anyplace where guys would be. “What did you tell your parents?” she asked as we walked to the field.

“About this? Nothing,” I admitted.

I could see guys milling around, getting ready to play. I knew most of them from the team: Joe, Ben, Craig, Curt, and some others whose names I wasn't sure of.

Kyle approached from the opposite side of the field. The moment I saw him, I stopped and tensed up inside. Since our date-gone-wrong, I had discovered that he'd made bets with guys that he would score with me that night. When I found out about that, I was so glad I'd walked out of his car. I wondered if he'd told them the truth about it. Now he just glared at me whenever we passed in the hall in school.

“If you're going, go!” Jena said, nudging me with a small push. “Forget Kyle.”

She was right. I'd come this far; I wasn't going to let Kyle turn me around now.

Kate Dorset and her cheerleader pals were nearby, sitting together in a group. Like Jena, they were never far from anywhere the guys were, the cute athletic ones, anyway.

As we got close, Jena sat down by herself, preparing to watch. I didn't see Peter, which made me even tenser. If I showed up wanting to play and nobody had invited me, I'd look like a real idiot. But then he stepped out from behind some guys, smiling. What a relief! “Gracie, you made it,” he greeted me cheerfully. “Come on.”