"Thanks! My hair is definitely going to stay out of my face now. I just wish I didn't clash so badly with my uniform." Siku sighed. Salem Central's school colors of purple and green were pretty enough on their own, but as a track uniform, they did not contrast well with the color of her skin.

"You do not clash. Now if it were lime green or orange or something, then it would be hideous, but I think you look just fine now. You're nervous aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm nervous. It's my first track meet ever, and out of twenty-two freshmen on the team, there were only four of us that Coach Lowry thought were good enough to be in this meet. What happens if I fall or drop the baton and let everyone down?" The Westchester County Relay meet was traditionally the first track meet of the year, as well as one of the biggest. Today, the best runners from more than thirty high schools would be competing at the meet at Avondale High.

"You're not going to trip and fall, Siku. You've got the best balance of anyone I've ever seen. And you've only practiced your exchanges a couple hundred times this week, so you're not going to drop the baton either."

"Easy for you to say. You're high jumping. If you miss on the first try, you get a second chance. If I make one mistake, then it's over." Cierra started to reply but was interrupted by a girl in the seat in front of them passing back a small wrench and a baggie of metal studs.

"Switch your spikes. Coach said that the track at Avondale nearly washed out last week, so they're only letting us use the eighth inch ones." Cierra took the items from the girl as Siku dug into her bag for her shoes. "And before you freshmen ask, it's right for tight, left for loose. Kids!" The girl snorted, slipped the earphones of her walkman back on, and went back to studying a physics book.

Cierra and Siku looked at each other and shrugged. Katherine Goldmam was not someone who enjoyed interacting with who she saw as her social inferiors, and because she was a senior, she considered the entire freshman class not worth her time on general principal. She was tolerated by the team, but only because she was also their best distance runner.

"I may be nervous, but I did remember that much on my own." Siku said as she used the wrench to first remove the old spikes from the bottom of her running shoes then replace them with the smaller spikes. She passed on the gear to Cierra who did the same. After both were done, Siku passed the spikes and wrench back to Monique in the next seat.

Siku had been nervous about going out for track, first because she was worried that her grades would slip, and after that how she would fit in with the team. Her first fear had been calmed when Coach Lowry had told her and her father that students on teams at Salem Central generally had better grades than students who were not on teams. The second fear had easily evaporated as well, mostly because of Monique.

Monique Harvey was a senior, and had been the best sprinter on the team before Siku arrived. In the few weeks of practice they had had, Siku found herself running first almost as fast as Monique, then as fast, and was now maybe getting a little faster than Monique after her first experience with serious training. Instead of seeing Siku as a threat, Monique had welcomed her, encouraging her when she lagged, and praising her after she completed a hard set of runs. Track was, Monique told her, a team sport, and teammates were responsible for helping each other out.

Siku and Cierra shifted places once again, this time so Siku could braid Cierra's hair. Siku finished just as the bus rolled into the Avondale High parking lot. With a few cries of "Grab the same spot as last year.", the team bounced off the bus and into the cool April air, making their way to a square of land behind the bleachers. In the space of a few minutes, tarps were thrown across the damp new grass, and were quickly covered by a second layer of blankets, sports bags, and coolers.

"Okay everyone. Time for a warm-up lap and then stretching. Let's get moving." Coach Lowry shouted over a growing din. Besides Salem Central there were already about twenty other teams at the stadium, all working through their own warm up processes. after dropping her things near Cierra's, Siku followed her teammates around the bleachers and onto the track. The team took an easy jog around the track before moving to the astroturfed infield for stretches.

"Butterflies in your stomach?" Monique asked as they stretched hamstrings.

"Yes." Siku said.

"Just think of them flying off in a v shape like birds do. You know, v for victory." Siku tried to imagine it in her mind and laughed a little. The team finished their stretching and then different team members broke off to finish warm ups appropriate to their events. Cierra headed off to have a first look at the high jump area, and Siku went over to practice starts with some of the sprinters. She took a starting block off the communal pile and had just about set it to her liking when Monique interrupted her.

"Is that your family up there?" Monique pointed to a section of the bleachers where the Salem Central parents were starting to sit. Siku looked up to see not only her father in a purple and green sweatshirt but also every one of her aunts and uncles as well. Uncle Remy saw her looking at them and waved.

"Yeah. That looks like all of them." She waved back and smiled. "I think I need to say hi to them for a minute." She cut across the track dodging other runners and walked up to the eighth row of the bleachers, and gave her father a hug.

"I didn't think all of you would be coming, but I'm glad you're here."

"We didn't want to say anything before because we didn't want to make you more nervous." Aunt Jean said.

"But we wouldn't miss it for the world." Uncle Logan added.

"Well, I just came by to say hello. I've got to get back to my team now."

"Good luck!" Her father said. Other relatives added their best wishes as she rejoined Monique and the rest of the sprinters. They practiced a few starts and a few baton exchanges and then headed back to what Siku was beginning to think of as their campsite. Because there was an hour before the running events started, Siku ate an apple and tried to study a little world history. It took time to block out the rest of the noise from the meet, and just as she finally felt like she was gaining some insight into the role of Michaelangelo in the Renaissance, she was startled when someone tapped her on the back. She yelped and stood up, dropping her book in the process.

"Dang, when you concentrate, you really zone out. Sorry Siku." Siku turned and recognized Andrea Sumners, one of her teammates. "Anyways, they're announcing the first call for the 4x100 meter relay. We need to go over to the starting area and check in." Siku put her history book back in her bag, and the relay team headed over to the check-in area. Once there, the Salem Central foursome found themselves in a roped off area with about a hundred and forty other runners. A man with a bullhorn stood off to one side calmly reading off instructions.

"Okay, we have five heats here, ladies. Listen up for your lane and heat assignments in a minute. But just a reminder to take off all your jewelry and that we are enforcing the uniform rules today. Leave your sweats in the check-in area and then file out as a team so we can make sure that all your uniforms match. Okay, lane assignments for heat one are..." The bullhorn man read through the assignments, and Siku found that her team was racing in the final heat.

They watched the early races, and Siku tried to pay attention to a few of the times. The top finishers in the event would not be determined by what place they got in their heat, but rather their times compared to all the other relays. You could win your heat and not finish in the top ten, or finish second in your heat, and still finish second in the event overall. The only judge was the stopwatch.

"Okay fifth heat, sweats off, and head out to your place on the track." The 4x100 was one lap total around the track, and each girl ran a different segment of that lap. Siku pulled off her warm up suit, and started to walk out of the area. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach as she clenched the baton in one hand.

"Think of vees." Monique said as she headed to her spot on the track. Siku walked over to the starting line and picked her starting block. She quickly adjusted it, and tried to calmly settle into her place in lane four.

"On your marks." Siku slid her feet against the block, knees resting on the track. She set down the baton for a second, wiping her suddenly sweating hand on her shorts, and then regrabbed the baton.

"Set." She brought her knees off the track and leaned a little more of her weight into the blocks.

*Bang* The starter's gun fired, and Siku took off running. The 100 meters didn't require much strategy, you just ran as fast as you could. Legs hammering, and arms pumping, she flew down the track, dimly aware that she was leading the race. Almost before she realized it, she saw Andrea ahead of her, ready to run her leg of the race. Siku stopped pumping her right arm, holding the baton in front of her, ready for the exchange. Andrea, seeing her approach started to accelerate.

"Stick." Still running, she yelled and tried to push the baton into Andrea's waiting hand. She missed, instead slapping the other runner in the forearm. Fortunately, Siku had not totally let go of the baton yet. She bobbled it and slid it down into Andrea's hand. Finally, it was safely in the other girls' hand, and Andrea took off quickly hitting full speed. Siku took a few more steps as she slowed down, and then started to walk back to collect her sweats.

"Freeze Salem!" She stopped in her tracks as a runner to her inside took off on their leg of the relay. One of the meet officials continued to call out instructions to the other runners. "First runners, do not leave your lane until I tell you to." A few seconds later, the same official allowed them to leave the track.

Siku quickly crossed the lanes, and watched her team finish the rest of the race. Andrea passed off the baton to Liza Norton, who though running full out, fell back into second place in the heat. Liza then passed the baton on to Monique, who came flying down the stretch trying to catch the leader from Avondale.

"C'mon Monique, Go!" Siku found herself screaming. But the other girl had too much of a lead to overcome and Monique ended the race in second place in the heat.

Siku made her way back to the check-in area and started to meet up with her teammates.

"I'm so sorry about the baton there. It's all my fault for messing up."

"No it's not your fault, I was grabbing too low." Andrea tried to comfort her, but Siku still felt the blame.

"Guess what! Coach thinks we got third overall." Liz said, jogging back with a grin on her face.

"We would have done better if I'd done my part." Siku said, feeling like the world was crashing down on her.

"Third? Awesome! I've been on the team for three years, and never won a medal before, much less at Westchester Relays!" To Siku's surprise, Andrea grabbed her in a hug and quickly spun her around. "Freshman, you didn't lose the thing for us, you and Monique won a medal for us."

"And maybe next time you can run anchor leg, just so you don't have to make a hand off." The out of breath Monique was smiling as well. The girls started to pull sweat pants back on, and Siku felt herself get a little happy about the race. She had made a mistake, but then corrected it, and she felt that she could do better in her next race. She had just pulled her top over head and was adjusting the hood when she started hearing the remarks from the girls on the other teams.

"Mutie, of course they're gonna win." A girl from Avondale said.

"Yeah, Salem's got to bring even a ringer who can just cruise past everybody." Siku froze in place and went pale. She had heard those kinds of remarks many times before, but they still came as a shock.

"Siku, you okay?"

"Let's get her out of here. The air's starting to smell." Monique said, grabbing Siku's arm, and her teammates lead her away from the crowd.

"I just wasn't expecting, you know..."

"Yeah, I really do understand how you feel." They stopped, and the other girl turned to face Siku. "My family came to Brooklyn from Jamaica when I was ten. When I started running, I wasn't good because I worked really hard, they'd say I was good because I came from there, right?" Monique's normally slight accent became strongly exadgerated. "Then when we moved to the suburbs, they made the same assumptions. This time, they just assumed I'd be good for no other reason that I'm black and from the city.

The thing is, these bitches don't know how hard you work to be where you are. They weren't there last week when you were running those 200s so hard you nearly threw up. It's easier for them to just assume that because you're a mutant, you're supposed to automatically run a hundred in eight seconds flat, rather than thinking that it might be because you work harder than they do."

"Yeah, it's not like I haven't heard it before, but it still hurts."

"I know. Ready to go out and win the next race?"

"Yeah, but how's high jump going? I promised Cierra I'd cheer her on when I was through with my first race."

"Let's go see." The four girls walked over and watched the high jump until their next race. In that one, the sprint medley, Siku had a fast race and a much improved baton exchange, and the team finished first in the event. By the end of the day, Siku had collected one first place medal, two second place medals, and one third place one, and helped Salem Central win the Westchester Relays team title for the first time in school history. When she got home from the meet that night, her family had celebrated by going to a new Thai restaurant that had just opened up in Salem Center.

Siku went back to school on Monday, happy how her first meet had gone, and looking forward to the team's first dual meet with Avondale the next day. She bounced through her classes, and on to practice.

When she went to the locker room to change, it seemed that there was something wrong. Katherine Goldman was talking with Monique, and Siku thought she heard Katherine say something about "what the girl from Avondale said Saturday". But, as soon as Siku got any closer, both stopped talking and Katherine scurried away.

"Hi Monique. What's up?"

"Nothing really. I'm just glad Lowry's taking it easy on us today. Ready for tommorow?"

"Yeah. What's the deal with Katherine?"

"Nothing much. Just senior stuff." Siku let the matter drop. Normally, the two other girls did not talk to each other much, but stranger things had happened.

When Siku got outside to the track for practice, things got stranger. Her teammates didn't seem to really want to talk to her, and even Cierra seemed distracted. Siku made it through the chilly practice and then got a ride home with Uncle Bobby.

"Is something wrong?" Bobby asked as they sped back down the road to the mansion. "Seems like you're thinking hard about something."

"Oh it's nothing." She said, bending the truth a little. "It's just that I've got that big world history test tommorow, and I guess I'm still concentrating on that."

"You'll do fine. You always do." He let the matter drop, and after a quick dinner, Siku spent the rest of the evening studying for the test.

She only really started to think of her teammates when she went to bed that night. Was it what the girl from Avondale had said? There had been times before that someone had been friendly to Siku at first, but then had stopped after being called a "mutie-lover" or "freak-lover". Were her teammates afraid of the same? Her thoughts kept turning in her head, and she took a long time to fall asleep.

The next day was the same as practice had been. Siku talked a little to her friends in the halls between classes, but it still seemed like there was a reluctance among them. Only Cierra seemed to want to talk at lunch, and Siku was grateful for the normalcy of a discussion on bands and boys. She started to feel a little bit better at lunch, and a little better again when she breezed through her test.

After school, she started to make her way to the locker room to change but was intercepted by Coach Lowry.

"I need someone to help me find the stop watches. Can you give me a hand?"

"Sure." Siku followed the older woman into the gym and into a large storage room filled with athletic equipment.

"I thought we left them in my office after cross country season, but I guess they got returned in here. They're inside of a small wooden box."

"Okay." Siku opened the first box she saw. It turned out to be filled with badminton birdies. She moved on to another box and continued the search. Five minutes later, they were still searching for the missing watches.

"Hey Coach, Mr. Peterson says he needs to get the hurdles out on the track." Cierra said as she ducked her head in the room, already dressed in her uniform and warm-ups for the meet.

"I'll be right there. Aha there they are!" The Coach found the watches and started out to handle her next organizational crisis. "Siku, you've got five minutes to change and get onto the track. Hurry it up!"

Siku quickly made her way into the locker room and stopped. All sixty of her teammates were already there. And they were blue. Instead of wearing black tights under their uniform shorts, they wore royal blues ones that nearly matched Siku's skin, and under their singlets, they wore longsleeved blue t-shirts and turtlenecks.

"And now we all clash." Cierra said as she followed Siku into the locker room. She pulled off her sweatshirt and revealed her own blue tee.

"We all heard about what the girl from Avondale was saying about you, and thought it was awful." Monique said. "We want to show Avondale and everyone else out there that we won't stand for that sort of talk. We're teammates, and teammates take care of each other, you know."

"Thanks." Siku said as she moved across the room and gave Monique a hug.

"Don't just thank me. It was actually Katherine's idea."

"Katherine?"

"It was me." The older girl said and smiled awkwardly for a few seconds. Her face then went serious again. "When people say stuff like 'oh she's just a mutie' they can also mean that 'she's not really a human being.' My grandmother spent her childhood in Germany at a time when Jews were considered to not really be human beings. She lived through the camps, but the rest of her family died there.

I'm not good at serious speeches, but when I heard about what happened, I wanted to do what I could to break the circle, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks."

"Well you're still a freshman, and I'm a senior, so don't expect too much from me, you know." Katherine stuck out a hand and Siku shook it. Both knew that there would probably never be friendship between them, but that there would always be respect.

"Alright! Let's get out on the track and get ready to race, jump and throw, ladies.. Time and Avondale wait for no one!" Coach Lowry's voice boomed from the other side of the room. Siku realized that her coach must have been in on the plan as well.

And sixty women in purple, green, and blue charged out toward the track, ready to take on the world.

The butterflies and victory concept is attributed to Sheila Taormina, an Olympic swimming champion in the 800 Free Relay.