ASHLEY
I’m so scared I want to cry.
Or at least sniffle a bit.
Coach Bradley walks back and forth in front of all of us like he should be chewing a cigar and wearing one of those drill sergeant hats like in Full Metal Jacket, which is my dad’s favorite rental for some reason. There’s twenty-two of us “trying out” for cross country. I counted. We’re all sitting on the browning grass beside the school race track, facing the sun and squinting in unison. I promise I put on deodorant this morning before school, but you’d never know it to smell me. Ugh. We haven’t even started running yet, and already the elastic waistband of my horrible blue gym shorts we are forced to wear is damp. Gross.
“We have three rules on this team,” the coach says, taking these slow steps back and forth “Everyone runs. No one quits.”
He pauses.
And smiles.
“No Skittles for breakfast.”
Some of us, me included, laugh a little, and the tension breaks.
Coach slaps his belly, which looks as solid and smooth as our antique oak dining room table under his white Camelback High School T-shirt. “You’ll be putting in thirty to fifty miles a week. When you’re running fifty miles a week, you can eat pretty much whatever you want. Just eat a lot of it. You’ll need it.”
He blows his whistle—chweet!—and shouts, “Feet!”
We all get up. Someone groans.
“Four laps. Take your time. Just warm up. It’s really dang hot out here, so stay hydrated.”
Chweet!
“Go!”
We all take off for the track around the field.
“Did he say fifty miles a week?” I ask this tall boy beside me.
He only grins and shoots off down the lane. Must be Varsity.
Dad insisted I take a sport, he didn’t care what it was. I think secretly he was hoping for tennis, since he and Mom play almost every weekend during the season. But the tennis season in Phoenix is winter. Outdoor tennis is not a great idea in July.
I put Dad off for almost a month, but he finally wore me down. When I heard that it’s basically impossible to get cut from cross country, and that some people on JV even walk during the races, at least a little bit, I thought, “That’s the sport for me!” and signed right up.
So far, the rumors have been true. Coach B is a nice guy, and doesn’t seem to put a lot of pressure on the JV team unless you clearly want to make Varsity. Then he digs in and coaches. I don’t need to be on the receiving end of that, thanks.
But I do run. I take it slow, since that’s what Coach B said: to take our time. After the first lap, a couple people are walking, which puts me in the middle of the group. I guess it’s a decent jog, because I catch up to another boy who is almost wheezing. Sweat runs from his short brown hair and stains his white T-shirt.
“You okay?” I ask, which is all I can manage.
He nods and stumbles into a walk. “Didn’t. Train. Summer.”
His cheeks are splotchy. He puts his hands on his hips, huffing and puffing.
I hear the dreaded whistle followed by Coach B’s voice. “Anderson! Okay to walk, no hands on your hips!”
Followed by another chweet!
The boy beside me drops his hands to let them dangle and keeps walking.
I figure helping him is a good excuse to slow down, so I downshift to a walk, too. “Sure you can breathe?”
He nods but doesn’t answer. He brings his hands to his hips again as if on instinct, then quickly drops them, shooting a look coach’s direction.
We walk side by side for about hundred yards or so before he has his breath back enough to speak. “Should have run over the summer. That was dumb. Just played video games.”
“Yeah, not a big workout playing Super Mario.”
“It is if you’re doing it right.” He glances at me with a little half-grin. “I’m Tommy.”
“Ashley. Nice to meet you. Freshman?”
“Afraid so. You?”
“Yeppers.”
“Sucks, huh.”
I shrug. “The first week was bad. But I had friends from junior high, you know? Where’d you come from? You didn’t go to Mohave.”
“No. Private school. I’m one of those kids.”
“Ooo. Fancy.”
“Not that fancy, trust me.”
“Anybody come with you? Here, I mean?”
“Nope. All my friends are up north at a private high school.”
“Well, if you need someplace to hang out at lunch Monday, we’ll be in the cafeteria.” Might as well ask. Right now it’s just me and Beckett, most of the time, if she doesn’t walk home. Antho’s almost always in the speech and drama department these days.
Tommy looks—well, not surprised, but kind of confused maybe. But then he says, “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
“I mean, you don’t have to. I’m just saying.”
“No, no, it’s cool. Thanks.”
We keep walking for about another minute before I say, “Okay, I gotta run. Hey, haha! Get it? Gotta run? Anyway. Want to get into Varsity someday, right?”
Not at all true, but I don’t want to make it sound like I’m a slacker.
“Cool,” Tommy says. “Good luck. I’m going out for Varsity Walking Squad, so.”
That makes me laugh, and I pick up my pace.
Something about Tommy sticks with me, though, as my feet slap the track. It takes a couple minutes to hone in on what it was.
Most guys scan my body. A lot of them stare at my chest. Which is gross.
Not Tommy. He looked in my eyes.
