He raised an eyebrow before he shook my hand, which disappeared into his like a nugget into a hamburger bun. I could swear my hand was a little smaller when he let go. With that, Michael Spencer disappeared into the swaying sea of green as the game started up again.

“Thanks,” I whispered to Berry, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

I spotted Millie in the distance, waving, and waved back with a big smile. I squeezed the popcorn in my hand until the kernels bit into the insides of my fingers.

The game had started again. Players scattered.

“Hey,” Berry said. “You just going to hold on to that popcorn?”

“Oh yeah.” I looked down at my hand, greasy and full of wilted kernels. I slid my palm down my side and brushed them off on the seat.

“Want to get in Mato and ride?” Berry asked.

Suddenly there was a gasp. Some tall kid on the other team, the Princeville Kings, kicked the ball up the field, moving at a clip.

“NO!” someone below us screamed.

“STOP HIM!” someone else bellowed.

Tanner sprinted after him, but another player from Princeville ran ahead and cut in front of Tanner. Tanner tried to sneak around him and tripped, pirouetting to the ground.

Mr. Spencer stood up and started screaming at the coach, “YOU GONNA JUST SIT THERE? GODDAMMIT!”

How could anyone do anything? The kid from the other team scooted right past John and scored a goal.

“Crap,” Berry mumbled.

Tanner hopped up under a rain of horrified hollers from the stands and the sound of his dad yelling at him about his feet.

“What ya got, six left feet, son? What is wrong with you?!”

The game ended in a tie. Which I guess for the Dragons was like a loss? How does that even work? Everything went from grass swaying in the stiff breeze of victory to grass that had been trampled and squished by a thousand heavy feet.

“Hey there.” Millie walked over to us at the end of the game with Monty in tow. “Ready to go?”

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s talking to a few parents,” Millie said. “She’ll probably be a while. Who’s this?”

“This is my friend, the one and only Berry.” I held my hand out not unlike the way Berry held her hands out when she introduced Mato. “Berry is awesome. And an artist.”

“Clearly.” Millie smiled. “You need a ride, Berry?”

Berry shook her head. “My mom is around here somewhere.”

Lucy had her car, so I rode with Millie and Monty, who, the whole way home, panted like she was finishing up a marathon.

“Did she eat something weird?” I asked.

“Mmmm.” Millie frowned. “Nothing I gave her. . .”

That night a bunch of things happened, none of which were fun.