Buzz...buzz...buzz! I slap my arm over my alarm clock and hit snooze for a couple of more minutes. I turn away from it. I know that when I get out of bed I'm going to see my calendar. A certain date will be circled in red sharpie, 11/17/12. This is the day of our cross country meet. I'm excited but at the same time I'm terrified.


My alarm goes off and I decide to get up. Sure enough the calendar stares at me from my blue wall that it hangs on. It's dates bore right into my eyes. The month in big black letters and in bold. This is our last race and if I don't beat Samantha Trevor this last chance that I get, I might just die.


Samantha Trevor and I have disliked each other since fourth grade. I got into the rich kid school and she didn't. It wasn't my fault that she was mean or still is. She tortured everyone. For a nine year old she was mean. She made fun of everyone and the way she talked, it was like asking to be slapped. My mother told me that violence is never the answer so I was nice to her when I really wanted to slap her silly.


I go into my bathroom when I hear my mom's voice yell, "Claud, you up?"


"Yes mother," I say brushing my long blond hair. "Be down in a bit."


"In a bit? What have I taught you?"


"Never to say, in a bit."


My mom is a little uptight. She hates words like, in a bit, hold on, be there in a few. She likes it when you say what you mean exactly how you mean it. She wants us to say, 'in a moment mother. I'm a little busy right now.' Sometimes it really annoys me.


I make my way downstairs in my school uniform and put on a smile. I see my mother wearing a gray paint suit. She always wears these. My mother likes it when people smile. Especially me because apparently I don't smile a lot. My cheeks start to hurt that's how much I've smiled in the past.


"Good morning sweetheart. You have your last cross country race tomorrow!" she says excitedly. "Now, you better be ready to stomp that Trevor girl into the ground."

"I've been ready my whole season. Stupid girl ends up being faster every time," I say grabbing an apple. "I'll see you later." And hopefully you have something better looking on.

I meet up with my best friend, Maddie at school. We sit under the trees before school starts every day. We used to sit in the library but it got pretty boring up there. Maddie, Kristen, Meghan, Emily, and I have been friends forever. I love them.

"Ready to beat Sammy at the meet tomorrow?" Maddie asks me. She knows about that girl. Who doesn't?

"I've heard that she still a raging-"


Kristen cuts off Meghan, "still a mean person," she says cutting her eyes at Meghan.


"We'll be there for you tomorrow, Claudia. Don't you worry."


"Thanks, Emily. Y'all better be there."


The next day


Meghan stands next to me twisting her brunette hair in a high ponytail. It's a little colder than I'd like but it will still be ok. I have to focus myself on stupid things like, Meghan's hair, or I will go completely insane with nervousness if I don't. The weather seems to be distracting me which is good.


"Hey," Meghan says elbowing me. "There's that hot guy you were talking about. What's his name again?"


"Noah."

"Right. Run fast for him but remember, try to beat Sammy for him and yourself."

"Attention, all varsity runners please line up on the line and we will start as soon as possible," a guy with a bull horn says.

That's a lie. They have boys running first and not until all of them cross the finish line do we start. We'll be standing there for a long time. Possibly ten or fifteen minutes.

I take off my warm clothes and give them to Meghan. I know that Meghan wouldn't do anything to them like Kristen or Maddie would do. They would probably hide them in the woods.


I get up to the line where my team mates are waiting. I see the blue and white uniforms and our coach. The JV runners are here to cheer us on too. Emily's sister does this and she and I will be running together.


"Good luck, you'll need it," Sammy Trevor says looking at me with hatred.


"You'll need it more...Sammy," I say. My friends snicker behind me. Sam hates it when I call her that. I hate her no matter what. "I'm freaking out," I whisper to my coach.


"You're going to do fine. Show her that you're not afraid. Don't let her see what you're feeling. Go out there and have fun. Run those three miles and don't think about winning. Don't get your hopes up. Don't give up. Stay positive and you will finish the race."


"Runners, take your marks." Oh God I need strength. I need strength to beat her. "Get set." I shake my shoulders trying to get rid of the tension. My heart is pounding a thousand bazillion times right now. I can't take it. I'm going to throw up. My teams voices fade away and it's just me and the grass. The course that I'm about to run. Me and it. BAM!! The gun goes off and then I'm running.


I hit the woods first. The only sound is our tennis shoes hitting the ground and air puffing out of our lungs. We come out of the woods and I run up a hill. I remember this course from last year. I hated it. All anxiety fades away and it's just me running fast.


I hit the second mile and I'm telling myself that I can't do it anymore. Sammy is behind me and we keep fighting for first. She passes me and then I pass her. It's a never ending battle. We hit the woods again. I watch the ground keeping my eyes out for roots so I don't trip. Sammy is not getting the upper hand.


I make a turn. I see my team mates and our coach at the finish line. Everyone starts cheering..."Claudia...Claudia." Then my coach says, "come on she's right behind you. Give it all you got. Right here. Push it."


Hearing my couch yell that makes me run faster. Having her behind me is making me run faster too. My team keeps yelling at me to finish strong. I want to yell, shut up, but I don't because they're just helping me out. This race is hard.


I feel like I'm running in slow motion once I cross the line. My coach comes around the side of the finish line. I'm chugging down water when he comes up to me. Then I realize that Sammy wasn't behind me. Where is she?


"Great run, kid. How do you feel?"


"Exhausted. Where's Samantha?" He starts laughing. "C'mon what's so funny?"


"She's right there," he says pointing at the finish line. She's just now crossing it. She looks really mad.


"But how did...she was right...what?"


"You beat her. Just be happy."


I walk up to Sammy to congratulate her on coming in second. Before I can get to her Noah gets in my path. His shirt is nice and clingy because of his sweat. He runs too. I look at his eyes. Nice big and brown.


"Congratulations on coming in first! I saw what your teammates did. That was hilarious."


"Thank you. Yeah it was pretty funny. I seriously thought that she was behind me. She was with me for the second mile. Maybe I lost her.


"Can we hang out later? We haven't hung out with just the two of us in a while. Can I call you sometime later?"


"Yeah of course."


Noah's friend comes up to him and starts talking to him so I walk on towards Sammy. Her mouth is hanging open. She better close it before she starts to catch flies. I stand right in front of her with my arms crossed over my chest.


"You got Noah's number? How? I've been trying to get his number for like a year."


"Guess what?" I ask. I don't wait for her to respond. "I beat you and all you care about is Noah."


"I don't care that you beat me. I care that you got him and I didn't. Just like when you got into that school and I didn't."


"I got into this school four years ago. You need to get over it. We're not in middle school anymore...Sammy. And Noah and I have been talking. Why would he want to go out with someone like you? You're mean and you live in the past. Congratulations anyway! You did really good. When we were fighting for first I was trying not to scream. I was aggravated at the time but now it's funny.


"I felt the same way. Thank you! You did really good too. You're right. I shouldn't live in the past. Can we try to be friends?"


"Yeah, I'd like that...Samantha," I say smiling.


After talking to Samantha my team swarms around me. Everyone keeps telling me congratulations. I'm the happiest person right now. I can't believe that I beat Sammy Trevor. I've been trying to beat her this whole season and I did it! Finally!