Take One for the Team

Chapter 2: Carpool

It took a while to get used to the new location. We started fixing it up to make it look better, though. The next practice, Coach Melissa brought in a mirror that she put on a wall so we could watch ourselves jump. It was pretty cool to see how my routine would look to someone else, and I practiced smiling while I jumped, which I have to do at competitions. And the mirror covered up a big space of ugly green wall.
We also put a sign up on the front of the building that said in big red and black letters, "Double Dutch House."
The first few weeks of practice were fun, but my mom was getting fed up with driving me.
"I can't stand this anymore," she told me. "I think you should cut down practice so we're only going once a week."
"But mom!" I yelled. "Jump rope is everything to me! It's not fair!"
"Sorry," she replied. "It's just that the drive is so frustrating. We get home so late, and I still have to put your brother and sisters to bed."
Then one day, I was teaching at jump rope class when Coach Melissa asked, "So have you started carpooling with Jake and Lexi yet?"
"Um, no." I answered.
"Oh, you should," she said.
I didn't say anything more. I didn't really want to carpool with Jake and Lexi. I mean, I had talked to both of them before, and I looked up to Lexi, but I guess I thought that it would be kind of awkward to carpool.
I didn't say anything to my mom about carpool that day after class. I didn't want to carpool, and I thought that if I never told my mom, the idea would go away.
But it didn't. When my mom picked me up from jump rope practice the next night, Coach Melissa said to my mom, "You should really start carpooling with Jake and Lexi. They both live in Coronado, too."
"That's a great idea!" my mom said. I froze. What would it be like to carpool with two people I barely knew? I'm not usually shy. For what reason would I not want to carpool?
I knew the reason. First of all, Lexi was a sophomore in high school. She was team captain, and I was a puny sixth grader. So it was kind of natural for me to be a little nervous around her.
And Jake was a boy. At school, I only have one friend who was a boy. It would just be a little awkward to carpool with Jake, even if he was a year younger than me.
Coach Melissa gave my mom their parents's numbers and then we left. On the ride home, I thought that this might be my last ever enjoyable ride home from jump rope.
Tuesday was my first day at carpool. I was kinda scared. My mom dropped me off at Lexi's house at 4 o'clock. By the time I got there, they were walking out the door and I joined them in the car. Lexi sat in the front, and I took one of the back seats.
We pulled up to Jake's house and Lexi's mom honked the horn. Jake came out and sat in the seat next to me.
For a while we just sat there quiet and awkward. I hate silence. It bugs me. I guess that Lexi was feeling the same way because then she said, "Mom, can you put on the radio?" Her mom clicked the button and on came a song. It sounded familiar, and I think I had heard it a few times before, but I didn't know all the words. We sat there listening to the radio a few minutes, and then the song ended. Then the next song came on, and Jake started singing! We all laughed. He kept till the end of the song, and he sang to the next one.
We were almost at practice when a song came on that we all knew. All three of us started singing. By the time the song was over, we were in the Double Dutch House parking lot.
We had a pretty good practice. We did a big long speed workout and Lilah helped me make cartwheels prettier. When it was over, Jake's mom came to pick us up. By then I was sweating. The ride home was even more fun than the ride there. We all sang to songs on the radio, and then we talked about jump rope stuff. It was fun to talk to them about it, because my friends from school don't understand it when I talk about jump rope. We talked about our routines and regionals coming up and who we wanted to be with in groups for competition. And we talked about how tiring Coach Melissa's workouts were.
It was actually over pretty soon. My mom picked me up from Jake's house. On the way home, I kept thinking about how different that was than riding with my siblings.
Right before we got home, my mom said to me, "This carpool thing seems to be working out. You can stay in practice twice a week."
"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!!!!!!!!" I replied. I was so happy. Jump rope is my life. And carpooling wasn't awkward. It was just easier to get places.