Personal Narrative: My Life As A First Class Athlete

“What else have you got in there?” Hector asked, genuine curiosity lacing his voice as he placed the glasses back down on the desk.

I sprinted up the stairs, taking no time to stop for breakfast. I had to make it to the factory by 5 or I’d be beaten. The fear of punishment gave me extra speed as I ran out the door into the smoggy darkness. As I ran, I tied back my long blonde hair with the ribbon tied around my wrist. I ran down the cobblestone street, careful not to step in any of the piles of mud. The streets were devoid of carriages, anybody rich enough to own a horse wasn’t getting up this early. The only people I shared the streets with were other children and adults going to work.

What is the only thing harder than disciplining a dozen ten year olds? Disciplining them on ice! All throughout my life I’ve played sports, and no matter what sport it was, there was always one person who seemed to have it out for me…the referee. The referee is one of the most hated people in the world of sports, but is also one of the most crucial. I grew up with the mindset that the referee was the enemy. Whenever they made a call against me or my team, they were always wrong, no matter how obvious the penalty was. But one day, my whole perspective on referees changed---the day I became a referee.

“So how did you and Ban know all of that stuff back there?” Sierra asked.

“Oh. That’s kind of what I did. I stole stuff.” It was getting dark by the second because Bob could see out the window.

“And Ethan I saw some good shots from you. I hope you decide to trial.” The teacher noted. Same gave him a smile for the compliment.

My heart began to race faster than a cheetah, my legs were numb, and I couldn’t tell whether or not I was actually running. The feeling of the crisp and hot summer air quickly entering my lungs felt rough, while the air was escaping even faster. As I struggle to look behind to see if he was close enough to get me I tried to exclaim while trying to grasp some air for my lungs, “Xouse, he’s gaining, on us, come on!”. As the hot asphalt burnt the bottom of my shoes off, I continued running into the alley of two apartment complexes as my cousin followed. I looked at Xouse, I saw the agony on his face, my vision went blurry, next thing I knew I was standing in front of a wall, with nowhere to go. I looked back to see if we were finally safe, and then I knew, I should have never left the by myself.

It was a very short walk to the big hill where Frederick’s house was on. They all paused, looking at each other, before finally trekking up. They walked in a comfortable silence. Except it wasn’t that comfortable because each of them were nervous of what was to come. The dark, scary, hill they were walking up didn’t make things easier.

Two years ago I joined a no-cut rowing club. Rowing, from what I had heard was a highly athletic sport. Looking back on it, I wasn’t what anyone would consider athletic. For the first week or two of practice, I was skeptical if this sport was an appropriate fit for me, primarily because the training we were doing was far more advanced than anything I had ever experienced. The only other sport I had participated in was the local little league baseball team and as you could imagine it wasn’t a very intense sport. But with a little coaxing from my parents I kept going to practice. Over the next three months of practicing I began to get into the rhythm of the daily workouts. At the end of three months I began to fall into place among the other

I glanced at Hawking who looked everywhere but my shirt. “That’s right.” I said. “You don’t really think I would’ve brought it with me, do

“Son, you need to calm down. We do not intend to use you as a guinea pig, nor do we think you are an idiot. It was our assumption and your words revealing to us, you would make the perfect volunteer for this experiment!”

“In about five more minutes we’ll be at Heliconia.” Sabra said. “When it’s completely dark, we’ll try to find some useful information, got it?”

“Has he ever done that before?” I know why he was inquiring. Even though he thought Cole was odd and probably harmless, he didn’t like him living physically near me.

“Calm down, he’s way across campus right now,” Anya replied. She walked out of the hallway to the ground, and there was a big tree there, like a big umbrella. Several students were talking, laughing, or smiling in the shadow of the building.

My cross country team had a meet in Statesboro, Georgia. The bus rumbled into the grass parking lot of an old golf course. As the wheels screeched to a stop, an awkward silence fell over the team like a sheet. Nervous looks were shared as we all clambered off. Stepping down from the last step, I slammed into the suffocating stale blazing air like a brick wall. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust, the fiery globe glaring at me from the sky. There were some white cotton candy clouds in the distance, but they weren’t too intimidating. Behind me strode Alex, her eyes narrowed into slits. Alex was one of the best runners on the team. She always stayed ahead of me. Today, she had her short brown hair drawn back into a ponytail and was