And then, “No, Pink, smile with your eyes only and close your mouth!”

It was like nothing we did made him happy!

It was a quarter to twelve by the time he finished the second round of shots. I anxiously waited on the sidelines with Mom as he looked over the footage he had taken.

“That’s a wrap!” he called out, and I sighed with relief.

“Great,” I told Mom. “We can still make it to the game on time.”

Mom nodded. “Right. Just change into your uniform, and I’ll take you right to the field.”

Then it hit me. “Um, I forgot to bring my uniform with me.” I’d gotten off on such a wrong foot that morning that I hadn’t even thought of it.

“Devin!” Mom said, and then she sighed. “It’s fine. We should still make it in time.”

Of course, we weren’t counting on Southern California freeway traffic. That’s how I knew, by 11:55, that I wasn’t going to make it to the game on time. According to Mom’s phone, it was going to take an hour just to get to our house!

“This is terrible!” I groaned. “It’s all because of that stupid Marcus!”

“Devin, you know we don’t use that word,” Mom said. “But yes, it certainly does seem to be his fault.”

“I’m glad I didn’t get discovered!” Maisie piped up from the backseat. “Being a model is so boring! And that guy was mean!”

“He wasn’t mean, exactly,” I said, thinking about it. “He just wasn’t very friendly.”

“He didn’t even bother to learn your names,” Mom said. “That was very demeaning. And he didn’t respect your time.”

“He would have been happier with a bunch of cardboard cutouts he could have moved around the set!” I joked, but mom was right. The whole experience was kind of demeaning.

“You’d better text Coach Flores and tell her you’ll be late,” Mom said.

I was dreading doing that, but I knew I had to. She texted me back.

Okay. Do your best to get here, Devin! We’re counting on you!

I will, I promised.

It was almost one when we pulled into our driveway. I got dressed in record time. Knowing I had missed the sock swap, I pulled on two different socks. I didn’t need any more bad luck than I’d already had!

When we got to the field, the game was in full swing. The scoreboard read KENTVILLE-2, HARRISON-2. The Bees, in their yellow uniforms with black stripes, really did look like bees zipping around the field.

I jogged up to Coach Flores.

“So sorry, Coach,” I told her.

“I’ll put you in for the second half,” she said. “We’re almost there.”