Running Lean Read Online Free PDF Page A

before, but their conversations always ended up with Calvin talking and Tyler not knowing what to say. With Tyler looking uncomfortable and Calvin feeling just as lost. Maybe even more. Because it seemed like something had changed between him and his best friend as well. They couldn’t go through the grief together. Tyler just couldn’t understand. Calvin’s world had changed; Tyler’s hadn’t.
    Calvin made a lame gesture toward the Yamaha.
    Tyler slapped a hand against his thigh. “Probably something simple. Come on.”
    Together, they lifted the bike. Calvin straddled the seat and put his foot on the kick-starter, but Tyler thumped his arm and stopped him.
    “Dude.” Tyler reached in front of the handlebars and lifted the throttle cable.
    Broken. The black casing had ripped apart, laying bare a section of stretched-out metal coils. A branch had probably snagged it, and the old, dried-out casing gave up. A sick feeling grabbed Calvin by the throat again.
    “Bentley Cycles ought to be able to get you one of these right quick,” Tyler said.
    Calvin shook his head. “Dave can only get parts for my bike if he finds them on eBay or in a junkyard.” Calvin ran his hand under the mutilated coils. No way could he repair this.
    “But it’s just a cable. There should be one for another bike that’ll fit.”
    “Doesn’t work that way.” Calvin sighed and dropped the cable. “Great. Just great. My spring break is toast.”
    “Nah, come on—”
    “Forget it.” Calvin took hold of his handlebars and rolled the bike back onto the access road. “Finish your ride. See you at the house.”
    “It’s okay,” Tyler said. “I’ll walk my bike with you.”
    The Yamaha wasn’t a burden to push, but Calvin’s feet slipped in the sandy dirt and his sprained ankle throbbed. In spite of the cooling evening air, he and Tyler were soon puffing.
    “You’re limping,” Tyler said.
    “Twisted my ankle. It’s not bad.”
    “Want to ride my bike home?”
    He was already late for supper. Didn’t matter if the bike was broken, Mom would have Dad lock it up for a week as punishment anyway. Might as well delay the lecture a little longer.
    Calvin forced a grin. “It’s okay. I’ll make it.”
    Tyler leaned into the Kawasaki’s handlebars and grunted as he pushed up a slope. Still at the bottom, Calvin stopped, watching his friend. The guy could be riding, having fun, or on his way home to a happier family and his beloved electric guitar, instead of slogging through the truck ruts with Calvin.
    Desperation clamped down Calvin’s chest. He had to let something out, or choke. Calvin took a deep breath to steel himself then pushed the Yamaha up the slope. At the top, he swung his leg over the seat and sat to take a break.
    “Ty, have you noticed anything … different about Stacey?”
    Tyler huffed a laugh. “Yeah! Her hair. It’s neon.”
    “Well, yeah. But, I mean, at Oliver’s yesterday she acted like she didn’t want to be there. I mean
really
didn’t want to be there.”
    Letting his bike lean against his hip, Tyler took off his helmet. Sweaty blond hair clung to his head. “Looked to me like she was ticked off at Flannery.”
    “Yeah, that was stupid. But what I mean is, she wouldn’t eatanything, and she acted like she’d get an infection if she touched anything. And yesterday morning, she almost passed out in the hallway before class.”
    “I heard about that! But I didn’t know it was Stacey.”
    The Yamaha’s hard rubber handgrips gave Calvin something solid to hang on to, something real and simpler than the rest of his life. He stared at the pits and scratches in the orange gas tank. “She hardly eats anything anymore. She’s always on a diet. Always. I thought it was a girl thing, because Peyton is always, like—” He went into a falsetto voice to quote his sister’s frequent whine. “‘I need to lose weight to fit into my wedding dress!’ But Stacey’s different. I think … I think it’s