The Runaway (ON HOLD)

Chapter one

"Katie Sullins takes the lead, only half a lap to go! Will she win it? Looks like Hailey Miller is catching up! She really wants this win folks. Oh, looks like she's passing Katie! Will she win it? She's so close! And...she won!" The sports announcer yelled, his voice changing pitches as he spoke into the microphone. "Maryland, give it up for your new 2021 national track champion!" He continued holding out the end of "champion" as the crowd went wild.

I finished the race seconds before everyone else. When my best friend Katie finally caught up to me, I reached my arm around her, and waved to the crowd with my free arm, out of breath. A smile was plastered across my face as I pleased the crowd.

"The trick is to save all your energy till the end." I said winking to Katie as the crowd chanted my name. After taking in all the glory I walked away to the locker room, blowing kisses to my peers in the audience. Winning gave me confidence, something I lacked. At Jenkins High, track was the sport, so when I, Hailey Miller got first place at nationals, it made me loved.

Simple routine. Three steps. Twenty minutes to do it. Shower, get dressed, put makeup on. Then I could go accept my medal. That's how it always is. My whole life was planned out and predictable, and I was fine with that. I'm going to graduate in 2023, get a full ride scholarship to Stanford University, then go to the Olympics. Nothing could mess it up.

I listened in the shower to the sports announcer announce who won the men's hurdling. The love of my life Carter was a hurdler. "And in first place... Franklin Adams!" I heard the announcer say, followed by a list of the names who placed in the top five.

"Dammit." I whispered to myself, smacking the wall next to me, instantly regretting it looking at the tiny scratch on my finger. The smallest cuts hurt the most, everyone knows this.

"He didn't even place in the top five, are you freaking kidding me?" I talked to myself as I vigorously washed my hair and body thinking about Carter. He was my soulmate. When my dad died, he was there for me. When I was diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder, he didn't leave, instead he helped me through it all. When my family was low on money, he got me a job at a boxing gym. Now I know how to kick ass when the older kids bothered me, and how to get my anger out without beating anybody up. Instead, I beat the punching bags for hours.

"Hailey! Hurry up there, you only have ten more minutes before you accept your medal!" My sister Maya said proudly, trying to talk over the sound of ten showers running. Maya was a seventeen year old gymnast. She used to do track, she's the one who got me into track, but later decided to do gymnastics. Some say it was the fact that I became faster then Maya and started beating her in races that persuaded Maya to choose gymnastics.

Maya had long brown hair, like my moms, and had blue eyes like my dad. She was in eleventh grade, so she was only two years older than me. She used to be my role model, my best friend, but the older she got the more distant she became. Especially after dad died.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Jeez." I replied, snapping out of my train of thought, turning off the shower and grabbing a towel to wrap around me. I looked at myself in the mirror, dark circles under my eyes. I hadn't been sleeping, too worried about the meet which I had just placed first in, and my history grade. No, I don't have all A's, but I don't have F's either, so that had to count for something.

After drying off and slipping my warm-up suit on, looking at my name printed on the shoulder, I brushed my hair, whipped on some mascara, and put my tennis shoes on. Then my anxiety started creeping up on me. I had to speak in front of a crowd in a few minutes, stand on a podium and accept an award, and get my picture taken for the newspaper. As great as that all sounded, one of my biggest fears is public speaking, well that and spiders. I'm deathly afraid of spiders.