• Ariana dodged the people in her way as she ran as fast as she could, she had been running for the last 15 minutes and she was very tired. She knew something bad would happen if she didn’t get to where she was going in time.
    “Argh!” she yelled as she almost tripped. She continued running and then came to a full stop. “54!” she called out her number.
    “Ah… just in time,” the PE coach said, “A ‘B’ again Ari?”
    “You know that’s my best Coach,” Ariana said, “I can’t run any faster.”
    “Whatever you say Ari,” Coach chuckled, “You’ll always be a winner because you try your hardest.”
    “Thanks Coach,” Ariana panted. Yes! She’d managed to get a B again in running! She was definitely, very exited, maybe even elated. Ari, as her friends called her, had straight A’s except in her PE class. Out of the 60 people she was in the 15 who had greater than a C. Coach Runback had always had crazy running times and amounts of push-ups for an A. Ari had always managed to scrap a B in his class, but never better.
    Just because she lived in California, doesn’t mean she can run like a marathon runner! Ariana sighed and sat down on the field. She waited for her friends Elissa and Justin to finish running. Justin had always finished in front of her, but because of a cold he had lagged behind. Elissa didn’t run well because of an injury in the past, Ariana never knew what happened, just that it kept Elissa from running fast.

    Justin finished well in front of Elissa, at least a minute. “Aachoo!” he sneezed, “I hate colds!”
    “I know how you feel Justin,” Ariana said, “But at least you aren’t absent today.”
    “I wish I was,” Justin grumbled, “I’ve had a headache all day.”
    “Oh come on Justin,” Ariana said as the 10 minute bell rang, “Wouldn’t you have missed me at all?”
    “Oh, maybe a little bit…,” Justin said.
    “Hello lovebirds!” Elissa yelled.
    “Ow!” Justin and Ariana said at the same time, “Don’t you have something better to do than shatter my eardrum?” Justin mumbled.
    “Nope!” Elissa said in the same volume, “It’s funny when you look like that!” Justin grumbled something inaudible and Elissa just laughed. Ariana shook her head back and forth, only her crazy friends…