“Come on, already,” Brodie said, waving me out of my room.
I chased him down the stairs and found my dad standing at the bottom.
“Hey, kiddo.” He grinned and clicked a picture with his phone.
Mom strolled down and sided up with Dad, and they were both smiling. Brodie’s brother tore into the room and tackled me around the waist.
“What’s going on?” I asked, suddenly worried everyone was huddled around me. But they were smiling, so it couldn’t be bad news, could it?
Oh crap. Was it?
Dad grinned and pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket. “I heard from Coach Hayden at University of Wisconsin-Parkside today.”
My stomach dropped. “Um…not before the dance, Dad. I—”
His smile got even bigger. “It’s good news.”
Brodie punched my shoulder and side hugged me. “Yes!”
I gulped.
“They invited you to walk-on.”
“As in…track? Walk-on… Seriously? Is there a chance for a scholarship?”
“No scholarship money or anything if you make it, but a spot on the team in some capacity if your times stay strong this season and you try out well over the summer.”
“But what about paying for it? That’s a lot—”
“We’ve been crunching some numbers and we think we found a way to make things work,” Dad said.
“So I’m going to college? And maybe even running track? I can’t believe it!”
“Holy shit!” Brodie yelled. “That’s awesome!”
“Language.” Caleb screamed, then tackled his big brother as he burst into a fit of giggles.
“I printed out the email.” Dad cleared his throat, and I gulped. “‘Dear Mr. Armstrong, thank you for sharing Ryan’s stats with us. We are always on the lookout for strong runners. We evaluated his posted times for the past two years to date, and I must say, we’re quite impressed. We would encourage him to attend our walk-on tryouts. Attached is a schedule with dates. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.’”
“Yes!” I clapped my hands, then grabbed Brodie’s brother by the armpits and raised him up. “Woohoo!”
“Figured you might want some good news before the dance. Lighten the evening even more. Now you can really celebrate.” Dad pulled me into a hug and then slapped my back.
Mom’s smile was the widest I’d seen in ages. Tears lined her eyes. “So proud of you, honey.”
“Let’s go get our girls and celebrate!” Brodie said, then pulled his brother close. “Be good, Limp Lungs.”
“You look like a dork! But Willow’s going to love the pink bowtie.” Caleb shoved Brodie, then ran away.
I followed Brodie out to the limo that was waiting and we piled in.
Mom and Dad had really gone all out. I tried to convince them that it wasn’t necessary, but they’d insisted and claimed they got a great deal. Not to mention, my mom had repaired Mr. Shevchenko’s torn rotator cuff and he owned the only car rental place in Woodhaven that had a limo.
“Congrats, man.” Brodie set his corsage on the seat next to him.
“Grace at UW-Madison, full ride.” Brodie grinned. “You at Parkside, only like two hours away. Both running track.”
“I have to make the team.”