Free Gracie Faltrain Gets it Right (Finally) by Cath Crowley Page B

face. ‘You know,’ she says, ‘the guys in this place are really starting to bug me.’ She might be Annabelle’s cousin. But Kally is definitely someone I want to have on my side of the fence.
    â€˜Okay, everyone run,’ Jane says. ‘You hanging out with a relative of Annabelle Orion has to be one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse.’
    â€˜She’s good, Jane. I mean, she really knows the game. I learnt stuff listening to her today. She’s funny, like you.’
    â€˜Yeah, right. She’s me in a parallel universe where I have a rock-solid body and can run like the wind. You don’t think it’s a problem that given the chance, you’d kill her cousin? It’s sounding kind of Romeo and Juliet without the love and with soccer instead of swords.’
    â€˜I don’t want Annabelle dead. I want her gagged. I have to meet Flemming before the gym. Can you tell Mum I’m at the library?’
    â€˜I’ll lie this one time but I take no responsibility if she finds out and kills you.’
    Mum won’t kill me. I run way too fast to get caught.
    Flemming’s already at the oval when I get there. ‘I want to know every detail. I can’t believe I left before I saw you smack Young.’
    â€˜It wasn’t funny and I don’t have time. I’m meeting Kally and Dan. You want to come?’
    â€˜As if I’d train with those idiots. Just tell me what the essay topic was today.’
    â€˜What does it matter? You haven’t got time to read the play.’
    â€˜No, but I can read the essays on the Internet.’
    â€˜Cheat?’
    â€˜I copy in bits from those guides and bits that other kids have written.’
    â€˜Coach’ll kick you off the team for that.’
    â€˜Only if they catch me.’ He grins. ‘They haven’t yet.’
    It’s the ‘yet’ that bothers me. If Flemming’s been doing this since the start of the year he’ll be in trouble soon. He’s standing on the tracks thinking the train won’t hit him because it’s late. The train always comes, Flemming, I think. And as I write down the topic I feel the need to run so I’m not close when it hits.
    Kally and Dan are training when I arrive. I see them through the windows as I buy a casual pass. ‘I know you,’ the girl behind the counter says.
    â€˜I don’t think so.’ I look past her. I’ve never really seen Kally and Dan together before. He doesn’t look cool or detached. He looks happy. In fact, on a scale of one to ten, he looks about a twenty’s worth of happy.
    I do a quick scan of conversations I’ve had with him about Kally: she cleans up everyone on the field. He gets goose bumps watching her. She’s smart, she’s funny; she’s straight down the line. I do a quick scan of the things he’s said about me: I’m brutal; I’m not anyone you can expect help from. I’m not exactly coming out on top here.
    It shouldn’t matter who Dan likes anyway. I mean, we’re just friends. I still stare at the phone wishing Martin would call. So how come when Dan smiles through the glass today the hairs on my arms dance like disco is back? Flemming says girls are confusing. He should try being one. Can you like two people at the one time or is that like mixing your sweet and savoury foods? You finish a chip and move to chocolate and then back to the chip in a never-ending cycle that doesn’t stop till you’re sick? ‘Get a grip, Faltrain,’ I imagine Jane saying. She’s right.
    I walk into the weights area. The important thing is to be cool and casual about this. Dan needs to see the relaxed me. The real me. That way he can make an educated choice about who he likes. ‘Hey,’ the girl from the counter says, walking in behind me. ‘You left your bra in the changing room.’ Okay, that’s not what I had in mind when I said