“Jaxon,” a girl hollers, waving. She’s jogging our way, dressed to run.
“That’s Holly,” Jaxon points out. “She’s in AP English too.” Holly is a pretty girl about my height, with a brown ponytail swinging behind her. She’s got a big smile on her heart-shaped face. “Hey Holls, this is Summer. She’s on track now. Coach has her attempting the 200m relay.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” she exclaims. “It’s my best event, and I really want a scholarship for college. How fast are you?” she asks, sitting on the other side of Jaxon and leaning forward to see me.
“I have no idea. I haven’t run the 200m before. I usually run the 400m and 800m.”
“Well, I appreciate you trying it. Did you tell her about the terrible twins?” She asks Jaxon, who nods. “Destiny and Dominique. They’re fast runners, but they’re bitches, specializing in the 100m. They come from money and look down on anyone who isn’t rich,” she says.
“Summer is already on Cara’s radar,” Jaxon tells her.
“Ouch. Sorry about that. Rich bitches travel together, I’m afraid. Why does Cara have it out for you?” I explain our interactions so far regarding Seb and the lunch tray racks. “That would do it. She’s been after him for years,” Holly tells me.
“Okay, group,” the coach calls, so we turn to listen. “Welcome Summer. She’ll be running the 400m, 800m, and the 200m relay.” I give a small wave to the others in the stands.
“Everyone stretch and give me two laps, then you can start on your distance training, except Summer, Holly, and the twins.”
“See ya. Good luck,” Jaxon waves as he gets up.
I follow Holly over to where the coach is standing with the twins, who are a few inches taller than Holly and me. “Okay ladies. Summer is new to the 200m relay, so I expect you to help her out in training. It is beneficial for all of you to add this run back into the competition. I’d like to run through the relay at a jog to get Summer used to the process. Twins, please grab a few batons from the box.”
The twins scowl but do as they’re told. “Let’s go over to the relay starting line, ladies,” the coach says, so we follow her over to the track. When the twins return, the coach positions them around the track with Holly as the anchor. “I want you to watch the first time, Summer,” she says. I nod as the twins get ready.
When the coach blows her whistle, the first twin takes off. Coach talks me through when to move for the handoff, noting the speed increase twin two makes and when her hand swings behind her to grab the baton. I see this repeated with Holly. I’ve obviously seen this many times at track meets, but never actually did it before.
Coach adds me after the twins for the next run. She stays with me and tells me when to run and when to put my hand back to grab the baton. She runs beside me as I make my way to Holly. The pass-off goes okay, and Holly takes off like a rocket.
“Bring it in, ladies.” We fall in around the coach. “Alright. Summer is still building up her endurance, but I expect her to remain third in the relay. Summer, since you’re running both sprints and long distance, I’d like to split up your practices between the two. You’ll spend Mondays with the sprinters and most of Wednesdays with the distance runners. We’ll start Wednesdays running a few rounds of the 200m relay, then you can switch and run with the distance team.”
“Okay, Coach,” I easily agree.
“Ladies, give me a full lap around the track, and then we’ll start sprinting.” I take off with Holly, jogging around the track. Holly asks me about my history running track, so I tell her, simply stating that I took last year off. She doesn’t push for more information, sympathizing with the pain my legs are in. She also offers to help with training after school if I want. I think I have two new friends to add to my life.
We spend the rest of the practice lining up and running 100m and 200m sprints. Coach takes pity on me and lets me sit out the last few runs. I’m way slower than the other three girls, but Iexpected that. I sit on the grass and stretch my legs while the girls finish their sprints.
After practice, I follow Holly and Jaxon back to the gym. We exchange numbers before I head towards the pool area. Entering, I see students still diving, so I take a seat in the stands to watch. There’s a girl setting up on the high dive. She does two twists, then enters the water with a small splash. A few pairs follow who seem good to me, then Bay and Alex are up. They’re perfectly synchronized and hit the water with hardly a ripple. Wow. They’re incredible, and I did not notice the tiny speedos or all those abs.Nope, did not notice.I watch another round of dives, but no one comes close to the guys. That seems to be the end of practice as everyone heads to the locker room.
Bay and Alex are quick to come back out and move my way, so I meet them at the bottom of the stands. “Hi guys. Your diving is incredible,” I exclaim excitedly.
“Thanks, Summer,” Bay smiles, looking a little tired.
“Yes, thank you, Summer,” Alex replies with a nod. I follow the guys out to the parking lot and wave goodbye to Alex as I get into the Honda with Bay.
Once we are on the road, I comment, “you guys really were great. No one else I saw was even close to as good as you guys.” I see Bay blush cherry red in my periphery.
“How did you and Alex begin diving?”
“I was actually diving solo in junior high. Alex was my competition from a different school. We traded wins back and forth until he lost to me in the finals in eighth grade. He wasn’t happy about it, so his solution was for us to team up for pairs. He knew I wanted a diving scholarship for college, and pairs offered me a better chance at that if we were good, so I tried it. We were good,” he shrugs.
“It’s mesmerizing to watch,” I reply.
“How was your first practice today?” Bay switches the subject.
“Pretty good. I think I made a few friends, but there are some of Cara’s friends there, too. I might hobble for the next week with my sore legs,” I joke.
“We’ll carry you around if we have to,” he offers.
Chuckling, I warn him, “I wouldn’t promise that if I were you.” Bay looks over and smiles at me.
