JayJay pedaled his unicycle over to where the auguste girl was standing. "Hi," he said in his goofiest voice. "You're Pinky, am I right?"
The girl clown smiled back at him. "That's what I'm called," she said, "although my name's really Penelope. Penelope Pines."
'She told me her real name,' JayJay thought, 'she must like me.' "I'm Jason," he said; since she told him her real name he might as well tell her his, "Jason Jacob Smith. Everyone calls me JayJay."
Pinky giggled. "You're from Clownton High, am I right?" she asked. When JayJay nodded she went on, "I go to Lou Jacobs High. We might have come across before at previous meets." JayJay supposed they might have, he'd raced against boys from Lou Jacobs, but this year and in junior high. But he was pretty sure he'd have remembered such a cute clownette like this!
"So, how long you've been into cross country unicycling?" he asked.
"Oh, this is the first year I've done it; I mainly just want to get into shape for unicycle basketball season." JayJay nodded; he did that too, although he loved cross-country unicycling for it's own sake. So maybe that was why he hadn't come across her before.
"So, ah Pinky," JayJay said, "I was wandering, if maybe after the meet-,"
"Hay hay, JayJay!" cried a voice behind JayJay. He turn, and saw his sister, wearing a yellow polka dortted top and a pink minskirt, with her pink beret atop her neon yellow hair. Behind Jen were her friends Kahndila, Rachel, and the Spring sisters April and May.
"What are you doing here?" he asked; he'd thought Jen would be going shopping with her friends today.
"Now what kind of sister would I be if I didn't come to my favorite brother's unicycle meet!" Jen circled her arm around JayJay's neck, pulled him to her, and rubbed several noogies on top of his bald head. "Say, who's your girlfriend?"
"I'm Pinky," said the auguste girl. "Pinky Pines, from Lou Jacobs. And let me guess, you're JayJay's sister."
Jen honked her nose. "You've got it! I'm Jen Smith, captain of the Clownton High cheerleading squad."
"I've heard about you," smiled Pinky.
"Well, I'll leave you two love birds alone," said Jen. After she gave JayJay one last noogie, she let him go. "I'll be watching from the sidelines rooting for you little brother!" She honked her nose goodbye and walked off with her friends.
JayJay rubbed his head where Jen had noogied him. All his life the only hair he had grew around the edges of his head. Most of the time he took it for granted; his father was bald, so was his grandfather and uncles and most of his male cousins. Half the guys he knew were bald as he was and he knew a couple who didn't have any hair at all. Right now though, he wondered if he wouldn't have felt Jen's noogies if he had hair on the top of his head.
JayJay was suddenly aware of Pinky smiling at him. "That's your sister, isn't she?" JayJay nodded, the red circles on his cheeks becoming even redder. "Don't worry. I've got two older brothers, Twinky and Blinky, and they LIVE to emberrass me." She fluttered her large pink eyelashes at JayJay. "So, were you just about to ask me out?" JayJay sighed and nodded. "Sure. meet me after the girl's race, okay?"
JayJay's heart nearly leaped up inside him, only it hear a fogohrn go of. "Look's like the boy's race start's in twenty minutes," Pinky said. "I think you better get moving."
Nodding, JayJay walked his unicycle to the nearest restroom and walked inside. Quickly he changed into the unicycle team uniform:a tight red and white polka-dotted tank top that showed the bulge of his small pot belly, extra wide baggy red shorts with white stripes held up by rainbow suspender, and red and blue striped socks that reached up to his knees. JayJay then changed the pedals on his uncycle to extra small ones that would clip into certain spaces on his size '28 shoes.
JayJay walked out of the restroom and walked the unicycle over to where the rest of his team was waiting. Mr. Gelpham, the Clownton unicycle coach, was giving them some last minute instructions.
"Remember boys, when someone from another school comes up from behind you, don't hesitate to try to slap him across the face or grab his supenders and pull down his shorts. Of course, he'll be trying to do the same to you." The boys all nodded; that was perfectly legle in cross country unicycling. If someone fell down, they would automtically be out of the race, and his school would be less likely to win. "Okay. Now line up and brace yourselves for the start." He honked his nose; JayJay and his teamamtes honked theirs simaltaniously in reply.
Forty-eight young male clowns from the high schools of three counties lined up at the starting line. JayJay put on his unicycle helmet, made sure it's rear-view mirror was perfectly aligned so he could see right behind him.
An adult auguste wearing a pink and yellow veritically striped shirt came out from the sidelines. He took out a starter pistol and pointed it up-
BANG!