Leah Archer was just 12 years old when she hit her head on a rock and fell into a coma, one that doctors weren't sure she'd ever come back from. But when she wakes up four years later, she faces the struggle of recovery and fights to regain any hint...
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THE TREADMILL SLOWS to a stop as I grab the small towel off the top of the machine, whipping my forehead and face down. Once the belt comes to a halt, I step off, grabbing my water bottle as I go. I watch Caleb next to me as he runs out the last of his own workout. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Thomas walking towards us from the weight area.
"I don't see how you guys enjoy running so much," Thomas muses. "I mean, I only went a mile and was gladly running back to the weights."
I chuckle, still trying to catch my breath after the last stretch. "That's 'cause the only running you ever do is the 90 feet between bases."
"Times that by four, because all I hit is homeruns," Thomas smirks, and Caleb just laughs.
"Whatever you say, man." The three of us head down the hallway and back to the gym locker room. Although we spend a lot of time working out at the school, we try and head to the local gym as often as we can. It lets us relax a little and actually enjoy the time we spend exercising.
Don't get me wrong, I love football practice, but it's not exactly fun to have Coach yelling at us to move our asses every five minutes.
Thomas often joins me and Caleb on our trips. He's on the school baseball team and also plays on a travel team. Despite us always poking fun at him for his sport, he's a great athlete and fun to work out with.
"So what is it you guys are doing later this week?" Thomas asks as we all head through the doorway and towards our lockers.
I reach my hand inside the locker, pulling out the small bag of clean clothes and a towel as well as a bar of soap. I didn't usually like to shower at the gym, but it was necessary after a workout like that.
"It's basically like a college skills camp," Caleb answers. "There's a bunch of college coaches there and they go through drills and situations with us so we get to improve our play while also getting looked at by coaches."
"And that's it?" Thomas asks.
"No," I butt in, walking toward the shower stalls. "Based on how we did the first day, they split us up into teams and the second day we run games. If coaches like what they see, they can come out and watch our high school games, talk to Coach, and look into signing us."
Thomas nods. "Sounds like a good deal if you get to learn new skills and get exposure. Kind of like a showcase tournament, I guess."
Caleb says something back, but their voices are drowned out by the pulse of the shower as I turn the knob. Water runs down my body, washing away all the sweat that accumulated during our workout.
I only take a few minutes before I'm stepping out of the stall, fully dressed with my towel and gym clothes in hand. Caleb makes his way to the showers himself, while Thomas just wipes himself down with a clean towel. His lack of cardio made him seem a lot less sweaty than me and Caleb.
