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"Well, at least you wore tennis shoes," he said and motioned h a door that led outside to a football field surrounded by a track In spite of the sun being up, a thin fog clung to the field

"I’ the fifty-yard dash today, followed by hurdles You ever done hurdles?"

"No, sir Never done the fifty-yard dash, either," I infor the barely visible hurdles set up on the far side of the misty track My stomach started to flutter

I turned to Coach, prepared to explain that I had most definitely been dumped into Track and Field by mistake, but as I openedaround his neck

A sym shorts, hoodies, and sneakersaround the bleachers They began lining up at a line painted across the track

"Maggie, put your bag down and join the other students," Coach said gruffly

I slipped the empty duffle from my shoulder and lined up with the other students They studiedon my jeans I felt more out of place here than I ever had before One pair of eyes caught and held er O’Connell He nodded as if to say hello I sed and looked away

Coach hustled fifty yards down the track, put the whistle to his lips, and fiddled with a stopwatch The whistle pealed out and the students burst into action, leaving me in their dust I blinked, realized I was supposed to be running, too, and dugtoit with a sheen of round, and within two seconds I had caught up to the track team Then I passed them All of the the curve of the track, , when bullies weren’t afterAnd I liked it

As the first hurdle solidified out of the mist, I leaped and soared over it The second hurdle was the saround when I landed, took a step, and leaped over the next And the next, until I’d gone all the way around the track

I couldn’t stop grinning as I skidded to a stop a few yards from Coach and the tea the fifty-yard dash, not hurdles" My sbefore?"

"No, sir" I panted "Except when I’d run away froirls at my old school They couldn’t catch me"

He studied ie, let’s have you and Bridger go to the start line and race the fifty-yard dash again"

I looked at Bridger and caught the tail end of a scowl scurrying over his face

"You afraid she’s going to beat you twice, O’Connell?" Coach taunted

"Not likely," Bridger said, running a hand through his glossy black hair

As Bridger and I walked to the start line I studied his long, ht I don’t kno I beat hier positioned his toe just at the start line, touching his fingertips on the track, and stared straight ahead I stood with bothat my sides, and listened for the whistle And when it blew, I took off

I never saw Bridger, even in my peripheral view As I approached Coach I saw the stopwatch in his hand, heard the rhyth until I crossed the finish line and his thumb clicked down on it But of course that would have been ridiculous, hearing the stopwatch, withup and down and hollering, punching the hand holding the stopwatch into the air over and over again "You set a new school record!"

"Are you serious?" I asked, completely dumbfounded I kneas fast, had learned to be out of necessity, but setting a new record?

"She beat the school record! She beat your dad’s thirty-year-old record, Bridger!" Coach hollered "I can’t believe it!"

Bridger stood just past the finish line with his hands on his knees and his head down, breathing hard and studying me out of the corner of his eye The rest of the team hovered around Coach and his stopwatch A couple were ser andI’d lead the school to victory

We never raced hurdles that day Instead, Coach had me individually race the fifty-yard dash with every person on the team Twice I beat the a hand onyour gy to catchtraveled fast Inabout it before I sat down Anda new school record was like infecting everyone with head lice

At lunch, I looked for Bonnie and found her looking forthan sitting alone at lunch while everyone stares at you

"Hi!" Bonnie chi?"

I scowled Mrs Carpenter and I had cootten about my lunch and I didn’t have a di her tray The cafeteria was serving tacos, applesauce, Jell-O, and cookies My sto this ?"

"No I’ row of noisy tables where the seniors sat Bonnie sat on the second-to-last seat at a narrow rectangular table, and I filled the last Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at Bonnie and irl I was telling you guys about From Albuquerque? I told her she could sit with us"