Dream Catch Me (Student/Teacher)

Dream Catch Me - Chapter Three

Dream Catch Me - Chapter Three

The gym uniform was not flattering, the shorts a bit too short, and the shirt a bit too big. I kept my converse on, making it look even worse. A large shrill blared from the changing room I was in, and I heard students emptying from the locker rooms beside me. Not long after, several other teenage girls filed in the door, finding a spot on the bench and getting changed.

Several pairs of eyes flicked over to me, the new girl. I knew I was a fresh piece of meat in this smaller town, but come on! It's like they've never met anyone new in their whole lives! I let out a little groan of frustration, trudging out of the changing room and onto the adjoining track and field ground behind the gym. Coach was standing there with the whistle in his mouth, preparing the blow the noisy contraption.

"Okay!" He shouted, "Today, to start off the new term, we're going to run laps, record our new times to see if we've improved since last term. If you stop running you aren't able to start again." A wave of groans and sighs erupted from the group of maybe 24 people.

Instead of a groan from me, I simply smiled, happy to get back to running again. All my muscles needed were a good warm up before I could really get into it.

"We'll race you sir!" a boy shout out from the back. Coach chuckled, a cocky grin spread on his face.

"Whoever can beat me, run more laps than me, can have...hmm..Well we'll decide at the end! AND GO!" Coach blew his whistle signalling the start of the 'race'. He obviously thought he was going to win, told by how he took off in front, but I was ready to give him a run for his money! Literally!

The large teenage boys were all in front, who I assumed were jocks of some sort, trying to keep up with coach. Typical teenage boys! Being cocky and full of themselves thinking they could beat the coach, who from what I could see, was not slowing down one bit.

My jog had seemed to warm me up a bit, letting the impact of the previous nights run ease. After about one lap, most of the female ratio of the class had split off and stopped running, probably afraid to look sweaty, or break a nail. I know I'm stereotyping, but it's hard not to when they have their shorts even smaller than mine, and their tops obviously modified against the regular fitting! Especially since I heard one girl say "I wonder if Chad will notice how great I look in these shorts, who knew sport shorts could actually be cute!"

I don't think I've ever really been a girly girl. Perhaps when I was younger when my father was still around, being a daddy's girl didn't help at all either! He spoiled me constantly. Maybe the reason I feel more neglected now he's gone.  

Shaking the depressing thought from my head, not wanting to have an unnecessary downer on my first day, I started to pick up the pace a bit. Now on the third lap, more than half the class had dropped out and were now congregated in the centre of the track. Some were shouting, cheering for coach, some for the large jocks up front, and some just shouting for no reason. They sure like to get into their school spirit!

One by one, the jocks seemed to drop off, the next one wanting to beat his friend who had dropped out. At this point I was feeling slightly tired, but still had enough energy and strength to keep going. I picked up the pace again, passing a slowing boy with skinny limbs and ginger hair. I was behind the coach now, but I was sure he hadn't seen me yet.  

At about the 8 lap, about 6.4km in, the coach's breathing was becoming laboured, and it seemed like he was entering the last reserves of his energy. The ginger haired boy had now dropped out and was cheering with the other students, and as I glanced over to him, I noticed something. While the people were still cheering, some had stopped, and were pointing in my direction. Maybe they wanted to know who I was, thinking I could just start on my first day with trying to get to the top.

Determined not to lose, I closed in on the one remaining jock. His brown hair flopping against his forehead in time with his steps. That must be annoying, I thought. Having that in his vision... 

While I was inspecting my opponent, he glanced to his left, noticing something from the corner of his eye. It was just like in the movies, if only I had a camera! As if he wasn't believing his eyes, he looked away, and then directly at me again, blinking several times in the process.

We were both brought to the attention of coach, who was now running dead on his feet, breathing heavily.

"You should give up coach! Don't want you to have a heart attack now do we?" the jock said ahead of us to coach.

"I. Think. You're. Right!" coach said. "Not as young as I used to be!"

He immediately slowed down, bringing himself down to a walking pace and moving towards the middle of the track. As we passed him he shot up straight, as if only just noticing there were still two more people in the race. The jock and I continued to run at least to 10 laps, around about 8km. We were both getting tired, evident from our breathing a slower steps. But we also were both determined to win. I brought myself into a mindset, blocking out the jock and focusing on calming my breathing and taking longer strides.

It was another 3 laps before the jock finally slowed. After over 10km, he must've had enough. I continued running, finishing the current lap before willing myself to stop. I had won. I know it wasn't a huge accomplishment, but for me, who never wins anything, it was amazing, it FELT amazing! I had come so far from the Jane who couldn't run a block to the nearest supermarket, but is now dominating in her gym class. While there was no one else to share my pride, I still felt extremely proud of myself.

When I came to a stop, I realised there wasn't any noise. Turning to where I thought the class was, I stood still suddenly realising the 24 pairs of eyes staring in disbelief, and gaping mouths.

"Shower up class.." the coach demanded quietly.

It took a while before they finally turned around and left the track, heading for the locker rooms. I turned to leave, trailing behind my stunned classmates before coach called out my name.

"Miss Reddington, I didn't know you had exceptional abilities in gym! I'm absolutely stunned!" the coach said.

"Thank you sir, but it wasn't that good. Now I might go get changed if you don't mind.." I trailed off, as if asking for his permission. I just got a mumbled 'Oh yeah..' as I left.

Upon entering the locker rooms, everyone fell silent. I couldn't tell if it was a good silent or a bad silent, but it was a silence nonetheless. I grabbed a free shower cubicle and quickly washed before the end of class, hearing whispers and low voices over the sound of the running water. I heard the bell ring, followed by a lot of shuffling as the girls left the locker rooms. I quickly exited and got changed, not wanting to be late for my next class. As I opened the locker door to exit a voice yelled out at me.

"Hey!" I heard a male say...

** HEY ALEX, WHAT YOU THINKING? **