Free Karate Katie by Nancy Krulik

Chapter 1
    “Hey, George, wait up!” Katie Carew called out as she ran toward her pal, George Brennan.
    Like Katie, George was dressed in his red and white Cherrydale Elementary School T-shirt. He also wore a pair of white shorts and sneakers. That was their track team uniform.
    “Hurry up, Katie Kazoo,” he answered, using the special nickname he had made up for her. “We can’t be late for the track meet.”
    “I’m coming!” Katie hurried faster toward George.
    But instead of waiting for her, George began to run. “Last one to the field is a rotten egg!” he shouted.
    “George, wait! Your sneaker’s untie—”
    Before Katie could even finish the word, George tripped over his shoelace. He fell face-down into the dirt.
    “Nice one,” Evan, one of the fifth-graders on the track team, teased as he ran past.
    George blushed as he sat up. He didn’t say anything while he tied his shoelace.
    Just then, Kevin Camilleri, George’s best friend, came walking over.
    “What are you doing down there?” Kevin asked George. “Aren’t you going to the track meet this afternoon? You’d better get over to the field.”
    George looked up at his best friend. “How about you?” he asked Kevin. “The meet starts in a few minutes. Why aren’t you in your uniform?”
    Katie had been wondering the same thing. Kevin was on the track team just like she and George were. But instead of his team T-shirt and shorts, Kevin was wearing his white karate uniform. He had a bright yellow belt around his waist.

    “You can’t run dressed like that,” George said. “Coach Debbie’s going to be so angry when she sees you.”
    “I’m not going to the track meet,” Kevin told him.
    “But you have to,” Katie interrupted. “Everyone on the team is supposed to be there.”
    “I’m not on the team anymore,” Kevin told them. “I gave Coach Debbie a note from my mom this morning.”
    “You quit the team?” Katie couldn’t believe her ears.
    Kevin nodded. “I had to. My karate class is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The track meets are on Thursdays. I couldn’t do both. So I picked karate.”
    George jumped up. “Well, un - pick it!” he exclaimed. “You and I are supposed to run in the relay race today.”
    Katie looked over at George. His face was all red. He sounded really angry. Not that Katie blamed him. George had really been looking forward to running in the relay race with Kevin.
    But Kevin didn’t seem to care. “So what?” he asked with a shrug. “You can still run. Coach Debbie will just put someone else in for me.”
    George shook his head. “That’s not the point!” he declared. “We’ve been practicing for weeks. We have the baton handoff down perfectly.”
    “Sorry, dude,” Kevin said. “But I have karate today! This is my first class as a yellow belt. I just passed the promotion test last week. Boy, was it hard. I had to learn all these new forms, and break two pieces of wood!”
    Katie watched as Kevin fingered his bright yellow belt. He was obviously very proud of having earned it.
    “Big deal,” George moaned. “A yellow belt. Yellow like chicken feathers. That’s perfect. You’re a chicken, too. You’re chickening out of the race.”
    “Am not!” Kevin shouted.
    “Are too!” George shouted back.
    Just then, a car horn started beeping. Kevin’s mom had arrived. “Hurry up, Kevin,” Mrs. Camilleri shouted. “You don’t want to be late for karate.”

    “I sure don’t!” Kevin agreed. He turned and ran over to the car without even saying good-bye to George and Katie.
    “I can’t believe he did this to me,” George said to Katie as the car pulled away.
    Katie felt really bad for George. “Come on,” she urged him. “You’re going to be great, even without Kevin.”
    George shook his head. “I doubt it,” he said. But he turned and followed her to the field anyway. Kevin may have been a quitter. But George sure wasn’t.

Chapter 2
    Most of the kids on the team were