Eight-Wheel Wonder by Jake Maddox

Author:Jake Maddox [Maddox, Jake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: athletes; chapter books; character education; realistic fiction; SEL; sports; sports stories; sportsmanship; young readers; speed skating; roller skating; Black girl character
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2022-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

The next day at the track, Kadijah and her friends waited for Trini to arrive.

“I wonder what Trini’s surprise will be?” asked Zoey.

“Whatever the surprise is, I’m ready. The preliminaries for the tournament are next week, and I can’t wait to show everyone what I can do!” Kadijah said confidently. “Hey, there’s Trini!”

“It looks like she’s brought some friends with her,” said Zoey as Trini and three others walked up to them.

“Hey guys, these are my friends Corey, Stacy, and Ivy,” said Trini. “They’re speed skaters too. This is KC, Zoey, and my baby cousin, Damon,” she teased.

Damon made a face at Trini, and Trini and her friends laughed.

“Nice to meet you all,” said Kadijah. “So Trini, what’s the surprise?”

“The surprise is we’re going to have a trial race, and you’re going to race against me and my friends. It’ll be just like a real race, cuz none of us are going to hold back,” Trini said.

Stacy chimed in. “Practicing with older kids will give you the advantage for your race next week with your age group.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s line up and race!” Kadijah said, rolling back and forth on her skates as if revving her engine.

“First race is going to be four hundred meters, or four laps around the track,” Trini said as the racers gathered at the starting line.

“Count us down, Zoey!” Trini said.

“On your mark, get set… go!” screamed Zoey, and the skaters took off.

Kadijah sped up as quickly as she could. The group was bunched together at first but then began to spread apart. Halfway through the first lap, Kadijah was in last place, trailing Stacy.

Remember what Trini taught you. Stay low, lean forward, and draft to conserve your energy. Then kick into high gear and pass!

Kadijah settled into her position and stride as she caught up to Stacy and tucked in behind her to draft.

Okay… we’re coming up on the turn… ready… punch it!

Kadijah kicked into high gear and passed Stacy to move into fourth place. Three laps to go.

The other racers were very fast, and Stacy was on her tail, but Kadijah was determined to move up in the ranks.

In the next lap, she passed Corey and moved into third place. In the final lap, Kadijah came close to overtaking Ivy for second place, but Ivy pushed into another gear.

Kadijah watched hopelessly as Ivy and Trini crossed the finish line ahead of her.

But her disappointment didn’t last long. She had finished third! In her first practice race!

Kadijah was exhausted but elated.

The racers all high-fived each other.

“You blew me away, KC!” Stacy said, bending over and pressing on a stitch in her side.

Zoey and Damon ran over to the racers and handed them bottles of water.

“KC, you did great out there!” said Zoey. “Wait till you see the videos I took. You’re gonna be amazed!”

“You’re getting really good at drafting!” added Damon. “I’m gonna call you Stealth Lightning!” he said and made an electric zappp sound.

Trini looked at Kadijah. “You just raced against four very experienced high schoolers who have been speed skating for years.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.