"Yeah. He was pretty detailed about it. And other things too." She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, and again I noticed that cute grin, only this time she looked a little mischievous.
"Okay, spill. What else did he tell you?" I asked. Leave it to Stuart to go on about me. Sometimes he wouldn't talk and other times he talked non-stop. You never knew when the faucet would be turned on.
"For starters," she said, "you were the best basketball player on your team and the fastest runner and the captain. Oh, yeah, and your name was Sam. But really it was Samir because you were from somewhere far away."
"Um, I was born here," I said. "My parents are from Bosnia."
"Like me," she said. "Parents are from Vietnam, but I'm true blue Canadian." She snapped her fingers. "Oh yeah, he said you didn't have a girlfriend but you sort of did once but not for very long." Her lips were curled in amusement. "And Stuart was glad you didn't have that girlfriend anymore because she didn't like him."
Okay, although I was embarrassment personified, I still burst out laughing. Good ole Stuart with his lack of filter.
"He didn't leave much out," I said.
"Oh, I think he left a lot out." She wrinkled her nose and smiled at me.
CHAPTER ELEVEN STUART
"I've got a great idea," Sam said to me at lunch on Monday.
I had a tuna sandwich and it smelled gross. "You want to buy me fries?" I grinned at Sam.
"No fries. I think you should join the track-and-field team for real."
I stared at him. "Me?"
"Yeah. I went to talk to the coach today and he said if I came with you and helped you, he would love to have you join the team."
I'd seen all the kids outside on those days when I went to see Donny. I wasn't supposed to see him anymore. I could go to jail. That's what Declan told me. My parents told me to stay away from him, and Declan said that if I hung out with him I would have to live in a cell and my toilet would be in there and if I had a dump I would have to smell it.
"Would you like to go to track and field?" Sam asked.
"You'd come with me?" I asked.
Sam nodded. "We could even try it today after school. I could phone your mom and she could pick you up at a later time. Or make some arrangements for someone to pick you up."
I flipped over a few more cards because I liked the game we were playing. "Sure," I said. "I've got two aces. Ha ha. I beat you."
****
Sam found me after school and told me I was going to track-and-field practice. I'd forgotten. That was okay. We walked down the hall together. Now I was really going to track and field, and I was happy because I was going to get to run and maybe try those block things that the other kids use. I'd seen them on television because Andre De Grasse and Usain Bolt used them.
After I put on my gym clothes, I went outside with Sam and we walked over to the track. Before we got to the track, I saw a police car driving around by the recycling bins, going super slow. My parents said cops were going to monitor the school grounds. I hoped they wouldn't send me to jail. Declan said I might go to jail.
As we were walking over to the track, I saw Cecil. He was practising something called long jump where he ran as fast as he could, then jumped into a sand pit, and they measured how far he jumped with a measuring tape.
"Hey, dudes!" He gave Sam a playful punch on the shoulder. "Good to see ya out."
"Little Man here is going to see how he does at some of the running events," said Sam.
Cecil grinned at me and held up his hand and I smacked it hard. "That's fantabulous!" Then Cecil pointed to the track, and Sam and I turned around. The track coach waved at Sam.
"I better get him over there," he said to Cecil. Then he turned to me. "We better go."
"Run hard!" Cecil grinned at me and gave me a thumbs-up.
"I will," I said, and did the same thing.
As we walked away from Cecil, Sam asked me, "You know Mr. Rossi, right? He's the coach."
I didn't know Mr. Rossi, but I'd seen him in the hallways. I hoped he was nice and not a yelling kind of teacher. The yelling teachers always made me do things I didn't want to do.
"He runs most of the track events," said Sam, "and I think you'll do well at the 100 and 200—or maybe even 400."
I followed Stuart, but couldn't help staring at everyone. Stuff was going on everywhere, all over the place. Kids were high-jumping, and some were throwing the discus and shot put. I was staring so much I tripped over a bag.
"Focus," said Sam.
I nodded.
When we got to Mr. Rossi, he said, "Good to see you out, Stuart."
"Will I get to pop out of the blocks?" I asked. "Like Andre De Grasse or Usain Bolt."
"We are working on blocks today but how about we just get you running first, okay? I've got a bit of a program for you that I've given Sam. He can run you through it. You've started late and most of the other kids have been training for a few weeks already. The first school meet, to find qualifiers for the big city meet, is in a few weeks. You don't have a lot of time to train."
I didn't like that answer. "Why can't I work on the blocks?"
"I'll work with you on the blocks," said Sam quickly, "but just not today." He turned back to Mr. Rossi. "Would that be okay? I could maybe help him at lunch. Help him catch up."
"Let's just see how he does today," said Mr. Rossi. "I was going to run a few mock sprints, so let's have him join in."
Mr. Rossi handed Sam a piece of paper, then Sam had me walk over to the track but not where the other kids were practising on the blocks. I kept watching the other kids explode like rockets. That's what I wanted to do.
"First, you're going to run around the track once for warm-up," said Sam.
"That sounds boring," I said.
"Do you know how many boring things I had to do before I became a good basketball player?" Sam made a circle in the air with his finger. "Way you go. But not full speed, okay? It's just for warm-up."
"Okay." I took off running and although I really wanted to just run as fast as I could, I didn't. I did what Sam said. When I came around the corner of the track, I saw him waiting for me, so I started to run a little faster.
"Good," he said when I stopped in front of him. I wasn't breathing hard at all.
Next, he stretched with me and that was boring too, but I made it fun by picking little blades of grass. He made me hold the stretches, especially the ones that he said stretched the back of my legs and my thighs. He said the back of the legs were ham-somethings.
Then I had to jog on the spot with my knees high, which was stupid because I wasn't going anywhere. I kept watching the kids on the other side because they looked as if they were having way more fun than me.
"When are we going to do something fun?" I asked. I pointed over to the kids who were with Mr. Rossi. "Are we going to join them?"
"Yeah, soon," said Sam. "Mr. Rossi wants you to run against some of the other runners just to see where you're at. You get to race today! Let's just finish warming up alone."
"Okay," I said. "I get to race?"
"Sure do. But only if you keep warming up."
We did a few more things, like jump squats and something else that he called a mountain climb, but we weren't climbing any mountain that I could see. I sort of wished I was with Donny instead of at track because I got to play video games with him. Finally, Sam said we could go over to the other runners.
When we got over to where they were, Mr. Rossi called everyone in.
I was the smallest and skinniest.
"We're going to do a few sprints," he said. "First the 100, then the 200. Just for some simulation practice for the upcoming school meet."
"Can we use the blocks?" a boy asked.
Mr. Rossi looked at me and kind of squinted as if he was thinking. Then he said to everyone, "Since we just started to practise with them, how many of you want to try?"
Everyone put up their hand but me and another boy. So I put up my hand too.<
br />
"Okay. Why not?" Mr. Rossi pulled his clipboard out from under his arm. "Most of you can try. Stuart," he looked right at me, "since you didn't work with them today, I want you to race without them."
"Um, that's not totally fair to Stuart," said Sam. "That others get to use blocks."
"It's not our fault he's shown up late," muttered the boy beside me.
I heard someone else mumble, "As if blocks would help him."
"You shoulda let me use the blocks," I said to Sam.
"Shhh," he said.
"I'll take that into consideration when looking at the times," said Mr. Rossi.
Mr. Rossi gave us all a number and that number was our lane. There were enough kids in our age group to do three heats. We weren't going against the older kids because we were called the "juniors." I'm not very good at math so I had no idea how many were running, but I remembered that I was number six, so I should go to lane six, and Sam told me I was in the first heat.
As Sam walked me over to lane six, he asked me, "Do you know what a heat is?"
I shrugged.
"You are going to race against the first group of runners. Only three from your race will move on and race the final race. Do you understand?"
I shrugged again. "I have lane six."
"That's great you know that," he said. "Okay, so just run as fast as you can in this first race. If you come in the top three, you will get to race again."
I grinned. "Twice. That's cool." Maybe this could be fun.
"For sure. Just go as fast as Andre De Grasse."
"He's kind of small too."
"And stay in your lane, okay? Run straight. And listen for Mr. Rossi to say Go before you take off. He'll say, 'On your marks, set, GO.' You go on GO, okay?"
I nodded. I lined up in lane six. Suddenly, I felt all jittery because I was so excited. I stared straight ahead and saw the white lines. I'd watched the Olympics on television, so I knew how to run straight. I wasn't sure how to start but I crouched a little. Sam was still with me.
"Is this good?" I asked.
"For today, sure," said Sam. "Put one leg in front and one leg behind. And push off the back foot. Go low first then get to standing."
I stood up because crouching was hurting my legs. But then Mr. Rossi started talking and Sam whispered, "Get back in your crouch. Wait for the word GO."
Sam walked away. The guy beside me crouched because he was the only one who said he didn't want to use blocks. So, I did what he did. Stood with one leg forward and the other leg back and my arms ready to pump.
Mr. Rossi said, "On your marks."
I stared straight ahead.
Then he said, "Set!"
The white lines went all the way down the track.
"GO!"
I took off! Running. Running. Down the track as fast as I could go. At first, I was behind the boy beside me but I wanted to catch him, so I pumped harder and harder and I started to go by him. Faster. Faster. Faster. I crossed the line, but I couldn't just stop running. My legs were like a car trying to slow down without using the brakes. Finally, I slowed down and I had to catch my breath. I'd never run that fast before. I panted, breathing in and out. I'd never had to breathe like this before, after running.
Sam came over to me and patted my back.
"That was amazing!" He started to laugh, like he was kind of crazy. "You were incredible."
"Did I win?" I asked.
"You sure did! You killed it. I can't believe it." He glanced down the track toward the start line. "The next group is getting set up. Let's get off the track and walk you out. You'll be running again soon because you made it through to the next heat!"
I looked at Sam and saw this big smile on his face, just like when he won a basketball game. "You're happy," I said.
He tilted his head when he looked back at me. "Yeah," he said. "Funnily enough, I am. Come on, we've got to get you ready."
We walked around and he told me to keep shaking out my legs, and he also made me stretch. When we heard Mr. Rossi yelling GO, we stopped to watch the other runners. I saw a boy running who didn't like me very much (once he stuck out his foot and tripped me when I was running in the hallway), and he came third. Sam told me he would be in my next race.
"I don't want to stand by him," I said.
"Why not?"
"He doesn't like me."
"That's okay," said Sam. "Who cares?" He leaned in to me and whispered, "I bet you can beat him."
"What if he trips me?"
"I'll make sure he doesn't."
We watched for a little longer and then Sam's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the number.
"Is it my mom?" I asked.
"No. It's Bethany. Do you remember her from the I Can Play event?"
I tried to think back to that day.
"She was with the boy who ran fast like you," he said.
"Is she your girlfriend now?"
"No."
"Are you kissy-facing with her, like that cheerleader girl does with Smitty from your basketball team? He got so mad at me the other day and told me to stop staring at them kissing even though I wasn't."
"No, I'm not," he said. "But…I wish." He kind of muttered that last part but I still heard him. The phone stopped ringing.
"How come you didn't talk to her?" I pointed to his phone.
"I'm with you right now. I'll talk to her later," he said. "How about if I send her a text and tell her you're running. She'll understand." He sent the text then put his phone back in his pocket.
I liked that. It made me feel good inside that he was my friend again. I reached out and hugged him and he patted my back, but then he pulled away.
"We need to get you focused again." Sam looked away from me and at something on the other side of the track.
Was it Donny? He wasn't supposed to come around because the cops were cruising. I didn't want to go to jail. I turned to see what Sam was looking at and I saw Cecil walking toward us, looking like he was finished his long jumping already.
When Cecil got closer he raised his hand high in the air. I jumped to smack it.
"Way to go, Little Man. You cleaned up."
"He's got another race to do," said Sam.
"They doing 200 too?"
"Think so," said Sam. "But first they're doing the 100 again. He's made it to the next round." Sam held up his thumbs like he was super excited for me.
"How come you're not running this year?" I asked Cecil. He ran last year and won a medal.
"I'm focusing one hundred percent on b-ball, dude. Just gonna do the long jump for fun and 'cause Mr. Rossi asked me to. Good for points for the school. He wants to win the city trophy this year." Cecil grinned at me. "How many events you going in, Little Man?"
"I dunno."
"I'm thinking he'll clean up in 400 too," said Sam.
"How far is that?" I asked.
"Once around the track," said Sam. "You might be a natural because you can run forever."
"Will I do that one today too?" I asked. I started counting all these races on my fingers. Sounded like a lot.
"Maybe. Just focus on one race at a time." Sam waved to someone across the field, then he said, "Mr. Rossi is calling us over now."
"I'll watch," said Cecil. "Go fast, Little Man."
Sam and I walked over to where Mr. Rossi stood with his clipboard.
"Stuart," he said, "you're in lane six again."
I nodded. Sam said thanks to Mr. Rossi and we walked to the start line again.
"Just do what you did last time," said Sam.
"As soon as he says GO, I run in a straight line."
"That's it, that's all," said Sam.
The boy who tripped me in the hallway was in lane 5 and I didn't want to be beside him. "I don't want this lane," I said.
Sam leaned into me to talk to me. "I specifically asked Mr. Rossi for the same lane as last time to make it easier for you," whispered Sam.
"I don't want him to trip me.
" I jerked my head to the boy beside me. "Don't worry, he won't." Sam leaned in again and whispered. "Just focus on running."
"I don't want to run beside him," I said loudly.
This time Sam took my shoulders and moved me away from the boy. "I'm going to give you two choices," he said. "Run with him beside you. Or don't run at all. And if you don't run, you won't be able to win. What do you want to do?"
I was always supposed to pick. Choose. I did want to run because I did want to win again.
"I'll run beside him," I said.
When Sam was leaving I heard him talk to the boy beside me. "Don't even think about it," he said to him.
Again, I lined up and tried to do that crouch thing that helped me last time. When Mr. Rossi yelled GO, I took off again, running, arms pumping, legs striding forward. I passed the guy who tripped me but not the guy on my other side. He kept pushing harder and harder and I kept trying to catch him, but I just couldn't get him and then we crossed the finish line.
This time my legs were shaking. I thought I might collapse on the track but instead I bent over, and everything was all blurry for a second. I felt a hand on my back and I stood. Sam was beside me and Cecil had come over too.
"How'd I do?" I asked.
"Third!" Sam sounded excited even though I didn't win. "You've hardly practised. I mean, you're raw, so that's amazing."
A Time to Run Page 10