The Lightning Sphere

Chapter 1

The last knot.  My shoes were already so tight. Why did I need to tie them tighter? Maggie was so nervous. It was the last event of the year. If she messed this up, it would be all her fault. The whole school would be mad at her. She practiced everyday with Sam. Running everywhere, Doing laps around the house, climbing up and down the stairs and jumping small fences. So why was she so scared?

    She scanned the audience looking for Sam’s bright purple hair. Searching for his shining smile and to give her that reassuring double thumbs up. But her vision was too fuzzy. The starting horn screeched out a loud bark. Maggie tightened her ponytail one last time and walked up to the starting line, trying not to waste her energy. Her forehead dripped with sweat. She got into her ready position. She felt like she was going to throw up.

    It was raining. Not exactly perfect weather for a sport match, but Maggie wasn’t complaining. She actually enjoyed the rain. Whenever there was a downpour, Maggie and her older brother Sam would play soccer until they were so cold they couldn’t kick the ball.

    “Ready,” Why am I doing this? Maggie repeated rapidly in her head. “Set,” No backing out now. She thought. She glanced at all the contestants. They all looked just like her. Seven other scared faces. One small girl looked like she was about to cry. But one girl was different. She looked like she had an overdose of confidence for breakfast this morning. She had one of those, “I’m DEFINETLY going to win this.” Type of faces. It kind of scared Maggie of all the confidence this girl had. It was as if she had some sort of scam going on. But the part that scared Maggie most of all, was that she was in the lane next to her!

    “GO!!” The horn blew again. Instantly, as if they were all being chased by a pack of wolves, everyone started sprinting. Maggie’s stomach was churning. She had to make it. The whole school was counting on her.  Now is definitely not the time to show weakness.

     The over-confident blonde girl was right behind her. She was fast. Impressively fast. But Maggie couldn’t stop and complement her in her mind. She had to focus. Her coach said focus is how you accomplice success.

    The others were far behind her. Except for that strange blonde girl. Maggie quickly glanced back. Where did she go? She would have been disqualified if she ran off the track. Maggie thought of the only other possibility. But before she could look ahead again, something jammed into her foot. Her hands flew into the air, and immediately fell forward, her face squishing against the ground. She suddenly realized what had happened.

     She stood up, trying to start running again. But it was too late. Three other girls had already passed her, including the blonde. She ran ahead, crossed the white line, and heard the cry, “fourth” from the man handing out the ribbons.

     Maggie cuffed her hands over her kneecaps, flaying her head down in exasperation. “Sorry ‘bout that.” Maggie looked up, looking face to face with the girl who had tripped her. She swiftly swept her blonde hair out of her eyes. “But if I want to get ahead of the best,” A big smile crept over her face. “It calls for extreme measures.” 

    She handed Maggie her ribbon. A silky piece of yellow fabric with a silver 4 splatted on top. “The name's Daisha.” She said.

     “I’m Maggie. But if you want to make fun of me, most people resort to Maggot.” She said, trying to test her confidence. Daisha threw her head back with a humored laugh. “Funny one huh? I’ll take note of it.”

     But right after, her face suddenly went a pale white. “Hey, you okay?” Maggie asked? “Oh… I’m suddenly not feeling too well.” Daisha spun around and dashed away, clasping her forehead with both hands.