That's All She Wrote || James Diamond

9 to 5 (1.11)

"Okay, the first one to race around the Palm Woods and ring the bell at the front desk wins the Palm Woods 500 Invitational All-Terrain Disc-Cathlon Classic!" Kendall excitedly declared, stretching his arms behind his head as he laid out the rules for the challenge he and the other band members had created.

His friends were gathered in their living room beside him in a straight line, all dressed in workout gear and running shoes - ready to take the race by storm.

When Roxy received the invitational text in the morning, she was more than happy to roll out of bed and show off the new athletic outfit she had bought to join Jo at the gym. While she was excited to spend more time with her sporty friend, she had ultimately determined that the most important aspect of working out was looking good while doing it. Especially when most of their workouts ended with Roxy getting slammed down onto the workout mat during the Judo sparing matches Jo was so fond of.

Maybe we should just try the treadmill one of these days...

Knowing she didn't stand a chance in a competition against her four varsity athlete friends, the writer had still made her way through their connecting door and into the boys' living room.

According to the band, Carlos was the fastest runner of the four and would easily win a traditional footrace, so the others had decided to give him a bit of a challenge - he had to run the entire marathon carrying Roxy on his back. It was an excellent way to include her and to even the odds of the race.

"And the Super Champion of the World!" James chimed in, sporting a pristine white sweatband around his head.

From the door, Katie held up a handcrafted trophy. It was half her height and covered in shiny silver tinfoil, a silver colander taped to the top. The name of the tournament was written around the stem and base in metallic colorful letters. "And wins the Palm Woods 500 world cup."

Roxy's teammate pointed to it, Logan copying his actions as they both proclaimed, "You will be mine!"

The pair erupted into a slapping match before the assistant had to reel Carlos back in.

"We've got this." She whispered to him with a wink, placing her hands on his shoulders. He bent down, ready for her to hop on to the young girl's signal.

Katie began the countdown. "On your marks..."

Everyone placed one knee on the floor, arms out in front of them in the starting position, save the writer positioned behind her teammate.

"Get set..." She opened the front door.

Under her fingers, Roxy felt Carlos begin to shake with excitement.

"Go!"

Before the preteen had even finished her words, Roxy jumped onto Carlos' back as he shot off. Though her landing was a bit shaky, he tightly looped his arms around her leg to hold her in place as she balled the material of his sleeves between her fingers.

There was a chorus of shouting from the guys behind them, but the runner and his partner ignored them as they raced down the hall. As Carlos' speed began to increase, Roxy's hair fluttered into her face as she quickly glanced behind her. No one else was in sight; they had already taken the first place spot.

Passing the door to 2-H, the writer noticed a large bouquet of flowers had been placed on her doormat.

"Carlos?"

"...Yeah?" He pushed out, doing his best to respond in a timely manner while chugging along down the hall.

She pointed back towards her room, half-joking and half-confused. "Did you buy me some flowers?"