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Informationen zum Autor Tiki Barber is a record-holding retired running back for the New York Giants. He married and is the father of four children. Klappentext NFL superstars and bestselling authors Tiki and Ronde Barber ("Teammates") are back with an all-new novel. When Tiki wins a school-wide essay contest and gives an inspirational speech in front of the whole school! he becomes sought after for guidance and advice. Goal Line CHAPTER ONE A “LITTLE” PROBLEM “I’M OPEN, TIKI!” Ronde Barber threw his hands up into the air as he ran. Way back down the street his twin brother hauled off and threw a perfect spiral, high and long. Ronde, in full stride, reached out to grab it. He could feel his fingertips brush the ball— HOONNNKKK!!! The car horn made Ronde wince, pull his hands in, and dodge to the left, all in the same instant. Ronde leaned against Mr. Evans’s parked Oldsmobile, while the speeding car swerved to avoid the bouncing football, then continued on down the block, its horn blaring. The driver yelled something out the window about “… kids! Playing in the middle of the street!” But Ronde couldn’t make it out, and he didn’t care to. He knew it was nothing he wanted to hear. “Man!” he said breathlessly as he retrieved the ball, then trotted back to where Tiki was standing, shaking his head. “Why’d you throw the ball, dude? Didn’t you see him coming?” Tiki shook his head. “That guy was bustin’ it! He wasn’t even there when I let it loose.” “He must think this is the highway,” said Ronde. Amherst Street was a dead end, and kids were always playing in the middle of the road. That was one of the great things about living here, in his opinion. Cars came by only every ten minutes or so. “Come on,” Tiki said. “Let’s play that down over.” The twins were in the middle of one of their favorite pastimes—a kind of fantasy football that was the perfect way to spend a late summer afternoon. It had been eight whole months since they’d played in a real football game. Eight months! Every year by the end of August they were totally football-crazy. Luckily, today was Labor Day—only a few days until real football started back at Hidden Valley Junior High! “I would have had that ball, easy,” Ronde pointed out as they walked back to the manhole cover that served as the line of scrimmage. “Stupid cars.” “Man, I can’t wait till we’re playing again for real .” Ronde had to laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day when we couldn’t wait for school to start.” The next day school would be back in session, and they would be ninth graders at last—not to mention that they’d be team co-captains of the Hidden Valley Eagles, reigning champions of the entire state of Virginia! “This year’s going to be awesome,” Tiki said. “Our last year, and we’re gonna go out with a bang!” “A big bang,” Ronde said, a huge smile on his face. “Can you say ‘all-star’?” “Can you say ‘two-time state champs’?” “Can you say ‘undefeated’?” “Can you say ‘record books’?” “Uh-huh.” “Uh-huh.” They exchanged their special handshake—not the one everybody on the team used to celebrate big moments, but the one known to just the two of them, that they brought out only for very special occasions. “Can you say ‘NFL’?” Ronde said, voicing their deepest wish, the one they both dreamed about at night. “The only thing is,” Tiki said, his smile fading, “every kid in school is expecting us to do all that.” “So?” “So, you know it’s not gonna be easy. What if we…” He swallo Zusammenfassung Balancing priorities presents a challenge ...
