Just a Drop of Water by Kerry O'Malley Cerra

Author:Kerry O'Malley Cerra
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

. . . . . . . . . .

The team is stretching out and Coach pats me on the back as I take the clipboard and stopwatch from him. When Kirk sees his mom, he breaks from the group to go over to her.

I quickly get everyone’s attention and huddle them in. “Listen, you guys were all at the funeral yesterday. You know how important this race is for Kirk, right?”

They nod.

“I’m sorry Coach won’t let me run today.” I look at him and he shakes his head, but I could swear he’s kind of smiling, too. “And you can see that Sam’s not here, but it doesn’t mean you guys can quit.”

As I talk, Palmetto’s team heads toward the starting line. Tyler waves at me and smirks; I want to tie his shoes together and dangle him from a tree. This is all Bobby’s fault. Out of the corner of my eye, Mrs. Steiner kisses Kirk on the forehead and he’s about to head back over to us.

“Kirk’s running this for his dad. You should run it for Kirk. It means everything to him and the team has to stick together. You got this.”

Coach nods at me and Kirk’s back in the circle now. When we raise our hands in the air, Kirk’s captain armband shines in the sun, and I hope it’ll bring him luck.

“Mangrove on three,” I yell. “One, two, three.”

“Mangrove!”

The team scatters to the starting line. Tyler sees me walk away from the start and even though the gun’s about to sound, he runs over to me. “Wow, too scared to run against me, Jakey?”

My blood’s like lava rushing through my veins. Instantly, I start limping. “Nope, just an injury, but you’re going down next time. I hope you’re ready.”

He laughs. “Right, an injury. That’s pretty convenient. It won’t be as fun winning today knowing you’re on the sideline, but I’ll take it. See ya next time.”

The gun goes off and so do the runners. I calculate in my head how I can stick to my plan: dump water on Tyler in the woods and still make it back to the finish line for scoring without Coach noticing. I could run straight across the field and catch Tyler near the halfway mark. I’m already looking around for a cup as the plan unfolds in my head. I rush over to the water cooler and am just about to dart for the woods when I hear, “Is something wrong?” Mom’s standing at the fence, eyes all puzzled.

I thought Mom might be too upset about everything to even show up today, but I should’ve known better. The last thing I need is her going off the deep end about the whole Bobby situation. So I lie. “It’s just a pulled muscle from not running enough these last few days. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“I’m glad it’s nothing serious.” She’s totally buying it. “We’ll put a heating pad on it when we get home.”

I want her out of here quick, just in case someone tips her off about the locker room scene.

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