The Mean Girl Meltdown: A Sylvie Scruggs Story (Sylvie Scruggs, 2) - Softcover

Lindsay Eyre received an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. The Best Friend Battle  is her debut novel. She lives with her husband and their five children in Cary, North Carolina. Please visit her website at www.lindsayeyre.com and follow her on twitter at @lindsayeyre.

Coach Diaz looked back down at his list. "Jamie Redmond -- are you here?"

My pinky toes suddenly froze inside my wool socks. He could not have said that name.

"Here I am," Jamie Redmond said from behind me in her loud, horrible voice.

I turned around, and there she was. Jamie Redmond. Her arms were crossed, her head was tilted to the side, her eyes were half-shut, and her mouth wore a smirkity smirk. Her munions, the first baseman and the shortstop on her baseball team, sat on either side of her.

No, I thought. No, no, no!!!!!!

Georgie’s dad began by explaining the hockey rules. Then he told us how to put on our uniforms, and he used Jamie as a model, because this was her fourth season playing hockey. We watched her put on her socks, her pants, her jersey, her shoulder pads, her elbow pads, her neck guard, her shin guards, her mouth guard, her helmet, her ice skates, and, okay, she was quick about it, but anyone can get dressed. Except for maybe babies and kings and queens.

When all this Jamie attention was through and we’d finished getting dressed ourselves, I raised my hand. "Who gets to be team captain?" I asked.

"The coach picks team captain," Coach Diaz said. "I will watch everyone throughout these first four practices. Whoever is the hardest working and the most helpful to his or her teammates will get the job. I’ll announce team captain during the next to last practice before our first game."

Hard-working, I thought. Helpful to teammates. I could do that.