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planted the other on my hip, to ease the stitch.
    Kirstyn’s face was red, but not sweaty. She gets so tense lately that Gabrielle will look down on her, think she’s less than cool. “It’s all good,” I managed to say, trying to reassure her, but it didn’t work. Her face turned even blotchier.
    I attempted a smile but a wave of nausea rolled up my body. I put my hands on my knees and lowered my head.
    “What’s wrong?” Gabrielle asked. She sounded far away so I turned to look at her. Bad decision. Very bad. Black and bright swirled together in front of my eyes and I lost my balance.
    I sank down onto the track. “Nothing,” I was trying to say. “Everything is fine.”
    I rested my head on the cool red clay of the track to regain my balance. Above me I could hear them talking about me, and then Coach P asking what had happened.
    “I’m good,” I said. “Just…tried to…you know, keep up.”
    I didn’t trust my legs yet so I just stayed there with my hot head on the cool ground, and my eyes closed.
    “You okay?” I heard somebody else ask. Who? I knew that voice. No. He was way over on the far field with the boys.
    I turned my head to the side. Cleats, covered in mud.
    “What are you doing here, Luke?” Kirstyn asked.
    “Just…just…I don’t know. I thought she fainted.”
    I closed my eyes again but said, “I’m fine. Great. Just taking a short break.”
    Coach P yelled at Luke that he should get over to the boys’ field and started yanking me up by the elbow. “Get up, pretty girl,” she said. “Break’s over.”
    I followed my elbow up. Luke was walking away, toward the far field. I could see his coach yelling at him. He raked his fingers through his wavy brown hair and shookthe sweat off his hand without looking back. His last name, Stoddard, stretched across the shoulders of his soccer shirt, and one of his socks was sagging a bit below his calf.
    Coach P gave me a little shove. “Make a runner of you yet, Miss Class President,” she sneered. I turned to roll my eyes at Kirstyn, who grimaced.
    When Coach P blew her whistle right in our faces and yelled for us to hit the locker room, Kirstyn and Gabrielle turned and started heading there. “Wait up,” I called, jogging to fall into step beside them.

7
    “Y OU OKAY ?” G ABRIELLE ASKED as we opened our lockers.
    “Yeah, sure. Just not as fast as you guys, I guess.”
    “What happened?” Ann asked, already sitting on the bench, ready to leave.
    “Nothing,” I said. “Just took a short break. On the track. On my face.”
    Kirstyn made sort of a humphing sound. I hunched down a little so I wouldn’t feel quite so hulking, standing there over her. “Did I grow again?” I asked. “How tall am I planning to be? This growth spurt is turning into a marathon, seriously.”
    Kirstyn flipped her hair over her head to fix her ponytail. “If you’re interested in Luke, you should say so.” She flipped back up and rested her hands on her hips. Usually when I ask about if I am growing grotesquely tall, she reassures me that I look great.
    Ann’s eyes darted between me and Kirstyn. Gabrielle,meanwhile, buried her head so deep in her locker she looked likely to get swallowed up by it.
    “I’m not interested in Luke,” I told Kirstyn. “You’re the one who keeps talking about him, not me. Maybe you like him.” I put my hands on my hips, too. Enough, already.
    “Ew, as if,” she said. “I get paid for babysitting, thank you.”
    “Yeah, right,” Gabrielle said, emerging from the locker with her long hair loosened from the braid. “As if you ever babysit.”
    “Well if I did, I’d get paid.”
    They both started cracking up. Ann stared at her feet. She babysits.
    “But seriously, Phoebe,” Kirstyn said, pulling a fresh T-shirt on. “If you’re honestly not into him, you are leading him on. You need to tell him, Yo, I broke up with you two years ago, it’s over. Move on. He’s like a lovesick pup, following you