The Running Dream

Jessica is greeted by the enthusiastic responses of her teammates the next day at school. Even Ms. Rucker says something nice for once, pointing out that, “I hope your parents found a good lawyer. The situation’s ridiculous” (250). Then she tells Jessica that one more note between her and Rosa will land Jessica back in her old seat. But the threat is accompanied by “an odd sort of twitch at the corner of her mouth” (250), almost like a smile.

Because Jessica needs more help in math and a test is coming up, Rosa invites her over to her house for tutoring that evening. At home, her mother asks her if she wants a ride, but Jessica wants to walk and take Sherlock with her. At this point, her mother demands to know who Rosa is and Jessica explains that Rosa is a math genius who lives nearby. At Rosa’s house, Jessica calls home to tell her mother she got there safely, then turns the phone over to Rosa’s mom, who wants to speak with Mrs. Carlisle. After two hours of studying, Jessica heads home, but only after promising to come back the next night to try a pretest that Rosa writes in Ms. Rucker’s testing style.

When she gets home, Jessica finds her mom waiting for her. She wants to know why Jessica never mentioned that Rosa had cerebral palsy. Jessica explains that she doesn’t want to think of Rosa as she did before the accident, before she saw Rosa as more than just someone who has cerebral palsy. She tells her mom about the math class notes and how she keeps them in her backpack. Jessica shows one to her mother, where Rosa had asked what Jessica would change if she could. Predictably, Jessica says running again, but Rosa’s answer was, “That people would see me, not my condition” (255). Jessica confesses that she did only see Rosa’s condition before, but “[n]ot anymore” (255).

After studying the next night, Rosa is confident that Jessica will do well on her math test. When Rosa invites her to lunch for a last-minute review, Jessica agrees, because she now sees the connection between physically training for an event and mentally training for a test. They both rely on “Repetition. Effort. Pain. Success” (256). After the assessment, Jessica feels confident that she did well.

Rosa is mysteriously lighthearted about Jessica’s last trip to Hank’s office that afternoon. Fiona shows up and asks if she and Gavin can come along too. Jessica is caught off guard, so Rosa answers for her and tells Gavin he can go. It strikes Jessica that all three of her friends are acting oddly all of a sudden. She lets the feeling go as they get ready to leave for the appointment. Jessica feels badly leaving Rosa behind because Rosa is“the one I’d like to take along” (257).