we just do it the way we always do?” she called out. Coach Tar stopped and turned around to listen, but she didn’t look happy about it. “I mean, why can’t I just train with the rest of the girls? Because I am a girl,” Helen finished lamely.
“We’ve decided that you need to start pushing yourself more,” Coach Tar responded in a cold voice. Helen had always gotten the feeling that Coach didn’t like her much, and now she was sure of it.
“But I’m not a boy. It’s not fair to make me run cross-country with them,” Helen tried to argue. She jabbed two fingers into the spot between her belly button and her pubic bone.
“Cramps?” Coach Tar asked, a touch of sympathy creeping into her voice. Helen nodded and Coach continued. “Coach Brant and I have noticed something interesting about your times, Helen. No matter who you’re running against, no matter how fast or slow your opponents are, you always come in either second or third. How can that be? Do you have an answer?”
“No. I don’t know. I just run, okay? I try my best.”
“No, you don’t,” Coach said harshly. “And if you want a scholarship, you’re going to have to start winning races. I talked to Mr. Hergeshimer. . . .” Helen groaned out loud, but Coach Tar continued, undeterred. “It’s a small school, Hamilton, get used to it. Mr. Hergeshimer told me that you were hoping for an athletic scholarship, but if you want one you’re going to have to earn it. Maybe forcing you to match the boys will teach you to take your talent seriously.”
The thought of displaying her speed for the world to see had a physical effect on Helen. She was so afraid that she was going to get some kind of cramp or bellyache that she started to have a mini panic attack. She began to babble. “I’ll do it, I’ll win races, just please don’t single me out like that,” she pleaded, the words tumbling out in a rush as she held her breath to hold back the pain.
Coach Tar was a hard-ass, but she wasn’t cruel. “Are you okay?” she asked anxiously, rubbing Helen between her shoulder blades. “Put your head between your legs.”
“I’m okay, it’s just nerves,” Helen explained through gritted teeth. After catching her breath she continued, “If I swear to win more races, will you let me run with the girls?”
Coach Tar studied Helen’s desperate face and nodded, a bit shaken from witnessing such an intense panic attack. She let Helen go to the girl’s trailhead but warned her that she still expected wins. And more than just a few.
As she ran the trail, Helen looked at the ground. An academic scholarship would be great but that would mean competing with Claire for grades, and that was out of the question.
“Hey, Giggles,” Helen said, easily catching up. Claire was panting and sweating away already.
“What happened? God, it’s so hot!” she exclaimed, her breath strained.
“I think the entire faculty is trying to see if they can climb up onto my back at the same time.”
“Welcome to my life,” Claire wheezed. “Japanese kids grow up . . . with at least two . . . people up there. . . . You get used to it.” After a few more labored moments of trying to keep up with Helen, Claire added, “Can we . . . slow down? Not all of us are from . . . planet Krypton.”
Helen adjusted her pace, knowing that she could pull ahead in the last half mile. She rarely exerted herself in practice but she knew that even without trying hard she could easily finish first. That fact scared her, so she did what she usually did when the subject of her freaky speed came up in her head. She ignored it and chatted with Claire.
As the two girls ran down Surfside and out across the moors to Miacomet Pond, Claire couldn’t stop talking about the Delos boys. She told Helen at least three times that Lucas had held the door for her at the end of class. That act proved he was not only a gentleman but already in love with her as well. Jason, Claire decided, was either gay or a snob because he had only glanced at her once before quickly looking away. She also took offense at how nice a dresser he was, like he was European or something.
“He’s been living in Spain for, like, three years, Gig.