Erin The Fire Goddess: The Beginning

by Lavinia Urban

Claire had called later that evening. She had apparently told her Mum everything and she had agreed to let Kasey-Ray sleep over. I was actually surprised how quickly my parents had agreed to let her sleep out. None of us had actually slept over at a friend’s house before. Not as if I ever would. I needed to have friends to sleep over at.

  All I needed now was for my parents to find out and all hell would break loose.

  “I promise they won't find out.” Kasey-Ray tried to reassure me on the way to school. “It's fool-proof and they don't even know Claire's Mum, and if they need to get hold of me, I have my mobile.” She said as she pulled her phone out of her bag and waved it in front of my face.

  I could understand her reasoning. I was just a worrier. I sighed as I pushed her hand away from the front of my face.

  “Just don't slip up.” I raised my finger to her, as she laughed. “It's not funny. I know how excited you get and then you have a habit of rabbiting on too much.” Kasey-Ray had stopped again to pretend she was locking her mouth shut and throwing away the key.

  “I promise.” She then crossed her heart. Seeing the defeated expression in my face she gave me a huge hug, “You're the best sister ever!”

  “Kasey-Ray!” Claire shouted, making my sister jump around.

  “Gotta go.” She gave me another hug. “See you this afternoon and you better be cheering the loudest.” She winked.

  “Of course.”

  Today was sport's day. Whilst most of the students had to spend the morning going to lessons, all the students who were not taking part in any of the events, including myself, had to help setting up for each event and all the stalls.

  The first part of the morning, I had to help put out all the chairs for the students, and then separate them by year, then by forms by coloured ribbon with the names of each form and year on them.

  After break, we set up each of the events and stalls. When lunch time arrived, there were still things left to do, so in between eating my lunch, I was back and forth doing the final touches, along with a few fellow students.

  “Well done.” Ms Forrester said to me, as she appeared at the programme stall we would be working on. I had about fifteen minutes left before the rest of the school would start appearing. Their families had already started making their way over.

  “I'm just going to bring our form room over.” She told me, after a final check of the stall. “Will you be okay?”

  “Yeah, it should be a breeze.” I smiled nervously. There were going to be hundreds of people milling around the stalls and it was intimidating. With a smile, Ms Forrester quickly hurried off.

  Luckily, I didn't have time to stay nervous once people started appearing at my stall. Most didn't even look at me as they handed me the money and I handed them a programme. I hadn't actually realised there was a queue forming until Ms Forrester appeared and started ordering people into 2 lines.

  “Hi love,” My Mum appeared at the front of my queue, “You look run off your feet.”

  “You could say that.” I flushed. I barely had time to properly look at her and felt bad for rushing her to one side.

  “I'll leave you to it. Come find me when you're done.” My Mum touched my hand then went off to find a place to stand and watch.

  “Nearly done,” Ms Forrester blew out a sigh of relief, as I looked up to see the queue had dwindled down to about ten people. “After we've done those, why don't you go have a half hour break.” She smiled, which was great, as I wanted to go find my Mum and at least try to watch one of races my sister was in.

  Leaving my rucksack behind the stall with Ms Forrester, I picked up my drink and headed off to find my Mum. It didn't take me long to find her. She was talking to my sister as she stood with the rest of her form.

  “Hi,” I said breathlessly, as I went to stand next to them.

  “Great timing.” She hugged me with excitement. "They are just about to call all the 800 metre competitors. The 1500 has just finished.” No sooner had she said this when Mr Jenkins's voice announced that all the 800 metre competitors should start making their way to the inside of the track.

  “Break a leg!” I called after her. “Shall we try and find a better place to stand?” I asked my Mum, as we linked arms.

  “I was just thinking the same thing.” She kissed the side of my head.

  We made our way through the crowd whilst the year one race started. By the time we'd found a spot, at one end of the track near the finish line, year two had just started.

  We spotted Kasey-Ray warming up. She didn't look even a tiny bit nervous.

  “Is Dad coming?” I asked, hoping that he would see at least one of the race's Kasey-Ray was competing in.

  “Yeah, he should be on his way.” She told me, as she looked at her watch.

  “I'm going to have to head back after she's raced this.” I pointed towards my sister as I saw her lining up.

  She was off as soon as the starting pistol fired. I was jumping up and down, whilst clapping my hands and shouting my sister's name. For the first 600 metres she was neck and neck with Sophie, then at the final 200 metres she started breaking away. I could see Sophie digging hard, trying to keep up with my sister, but no matter how hard she tried Kasey-Ray just pulled away further. When she finally crossed the finish line in first place, my Mum and I were hugging and we could hear her form room cheering loudly. You could see the hope radiate through them, maybe this year, they would take first place.

  Kasey-Ray seemed to put her all into the race and I knew she would do it for every race to come. But what I loved about Kasey-Ray was that she didn't gloat. As soon as Sophie crossed the line, she went straight over to give her a hug. I did hope that Sophie didn't take losing too hard. So many people out there, who are used to coming first in everything they do, don't like it when they are no longer known as the best. They should realise that it is the taking part that counts and that even though they may not be the best at something, they are doing their best and that is a great sense of achievement in itself. It is better than going to bed thinking of what ifs.

  Kasey-Ray spotted my Mum and me, after scanning all the spectators, and waved as she made her way back to her seating area.

  “I gotta go!” I kissed my Mum. “Hopefully I'll get to watch her win another.” I didn't really care if she won another race. I just felt a sense of pride as I thought that's my sister, and I loved her so much. I stroked the necklace that she had given me for my birthday. I wore it constantly. I was proud to call her my sister.

  There wasn't much to do, when I got back to the stall, where Ms Forrester was putting the last of the programmes on the table.

  “Welcome back,” She smiled up at me. “Are you okay whilst I go check on our form?” I nodded, I didn't need asking.

  After putting the majority of the money that we'd collected from selling the programmes, inside a large canvas money bag, she carried it off with her.

  “I'll be back soon.” She gave me a quick smile and disappeared into the crowd.

  “Can I have one of those please?” A girl's voice pulled me back to the stall. At first I didn't recognise who she was, as she handed me £2. She wore a friendly smile as I took her money and handed her a programme. Then I saw the twins standing behind her, looking in opposite directions. “Thanks Erin!” I blushed when she emphasised my name. Then she turned away with her hair flipping behind her, the purple and blue stripes dazzling in the sunlight.

  Wow! She knows my name. I sat down on one of the chairs behind the stall. I wonder if she knows about me bumping into her brother every Friday night? I wasn't sure. I was surprised that she even knew my name.

  “Erin,” Ms Forrester appeared next to me. “I think I can handle the rest of this now. You go and enjoy yourself and watch your sister. I hear she just won the 200 metres.” I wanted to squeal with delight when she told me this. I was also disappointed that I had missed it. “If you hurry, you'll catch her running the next race.” She said as she picked up my rucksack and handed it to
me.

  “Thanks Miss!”

  “No. Thank you!” She smiled, “I'll see you tomorrow.”

  I really like Ms Forrester. From day one she'd never judged me. She saw past my birthmark and saw me as the person, deep down, I felt I was.

  I quickly hurried through the crowds to where I'd left my Mum. Now my Dad was standing next to her. I had just stood next to them when Kasey-Ray started her race, not giving me enough time to say hello to my Dad, as I jumped up and down. Again my sister came first, but only just. Later I was to be told that it was by 0.4 seconds.

  It was her final race and her form were cheering wildly, sure they had finally won this year, but they would have to wait until all the events had finished and points added up.

  Just as Kasey-Ray walked off the track and before we walked round to congratulate her, I was able to watch Jessica win her race, and by a large margin too. Our form didn't seem to cheer as loudly as Kasey-Ray's had. Maybe it was because they were used to her winning and I was sure that if she and Kasey-Ray were to race, that she would leave my sister standing. What was scary was that even though Jessica had won by such a large margin, it didn't look like she was even trying. I shivered at the thought as my Dad put his arm around my shoulder to steer me towards my sister.

  “Hi Dad.”

  “Hi sweetie,” he kissed the top of my head. “You been busy?”

  “It's been non-stop.” I nodded, but I hadn't felt like today was a chore. I would probably enjoy doing this every day, rather than doing lessons.

  “Dad!” Kasey-Ray shouted excitedly. “Did you see me?” She looked like she was waiting for him to say no, disappointment ready to make her cry.

  “Of course sweetie. I got here to see you do the 200 metres.” He leaned forward to kiss my sister.

  “Everyone reckons our form has won.” She looked like she thought so too.

  “Well how about we get take-out to celebrate?” He asked.

  “Chinese?” She beamed as he nodded “Yay!”

  Just then Mr Jenkins announced he would be starting to call the names of those students who came first and that they should come up to the stand in the centre of the track to collect their certificates. He slowly called the names of the students from year one, followed by each year after that. I did notice that Jessica had won a total of 7 events. I don't think I'd ever seen one person win so many.

  Once all the students had received all of their individual certificates, it was time to announce which forms had won.

  “After I have announced which form has won the trophy and name plaque, I would like that year to carry their chairs into the sports hall and back to your form rooms.” His voice boomed loudly over the speakers. “Please do this in an orderly fashion and do it quietly.”

  Then he announced the year one winning form, then the second. We all stood there, nervously, as year two carried their chairs, as we waited for Mr Jenkins to announce Kasey-Ray's year.

  When he finally did announce the form that had won, there was confusion at first. It was tied, and all was quiet. Kasey-Ray was the first to start clapping and cheering. Their form had finally won. Even though it was shared by two forms, Kasey-Ray's form had never won before, so that was a victory in itself. They would get their name on a plaque, outside Mr Jenkins's office. There was still only one trophy, so it would be shared by each of the form rooms, taking it in weekly turns.

  There was no surprise when it was announced that my form had won. I lightly clapped my hands, but not as enthusiastically as I did when Kasey-Ray's form had won.

  That night exuded happiness and excitement. We had our take-out and when it was time for bed, I was beaming. I'd never felt so happy and proud of my family, as I did right then.

  Chapter 7