Willow stopped and started panting. Small clouds of steam rose into the air every time she exhaled. She looked back at her team mates who were all recovering from their run. They were almost ready, but not quite yet. She was determined to win this year’s Annual Sled Dog Race. If they won, they would be known as the best team in Nome. Willow was very ambitious and wanted to prove she could be just as good as her father Balto was, if not better. She knew she could do it, she just wasn’t sure about her team members, they were still panting quite heavily from their morning run.

Suddenly, Willow felt something cold touch her nose. She looked up. A steady shower of white fluffy snowflakes started to fall. She didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous by this.

Once her master had taken off her harness she decided to go for a walk. The snow was starting to lie on the ground and it made a soft crunching noise under her paws. She thought about the teams chances of winning. They were up against Cole, the fastest dog in Nome, and his team who were known to be incredibly fast. She started having negative thoughts. She shook her head. The only way to win was to think positive. She slowly ambled home to take a nap. She stretched and yawned, deciding that she would train even harder on her afternoon run.

Willow was busy telling her team mates that they had to train harder and faster than they ever had before when her master walked up. By his side was a dog she had never seen before. The whole team turned to look, interested and inquisitive. Her master put each dog into their harness, putting this strange and unfamiliar dog to the front. Willow scowled. What was her master doing? Everyone knew she was always at the front, leading the team.

Her master put her behind the new dog. She looked at him. He was black, tan and white with striking blue eyes, she could see muscles through his coat and new that he must be quite fit.

She scowled again and hissed at him, “Who are you?”

He grinned and said “The name’s Jack and you are?”

“Willow,” she muttered. She stared at him fiercely before asking, “What are doing leading my team?”

“Your team, I’m the one at the front,” he smirked.

“Well I should be at the front!” she hissed.

“Really?” he was obviously enjoying this which irked her even more.

Before they could continue their conversation their master told them to go. Jack was off like a rocket and he surprised her by how fast he was but she wasn’t phased, she ran as fast she could managing to just keep up with him. When they stopped she found herself panting a lot more than usual. She was so annoyed and embarrassed she couldn’t even look at this strange dog.

As time went on she grew used to being behind Jack. She even grew to like him a little, but she was stubborn and did not like to show it. Finally came the day they had all been waiting for, the big race. They lined up with all the other nervous teams. Willow could feel her nerves jumping around inside her and it made her stomach churn. She could feel the adrenalin pumping through her body. She looked to Jack to see his reaction. To her surprise he just stood there staring straight ahead. He looked different compared to the other jittery and nervous dogs. He looked calm, cool and confident. Willow wished she could look like that but she was way too nervous.

When everybody was in position they waited stock still so they could hear the gun shot. With a loud BANG! Every dog was off running as fast as they could. Breathing hard Willow ran as fast as her legs and lungs would allow. Snow was falling hard now, making it harder to see. She tried to keep in time with Jack’s movements so she wouldn’t throw the team off balance. Her legs were now aching and her breath was coming in short gasps. They were ahead of all the teams but one. Everyone was tiring and gasping for breath but Jack wouldn’t stop, determined to catch up with the team in front.

As it started to get dark, Willow’s master stopped the team and they set up camp for the night. It was a cold winter’s night and Willow rolled herself into a ball, wrapping her tail round her nose, to keep warm. She slept soundly all the way through to dawn’s first light when she was awoken by her master and they set off once more.

They had been struggling through the thick snow for some time when they spotted something in the distance. As they got closer they realised it was the team that had been in front and they were gaining fast on them. At this sighting, Jack sped up to a determined sprint to catch up with them. Willow, tired and weary like the rest of the team, tried to stop him.

“Jack! Wait! We’re too tired to-“

“That’s my brother leading that team and if I don’t beat him I will never hear the end of this!” Jack interrupted her.

Willow almost halted but realised she had to keep running. Gathering her breath, she cried, “Your brother is Cole?”

Jack gave one solemn nod. Now that she thought about it she realised they did look alike with black fur and piercing blue eyes. She knew they had to win this and she wanted to help Jack, so pulling all her strength together, she managed another fast sprint. Following her lead, the team sped up and were soon neck and neck with Cole’s team.

The two determined lead dogs were sprinting as fast they could. Jack started to edge forward a little. Cole was out of breath and couldn’t keep up the pace for much longer. Angrily, he lashed out at Jack with a furious swipe of his strong front paw. Jack dodged out of the way but for Willow there wasn’t enough time. Cole’s paw hit her chest with maximum force, knocking the breath out of her. She slipped out her harness and collapsed to the ground. Everything went black…

When she awoke she could see dark shapes round her. They were whispering to each other. She had a pounding headache and she tried to get up but the pain in her chest made her collapse again onto the cold powdery snow.

“She’s awake!” she heard someone cry.

Suddenly she felt warm hands lift her up and put her down on a soft blanket. It was her master! He had put her on the sled and wrapped her in blankets to keep her warm. Jack came round to see her.

“I’m gonna win this…for you,” he whispered.

She licked his nose then snuggled down into the cosy warm blanket and fell asleep.

When Willow awoke this time she winced. There was deafening noise, it sounded like…it sounded like cheering. Yes it was cheering. She opened her eyes to find her vision back to normal. Jack came running up to her.

“We won! We actually one!” he jumped up and down with excitement.

“Thanks to you,” she smiled at him.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he smiled back at her.

She returned this comment with a lick on the nose. At this, he looked slightly uncomfortable. She gave him a curious glance. She tried again this time nuzzling him. He backed away.

“What’s wrong?” She asked him.

“I…Willow I’m sorry…I,” he looked down unable to look at her staring brown eyes.

“Just tell me Jack,” she was getting worried now.

“I…I’m in love with someone else,” he spat the words out as if they were poisonous. He felt guilty although she wasn’t sure what he had done wrong. He looked up to see Willow’s reaction because he really liked her and wanted to continue being her friend.

For Willow, it took a while to sink in. When it did she couldn’t believe it. She shook her head, had she heard him wrong? No, he still stood looking guilty and she knew she hadn’t imagined it. She couldn’t let Jack or anyone else see her cry. She ran off, as fast she could. She could hear Jack calling on her, saying that he hadn’t meant to hurt her, that he hadn’t realised she’d liked him as more than a friend. She ran off into the forest bordering Nome. She could hardly see because her eyes were watering up and tears were streaming down her furry cheeks. She tripped on a stone and stumbled. The pain in her chest was there but it was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling now. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life before. She crawled under a tree for shelter and rolled into a ball to keep herself warm. In one moment, her life had turned totally upside down. She cried and cried until finally, she fell asleep from exhaustion.

To be continued…