Your number 1 fan

A NEW NORMAL AND A CONSEQUENCE (8)

AUGUST 26TH 2013

MAYA POV
No one tells you what to expect when you're in high school after becoming an Olympian and winning a few medals, it sounds boastful to even think about. There's no handbook or website for advice. Three months since London and my life feels different. Mason is nowhere to be found; our dad pushed him to overdose while we were both in London and Mason was home. How can a father do that? It's a lie to say that I hadn't seen Mason, we'd spot each other but he'd run away. He doesn't want to be found; he doesn't want a home. He was always the smart one and artistic one. He was the one with the future, I can run and that's about it. My family's confidence was poured into my success. Mason was the top student of each grade, always passing each class with the highest mark. I would run 100m and I'd be the one awarded and loved. What happens when I can no longer run? I just about pass a class and that's only if I can sneak in class work around my running. Don't get me wrong, I do still have friends. Ada and her boyfriend Sam are hard to get rid of, they're so supportive and loving. Everything my dad isn't. I have a lot of the same classes as both so I'm never really alone if I don't want to be.

With a father and a trainer like mine, I haven't properly attended a high school lesson in about 6 months. I couldn't tell you anything about How To Kill a Mockingbird, or what the quadratic stuff in maths is. The days in school have been filled with lesson after lesson as it would be cool if I could graduate this year and not have to repeat or do a GED in the future. I used to have friends that I would wait for at our lockers or spend lunch with, instead I tend to find myself hurrying through corridors and hiding in the back of the field during lunch. Lunch is pointless to me, 45 minutes where everyone can eat but not me. Calories run my life... run my life. If it's not the shake I'm given in the morning after the 3-mile run, it is the salad my dad forces my mom to make me for lunch. Either or, I am bored of both choices.

The classes I have been assigned are all recognisably easy for people my age but not for me. One of the three assigned, is athletics. You don't need an imagination to wonder who fought for that. The next is history and the last is chemistry. I'm aware normally I'd be given 7 different subjects to attend but running takes precedence over any other part of my life. I haven't purposely visited the school track since I've been back; running has changed for me. A new definition has been given to me which I haven't yet understood. All I know is that I don't enjoy it. I don't know if I have enjoyed it for a long time.

CARINA POV
Three months since the Olympics, a small apartment, and a random roommate... big changes have come my way. I've earned a name already in the hospital 'the golden child', a well-known doctor as your father really puts a damper and pressure on your name.

The small apartment is just across the street from the hospital, the building used to be a shoemaker's factory so there's a lot of pipes and exposed brick everywhere. The kitchen despite being outdated is filled with the newest machines, I've never found a microwave so hard to use. A coffee pot is always on the stove either being used or getting ready to use. The kitchen merges into the living room, a big flat screen, an L shaped sofa, and a scratched-up coffee table makes this place feel more like home. Either side of the living room are the bedrooms, mine is the smallest. The room almost always has the sun shining through, the cork board from home is hammered into the wall next to my bed. There are no posters or any home comforts, who has the money for that? One of the few items taking up a wall is an inspiration board filled with pictures I've cut up. There're a few pictures of the "ideal" family, a picture of America; I'd love to visit. My final part of the board is a big picture of Maya Bishop, her drive is inspirational plus who's going to complain about her being against a wall. With the windows being west facing, the board would glisten in the lowering sun every night. Highlighting every detail and aspiration in its wake.