𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 | 𝐀𝐉 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐒

one.

maya sprinted across the grass to where the rest of the team had already convened. it was only day one of track meets after summer break but her last period was the furthest classroom from the track and always resulted in her being late. coach murray had clearly started without her, she spotted gaby watching one of the newcomers attempt to long jump and subtly waved to her. gaby and aj had been co-captains for a while so every year maya would end up watching the newcomers with gaby. coach murray caught sight of her approaching and let out an exasperated sigh "summers, nice of you to join us."

"i know, i'm sorry," she dropped her bag with the others. "i would say it won't happen again but i have calculus last period and it gets crazy in those hallways." he rolled his eyes at the girl, every monday she had been late and she'd been hoping to have her calculus class moved to a different time slot but she couldn't be so lucky. "i'll just go-" she gestured towards where gaby was, already walking towards the track before coach murray could pull her back. "hey!" gaby skipped towards her, wide smile in place. "where were you?" maya groaned. "calc," she shook her head. "someone should really be monitoring that hallway."

she glanced towards the unfamiliar faces before landing on the one that seemed to be struggling the most. "is that-" she trailed off directly as the girl tripped over a hurdle. "paige evans?" gaby finished for her. "yeah." maya watched as aj fixed the hurdle behind the girl, an amused look written across her face. she tore her eyes away. "is she good?" she asked as if she hadn't just watched the girl nearly fall flat on her face over a hurdle. "um," gaby raised a brow. "i think you can answer that one for yourself." maya leant against the fence behind them, watching paige as she ducked under the hurdles.

"what are we supposed to do with her?" aj grabbed onto gaby's arm, motioning towards paige. "she hasn't been able to do anything so far." gaby looked down at her clipboard as if it was going to provide her with an answer. "have you had her run yet?" maya asked. "no," aj shook her head, her eyes meeting maya's. "have her run," maya shrugged. "if she can run in a straight line, all she'll need is to quicken her pace." aj glanced at gaby who was nodding along in agreement. "we could do that," she replied. "because she's not great at anything else." aj gestured to where the girl was sprawled across the grass. "let's try it."

both stacey and dillon had approached maya's side, leant up against the fence as they exchanged amused looks at paige who had pulled herself into a seated position once she saw gaby and aj approaching. "what are they doing?" stacey nudged maya. "seeing can she run," maya sighed. "can she?" dillon snorted. "only if somethings chasing her." maya held back her urge to outwardly scream, one thing that their track team didn't need was someone holding them back. coach murray had positioned paige, trying to instruct her to stay down until he blew the whistle.

gaby and aj had rejoined maya, both of them looking skeptical about paige's running abilities. she took off running, maya nudging gaby as they both watched her. she wasn't the best on the team but she could run which meant she wouldn't hold the team down. paige's focus was in the direction of gaby and aj, her smile widening before she continued running. maya narrowed her eyes before glancing towards both girls. aj looked just a little flustered while gaby seemed totally unfazed. and maya felt like she was about to throw up. although she didn't know why exactly.

"i am the fastest person alive!" paige proclaimed as she hit the finish line. "she's five seconds behind where she needs to be," aj directed her attention to coach murray, ignoring paige's previous comment. "yeah i took an instagram story and it went over the time limit," dillon waved his phone at her, the brunette's nose scrunching in disgust. "well maybe i just need someone great to teach me," she gestured towards the twins which made maya roll her eyes. using track to get to gabriela campos was incredibly unoriginal. "alright, aj," coach murray snapped his fingers. "you can work with evans."

aj stepped backwards, almost tripping over maya as she did. maya grabbed her arm to steady her and tried to ignore how strange it felt to be so close to aj. she might've been friends with her twin, but she didn't think she'd even had a proper conversation with aj. "isn't that literally your job?" aj protested. "i don't get paid enough to stay after school," the man shrugged, walking away from them before aj could continue trying to get out of coaching paige. "you've got to be kidding me," she muttered under her breath, paige oblivious to aj's disdain as she fawned over gaby.

"i could help," maya offered. "i'm good with people." aj raised a brow at her. "and i'm not?" maya could almost feel herself blushing. "i didn't say-" she trailed off. "i just meant-" aj bit her lower lip, holding back a small smile. "you're joking," maya sighed. "yeah," aj nodded. "i think i can handle her." gaby had wandered back over to maya's side, linking her arm. "are you ready?" she asked. "yeah," maya nodded. "bye," she smiled towards aj who was glaring paige down. "i would not like to be in paige's shoes right now," maya said quietly once her and gaby had made it a little down the track. "she's kind of scary."

"your shorts are on backwards." maya heard aj snap from behind them. "she wanted you to train her," maya nudged gaby. "did you see how shocked she was when coach called aj?" gaby shook her head. "no she didn't," she laughed. "she wanted one of us, we're co-captains." maya raised a brow at her. "you are not that clueless," she replied. "does she look like she cares about track?" gaby shrugged. "maybe she likes aj." maya didn't know why that suggestion made her feel lightheaded or why it made her want to have paige removed from the track team before aj got the chance to train her. "maybe she does," she said, but her voice came out strained and hollow.