Beyond

ᑕᕼᗩᑭ丅ᗴᖇ ᗝᑎᗴ

𝓢𝓸𝓹𝓱𝓲𝓪 𝓗𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 ✶༄ ‧₊˚

The brunette flipped her short curly hair over her tanned shoulder and gathered her things off her white desk. The ultramodern academy was nothing but familiar to her in her past year or two of high school. She slung her small black bag over her shoulders before standing up promptly and waiting for the remainder of the other clamorous students to file out of the room. She nodded her head at her history professor and slinked into the hallway. Walking down the center aisle confidently with her head held high.

She wasn't one to brag but was rather well-known, in her opinion. She was relatively polite and kind to all of the high schoolers in her school but only had three or four real friends. Mostly everyone knew her name, but nothing past that, and no one cared to know more. That's just how it went, unspoken, but everyone was okay with it.

The brown-eyed girl flickered her gaze across the halls around her, searching for someone in particular. Her previously false smile quickly widened into a genuine grin when she approached her raven-haired friend. She licked her lips and nonchalantly opened her locker, pretending to just now notice who was loitering next to her.

"Hey, Willow, what's up?" She said happily, retrieving shorts and a cropped tank top from a high shelf in the clean white locker. She closed it and leaned against its golden wood framing.

Willow was also holding a set of gym clothes while following the dismissive brunette as she started again down the hallway. "Guess what happened!?" She squealed excitingly, her blue eyes shimmering with pure happiness.

Sophia looked up at her through long eyelashes, and she couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her friend's visible excitement. "What?"

Willow clasped her hands together and grinned widely. "I made the team!" In her excitement, she failed to notice a student walking in the opposite direction of her, accidentally bumping shoulders with the annoyed sophomore. She muttered a quick apology while remaining in step with her curly-haired friend.

Sophia grabbed her by the fabric of her hoodie and slightly pulled her closer as they continued their trek to the gym. "Really!? You've been trying out for months! I thought they already picked everyone."

Willow nodded thoughtfully before continuing in her unaltered tone. "That's what I thought too! Until they announced one of their best runners was moving to Ohio, they told me that I was their second option and let me on!"

Sophia smiled widely and pulled her into a side hug. "That's awesome! I'm so proud of you! Almost time to see your skills," Sophia laughed maliciously, and Willow joined in.

She had been accepted to the school's varsity track team, and they even occasionally did travel for certain competitions. There weren't many out-of-state competitions on the roster just yet. It was mainly competing with local schools that bordered their district. Willow had been obsessing over training her endurance just to be considered for varsity, and her work had finally paid off.

Sophia let the door to the girls' locker room slide closed behind her, and she stepped into a secluded cubicle pulling the sage green curtain shut. She quickly got out of her slightly ripped jeans and a graphic band T-shirt, flipping her head back up quickly to avoid her curly hair from getting in her face. She dropped the previous garments to the floor and pulled her shorts and cropped tank top on before exiting the private changing room and into the main locker room. Picking up her other clothes, she threw them into her bag and slung them back over her shoulder.

She stepped in front of a large smooth full body mirror and quickly pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, the bouncy curls threatening to escape from her tightly wound black scrunchie. She smiled slightly and headed out of the locker room, not risking being late to gym class. Not only her last class but one of her favorites.