The next day at school, I walk out of class to see Izzie almost running into me. I see her smiling widely. "What's up, crazy?" I look her up and down. "I figured it out. I know how to get us out of here." Izzie says. "I don't have a problem getting out, it's staying in I have trouble with." I say, knowing I almost got suspended for bopping Nate's milkshake. Izzie and I start to walk down the halls, as she speaks. "Almost every year UCLA recruits a student from Clayton on a track scholarship. Two years ago, they took three kids." She exclaims excitedly. "That's crazy." I reply. "I know! And their coach is like best friends with Coach Crowley." Izzie tells me. "Crowley has friends?" I ask, smirking. "Casey, we could go together. The two of us, to California!" "Wow." I reply. Izzie is still smiling, and I am too now. "The scout is gonna be at regionals in a couple of months." "Do you think that they'd take us?" I ask, curiously. "I mean, if we train like crazy and get our times down, then yeah. We're juniors, this is our chance to impress them." "I don't know anything about LA except that it's very far away from Elsa." I say, smiling.
When I get home, I invite Evan over to tell him the big news. "Guess what? I think I might want to go to UCLA." I tell him. "What?" He asks instantly. "UCLA in LA?" "I know it's crazy but Izzie said that they recruit kids from Clayton all the time, and if we get our times down then maybe we can both go. Ever since Izzie said it, it felt right." I reply, with a smile on my face. "Wow." Is all he says. "I was thinking maybe you could go with me?" I ask. "I don't know Casey. That's far. I work at Don's now, and I'd have to leave Beth." "I get it. Just at least think about it." I reply. He nods in return.
The next day afterschool, I sit down to tie my shoes before the track meet starts. I see Izzie, happily running over to me. "Hey." She smiles. "Are you cool with meeting here half an hour early to train? We could do extra conditioning and practice passes. We gotta step up our game." She says. "Yeah." I look away. "Sure, maybe." I stutter. I don't want to lie to her, but Evan's not fully on board with us leaving for LA, and I want him to come with us, so maybe it's just a bad idea. Izzie notices my hesitation. "You're already changing your mind about LA, aren't you?" She asks. "I ran the idea by Evan, and I told him he should come with us." "And he's not into it? I'm not surprised. I mean maybe if we were going to college in Providence." She says, and I laugh a little. "What does he want to stay here for anyway? What does Evan even do?" She asks. "I mean, he works at Don's Pizza and he's just figuring out." "Which is code for doing nothing." She replies. "I hate you." I say jokingly. "I know." She laughs, and we get up to start practice.