Sudden Impact - Lesley Choyce [0]
Lesley Choyce
orac currents
Copyright © 2005 Lesley Choyce
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Choyce, Lesley, 1951-
Sudden impact / Lesley Choyce.
(Orca currents)
ISBN 1-55143-476-8
I. Title. II. Series.
PS8555.H668S82 2005 jC813’.54 C2005-904074-2
Summary: Tina needs to find an organ donor to save Kurt’s life.
First published in the United States, 2005
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005929724
Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), the Canada Council for the Arts, and the British Columbia Arts Council.
Cover design: Lynn O’Rourke
Cover photography: Getty Images
Orca Book Publishers Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 5626, Stn. B PO Box 468
Victoria, BC Canada Custer, WA USA
V8R 6S4 98240-0468
www.orcabook.com
Printed and bound in Canada
Printed on 50% post-consumer recycled paper,
processed chlorine free using vegetable, low VOC inks.
08 07 06 05 • 4 3 2 1
chapter one
I was excited about seeing the soccer game later, but there was something about the way Kurt was acting at lunch that worried me. He looked pale.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” he said. He didn’t look fine.
“Is there something wrong?” He was staring at his lunch tray, but he wasn’t eating.
“I just don’t think I can eat another cafeteria meal.”
“I know what you mean,” I said, but I was sure there was more to Kurt’s loss of appetite. “Are you nervous about the game?”
“No way,” he said defensively. “I can’t wait to play. I’ve been training for this day all summer.”
“But if you’re sick …” He didn’t let me finish the sentence.
Suddenly he was angry at me. “Hey, what’s going on today? First my mom gives me a hard time and says I should stay home from school. Now you start hassling me.”
“Sorry,” I said. It wasn’t like Kurt to be nasty to me. We always got along so well.
I was the reason Kurt made the soccer team—because I like to run. I don’t know why I like to run. My mother said I never walked anywhere when I was a little girl. I ran. I was always the first to arrive. It wasn’t that I was in a hurry. I just liked the way I felt when I was running. Free and alive.
For a while, Kurt made fun of me. He kept saying I should slow down. And I did. If I wanted to walk to school with Kurt, I had to walk at his pace. It drove me crazy at first, but I learned to do it because I needed him as a friend. I really did.
I had asked Kurt once if there was anything he liked to do as much as I liked running. “When I was younger, I really wanted to be good at something. First it was hockey. Then swimming. But I sucked. I was just never very good at the things I wanted to be good at.”
“What about now?” I’d asked.
“I’d like to be good at … something. Soccer, I think. I play with the guys for fun, but I’m not that good. I don’t have what it takes.”
“I bet you could if you wanted to.”
“I’d like to be on the school team more than just about anything in the world.”
“Then do it.”
“I can’t. Tryouts are in three weeks. But it would just be a waste of time.”
“We’ll train. What are you weakest at?”
He had laughed. “Running,” he’d said. “I don’t seem to have any endurance. After ten minutes in a game, I’m wasted. It’s embarrassing.”
“I’ll be your trainer,” I’d said. “In three weeks you’ll be able to run a mile. If you can run a mile, you’ll do well in soccer.”
“I can’t do it. I’ve tried before. I can’t.”
“You just never had the right coach,” I’d said. “Follow me.”
And I started running. Kurt followed.
I taught him to pace himself. I told him about breathing. Sometimes he’d get a cramp and we’d stop. Even then I