AN: This is written in the perspective of Gracey on her way to the state championships and the big race.
The train from Cunningham took a long time to reach Brisbane. A whole day and a whole night. I was okay as I slept through most of it. Dougy and Raymond mostly kept quiet but you should've seen mum. She was just sitting there staring out the window. You could've mistaken her for a statue.
When we got to Brisbane we just stood there in amazement staring up at all the buildings. When we finally found a whole bunch of taxis we went up to one and asked he driver to take us to Bandaroo hostel. He looked at us weirdly then barked at us if we had any money. We said yeah and then hopped in it. The ride to the hostel was pretty weird, no one talked the whole way. I just realized something funny, in Brisbane there wasn't much blacks at all. It was pretty weird, at our town there was lots of blacks, it didn't make any sense.
When we got there, there were hundreds of people waiting in the stands. I didn't know what to do, but finally I saw Mr. Jenkins and went up to him. He said that I was going to be in the 6th race. I went back to mum to tell her and got my shoes out. I then said goodbye to everyone and went to line up waiting for my turn. The races went by quickly and soon it was my turn. I put on my shoes and walked up. But at the last minute I had to take off my shoes-the spikes were too long. Oh well, I'd just have to run in bare feet. With my running shoes off I got ready to start. Bang!I was off and with no running shoes I was zooming, I won by about 10 metres. The officials told me to come back the next day for the State Championships.
It was the day for the Big Race. I was getting ready to go when I remembered that I didn't have any shoes. That would have to wait until we were there. When we got there I went up to Mr. Jenkins and he wished me good luck. I was walking back to mum when a lady came up to me. She asked me if I was Gracey and when I said yes she told me to take me to my mum. The lady then started babbling about some school. When she'd finished talking she looked at me then pulled out a really cool pair of shoes. She said that I could wear them in the race and that if I won then I could keep them. I said thanks and got ready to line up again. When I was in line I put my new shoes on and started stretching. A girl came up to me and asked me where I came from. I answered the bush. She wished me good luck in the race and went off. When the races started everyone hyped up a bit. I realized that the girl who had come and talked to me, which I knew now, was Tracey who was in my race. The starter's gun, shot and everyone was off. I was in the back at the start but was quickly gaining speed. I saw that Tracey was in the front. I put on an extra burst of speed and caught up to her. We were running for a tie when suddenly I burst forward and got past the finish line a moment before her. I had won the State Championships!
The End