Erin the Fire Goddess: The Beginning

Chapter Six

"Hi love," My Mum appeared at the front of my queue, "You look run off your feet."

"You could say that." I flushed. I barely had time to properly look at her and felt bad for rushing her to one side.

"I'll leave you to it. Come find me when you're done." My Mum touched my hand then went off to find a place to stand and watch.

"Nearly done," Ms Forrester blew out a sigh of relief, as I looked up to see the queue had dwindled down to about ten people. "After we've done those, why don't you go have a half hour break." She smiled, which was great, as I wanted to go find my Mum and at least try to watch one of races my sister was in.

Leaving my rucksack behind the stall with Ms Forrester, I picked up my drink and headed off to find my Mum. It didn't take me long to find her. She was talking to my sister as she stood with the rest of her form.

"Hi," I said breathlessly, as I went to stand next to them.

"Great timing." She hugged me with excitement. "They are just about to call all the 800 metre competitors. The 1500 has just finished." No sooner had she said this when Mr Jenkins's voice announced that all the 800 metre competitors should start making their way to the inside of the track.

"Break a leg!" I called after her. "Shall we try and find a better place to stand?" I asked my Mum, as we linked arms.

"I was just thinking the same thing." She kissed the side of my head.

We made our way through the crowd whilst the year one race started. By the time we'd found a spot, at one end of the track near the finish line, year two had just started.

We spotted Kasey-Ray warming up. She didn't look even a tiny bit nervous.

"Is Dad coming?" I asked, hoping that he would see at least one of the race's Kasey-Ray was competing in.

"Yeah, he should be on his way." She told me, as she looked at her watch.

"I'm going to have to head back after she's raced this." I pointed towards my sister as I saw her lining up.

She was off as soon as the starting pistol fired. I was jumping up and down, whilst clapping my hands and shouting my sister's name. For the first 600 metres she was neck and neck with Sophie, then at the final 200 metres she started breaking away. I could see Sophie digging hard, trying to keep up with my sister, but no matter how hard she tried Kasey-Ray just pulled away further. When she finally crossed the finish line in first place, my Mum and I were hugging and we could hear her form room cheering loudly. You could see the hope radiate through them, maybe this year, they would take first place.

Kasey-Ray seemed to put her all into the race and I knew she would do it for every race to come. But what I loved about Kasey-Ray was that she didn't gloat. As soon as Sophie crossed the line, she went straight over to give her a hug. I did hope that Sophie didn't take losing too hard. So many people out there, who are used to coming first in everything they do, don't like it when they are no longer known as the best. They should realise that it is the taking part that counts and that even though they may not be the best at something, they are doing their best and that is a great sense of achievement in itself. It is better than going to bed thinking of what ifs.