Luke's POV
The next day at school, Kris and I discuss the cross country meet by our lockers.
"The course is 3 miles long. It usually takes me about sixteen and a half minutes. Sam usually takes about fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds. After the race, I'll show you where Sam is and you can best him at dancing. Got it?" Kris explains.
"I think so. How good is Sam?"
"I was better than him, kinda, but I'm pretty sure you're better."
"So what happens if I lose?"
"You won't lose. I have total faith in you."
"Gee, well if faith has everything to do with it, maybe I'll just have faith that I will ace the math test. Oh wait, there's one thing. I can't do math." Kris rolls her eyes.
"Whatever. He's not as good as you. I know that." The bell rings. "Just be there on time and don't do anything stupid okay?" And she walks off to her class.
A Few Days Later...
Today is Thursday. The cross country team is leaving to go to the meet. I go with Kris. I know where the park is, I just don't want to be late or have Jessie question where I'm going. She always wants details. And besides, if i were to go home, I would not want to leave, or Jessie may make me stay and finish my homework. (Which I don't actually do most of the time.)
The park is crazy. First there are kids playing, then there's our school team, and another three teams there, and people walking their dogs and other pets. It's really packed.
The race starts. Boys go first. They finish. Kris was about right with Sam's time. It was about fifteen minutes. That kid is fast. Then the girls run. Kris comes in second overall, her time around sixteen minutes. Impressive. Kris comes up to me, sweaty with a towel around her neck, carrying a black water bottle. The scores were tallied. Our school for girls got first, and the boys got third. The race was over. Kris's old school (for the boys) won.
"Nice race." I say.
"Eh, I could've done better. If only Darla didn't beat me." The two were super close at the end, running together most of the race. They started sprinting, and at the last second Darla pulled ahead. The two times's difference was 0.02 seconds. Like I said, it was super close.
"You still did great."
"There's Sam over there. Look, he's dancing, a victory dance probably. What a coincidence." she acknowledges.
"Yeah."
"Come on." she says, grabbing my wrist and dragging me over to Sam. When we reach him he's talking with some of the school's cross country team members.
"Yeah, I totally beat them, again. Ha!" he brags. Kris clears her throat. Sam turns around and looks at her grinning. "Oh, you again. The girl who couldn't run or dance. What do you want?"
"I'm here to show you what dancing looks like."
"You wanna know what dancing looks like?" he spins. "Well, you're looking at it." Wow. Someone's really confident.
"Actually, yes. But I want you to meet Luke. He's my friend at my new school. And, he's a brilliant dancer."
"Brilliant like you? If so, I don't want to see it."
"No, he's better than me-"
"Oo, shocker!" he whispers sarcastically. She punches him in the arm, hard.
"And he's way better than you." Sam starts to take interest.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah."
"Fine then. Let's see." He turns to me. "So, Freckle-face, can you do this?" he does a move. I roll my eyes.
"Pfft, amateur." I say. I do my own move.
"Oh really? You call that dancing?" He does another move.
"My nanny is better than you, and she sucks so bad." I do another one of my moves.
"Whoa whoa whoa, you have a nanny? That's so lame!" he says, doing another move.
"I guess I should have thought before I said that. Oh well." We go back to dancing. I have to admit, this Sam kid is good. But not as good as me. And I plan to prove it. Sure, I may have tied Kris, but she's different, no one else understands me like she does. Sam and I continue to compete. People have started watching us, but I mean, who wouldn't? Hello freckles and a good dancer. The perfect combination. The contest keeps on going. After what I think is about twenty-five minutes, I'm pretty exhausted. Sam seems tired too.
"Okay, Final Round. Whoever does the better dance combo wins." Sam says. "And I'll be going first. After I'm done, there won't be much of a show left." he smiles. I smile back. Clump nugget.
"Fine whatever. Ladies first." I answer. He glares at me. I shrug and smile. Sam begins his combo. It's impressive and looks pretty complicated. He finishes.
"So, uh, what is your name again?" he asks.
"Luke. Luke Ross."
"Yeah, Luke. So Luke, how does it feel to be crushed?"
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me after I'm done. I'm sure you'll have some first hand experience then." I start my combo. I do what I did with Kris. Gradually build up. Towards the end I'm flipping and doing all sorts of crazy things. I finish. Sam is staring at me. Then he looks at all the bystanders.
"So, citizens that I don't know, who do you think was better, Me, Sam? Or Luke, the other guy?" The people call out names.
"Sam! Sam!"
"Luke! Luke!"
"Okay, this is not working. So, when I call out either of our names, if you think that we won, clap as loudly as you can. Got it?" Nods from the crowd, and a few yeses. "Okay then. Sam!" Lots of clapping. I'm not so sure anymore. The clapping dies down when Sam lowers his hands. "And, Luke!" Tons of clapping. Lots of clapping. I think it's official. I think I won. Sam lowers his hands again. "Kris?" he says, looking at Kris. "Which group of clapping was the loudest?"
"Luke's. Definitely."she answers. Sam looks down in defeat.
"Yes!" I cry. "I can't believe it. I won! I mean, I was pretty sure I was going to win, but still, I WON!" I high-five Kris then pull her into a hug. She's seems kind of shocked and embarrassed at first, then wraps her arms around me too. We break apart. "Thanks Kris."
"For what?"
"You were the one who told me I could beat this kid. You believed in me."
"Yeah, 'cause you're just as good as me." she says. I smile. "By the way, I'm kinda hungry. It's five-thirty and I ran three miles earlier."
"And I just danced for nearly an hour. Okay, let's go get some food. Pizza?"
"Sounds great."
Sorry for the late late late update. There's just so much to do. Anyways, hope you enjoy!
