by April Marcom
“I think that’s him,” Sassy said, pointing to a third rider with a long branch in one hand, who was moving toward the tree from a different direction a lot faster than the other rider.
Right before the girl reached the tree, Roman disappeared under the branches and a different body flew out from under them. When he shot through the other end of the undergrowth, the girl reached out to high five him and then they were going in opposite directions.
“Wait. How’s he supposed to go to that volcano thing tonight if he has practice?” I asked.
“His coach’ll probably give him the night off to show around a new student,” Sassy said. “He’ll be paying for it for days, though.”
I flinched when a brassy voice said, “You must be Kristine,” right in my ear. A man with meaty arms that looked strange compared to his scrawny legs now stood beside me.
I nodded.
“Hey, Coach Beckham,” Sassy said. “What are we doing today?”
“That depends on Kristine. Do you want to run through some tests to see if you have any physical abilities we can use in the competitions?” he asked me.
“Not really. It would be a waste of time,” I said, hoping he would let it go. “I don’t have any abilities like that.”
“Then we’ll stretch and run some laps.” We followed him to a group of ten girls who were standing in an open field area.
After stretching, Coach had us line up against the wall at the starting point of a three-man racetrack. Two of the walls were lined with a series of tracks on the floor. Three groups went ahead of us, and then it was Sassy, Harmony, and me. We lined up with Harmony in the middle and me closest to the wall.
“Just run to the fifty mark and back, girls,” Coach said before he blew his whistle.
We smiled at each other as we took off, none of us really trying very hard. Harmony leaned forward and ran faster. Sassy and I did the same. And then we were racing.
My feet pounded against the ground as I pushed myself as hard as I could. Both girls disappeared behind me. I was winning! And we weren’t even halfway to the fifty mark. When I reached it and let my feet slide as I turned on the spot, I realized how far ahead I was. I might even reach the starting line before they got to the fifty. I felt a surge of satisfaction.
But what if they’re not even trying? That had to be it. I felt silly. So I let myself slow down and jogged the rest of the way. Everyone was staring at me, which made me extremely self-conscious.
“You’re really fast,” a girl said in a British accent when I got to the end.
“Thanks.”
When Sassy and Harmony reached us, Coach said, “Twenty leg lifts, twenty squats, twenty crunches. Kristine, come with me.”
As we walked, I wondered if it was possible to get in trouble for making such a fool of myself. We kept close to the wall until we reached three girls who were jumping from one foot to the other, picking up their knees as high as they could each time.
Coach went up to the Japanese woman watching them nearby and whispered with her for a few seconds. She blew her earsplitting whistle, which was even worse than Coach Beckham’s, and waved the girls over.
“Rose, you’re racing against Kristine,” the woman told the tallest girl, who had shiny red hair pulled back into a bun. Then she turned to me. “Rose is our fastest runner. If you can beat her, you’re on the track team. We desperately need another sprinter. No offense, Adora, but you’re really built for the long runs.”
“Is okay, Coach Ling. I know I am bad sprinter,” one of the other girls said in another accent.
“I’m sorry,” I began. “I don’t really want to join a team. I just got here.”
“We can talk about that after you race with Rose. Join her at the starting line, please.”
I really didn’t want to do it, but I followed the super-thin redhead to the nearest starting line.
“It would be pretty crazy if you beat me,” Rose said. “I don’t want to sound like I have a big head or anything, but I’ve never been beaten.”
“Then it’s probably not going to happen today. I was just racing with my roommates and I’m pretty sure they were going really slow so it looked like I was going fast.”
“Maybe, but Coach Beckham’s trained to weed out fresh talent. He knows what he’s doing.”
We turned at the finish line and waited.
“All right, girls, to the fifty line,” her coach called out. Then her terrible whistle was ringing in my ears and I was pushing myself as hard as I could. I didn’t want to join the team, but I did want to win. Rose pulled ahead of me for a second and then I pulled ahead of her.
Instead of focusing on where she was, I zoned in on the fifty mark and concentrated on pushing every part of my body to carry me to it as fast as it could. Everything else bled together until all I saw or thought of was the big white fifty up ahead. All I could hear was my own heart beating.
And then I was there. I slowed down and looked back as Rose reached it second. I couldn’t believe it. I beat the fastest girl in North Haven, and I’d never even been in a race. It felt great, exhilarating, like I’d just won an Olympic gold medal.
“You beat me.” Rose stopped and stared at me in amazement.
I shrugged, feeling totally out of breath. “Weird.”
Both coaches were running toward us, looking way too excited. Maybe I should have let her win. “That was amazing,” Coach Ling said. “You have to join the North Haven Tracers. We need you.”
I glanced at Rose to make sure she wasn’t angry about the praise I was getting, but she smiled and nodded. “But if Rose has never been beaten, what do you need me for?”
“Something could happen to her, Heaven forbid. She could twist an ankle or come down with the flu. And if you haven’t even been training for this...imagine what you could do once you’ve had a little training.”
The other track girls were just reaching us and everyone was watching me expectantly.
I didn’t want to let them down, but I also didn’t want to spend every night and weekend day training to go race in front of two schools, which was enough to make me cringe inside. “I just got here this morning...Maybe next year?” I hated how disappointed everyone looked, but I really didn’t want to do it.
“Are you sure? These girls are a lot of fun and you could help guarantee this school the point awarded to the fastest sprinter in the Winter Competitions.”
“It’s a big deal to compete,” Rose said. “Not every student gets that opportunity.”
“Sorry,” I said.
“Please, I’d love the competition.”
“Let’s not pressure her,” Coach Ling said. “If she doesn’t want to join our team, no one’s going to make her. But if something does happen, could we count on you to step in for Rose?” she asked me.
“Sure.” But that wouldn’t happen, because what could go wrong?
“Let’s get back to our group then,” Coach Beckham said to me.
We rejoined the others and Harmony grabbed my arm. “You beat Rose Jennings. You beat her. I can’t believe it. Are you running track?”
“No, I don’t really want to join a team, at least not yet.”
“But you beat Rose Jennings. She’s the fastest girl there is. You’re a track star, Kristine.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks, but I don’t know about all that.”
“Everyone grab a jump rope,” Coach yelled. “You’re going to jump double time for the next ten minutes. Make sure you put plenty of space between you and everyone else.”
So we each grabbed a rope from the pile at the far corner of our square and the rest of second hour was too hard to even think about talking to either of my roommates. It didn’t take long to wear myself out completely. It felt great to have beaten the fastest girl at North Haven High...but man...physical fitness was not my thing...
Chapter Eight
~ Café Cafeteria ~
Cons in every pocket began buzzing when second peri
od was over. I jumped a mile, as I figured I would every time it happened until I got used to it.
We took an elevator up to the next floor. “See you at lunch,” Harmony said when we went down different hallways.
Sassy and I walked into a really cheerful room with giant yellow butterflies hung along the walls. Four tables seated the kids that were coming in. The teacher, Miss Rivers, was a string bean with pointy glasses connected to a loose chain that wrapped around behind her neck.
Since I was only there for three days, she told me to do whatever I wanted while the rest of the class did a worksheet focusing on some of the great artists of the past. I got into some yellow clay and made little flowers, which I sprayed with sticky stuff and dropped into a bowl of gold glitter. It was difficult with one hand heavily bandaged, but maybe when they dried I could use them to decorate my bed and wardrobe.
Then it was lunchtime. “Thank goodness. I’m starving,” Sassy said as we walked down the hall toward the elevators.
“Me too. Do they serve regular cafeteria food here, like chicken nuggets one day and pizza the next?”
“Eww.” Sassy laughed. “No, they put together a kind of soup, salad, sandwich buffet at lunch and a full-blown buffet from the time classes are over until lights out. That way you can eat whenever you’re ready.”
We stepped into an elevator with two other girls who were talking about what clothes they were packing for next week when we went south. It sounded like the white suits we were all wearing weren’t included.
I waited until we stepped out of the elevator onto the first floor to ask Sassy about it. “Where do kids get clothes from when they live way up here? You can’t go shopping, right?”
“Well, there’s a secondhand room where girls drop off clothes they don’t want anymore. You can take whatever you want from there. But most of the girls in our hall go to Miss McCree when they need anything and she helps them pick things out of catalogues and then takes care of ordering it and getting it to you. I’ve got a few catalogues in our room, though. We could look through them together after classes and make a list of what you want. Then I’ll give it over to her. You should have a few basic things in your wardrobe already, and you can always borrow our clothes until we get yours. It takes forever, so Miss McCree might actually have to try and figure out a way to get them sent to you in the Southlands.”
We walked through an opening into what looked more like a café than a school cafeteria. The walls were golden brown and red spheres hung from low ceilings over each circular table, providing the soft light that lit up the room. Four red padded chairs surrounded each table. A few kids had pulled two tables next to each other to seat more people together. It actually seemed pretty cozy, in spite of how big it was. It should have been called Café Cafeteria, I decided.
Two long, identical buffet trains were on either side of the entrance we’d walked through. I followed Sassy to get in line for the one on the left, since it was pretty short.
“What do you think so far?” Sassy asked me.
“I love it here.”
We each grabbed a plate and began piling food on it. No desserts, I noticed. “It’s a lot better at dinnertime,” Sassy said.
“There’s Nadine.” She pointed to a table before she stopped at a glass-front freezer at the end of the buffet that was stocked full of bottled water. We each grabbed one and headed for Nadine. “Headmaster keeps sugar out of our diet during school hours. He thinks we’ll be able to focus better, which is probably true.”
“Where’s Harmony?” Sassy asked Nadine as she sat down. “She usually beats us here.”
“Talking to Mr. Fielding about the Cinder-Haven dance. She said it’s the only activity we’re in charge of this year. Cinders are picking up the rest.”
“There’s going to be a dance?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Yeah, we have one every winter,” Sassy said. She suddenly put her hand over her mouth and gasped. “Oh my gosh. There’s a room full of ball gowns in the west wing and you’re the only one who hasn’t picked one out. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. We’ll pick one out together tonight, okay? I love doing dresses.”
“She can’t,” Nadine said. “She’s got a date with Roman.”
“Aw,” Sassy groaned.
“It’s not a date,” I said. “We’re just going to watch a show or something. You guys could come with us.”
“No, trust me. It’s a date.” Sassy gasped again. “We can look for a dress tomorrow night. Tonight I’ll give you a makeover and help you pick out what to wear.”
“That’s okay. I can go in this. I don’t really want to have to worry about makeup and hairdos.”
“Mind if I sit here?” someone said from behind me. I turned around as Roman set his plate and water beside me.
“Go ahead. I’ll get another chair for Harmony,” Nadine said.
Roman opened his bottle of water and drank a lot of it before he turned to me. “The show’s at six tonight. Do you wanna meet me here at five so we can eat first?”
“Sure.” Dinner and a movie? It really was a date. I was freaking out a little inside as Nadine set a chair down between herself and Sassy about the same time Harmony got there.
“Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late. Activities committee stuff, you know,” Harmony said.
“What’s the dance going to be like?” I asked.
“Well, the Cinders always have the dances and celebrations in this dark dungeony place. We were thinking medieval, maybe—like dragons and swords and stuff. Headmaster said we need to think of the southern school and its tastes since they did it for us when they put together the dance here last year, which kind of sucks, cause then nobody ever gets to put together the dance they want. It’s always for the other school.”
“Medieval sounds pretty cool,” Nadine said. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”
“Me too,” I added. It sure sounded better than a traditional pastels and punch bowl sort of dance.
“Hey, Fayre,” Rose called from the next table over. She was sitting with Adora from the track team and a couple of guys. With her long hair down now, she looked like some sort of super model. “Were you serious about joining the Tracers next year, or just trying to get Coach Ling off your back?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I honestly wasn’t sure.
“Just so you know, I think you should definitely join.” Rose turned back to the kids she was with.
“You’re thinking about joining the Tracers?” Roman asked me.
“I’ve been wondering, is that like their team name or something?” I asked, wanting to avoid the question.
“Yeah. They came up with that name for the girls’ track team when they started it years ago because they’re supposed to be so fast they leave tracers behind them.”
“Huh.”
Harmony set her sandwich down and stared at Roman. “Kristine beat Rose.”
Roman looked startled. He glanced at the table where the two runners sat. “Rose Jennings? Her?”
I shrugged.
“She’s the fastest girl there is. And you’re not sure if you’re going to join the Tracers? You could be team captain, like me.”
“I don’t want to be team captain. I want to be a regular student.”
“But there’re only a handful of captains in this school. It’s a major status thing, and you don’t want that?”
“I don’t know. Not yet.”
Sassy put her arm around me. “Leave her alone. She’ll run when she’s ready to.”
“I know, I just...” Roman shook his head and picked up his fork before he started eating his mostly meat salad.
“Who cares about status anyway?” Nadine said. “The competition’s just for fun.”
I was definitely with her on that. Life was meant to be lived, not wasted on worrying about what others think or things like social status.
We spent the rest of lunch eating and helping Harmony come up with ideas for the medieval dan
ce. I hoped Roman wouldn’t ask me to go with him, because I really didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
After that, Harmony and I went to English Composition. I nearly fell asleep during that one.
Math was fifth hour, but since that was canceled, Harmony and Roman showed me around the first floor. I wanted to go outside, but they said it takes forever to get dressed up warm enough for that and just as long to get undressed when you come back in, so I had to settle for a tour of the inside. But I made sure I got a good look at the winter wonderland through the giant windows beside the mountainous castle’s front doors. We explored the lounge, rec room, library, and auditorium, each one leaving me breathless at how vast and well-equipped it was. A person could spend their entire life on that floor and never get bored. It was kind of disappointing when our cons buzzed, letting us know it was time for sixth hour.
We headed up to the fifth floor, where all the classrooms were, and Harmony and I went to Advanced Zoology, which I fell in love with.
After that, Harmony and I went down to the cafeteria for some snacks and then up to our room.
“I’m gonna go shower,” Harmony said, reaching in the wardrobe at the head of our beds and pulling out a pair of jeans and a soft white sweater. “They’re at the end of the hall if you want to come with me. They’re all separated.”
“I’ll probably head down there in a few minutes.” I needed a shower, but I wanted to see what the basic clothes Sassy told me about were first. She and Nadine were nowhere to be found at the moment.
“All right, meet you back here.” Harmony left the room, so I went to the wardrobe at the foot of our beds and opened the two upper doors.
Inside, I found two pairs of jeans, a yellow skirt, a pair of white sweatpants, two beautiful blouses, and two sweaters. I couldn’t believe it. They were exactly what I would have chosen for myself. I smiled as I pulled open the two bottom drawers. The first had several pairs of socks and underwear, plus two more bodysuits, and the second had all the basic necessities—toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. I picked out a pair of jeans and the blue sweater with long sheer material wrapped around the waist, left to wave gently behind when I walked.
