Azita and Me by Sarah Martin

Author:Sarah Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silverbird Publishing

It’s the day of the junior school’s athletics. Azita and I still haven’t worked out how to get video into our project, although I’ve already asked Joel if he can do it for us, when we decide what to do, and he’s agreed.

The last few days have been hectic. Everyone has been training hard—there’s running races, 50 metres sprint, the 100 metres sprint and hurdles, javelin, discus and relay races. The most important event is the 200 metres race, not quite a sprint but I’ve been training between Azita’s house and mine after school and I reckon I can run it full bore, like a sprint. That’s the one I’ve been training for, and I know it’s the one that Melissa will be planning to win. I haven’t decided yet how I will race, to try to win it, or to let Melissa win.

In the afternoon we gather on the sports field. Miss Robinson, our sports teacher, has put us all in relay teams, and I can see that Azita is excited but nervous.

‘What do I do if I drop the baton?’ she whispers to me.

‘You won’t!’ I try to be encouraging. ‘But if you do, just pick it up and keep running! And you know what?’ She looks enquiringly at me. ‘You won’t be the first to drop the baton, heaps of people do it, even really good runners, so don’t worry!’

Just then Jade plonks herself down on the grass beside us. She drinks from her water bottle, spits the water out and it splashes on Azita’s legs. It looks like it was an accident. Azita looks at her in astonishment. ‘Losers,’ Jade laughs, ‘the lezzo and the terrorist, what a combo!’

A shadow falls across us. It’s Melissa walking past slowly, half looking at us but not enough to catch anyone’s eye. I see at once what she’s doing. She’s set Jade up to mess with me. It’s not directed at Azita at all. It’s a warning to me not to beat her in the 200-metre race. I look across at the grandstand—our school is pretty posh and there is a small grandstand for the parents to watch us from. I can see Mum sitting there, chatting with another mother. She has managed to get time off to come to the sports. Jeanette never comes to school events. I know she would like to, but they decided it might be difficult for me, so they don’t make a show of themselves at school events, and most of the other parents probably think, if they think about it at all, that Mum is a single mother. Mum is far more competitive sports-wise than Jeanette. She does Masters swimming and trains a lot for that. I know she has high hopes of me winning this race since I’ve been training for it. I sigh. It’s so hard to please everyone.

The 200 metres is the last race of the day. Azita has run her relay, and has flopped down beside me, happy that she didn’t drop the baton.

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