'You are married and you have a daughter?' I asked, incredulously. I had not meant to be rude but there were rumours going round which I had always assumed were true.
Mr Feld smiled- I think he had heard the rumours before.
'My daughter is called Laura. She is here today, looking at books in the library. The boys do not know.' That was probably best as it was a rare sight to see a female in a public boys' school.
I walked to the library.
*
And there she was, eyeing her novel intently. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were small, her wrists were too thin, and her freckles too dark, but instantly I thought she was the most beautiful thing I would ever see. The pace of my heart quickened, like it did as I was sprinting, and I felt a runner's euphoria- the point at which everything becomes a sweet blur and all your pain vanishes.
She looked up at me, even more intently than she read her book, and I instinctively knew we were doing the same thing. Twinning our names together- Laura and Johnny, Johnny and Laura, one entity.
Now I understood all that poetry and literature that I'd previously failed in English. If only coach would let me, I'd give up all my sports, everything. Even long-distance running.
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