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  Mrs Cooper frowned. ‘Your coaches already know about this arrangement and they fully support it, Josie. Now, on the days where there is some training during the school day, you will be in the library, under the supervision of Miss Cho, while you study. If you do not show a vast improvement in your upcoming exams, I’m afraid I will have to disqualify you from the State Finals at the end of the year, and we’ll have to have another meeting with your dad to discuss the option of keeping you in Year 7 next year.’

  I gulped, choking back tears. This was so unfair.

  ‘Now, the teaching staff here are not the enemy, Josie. We are on your side. We want you to succeed.’

  I shook my head angrily. On my side? How could they be on my side if they wanted to stop me from running?

  ‘I know you are a hurdler, Josie. Consider this one of your bigger hurdles to overcome.’

  I peered up at Mrs Cooper through foggy tears and nodded.

  ‘Thank you for your time, Mr Ingram,’ she said, standing up and showing us to the door.

  Dad gently guided me out into the corridor. As Mrs Cooper closed the door behind us, I burst into tears. He gathered me into his chest and stroked my hair.

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll fix this,’ he whispered.

  ‘But how? Exams are in a few weeks!’

  ‘Well, I’m going to be the dad I should have always been. You’re not going to like it, but starting Monday, I’m going to toughen up and help you and Nick to succeed. This will mean new rules which you won’t like, but it’s for your own good. I’ve been too relaxed, trying to give you happy lives. When your mother died three years ago, I thought you’d never be happy again. I wanted to make you happy, but I’ve gone about it the wrong way and I’m sorry.’

  He wiped a tear from my cheek. This was so scary.

  ‘I know you’re going to Issy’s sleepover tonight, but once that’s finished, no more social stuff until after exams.’

  I opened my mouth to protest, but saw a seriousness in his eyes that I knew not to argue with. I nodded.

  ‘No after-school milkshakes and no meeting friends in the park. We’ll get you through this, Jose, but you need to cooperate. You can do this. It’s not a running race, no, but it’s just like it in many ways.’

  I frowned.

  ‘Think of your exams as the final race. You need to train. You need to be disciplined. If you put just a fraction of your focus and effort from sports into these exams, then I bet you’ll be top of the year!’

  I raised my eyebrows, completely unconvinced.

  ‘Promise me, you’ll try? We’ll start with that History assignment for next week. What do you think?’

  I sniffed and wiped my nose on a tissue Mrs Cooper had given me in her office.

  ‘I’ll try,’ I said sadly.

  ‘That’s my girl.’

  As I headed off to class, I felt like I’d swallowed a rock. I couldn’t believe this was happening. No training. I’d probably lose the 100-metre hurdles title. And I had to get passing grades in every subject. This wasn’t going to be like clearing a simple hurdle. This was like climbing a mountain.

  ‘Josie, darling, come in!’

  Issy’s mum wrapped me up in a warm hug as I walked through the door. I breathed in her scent – she smelled of cinnamon and spiced apples.

  I walked through the corridor with my backpack and sleeping bag slung over my shoulder.

  ‘You’re here!’ Issy ran over to me, almost knocking me off my feet, hugging me tightly. Nina was also there and she waved affectionately from the kitchen table.

  ‘Josie is here!’ another voice yelled as I was embraced by Issy’s sister.

  ‘Hi, Ellie,’ I laughed.

  Ellie was Issy’s younger sister, she had the same blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.

  Ding! Ding!

  ‘That’s the pizza!’ Issy yelled, racing for the front door. Issy skipped back into the room with a pile of pizza boxes.

  ‘Woah, do you think you ordered enough?’ her mum laughed.

  Issy took the pile of pizzas to the table and started laying out plates and napkins.

  ‘Okay, Mum, you can go now,’ Issy whispered in her mum’s direction.

  Her mum laughed and picked up one of the pizza boxes. ‘We get the hint,’ she laughed. ‘Ellie and I will be eating pizza in the lounge with Dad.’ Issy ushered her mum and sister towards the lounge and shut the kitchen door behind them.

  ‘Let’s feast!’ Issy declared, bouncing back to the table.

  The kitchen joined onto a seating area with a couple of couches and a TV mounted on the wall. Issy had put mattresses on the floor under the TV with pillows and blankets so we could sleep in front of our movies.

  I reached out and grabbed a piece of ham and pineapple pizza – my favourite. As we gobbled down our food, we chatted and laughed about school and our coaches. Issy did a brilliant impression of Coach Jack when he got mad at us for messing about during training – it was hilarious. She would always have Nina and me in stitches; she could do impressions of pretty much anyone.

  ‘Issy, stop! You are too funny!’ said Nina, laughing hysterically.

  ‘Hey, have you ever done an impression of Mrs Brunette? You have got to try that out next!’ I said, with a chuckle as I imagined Issy’s impression of our headmistress.

  ‘Great idea, Jose! I’ll give it a go later. Right, who wants dessert?’ Issy screamed.

  ‘Dessert?’ I groaned. ‘I’ve just eaten five slices of pizza! I don’t think I can fit it in!’

  ‘But it’s spiders!’ Issy sang, raising her eyebrows.

  ‘Okay, I think I have room!’ I giggled.

  Issy pulled out a huge tub of vanilla ice-cream from the freezer and some bottles of cola and lemonade from the fridge. Nina and I grabbed three tall milkshake glasses from the cupboard and set them down on the table. I poured lemonade into my glass and Issy and Nina had cola. As I filled my glass to the top, Nina said ‘Not too full, Josie! Remember, Archimedes!’

  ‘Who the heck is Archimedes?’ I laughed. Brainiac Nina, strikes again!

  ‘You know, the ancient mathematician!’

  ‘Ah, no, I don’t think I’ve met him,’ I giggled.

  ‘It’s fluid displacement,’ Nina said matter-of-factly. ‘We did it in Science, remember? When you submerge a solid in a liquid, the liquid displaces.’

  Issy and I looked at each other with blank faces. It was like Nina was speaking another language. I shook my head and took a big scoop of ice-cream and dunked it in my drink. Immediately, my lemonade spilled out over the top of the glass, all over the table.

  Nina laughed hysterically. ‘That’s fluid displacement!’

  My smile faded and my stomach dropped as I thought about Science. It made me think about school and about my meeting with Mrs Cooper.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Nina asked as she noticed my faded smile. I hadn’t told the girls about my meeting yet.

  ‘Yeah,’ I mumbled, ‘rough meeting with Mrs Cooper and my dad this morning.’

  ‘What about?’ asked Issy as she scooped some ice-cream into her mouth.

  ‘Schoolwork. Basically, I’m not allowed to train much before exams and if I don’t pass them all, I might have to repeat Year 7.’ Tears pricked my eyes as Nina put her arm around me.

  ‘Josie, that’s so stressful!’

  I nodded. ‘And it’s not even really the exams that are upsetting me. It’s the State Finals. If I’m not training, how am I going to make Nationals? I have to make Nationals. That’s what I’ve been working towards all year! And Coach Jack said I’m in perfect form to take out the hurdles title this year.’

  Issy and Nina stared at me with sympathetic eyes.

  ‘We can help you, Jose,’ Issy offered.

  ‘How? I mean, I’m so behind in every subject. I can’t learn everything in such a short amount of time.’

  ‘We’ve taught you Archimedes,’ Nina grinned, trying to make me smile.

  ‘If only schoolwork cou
ld be as fun as ice-cream spiders!’ I laughed.

  Nina stopped and frowned. ‘Maybe it can,’ she said slowly.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Issy asked.

  ‘Well, Issy and I could help you. We could make schoolwork fun – we can help you with your assignments and exam prep.’

  Issy nodded enthusiastically. ‘You know I’m pretty good at English – I could totally help you study. And Nina is a maths whiz – actually Nina is a whiz at everything!’

  Nina blushed as she self-consciously adjusted her glasses on her face.

  ‘What’s your next big exam or assignment?’ Nina asked.

  ‘History,’ I groaned. ‘It’s due on Monday and I haven’t even started!’

  ‘I think all the classes across the year have the same assignment,’ Issy said. ‘Is it the one about famous women in Australian history?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s it. But I don’t even have any ideas! What are you guys doing yours on?’

  ‘Well … I’ve kind of already finished mine,’ Nina said, embarrassed. ‘I did mine on women in politics in Australia – right up to our first female Prime Minister.’

  ‘Ugh, sorry, no offence, Nina, but I could never do something like that. That’s so boring to me!’

  Nina laughed, unoffended.

  ‘I am doing one on famous Australian women in the Arts,’ Issy said. ‘I’m not finished but I’m focusing on writers, artists and songwriters – that kind of thing. I love books and art, so it’s easy for me to do it on those women.’

  ‘Hey, that’s a good idea!’ Nina interrupted.

  ‘What idea?’ Issy asked, confused.

  ‘Josie needs to do her assignment on something that she likes. Something that interests her.’

  Issy shot Nina a knowing smile.

  ‘And what interests Josie more than anything else in the world?’

  Both girls stared at me with excited faces. I looked back at them blankly.

  ‘SPORT!’ they both screamed.

  I raised my eyebrows, slightly interested. An assignment on sport? I reckon I could handle that.

  ‘Come here!’ Issy chirped, bouncing off her seat and grabbing her laptop from the kitchen bench. ‘We can start now!’

  ‘Oh, Issy, no!’ I protested. ‘I really don’t want to do homework on your sleepover! It’ll ruin the night!’

  ‘No it won’t, it’ll be fun. We’ll search for some videos of Aussie women who have won gold at the Olympics. Let’s face it – we are all sports nerds and we’d probably be watching races on the computer anyway!’

  I laughed because it was true.

  Issy typed furiously into the computer and pulled up footage of Cathy Freeman winning the 400 metres at the Sydney Olympics. We fell silent as we watched Cathy crumble to the ground at the end of her race, finally realising her Olympic dream. As she did her lap of honour, draped in the Australian and Aboriginal flag, I looked around at my friends.

  ‘That must have been such a massive moment for her,’ I sighed. ‘I mean, not just winning, but winning in her home country and being the first Indigenous woman to win Olympic gold in athletics.’

  ‘Write that down!’ Nina said quickly, flapping her hands.

  ‘Write what down?’ I said, confused. I didn’t think I’d said anything important.

  ‘What you just said – that’s exactly what this assignment is about. You can go through the history of women in sport and talk about why their victories were important. In this case, Cathy Freeman was representing her country but she was also representing her people. You got it exactly right, Josie!’

  I shook my head, slightly surprised. I never thought I knew any answers, and there I was, getting it right without even trying.

  ‘Wouldn’t it be so cool to interview Cathy Freeman?’ Issy said wistfully.

  My mind began to tick and whir. I felt a tinge of excitement – as if I was about to run a race. I knew this feeling well, but I’d never felt it for anything to do with schoolwork.

  ‘You know what, Issy.’ I said, my mouth curling into a smile, ‘that just gave me a great idea.’

  Nina and Issy tilted their heads, interested.

  ‘Wanna help me with something?’ I asked, jumping up.

  ‘Sure,’ both girls chorused with expressions of curiosity on their faces.

  ‘First thing’s first,’ I smirked. ‘Issy – feel like doing some more voice impressions?’

  My stomach was in knots. I felt like I was about to run the hurdles final. I breathed in deeply, then exhaled. I’d never felt nervous about this kind of thing before. I grabbed my water bottle and took a quick sip. I licked my lips nervously.

  ‘Josie, I don’t suppose you have anything to present today?’ asked Mr Taylor, in a slightly tired voice.

  ‘Actually, I do. I’m ready to go!’ I said brightly.

  Mr Taylor’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘Oh! Great. Take it away then!’

  I nervously walked to the front of the classroom. I turned to face the whole class, who were sitting in front of me, waiting patiently. My heart beat loudly in my chest.

  I opened my laptop and plugged it into the electronic board which beamed at the front of the room. I nervously tapped on the keyboard, and opened the file for my presentation.

  Just breathe.

  ‘Throughout Australian history, women have displayed courage and determination in many areas of Australian life. One area where women have achieved amazing feats against all kinds of odds is …’

  I hit a button on my laptop and the title filled the screen:

  AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN SPORT

  ‘Sport!’

  The class began to murmur excitedly. There was one thing we each had in common at this school: our love of sport.

  ‘Today, I’m going to focus on a few of our female sporting legends.’

  I could see Mr Taylor encouraging me with a small smile. He was clearly very surprised I’d put so much effort in. I breathed in, steadying my nerves.

  ‘Dawn Fraser,’ I said, as I hit a button on my computer. A photograph of the legendary swimmer appeared on the screen. In the background I had included some energising and inspiring music. I found music always helped me in the lead-up to a big race, so why not use it in the classroom too?

  I gave a quick background to Dawn’s training history and showed the photos I had found with my friends at the sleepover. Then, I turned to the screen with the photograph of Dawn Fraser and asked, ‘So, Dawn, what was your greatest sporting achievement?’

  The image of Dawn Fraser remained on the screen but the music died down. All of a sudden, Issy’s voice came over in a prerecorded answer. She had deepened her tone a little and was pretending to be Dawn Fraser.

  ‘Winning the 100-metre freestyle three times at the Olympic Games was a big achievement,’ Issy’s voice said. ‘I have won eight gold medals throughout my career, as well as six Commonwealth Games gold medals. In 1985, I was the first female to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.’

  I looked out to the class and could see everyone with their eyes fixed on the screen, completely captivated by my presentation. My hands tingled with excitement.

  I continued my presentation, which included pretend interviews with five other famous female Australian athletes. As I finished up, I put on the final backing music, which was a fast-paced, pumping track. Delphie stood up and started clapping along to the beat. Everyone else stood and joined in. On the screen there was a montage of images and footage of the amazing women I had profiled, either winning in their sport or standing on the podium with gold medals around their necks. The final image was of Cathy Freeman, on the first-place podium at the Sydney Olympic Games as she received her gold medal. She waved to the crowd with a huge smile on her face. The class erupted into applause.

  As the screen faded to black, I unplugged my laptop and walked back to my seat as the class clapped.

  Mr Taylor walked to the front of the room and waved his hands gently, signalling to the girls to
quieten down and take their seats.

  ‘Well, that was a bit of a surprise, wasn’t it? Well done, Josie,’ he smiled.

  The bell pierced through the air to signal the end of the lesson. I gathered my books and was met with pats of congratulations from my classmates.

  ‘Awesome presentation, Josie!’

  ‘Well done!’

  ‘That was so cool!’

  I smiled, embarrassed. I was used to this kind of praise on the track, but definitely not in the classroom.

  ‘Josie,’ Mr Taylor called as I was about to head out the door. ‘Come here, please.’

  I waved Delphie out the door as I went back inside the classroom.

  ‘You worked really hard on that, didn’t you?’ he asked.

  I nodded.

  ‘Well, no point waiting for tomorrow to give you this, you deserve to see it now.’ He handed me a piece of paper, folded in the middle, and winked at me as he gathered his books and headed out the door.

  I stood, alone in the classroom. I slowly opened the page and saw the title:

  Final Year 7 History Assessment: Famous Australian Women In History

  NAME: Josephine Ingram

  TOPIC: Australian Women in Sport

  MARK: 20/20

  COMMENTS: A well-researched and exciting presentation. Lots of information with a creative and polished delivery. Well done.

  I gasped. Twenty out of twenty. Full marks! I couldn’t believe it – I stared down at the page again. It was true! I hadn’t imagined it. I had received full marks on the presentation. I ran out of the classroom and bounded up to Issy and Nina who were standing at the lockers talking with Clara Mason.

  ‘Full marks!’ I spluttered. ‘I got full marks!’

  ‘What … what are you talking about?’ Nina laughed, confused.

  I held out the piece of paper for them to see my mark.

  ‘Josie!’ squealed Issy, jumping up and hugging me. ‘You did it!’

  ‘I couldn’t have done it without you guys,’ I said, hugging Nina as well.

  ‘Full marks?’ Clara said, grabbing the paper from me. ‘Wow. That’s amazing. Nobody in our class has received full marks yet. I got nineteen out of twenty and I was the top mark so far. And we are the A-stream class!’