Moonglass by Jessi Kirby Read Free Book Online Page B

driver’s seat, almost completely covered with blue gel ice packs. She had a green eye mask over her eyes. I could hear the muffled sound of music but couldn’t quite make out what it was.
    I knocked. She didn’t startle, didn’t sit up or even uncover her eyes. She simply extended an arm and motioned languidly for me to open the door. As I did, the smell of lavender poured from the car, along with the voice of a man telling us to breath deeply into our heart centers.
    “Hey—”
    Her hand jolted up abruptly, in the motion of a crossing guard. It was too much. I lost it and burst into a laugh, finally. She sat up, and the green cucumber gel mask fell off her face.
    “You totally interrupted my meditation.”
    “I’m sorry,” I managed.
    A slow smile spread across her red face. “I know. Don’t worry. It’s just that I heard somewhere that visualizing yourself doing something is the first step to doing whatever it is. I thought I could start with breathing and running at the same time. You wanna get in?” I looked down at the white leather. “No, it’s okay. I’m all sweaty. I was just coming over to tell you that we have another run this afternoon. A ‘long, slow distance run.’”
    She scrunched her nose. “Maybe I’ll be better at that. I can do slow. I just don’t know about the ‘long’ part.” I flexed my foot in front of me. “Yeah. It’s gonna hurt after that hill. I think I’m going to get something to eat and then hang out on the beach until then. You wanna come down?”
    “Oh, I wish I could, but I have a cleansing massage schedulled, and then I have to take my dog to her psychologist.” Had she not been so matter-of-fact, I would have thought she’d decided I wasn’t worth hanging out with. But I figured nobody would make up something that ridiculous-sounding. “Okay. See you at four, then. Rest up.”
    “Sounds good.” She smiled. “Try to eat as little as possible today before the next run!”
    “Yeah, willdo.” I closed the door and headed over to my bus, already feeling my legs tightening up. The twenty in my purse wouldn’t come close to getting me a massage, but it could get some lunch. I immediately thought of the smell s from the Beachcomber the morning before, and decided to treat myself after a shower. On the highway, ocean air rushed in through the open windows and swirled all around me. I turned up my music, stuck my hand out the window, and flew the bus all the way home.
    The rest of Hell Week flew by in a blur of running, eating, and sleeping. The eating became my big inside joke with myself. Ashley continually showed up at practice, consistently didn’t finish the runs, and always kept tabs on what I had eaten that day. She was very considerate that way. I tried to help her out with the whole running thing, but it turned out that she didn’t much like exerting herself. Still, she showed up to practice and began creating a role for herself there. Kind of a team cheerleader/fashion consultant/new age guru. It would take a little while, but I could see her slowly winning over the team, and even Coach Martin. Jillian and I continued the friendly rivalry we’d started on the first day, and one day, after a beach run, she even stayed after the rest of the girls had gone. We sat on the beach, people watching and tossing pebbles into the water. We talked mostly surface stuff—running and school, and I got the feeling she might actually want to be friends but was the kind of person who held people at a distance for a while first. I understood, and it felt like another thing we had in common.
    Between practices I spent my days on the beach trying to soak up the last week of sun and summer before the start of school. And hoping to run into Tyler again. Each day when I came home, I checked the tower closest to our cottage. Not that I had any sort of chance at this point. I hadn’t seen or talked to him since we’d met. But the possibility brought me down to the beach