was going to act like nothing happened, that was fine with Danny. Only now he had to have a reason for being there. Instead of doing damage control from showing off his godlike powers in the gym, what else could plausibly have brought Danny here? “I wondered if you could time me.”
Lieder looked puzzled, suspicious. After all the months in which Danny had taunted him by never letting Lieder time his fastest runs, it was natural that Lieder would suspect a trick.
“I’m tired of the game,” said Danny. “I’m in high school. I should care about high school things.” And even as Danny said the words, they became true. It might be fun to be a high school athlete, even if Lieder was a complete jerk.
“Like waking up your teachers?” asked Lieder coldly.
Had Lieder really still been asleep? It was early, but not so early that someone coaching the first team of the day at seven shouldn’t already be up and dressed.
“I stepped off a hundred yards,” said Danny. Actually, part of his gift was a very good sense of distance, with reliability down to a foot in a hundred yards, or a twentieth of an inch in a foot. “Do you have a watch?”
Lieder held up his left wrist. “I’m a coach, I wear a stopwatch.”
Danny jogged easily down to his starting place. “Ready?” he called.
Lieder, looking annoyed, put his finger to his lips. Then he put his right hand to his watch, looked at Danny, then nodded.
Danny took off at a sprint. A hundred yards wasn’t that much—it’s not as if he had to pace himself. He gave it everything—or at least, everything he had at six-thirty in the morning after a night of no sleep.
When he came parallel to the walkway leading up to Lieder’s door, Danny burst through imaginary tape and then jogged to a stop and faced Lieder expectantly.
“Can you do it again?” asked Lieder.
“Do you want a couple of miles?” asked Danny.
“Just those hundred yards again.”
So Danny jogged back to the starting point, waited for the nod, ran again. This time he let his after-race jog take him up to Lieder’s porch.
“Do I make the track team?” asked Danny.
“On probation,” said Lieder.
“Because I’m only marginally fast?” asked Danny. “Or because you want me to suffer a little for being such an asshole so far this year?”
“Everybody starts out on probation, till I see whether you’ll listen to a coach.”
“So I’m not fast after all?”
“Even the fastest can get better,” said Lieder. “The fast ones are worth the time you spend working with them.”
“Just tell me. Am I any good?”
“You’ll be starting for us,” said Lieder. “Now can I finish my breakfast?”
Danny grinned. “Knock yourself out,” he said.
Lieder closed the door behind him.
As Danny headed back down to the street, Lieder’s door reopened. “Have you had breakfast?”
“I don’t eat breakfast,” said Danny.
“From now on you do,” said Lieder. “My athletes eat.”
“I’m not an athlete,” said Danny. “I’m a runner.”
Lieder stood there, looking angry, but hesitating.
“I have to stay light if I’m going to be fast,” said Danny.
“You’re either on the team or you’re not.” Lieder glanced into the house, then faced Danny again, looking like he wanted a fight after all.
Danny could see that Lieder wanted to yell at him. Something was keeping him quiet. There was someone in the house he didn’t want to wake. Or someone he didn’t want hearing him yell at a kid.
“Listen, Mr. Lieder,” said Danny. “I want to do my bit for the team. But I won’t belong to you. You just timed me. If the speed you clocked for me is good enough for me to compete, then I’ll compete for you. I’ll listen to your advice and I’ll try to get better. I’ll try to get stronger and build up stamina. Stuff that makes sense. But you don’t control what I eat, and you don’t control my time. I come to practice when I can, but when I can’t, I don’t, no questions asked.”
“Then forget it,” said Lieder. “I don’t need a defiant little asshole like you.”
“Your call,” said Danny. “I offered, and you turned me down. Now I don’t have to hear any more complaints from Mr. Massey.”
“You didn’t offer shit,” said Lieder, getting even quieter as he took a step down from the door. “If you’re on the team, then you have to play by the same rules as the other kids.”
So Lieder still wanted him. Danny must have been pretty fast.