At Last We Meet

By Ariana

Last year when I had a cross-country meet, something great happened to me. Let me just start off by telling you this story:

Well, we had the meet and we had to start off by sprinting up to a certain gate. man-oh-man, I was the only 7^th grader that was running for our school. It wasn't the first time I had noticed that. When I got to the gate I started to slow down so I wouldn't waste my energy.

Oh, I also forgot to say that the 5^th and 6^th graders had to run/w the 7^th graders as 7^th graders because the league doesn't have a 5^th and 6^th grade race. Anyway, we were already in the forest getting ready to turn. I walked for about a minute or so. Hers is where the great thing happens.

I asked myself, "Who is that girl that looks so much like Natalie, oh my gosh it is Natalie." I couldn't believe my eyes because it was one of my best friends and I hadn't seen her for years since she moved away in the third grade. Just then I turned around and said, "Natalie is that you?" She turned around at the call of her name. She didn't know who I was.

Finally, she asked, "Who are you? I'm not trying to be rude or anything I just don't know who you are. What is your name?" I couldn't believe it, yet she had no clue who I was.

"My name is Ariana. Do you remember me? Do you think that maybe we can talk when the race is over?" I was so nervous. I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing. I think that she was confused because she didn't remember me or know who I was. We kept on running not talking though. She started to fall behind because I couldn't see her.

Woohoo I'm almost there. It was so hot and I was so sweaty. I thought that I was going to collapse. There was a girl from my team behind me. She was panting so hard I thought that she was going to collapse. Thump, thump went her feet because she was so tired. The girl was walking and I thought that that was good. Although she was on my team, I didn't want her to be ahead of me.

I started to sprint because the finish line was in view. No one was in front of me. No she didn't! The girl passed me and I didn't even notice her. She got one in front of me. She crept up beside me and ahead of me. Oh, well there will be other times.

One, two, three and four girls passed and here came Natalie. I came in 4 girls before her and I waited patiently. I knew she was going to come in fast so I just sat around and waited and tried to catch my breath. She did so well. I walked up to her as she was drinking her water.

"Good job Natalie! Just to let you know I didn't think that we would ever see eachother again, especially here." I admitted to her.

"I know, can you give me your number because I got to go. I'll call you." She said sounding so tired. We exchanged phone numbers. By the way the, the girl from my team that passed me got 35th and I got 36^th. Natalie got 40^th. I called her later that day and she finally remembered me. A couple weeks passed and she was in my neighborhood visiting.