Surviving High School (21 page)
Read Surviving High School Online
Authors: M. Doty
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction / Media Tie-In, #Juvenile Fiction / Social Issues - Friendship, #Juvenile Fiction / Social Issues / General
He put his hands on her shoulders. “So are you.”
“It’s true, Em!” said Kimi. “You were pushing yourself way too hard for months. You were exhausted when she beat you. Now you’ve actually caught up on sleep.”
“
All fifty-meter backstroke participants, please report to pool three!
” boomed a voice from overhead.
“You’ve got this, Emily,” said Ben. “You can do it.”
“Kick her pretty blond butt!” shouted Kimi.
Her dad gave her a silent nod.
Emily saw Dominique before Dominique saw her. She clung to the edge of the pool, her goggles already fastened, chanting her victory mantra. She didn’t break out of her trance until Emily splashed down in the lane next to her.
“Kessler?” she asked, her concentration clearly broken. “Are you wearing makeup?”
Emily touched her hand to her face, then looked at her fingertips and found them covered in running mascara.
“Consider it war paint,” she said.
“I heard you weren’t coming.”
“You heard wrong.”
“Not that it matters,” said Dominique. “You’re yesterday’s news anyway. Or haven’t you heard?
Swimmer’s Monthly
is doing a follow-up article, all about me. Apparently they just weren’t interested in you anymore.”
Emily fastened her goggles. “Then I’ll have to give them something to write about.” Emily clutched the underside of her starting block, and as she lifted her body slightly above the water, it felt almost weightless. She concentrated everything on the echoing voices above her as she waited for the sound of the starting horn.
When it blared, she was ready. She pushed off the wall and immediately went into her stroke. Nothing in her body hurt this time, and the movement felt effortless. Before she even knew it, she’d reached the far wall and was starting her turn. As she pushed off again, she caught a glimpse of Dominique to her left. They were dead even.
She reached back now with everything she had. On her periphery, she could sense Dominique matching her stroke for stroke. And then, just as they were about to reach the wall, Emily felt as if a pair of unseen hands were pushing her forward, helping to carry her those last few feet.
Maybe it was just her imagination, and she would never tell anyone about it, but in that moment she opened her eyes
and saw her sister’s face. She was about to say Sara’s name when she felt her fingers touch the wall.
She tore off her goggles and looked up at the times on the leaderboard. She saw Dominique’s time first: 28.0 seconds, just like last time. Dominique had matched her own national record.
Except that it wasn’t a national record anymore. A few inches up, next to Emily’s name, was the number 27.9.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” echoed the announcer’s voice. “For the second time in just a little more than two weeks, we have a new national record. Congratulations to Emily Kessler!”
As Emily pulled herself from the pool, her dad ran over to wrap her in a towel and give her a congratulatory hug. All around them, camera flashes erupted from the bleachers, capturing her triumph. The night was far from over—there would be a lot more races to come. But in this moment, she had won, and for the first time in years, she smiled for the cameras.
Many thanks to the
Surviving High School
writing team, who provided invaluable feedback through the creative process: Eric Dean, Royal McGraw, Andrew Shvarts, and Jennifer Young.
Thanks also to everyone at Electronic Arts who believed in this book and helped make it happen, especially Rob Simpson, Pat O’Brien, and Oliver Miao.
I’m very grateful, also, to our team at Little, Brown: Erin Stein, Pam Gruber, and Mara Lander. Thanks for all your hard work on behalf of our book!
Finally, thanks most of all to Kara Loo, writing team leader, editor, and fiancée extraordinaire.
Don’t miss the second book in the Surviving High School series,
Tired of playing the sidekick to her swimming-superstar best friend, Kimi Chen feels it’s time to step into the spotlight and secure her own place at the coveted center table of the cafeteria. But when a low-budget music video she made hits the Web and goes viral, forget about being just popular–Kimi is
famous
! Boys want to date her, girls want to be her, and she is even asked to perform on her favorite television show. Things are finally looking up! What could possibly go wrong?
Find out how Kimi’s stars align
May 2013.
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Electronic Arts
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN 978-0-316-22016-3
