Chapter 3

"Okay Lacy, 10 more crunches!"

I swear Gina Lenetti missed her calling. Did I mention she should have been a drill sergeant?

She pushed us at field hockey practice.

Now she's pushing us in P.E.

"Push ups next, you know what your goal is," Gina said, holding a clipboard, bracing it with her crutches.

"Mears, who said you were through?" Gina barked. "You've still got 10 more crunches to do, too. So do you, Miss Crue."

Fitness test day, you gotta love it.

Coach Martin sets the goals she wants us to reach. It's part of offseason work for field hockey.

"Do I get style points for doing push ups the conventional way, big sister?" I asked our teacher's aid-turned class torturer.

"Nope little sister," she said. "And just because you're doing them the boys' way doesn't mean you get to do any less."

"Gee thanks," I said in the most sarcastic voice I could.

"Glad you're whipping them into shape," Coach Martin said.

Whipping us into shape? I thought gymnastics was doing a pretty good job of doing that.

"I'm doing the best I can, coach," Gina told Coach Martin.

"Just remember, your time is coming at the high school," Coach Martin said. "You're really going to be out of shape when you get that cast off."

"Can we be the ones who push her in her workouts?" Emily Crue asked.

"That way we can torture her," Jessi added.

"Nice try!" Gina said. "Just for that, you're going to have to do plows."

Plows, in case you don't know, is where you basically fold your body in half while you're laying down, slinging your legs over your head.

I once convinced myself it wasn't possible for a boy to do that. After being pushed by Gina during field hockey season, I found out it was indeed possible.

My field hockey teammates, you've got to love them. And I'm not being sarcastic.

With the exception of P.E., I didn't see much of them during the offseason, especially with gymnastics practice in the afternoon. That is except Jessi, who was also on the gymnastics team.

"Be sure to check your locker, Lucas," Gina said after class. "I left you something."

Taped to my gym locker was a pink envelope. It looked like an invitation.

It was.

"You have been invited to pledge Les Amies sorority by Gina Lenetti. Rush party at Gina Lenetti's, Friday at 7 p.m."

#####

"I thought sororities were for girls," I told Jessi on the way to the high school for gymnastics practice.

"I thought so, too," Jessi said. "But I'm glad you got an invite. At least I'll know another pledge at the rush party."

"So you got one, too?" I asked.

"I've been asked to pledge by Melanie Piper," Jessi said. "I think it will be fun."

"I really don't know if I should go," I said. "Field hockey, homecoming court, gymnastics..."

Jessi could see my point.

"But since when does that bother you?" Jessi said. "Besides, a bunch of the eighth graders who were on the field hockey team are in that sorority. It will be our only chance to spend time with them since they won't be on the field hockey team next fall. They'll be here at the high school."

She had a point about getting a chance to see our old teammates. We were all really close.

They seemed almost a different breed from our gymnastics teammates. Coach Martin said it was probably because of the age difference.

"You guys are going through a lot of different things," Coach Martin said. "You are also scattered across two campuses."

We were also more of an eclectic mix. There were also a few cheerleaders on the squad -- something our eighth grade field hockey teammates seemed to disdain.

"We hope you and Jessi don't come back as bouncy, perky cheerleaders," Gina said after we made the team.

I rushed to get dressed as quick as I could. Unlike at the middle school, I dressed in the boys' locker-room instead of an empty girls locker-room.

Members of the boys basketball team would soon be in the locker-room. I rushed to pull my spandex shorts over my leotard and quickly grabbed a t-shirt to pull over the top.

I didn't entirely succeed at the first. And the t-shirt also turned out to be a poor choice.

"Guys, look at the fairy wearing a leotard!" one of the boys said.

Pretty soon I was surrounded by about five other guys.

"Are you sure it's a boy," said another boy. "His t-shirt says Spring Hill Girls' P.E.!"

They were having a good laugh. I felt like climbing under a rock.

But I slipped out as best I could.

"Sorry I'm late," I said when I got to the gym.

"Any problems, Lucas?" Coach Mills said.

"Oh...." I hesitated. "Nothing, really."

"That's good," she said. "Get over there and join the circle for stretching and warmups...oh, and I had a talk with your aunt. I think it's cool I've got Paige Blake's nephew on my team."

My gymnastics teammates were were a quiet bunch. Most were a little more...how can I put this...more girly than my field hockey mates.

There was our fellow middle schooler, Kacey Prentiss. She was the perky cheerleader type that Gina detests. But she was actually pretty cool once you got to know her.

Shelley Lambert was our senior. She was the closest we had to a Gina Lenetti. She was our undisputed leader. But she wasn't really the drill sergeant type.

"She's more of a mother hen," said Dominique Jackson, one of our freshmen, who had the gift of gab.

The best gymnast of the team was a sophomore named Kylie LePre.

"She is definitely the team diva!" Dominique said.

But she was also a hard worker. Almost every event she did during practice, you stood there with your mouth open in amazement.

But she didn't let it go to her head. She was a hard worker. And she also seemed to take an interest in me from almost the very first practice.

"You're doing good!" she told me after one fall during practice on the vault.

I was amazed when she took me aside to give me a few simple pointers that "might help."

Dominique was amazing on the floor. She could tumble. She could dance.

"You know what you need when you're out of the floor, Lucas," she told me after I took a turn. "You need to put a little more soul into your dancing. You need to use a little more hippage."

"I didn't think guys used hippage," I said with a laugh.

"Well, you want to make it entertaining, don't you?" Jessi said laughing. "Put a little more hippage out there."

I spent most of my time alternating between practice on the vault and floor, but after Coach Mills talked to Aunt Paige, the routine for me changed slightly.

"I want you to spend the last 30 minutes working with Shelley on the beam," Coach Mills said.

I saw where the mother hen part came into play. Shelley would demonstrate how to get up on the beam, and had me do it. We did sitting routines and then finally walking steps.

Evidently I must have been doing something right. Pretty soon almost the entire team gathered around the beam while I worked on a simple routine.

"A little more work with him Shelley, and we may have something that could count," Coach Mills said at the end of practice.

#####

"So you've been invited to pledge Les Amies?" Beth said while we were catching a breath before doing centre work in ballet class.

"Yeah, Gina invited me to pledge," I said. "Crazy idea, I guess."

"I don't know," Beth said. "You seem to be the sorority-type, at least the closest a boy can be to the sorority-type."

"Well, I still don't know if I'm going to do it," I said.

"Why not?" Beth said. "If they're like the one I'm in, you'll do a lot of worthwhile service projects. And there will be a lot of other fun things you'll get to do, too. You should so do it. Or at least check out the rush party."

I told her I would at least give it some thought. I've pretty much gotten used to being surrounded by girls anyway. That was also the situation I was in in ballet class.

I was surrounded by beautiful, graceful girls in leotards and tights. And I quite liked it.

"I've got something to give you when we get out of class," Beth said.

I wondered what it could be. Beth was always full of surprises.

She held something behind her back when I walked into the lobby after getting dressed.

She then pulled out a little box with a bow on top.

"You can open it if you like," she said.

Inside was a necklace with a heart.

"I thought it would go good with your earrings," she said.

I smiled.

"Thanks," I said. "Can you help me put it on?"

"I thought you would never ask," she said.

She pulled it out of the box and put it around my neck.

She brushed hair out of the way and hooked it up.

"If your hair gets any longer, you're going to have to wear ponytails at your gymnastics meets."