Dive Right In by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316093828
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-19T05:00:00+00:00

8

Since Traci had the next day off from diving, she agreed to go shopping with Valerie. Traci biked to Valerie’s house and they rode to the mall together. When they sat down at a snack shop in the food court, Valerie’s excitement was clear.

“I met my new coach and he’s awesome! What a difference from Jeff! This guy pumps you up when he just talks to you! He thinks I’ve got major potential, but says I’d better be ready for the hardest work I’ve ever done. And I’m like, ‘Sure! That’s what I want!’ And he smiles and goes, ‘I think you’ll do fine.’ I can’t believe it, it’s too good to be true.”

Traci felt happy for her friend and tried to show it, but her spirits were so low that Valerie couldn’t help noticing.

“You don’t look so great,” she said. “That coach still giving you a hard time?”

Traci shook her head. “It isn’t Margo. I don’t know. This may be a mistake.”

“What may be a mistake?” asked Valerie. “Working with Margo? I still think she’s—”

“I told you, it isn’t Margo. It’s me. I got my first chance to dive yesterday. Really dive, off a springboard. And I was awful.”

Valerie stared at her friend. “Trace, it was your first day. Hello? What did you think, that you’d ace it like a gold-medal winner the first time? I don’t believe you were awful. I think you were inexperienced. And it showed.”

Traci waved off Valerie’s explanation. “It wasn’t just that I didn’t dive well. When I got on that board, I was scared. I could barely get myself to move at all!”

“But you did dive, right?” Valerie asked.

“Yeah, I did—after Sophia, the assistant coach, gave me a pep talk. And I was the pits! I don’t have any talent for diving. If I can’t dive, and I can’t be a gymnast, I don’t know. I better forget about being an athlete altogether.”

“Whoa!” Valerie said, holding up her hands. “That sounds pretty extreme. Look, you had a bad day, and now you’re overreacting, that’s all.”

Traci laughed, but without humor. “I had a ‘bad day’? After all my years on the balance beam, it turns out I’m afraid of heights! On a one-meter board! What’ll I do on a three-meter board? Or a ten-meter platform? That’s not a ‘bad day,’ Val. That’s a total disaster!”

When Valerie started to laugh, Traci couldn’t believe it.

“I’m sorry, Trace,” Valerie said, still chuckling. “I’m just remembering when we started out in gymnastics class. We were terrified! Vaulting over a horse scared us, getting on a balance beam, even one that was barely above the floor, scared us! I started to cry, and you stood like a statue. Remember?”

Traci couldn’t help smiling. “Yeah, we were pretty pathetic. But we were little kids. Four years old! Sure, we were scared. I’m twelve now, and I shouldn’t feel that way.”

Valerie shrugged. “Why not? You’re doing something new. Did you say anything to Margo or Sophia about being scared?”

“Well, Sophia told me that most divers are that way at first,” Traci admitted.

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