Alexis's Cupcake Cupid (14 page)

Once we got used to the faster pace, Coach told us to start walking while we did high knees. We high-kneed our way around the track.

“We look like prancing ponies,” I said, giggling again. Hana and Natalie started giggling too.

“You'll get used to it,” Hana promised.

After we completed a lap around the track, we lined up at the starting line. I didn't feel too winded, but I could feel a slight burning in my legs. I guess I was developing those muscle groups!

I thought high knees was a pretty silly exercise, but then it got even worse.

“Okay,” Coach Goodman said. “Time for butt kicks!”

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked.

“Yup,” Natalie said with a nod.

For the butt kicks, we had to keep our backs straight, facing forward, and kick back our heels so that they almost touched our butts.

Now, I can tell everyone that track practice kicked my butt!
I thought, and then I burst out giggling. Coach looked over at me and raised an eyebrow, and I turned my attention back to kicking my butt.

When we finished the butt kicks, things got even weirder! We did this thing called high skips, where we had to basically skip as we ran while swinging arms.

“This is great training that will help you push off at the start of a race,” Coach Goodman explained as we collapsed into giggles after having finished a lap of high skips. I mean, we looked pretty ridiculous! But even though it was weird, I realized I was having fun.

We did the drills all over again—high knees, butt kicks, and high skips. As we were skipping around the field again, the boys started to come onto the
field. Their practice started right after ours.

I was high-skipping down the track when George, my sort-of boyfriend, walked up to the fence in his blue track uniform. He's on the boys' team, and that was one more reason I joined the girls' team. He told me how much fun it was. Plus, he pointed out that we could spend time with each other at the meets. It made me really happy when he'd told me that.

“Hey, look! It's Silly Legs!” he called out.

I wasn't expecting him to call me out like that, and I tripped over my own feet, catching myself before I could fall down. Then I stuck out my tongue at him and kept going.

I wasn't offended by what he said. George and I have known each other since elementary school. I'm a terrible volleyball player, and he used to tease me by calling me “Silly Arms” in gym class whenever we played. Once I realized he wasn't trying to be mean, the nickname didn't bother me.

But having him yell out “Silly Legs” like that—especially on my first day of track practice—threw me off a little bit. I kept skipping, but I knew I wasn't doing it perfectly. I also knew George was watching me, and I started to feel kind of self-conscious.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SIMON SPOTLIGHT

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

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First Simon Spotlight paperback edition February 2015

Copyright © 2014 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Jacket design by Laura Roode

Jacket illustrated by Abigail Halpin

Jacket illustrations copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Text by Elizabeth Doyle Carey

Chapter header illustrations and design by Laura Roode