Go Maddie, Go! Read online

  Go, Maddie, Go!

  published in 2013 by

  Chirpy Bird, an imprint of Hardie Grant Egmont

  Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

  Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.

  eISBN: 9781743580295

  Text and design copyright © 2013 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Illustration copyright © 2013 Forever Clover Pty Ltd

  With thanks to Fiona Harris.

  Illustrations by Elizabeth Botté

  Design by Julie Thompson

  Text design and typesetting by Ektavo

  Forever Clover is a registered trademark of Forever Clover Pty Ltd.

  www.foreverclover.com.au

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  ‘Can you pass me the sticky tape, Olivia?’ Maddie asked her bestie.

  ‘Sure,’ Olivia said, throwing it over. Maddie caught it with one hand.

  ‘Good catch!’ laughed Olivia.

  Maddie and Olivia were making cheersquad banners in their clubhouse. Emma, Kate, Abbey and Matilda were there, too.

  The school sports carnival was coming up. It was Emma’s idea to make banners for Maddie’s basketball team.

  Emma was really good at arts and craft, but Maddie was all thumbs. It didn’t bother Maddie, though. She always had fun when she was with her friends.

  Kate and Emma were cutting letters and tiny eagles out of coloured crepe paper. Abbey and Matilda were sticking them onto the banner with glitter glue. Maddie and Olivia’s job was to secure the banners to brightly painted wooden sticks.

  The girls chattered away happily as they cut, glued, stuck and twirled.

  ‘Our school is going to win for sure on Friday!’ Abbey announced loudly. ‘Flinders Primary doesn’t stand a chance!’

  ‘No way, not against Davey’s Bay’s secret weapon,’ Oliva said, giving her a nudge. ‘You’re our very own sporting superstar, Maddie!’

  ‘I don’t know about that,’ Maddie said, blushing. But secretly she felt a little thrill just thinking about the sports carnival.

  Maddie was playing in the basketball team, the soccer team and doing the 100-metre sprint. It was going to be a big day. She’d been training extra hard for it.

  ‘Hey,’ said Matilda suddenly. ‘Maybe we should make a Maddie banner! Something like, Go, Maddie, go!’

  ‘That’s a great idea!’ squealed Kate.

  ‘Oh, no, please don’t,’ Maddie replied, blushing even redder than before. ‘That would be way too embarrassing!’

  ‘Yeah, maybe not,’ said Olivia. ‘We know how Maddie feels about being the centre of attention.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ Matilda said, shrugging. ‘No Maddie banner, then.’

  ‘Lucky thing, too,’ said Kate. ‘These ones are taking up way too much space in here already. We’ll have to finish them off outside in the quarry soon!’

  The quarry was an old stone mine that had been abandoned long ago. Its huge stone walls were now surrounded by flowers, trees and lots of clover.

  One hot day, Maddie and her friends had found a four-leaf clover at the quarry. A clover with four leaves is rare, and finding one had made the girls feel lucky.

  They decided to wear a four-leaf clover charm as a symbol of their friendship. After all, best friends are like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.

  The girls often joked about who saw the four-leaf clover first. But Maddie was sure that it was her.

  Soon after, they’d found an old miners’ shed carved into the quarry wall. Maddie, Olivia, Abbey, Matilda, Kate and Emma were the only people who knew it was there. It became their very own secret clubhouse.

  ‘Hey,’ Olivia said to Maddie. ‘Don’t you have soccer practice in half an hour?’

  ‘Yeah, I’d better go,’ Maddie said.

  She stuck down the last piece of ribbon and stood up. ‘Mum’s coming to get me.’

  She picked up her schoolbag and waved goodbye to her friends.

  As Maddie headed out of the quarry, she heard Emma shout, ‘Abbey! That A is upside down, you dork.’

  ‘It’s a V, silly!’ Abbey shouted back.

  Everyone in the clubhouse burst into squeals of laughter. Maddie giggled.

  The sports carnival was going to be a big day, and having her friends there to cheer her on would make it even more exciting!

  Maddie usually found school assemblies boring. But today, their principal Mr McNamara was going to announce the team captains for the sports carnival.

  Maddie sat in the hall waiting for it to begin. She was nervous. She always felt this way just before a big game, too. But this was worse because she couldn’t run around and let all that twitchy energy out!

  Olivia reached over and squeezed her hand. ‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered. ‘You’ll be a team captain for sure!’

  Maddie took a deep breath. She looked over and saw Abbey, Matilda, Emma and Kate all grinning at her. They each had their fingers crossed in front of them.

  ‘It’s OK, Maddie,’ Abbey whispered loudly. She touched her four-leaf clover charm as she leant over. ‘Our clovers are going to bring you luck today!’

  ‘Shhh,’ Kate whispered, and pulled Abbey back. ‘He’s about to start!’

  Mr McNamara cleared his throat. ‘Good morning, everyone,’ he said. ‘Let’s start with the sports carnival announcements.’

  Maddie crossed her fingers tightly, too. She really wanted to be captain of one of her teams. It could be basketball or the soccer team. She didn’t mind which.

  Mr McNamara looked up from the piece of paper he was holding. ‘Firstly, I’ll be announcing the captain of both the basketball and the soccer teams.’

  Maddie’s stomach flipped over. What did he mean, the captain of both teams?

  Then Mr McNamara grinned at her. ‘The captain of both teams will be … Maddie!’

  The hall erupted with clapping and cheering. Maddie froze. She stared at her friends. They were jumping up and down in their chairs with excitement.

  Mr McNamara nodded at her. ‘Maddie, could you stand up, please?’

  Maddie stood up slowly in front of everyone. Her cheeks were burning.

  ‘Congratulations!’ said Mr McNamara. ‘We know you’ll do the school proud on Friday, Maddie.’

  The other students and teachers all clapped and cheered. Maddie felt a tight squeezing in her tummy. She didn’t like everyone looking at her!

  As everyone finished clapping, Maddie quickly sat down. She let out a gush of air.

  ‘Thank you, Maddie,’ Mr McNamara said. ‘OK, on to the volleyball team.’

  Maddie was relieved when he started reading out the other captains’ names.

  Thank goodness that’s over, she thought. Now that her cheeks had cooled down, she realised that she was really happy.

  So I’m captain of both teams, Maddie thought. A big smile stretched across her face. Bring on Friday!

  ‘I have to do a s-s-speech?’ Maddie stuttered.

  It was lunchtime that same day, and Maddie was standing in Mr McNamara’s She’d been called there over the intercom. Maddie had been worried that she was in trouble. But this was worse than that. Much worse!
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br />   ‘After the carnival on Friday, we will hand out the trophies to all the schools on the main stage,’ Mr McNamara told her, smiling kindly. ‘And since you’re so involved in sports here, I thought you might like to represent our school and give a speech.’

  Suddenly, Maddie wasn’t feeling so good. ‘But I don’t … I mean, I’m not …’

  Maddie barely had the courage to get up and talk in front of one school. There was no way she could do it in front of lots of them!

  ‘The speech doesn’t need to be long,’ Mr McNamara assured her. ‘Just a few words thanking the other schools for taking part, and congratulating all the students.’

  Then Mr McNamara paused. He seemed to be waiting for an answer.

  ‘OK,’ Maddie managed to say. Although this was anything but OK.

  Mr McNamara beamed at her. ‘Good on you, Maddie,’ he said. ‘Now, go and enjoy the last few minutes of lunchtime.’

  Maddie walked out of the office in a daze. Her head was swimming.

  Why me? she thought to herself. I just want to play sport!

  She ran over to the monkey bars on the far field where her friends were waiting for her.

  ‘Well?’ Emma asked, when Maddie sat down beside them. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Are you in trouble?’ Abbey asked, her eyes wide.

  ‘Um, no,’ Maddie said. ‘I mean, not really.’ She wondered if they’d think she was silly for worrying about a speech.

  But she wasn’t like Kate or Emma or Olivia. They were so confident when it came to making speeches.

  Just thinking about all those people staring at her made Maddie feel like there were butterflies in her belly.

  ‘He wanted to talk about the sports carnival,’ she said finally.

  It isn’t a total lie, she thought. I just really don’t want to talk about it.

  ‘Everyone is so excited about the sports carnival,’ Olivia said. ‘The whole school is talking about it! It’s going to be huge.’

  Maddie’s heart sank a little lower at the thought of the whole school.

  ‘Wait till they see our banners,’ Emma said proudly. ‘Maybe we can make some pompoms tonight after school? We’ve got enough crepe paper left over.’

  ‘Cool!’ said Abbey. ‘How about we make up a chant to sing on the sidelines, too. Something like, Davey’s Bay is the best! If they can’t do it, no-one can!’

  ‘Doesn’t a chant have to rhyme?’ asked Matilda, screwing up her nose.

  ‘Does it?’ Abbey frowned. ‘Oh well, I’ll work on it. Maddie, do you know any good sporting chants?’

  Before Maddie could answer, the bell rang for the end of lunchtime.

  ‘Come on, let’s go,’ Kate said, jumping up. ‘We’ve got science now. It’s the mouldgrowing experiment today.’

  Even though she was distracted, Maddie couldn’t help smiling. Kate was crazy about science, even if it involved growing mould!

  The girls headed off to class. Maddie walked with them, lost in her thoughts. She couldn’t stop thinking about the speech. The worry buzzed around her like an annoying fly.

  Today started out so well, she thought to herself. How did it get so bad, so quickly?

  At the clubhouse after school, the six girls were busy cutting strips of crepe paper for the pompoms. Maddie wasn’t in the mood to chat, so she concentrated on her cutting.

  After a while, Olivia looked over at her. ‘Is everything OK, Maddie?’ she asked. ‘You seem a bit down.’

  ‘We thought you’d be happy about being captain,’ Kate added. ‘But you’ve been really quiet ever since you saw Mr McNamara.’

  Maddie knew she couldn’t keep it to herself any longer. A problem shared is a problem halved, her mum always said.

  She didn’t see how this problem could be cut in half, but she had to tell her friends anyway. They told each other everything!

  Maddie sighed and put down her crepe paper. ‘Mr McNamara asked me to do a speech at the carnival,’ she said. ‘I have to get up and thank everyone for taking part when they hand out the trophies.’

  ‘But you don’t like speaking in front of lots of people,’ Abbey said.

  ‘That’s why I’m so nervous,’ Maddie said. ‘I can’t do a speech in front of lots of schools!’

  ‘Hang on,’ said Abbey with a smile. ‘I said you didn’t like doing it. I didn’t say you can’t do it.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Maddie.

  ‘We’ll help you!’ Olivia announced.

  ‘But how?’ Maddie asked.

  ‘At gymnastics, we learnt some good ways to help us relax on competition days. I’ll show them to you,’ Olivia offered.

  ‘Awesome!’ said Abbey. ‘That will help you for sure, Maddie.’

  ‘And I can help you work on the actual speech if you want,’ said Emma. ‘I love doing that stuff.’

  ‘Thanks, guys,’ Maddie said. She smiled gratefully, but she still couldn’t shake the sick feeling inside.

  Even if she learnt some ways to relax, and even if she had a great speech prepared, she’d still have to speak in front of hundreds of people. Nothing could make her feel better about that!

  Later that afternoon, Maddie was in her bedroom. She was trying to write her speech. She had a few sentences down, but they didn’t sound right to her.

  I’ll show it to Emma tomorrow, she thought. Maybe she can help me put the words in a better order.

  As Maddie sat there thinking, her pet mouse Jonty scampered back and forth across her lap. Every now and then, she gave him a little stroke. Eventually, he nuzzled into her tummy. She picked him up for a cuddle.

  Just then, Maddie’s mum poked her head around the bedroom door. ‘Hey, possum,’ she said. ‘Want to help me make Gong Bao chicken for dinner?’

  It was Maddie’s favourite Chinese dish. But she wasn’t in the mood tonight to help cook. ‘No thanks, Mum,’ she said. ‘I’d better finish this.’

  ‘Is that homework?’ her mum asked.

  ‘Sort of.’

  ‘I’m so proud of you, sweetie,’ her mum said, for about the fortieth time that afternoon. ‘You’ve trained so hard. You deserve to be captain of both teams.’

  ‘Thanks, Mum,’ Maddie said, trying to sound more excited than she felt.

  Her mum frowned. ‘Is everything OK, sweetie?’

  Maddie took a deep breath. ‘I’ve been asked to do a speech at the sports carnival. I’m really nervous, Mum.’

  Her mum leant against the desk and smoothed Maddie’s hair back from her face. ‘It’s natural to be a little nervous,’ she said gently. ‘But I know you’ll do a fantastic job. You’re a brave girl, Maddie.’

  ‘But I get all twitchy just thinking about it!’ Maddie said.

  ‘I know what you need,’ her mum said, gently placing Jonty back in his cage. ‘Come on. Time for a bit of one on one!’

  Maddie smiled. This was the best thing about being the daughter of the basketball coach!

  Maddie and her mum laughed and shouted as they dodged around each other in the driveway. For the first time all day, Maddie started to relax. She loved doing this more than anything else.

  If only life was as simple as a game of one on one all the time!

  It was the day before the carnival. Maddie was more nervous than ever! She couldn’t concentrate in class, and she even missed an easy open goal at soccer practice. That had never happened to her before.

  As soon as practice was over, Maddie rushed to the clubhouse to meet Olivia.

  She charged into the clubhouse, her dark hair flying in all directions.

  ‘Maddie!’ Olivia gasped. ‘You scared me.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Maddie said. ‘But I don’t want to waste a single second. Can we start? Now?’

  ‘OK, OK,’ Olivia said, laughing. ‘We’ll start now. Are you ready?’

  Maddie nodded.

  ‘The first thing we need to focus on,’ Olivia began, ‘is your breathing.’

  ‘OK,’ Maddie said uncertainly.

 
; ‘If you take a deep breath before you start talking, like this,’ Olivia said, taking some deep breaths in and out, ‘it helps to get rid of the shaky nerves.’

  Maddie took a few deep breaths, too. Her stomach had been feeling topsy-turvy all day, but the deep breaths did help her feel calmer. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘That’s cool.’

  ‘Yup. Now we have to warm up your body and get rid of all the twitchy bits,’ Olivia said.

  ‘Yes!’ said Maddie. ‘That’s the worst.’

  ‘The twitchiness makes you way more nervous than you need to be,’ said Olivia. ‘So this is what you have to do …’ First, Maddie had to make her body all floppy. Then, she had to pat it all over like she was drumming on herself.

  But Maddie’s favourite was the face warm-up. Olivia stretched her mouth and eyes open as wide as she could. Then she did chewing actions.

  Maddie collapsed in fits of giggles. ‘You look like a camel!’ she laughed, and then they both cracked up.

  The door swung open. Matilda, Kate, Abbey and Emma were standing there.

  ‘What are you two doing?’ Kate asked. ‘We could hear you from the other side of the quarry!’

  Olivia and Maddie showed the others the warm-up exercises. Soon all six girls were giggling madly.

  Eventually, the girls collapsed into their beanbags, breathless and grinning.

  Maddie grinned. ‘I can’t believe how loose and relaxed my body feels now.’

  ‘See?’ said Olivia. ‘You do those exercises before the speech tomorrow and you’ll feel much better.’

  ‘That reminds me,’ Emma said. She pulled some paper out of her bag. ‘Here’s your speech back. I moved around a couple of sentences, but otherwise it’s great!’

  Maddie took the paper and gave her friend a hug. ‘Thanks, Em.’

  She practised the speech a few times in front of the girls. She was starting to feel much more confident about it all by the time they left the clubhouse.

  Speaking at the carnival might not be so bad after all! she thought.

  When Maddie woke up the next morning, her tummy was tight with nerves again. Today was the sports carnival!