A Million Miles Away Read Online Free PDF Page B

seem to get in shape, was practically purple in the face.
    “I’m not mad at you guys,” Kelsey announced. “Just totally focused. I promise you, if we do it again, it will be perfect for Friday.”
    “And it has to be perfect,” Gillian added, tightening her sleek black ponytail.
    “This could be the one we use for competition, ladies. Okay, Ruben?” Kelsey lifted a hand to the scraggly junior who was in charge of sound. “One more time. Cue it to 2:57.”
    Kelsey stopped in front of Hannah T. “Hannah, try your part a beat faster. Cool?”
    “But won’t that throw everyone off?”
    “Try it.”
    Kelsey took her place in the center with a bowed head, hands extended. This portion of the routine required total concentration. She would begin by completing a backflip into a split, and move directly from there to the standing line.
    The music started and Kelsey was lost in her body, exactly how she liked it.
    It had been six weeks since she returned to school. People had finally stopped randomly touching her on the arm, looking for signs of watery eyes or suicidal tendencies.
    The backflip was smooth, though it could have used a little more bounce.
    It had taken her several weekends home drinking sugar-free Red Bull to catch up on her missed schoolwork, but Davis had helped her fill out useless biology worksheets and copy and paste Spanish essays into Google Translate.
    The splits were seamless.
    The University of Kansas Rock Chalk Dancers weren’t holding tryouts until May, but Kelsey had memorized their requirements: quadruple pirouettes, fouetté turns, leaps (right, left, center), turning discs, kicks, fight song. She would learn the jazz combo online, which would be posted two weeks prior. She would also be taught a short hip-hop combo at tryouts.
    Kelsey pulled her legs together into a stand, and when the wave of legs came her way, she kicked straight, high, head up with a smile, like she had always been taught.
    Hannah T., toward the end of the line, hit her mark. A full bow by all of them at once, then the finish: arms up and crossed with one another at a perfect diagonal. They had nailed it.
    The Lions Dance Team burst into triumphant shrieks and high fives. Friday was the first home game, versus Blue Valley North. They were so ready.
    Kelsey gave her girls a thumbs-up, told them what time they should show up at the locker room, and went straight to the bleachers to find her stuff. She didn’t like to linger. Lingering meant memories, and she didn’t like those. She had to keep moving.
    Gillian and Ingrid caught up with her.
    “Whatcha doing now, Kels?” Ingrid asked, awkwardly poking her in the bare stomach.
    “Oh, my God,” Gillian said, staring at her phone. “Check out this guy who friended me on Facebook. He is so cute. Let’s go stalk him.”
    Ingrid grabbed her duffel bag. “Let’s go get frozen yogurt and stalk Gillian’s boyfriend.”
    “He’s not my boyfriend,” Gillian replied.
    “FroYo, Kels?”
    “I can’t,” Kelsey said automatically.
    “Why not?” Gillian said, furrowing her brow.
    “I have to—” But Kelsey didn’t really have anything to do. She had hurried through all her homework in free period, and probably wasn’t going to study for her finals that much, anyway. “I have shit to do.”
    Ingrid grabbed Kelsey’s wrist. “Can you let us be friends with you? For once? It’s been a long time.”
    Gillian caught Ingrid’s eye and shook her head, as if to say, Let her be . “Text us if you feel like it, okay?”
    Kelsey softened, pushing out a genuine smile. “I definitely will.” She zipped up her puffy jacket and waved good-bye to her teammates. Soon. Just not now , she thought.
    When she arrived home, all the lights in the house were out, except for one lamp in her mother’s office.
    She kicked off her boots.
    “Kelsey?” Her mother’s voice had become so thin, like it would snap at any minute.
    “Yep, it’s me.”
    “Why are you home so