Both the Swedish and English cover show some wear here. I thought Ana's top was flesh-coloured/orange in parts before I saw that it was a crop top, so it's her waist peeking out under her hair. I was a canon nazi as a kid, so it annoyed me that the Ana doll had bangs, and cover Ana didn't have those. The Swedish cover doesn't have the numbers on the front, and it mentions Clarisse in the back text, which the English cover doesn't.
Ana is meeting the girls in Eatz. When she's pushed by a skateboarder, her books and clothes from her gym bag flies everywhere. Clarisse, Ana's snobby and competitive teammate and her friends giggle. Clarisse is obsessed with winning and a strong runner, but Ana won't let her win and risk losing her chance for a college scholarship. Ana picks up her towel and bathing suit, then a boy with brown hair comes over to help her pick up her sandals. They shake hands, Ana with a sandal in her hand at first, then Blaine goes back to his friends in line. The other girls tease her and asks Ana about her meeting with the boy. Ana will just eat a salad, as sh's preparing for the maraton. Clarisse looks quite unhappy that Blaine was paying attention to Ana. Blaine(Huh? Isn't Blaine+Barbie canon? Maybe they'll get together later, though.) comes back with her history book. He asks the girls if they'll study together with him. Nichelle butts in and says yes.
Barbie walks Ana to the bus. Ana has known this city her whole life, but Barbie notices all the little interesting details. The meet a woman who's walking a little white dog with a diamond collar for hundred dollars a week. Ana asks if she can walk dogs too, as she hopes to earn some extra money for stuff she needs, but it's not any jobs available now. The girls says goodbye and Ana hurries to the bus.
Ana lives with her father, a hardworking construction worker, her mother, who just speaks Spanish, her little sister, Rosa, who highly admires Ana. Her older brother, Juan, has joined the navy and will be stationed in Hawaii. They live in a not so upscale part of Harlem, and everybody there speaks Spanish. Ana picks up cilantro and onions for her mother. The shopkeeper knows her family very well and greets Ana like a daughter. She invites Ana's mother over on Sunday. Ana thinks of walking the three floors up the apartment as exercise. The family eats a nice dinner together and Ana promises to send Juan pictures from the triathlon.
Ana's up at 5 A.M and gets off the subway at 6.15 AM. She has juice and a sports bar on the way. Ana gets into school with the special access pass athletes have so they can practice. Ana looks under the loose floor tile and finds a note from Chelsie, with a big orange juice stain on exclusive stationary. She asks Ana if she could write an article on the triathlon for the school's paper. Ana puts on a lucky t-shirt which used to be her brother's. She runs around the track with no troubles on her mind. Then there's swim practice. Ana does forty laps and thinks that the pool here is much nicer than the pool at her old school. Ana notices Nichelle sitting on a bench doing her maths homework. Nichelle will also swim after that. Ana has English with Barbie, which struggles with French. Lara can help her. Ana thinks it's harder to get her schoolwork done than at her old school. Clarisse and her friends giggle when they pass Ana. Clarisse's last name is Stephenson, so, unfortunately for Ana, she's at the locker next to Ana's, standing in front of her mirror and eavesdropping on their conversation. Clarisse marches away when she overhears the girls saying that Blaine is really into Ana. They'll meet up later in the cafeteria, which has, like any other cafeteria in a YA book, disgusting food. Ana and Tori goes to Art Class. Tori does a really abstract flower drawing and talks about how she got her aunt to try roller blades. She will join the other girls for lunch today, so that's all Dingo as she and Lara usually has early lunch. Chelsie and Ana talks about the article. Chelsie is forced to dress really formal and preppy by her mother. Ana promises to help Chelsie when she has the time.
Now it's history class for Ana. She tries to look discretely for Blaine, but he's moved front when he got new glasses, and will be sitting beside her. The class is very boring, so they write notes to each other to keep awake. They meet Clarisse after class, who completely ignores Ana and is super sweet to Blaine, saying that he forgot her birthday. Blaine talks to Ana about her running track. Clarisse huffs and walks away. Ana should meet Blaine later, but she has track pratice, so Nichelle will explain that to Blaine. Ana puts on her lucky t-shirt. She's better at long distance, so Clarisse beats Ana most times. Then Ana wins the hurdles and is congratulated by the coach. In the locker room afterwards, Ana hears Clarisse and her friend talk about Blaines interest in Ana. Clarisse says that Blaine is a do-gooder and sees Ana as a poor little Mexican girl, so her treats her as a charity case. I do not like the slightly racist undertone here :I Ana feels so angry and let down. She practices angry comebacks for Blaine and wipes the tears from her eyes before her family sees her.
Ana ignores Blaine and refuses to read his notes. She stops Nichelle from speaking to Blaine, Barbie and Nichelle comfort Ana and they got to Eatz. They races to Eatz, Tori gets there first, and the others are all sweaty, but they have fun and eat lots of French Fries. It's time for Ana's track meet and she hopes she'll beat Clarisse. Barbie and Nichelle are there to cheer her on, and Barbie will tape Ana. Clarisse teases Ana about her clothes, which makes Ana even more determined to win. Clarisse's dad says he wants his daughter to be better than last time, when she came in second. Ana wins a great sprint. Clarisse's dad is not pleased. Blaine turns up and asks Barbie and Nichelle why Ana's not talking to him. They don't know. Blaine swears he hasn't been a jerk, and he and Clarisse just went to the movies a couple of times when they went to school together. Blaine starts to cheer really loudly for Ana to show his support. Clarisse turns really sour and won't wish her team mates good luck. Ana has a great start and passes, but then she trips up and hurts her ankle badly. It might be sprained or even broken.
Clarisse's father congratulates his daughter on winning, but Clarisse doesn't look all that happy. Barbie watches the tape again and vince when she sees Ana's fall. After watching it closely and in slow motion, they see that the fall is not caused by Ana's feet, but by Clarisse elbowing her from the next lane. Nichelle and Blaine watch the tape too. Clarisse did push Ana! They're so angry and want to tell the principal at once, but they'll talk to Ana first and see what she wants to do.
Ana has a bad sprain. She's bandaged and on crutches. She wants to get Clarisse expelled, but then she bumps into Clarisse's parents which are not happy if their daughter makes less than first place. Then Ana has second thoughts, she won't do this this in front of Clarisse's parents and taking her off the team too will ruin their chances.
Ana tries to swim, one of the few exercises she can do with her ankle. Blaine studies with Ana. She tells him that she has only five procent chance to do the triathlon.
Coach Arlen makes Clarisse help Ana to train to get back on track. The other girls thinks it terrible, but Ana sees the possibility to make Clarisse act like her slave, and being so sweet that Clarisse will feel guilty. Ana makes Clarisse get up really early for training at 6 AM to punish her, as Clarisse hates morning training. Ana says that it's so sad that she blew her chances of doing the marathon she has been looking forward to for the whole year. When I think about it, they weren't competing for places on a team or anything, so it was a big measure to ruin Ana's ankle for just one victory, not a place in the school team or marathon or anything. Ana makes Clarisse get out of the pool and walk around the whole gym to get her a towel.
Clarisse wants Ana to do her best. She's becoming a serious coach, meeting Ana every day and egging her to go on. Clarisse knows some good exercises that won't put pressure on Ana's ankle. She wants Ana to continue, and try some walking or running on track. She will buy Ana an ice cream sundae if she runs and even calls Ana a lazy quitter when she refuses to do so. That makes Ana run and she realizes that this is probably the motivation Clarisse gets from her father. Ana takes Clarisse to watch the tape. Then she reveals to Clarisse that she's known about the push for a while. Clarisse says she's sorry, and that she knows Ana is no lazy quitter. Ana says that Clarisse is the best runner, and actually a great coach.
It's the day of the triathlon. Clarisse tells Ana that she would hated her if it was the other way round, and Ana can push her at next track meet if she wants to. Ana's friends are all there on the big day, Blaine, Clarisse, Ana's parents and Rosa too. Barbie takes photo of Ana, and some group photos too. Everybody wishes her luck and Ana is ready to start.... Ana swims better than ever and is very well ranked. Bike riding is harder, and a red headed woman passes her. Ana focuses on the lady's red pony tail, which reminds her of Clarisse. Ana's ankle swells and aches before the run. She's ranked third in her age group, which means that she did the swimming very well. After four kilometres, Ana's ankle pops underneath her. Miss ponytail passes her, but Ana keeps on running, even when she's in major pain. Ana gives everything. All her friends and family starts screaming Ana's name. Then Ana actually passes the lady with the red pony tail at the finish line. Her ankle is double it's normal size, but Ana still feels really good. Ana got number nine in her age group. Ana gets her first kiss on the cheek by Blaine. More teasing from her friends. Aww, I think it's very sweet that she's fifteen years old and don't have to go further than a kiss on the cheek. Ana's parents are very proud of her and this is her best moment ever. Ana has had the greatest time in her life and she writes an article for the school paper about her experience.
The article in the back is about Ana training for the triathlon. And it teaches kids to write sport features. Writing=honesty=truth.
This book in one word: Exciting.
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