CHAPTER 1.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it…not again.
I felt the corners of my eyes crinkle as I struggled to close my eyes as tightly as I could and block out the pain. The sound of an impatient whistle found its way into my field of hearing. Whether the whistle was close or far off I had no way of knowing. My heart was beating too fast and my legs felt like they were about to fall out from underneath me. Still I kept running. Samantha was right on my tail. I could almost feel her hot heavy breaths as she pushed everything she had into her last few strides, begging for more breath. I chuckled a bit to myself.
What makes you think you can beat me this time?
Suddenly all the pain was gone and I kicked my feet up higher until I could feel my knees thrashing into my chest. I barely felt the tug of the frail red rope as I split it in two and crossed the finish line, hands flailing wildly in the air. The excited roaring was instantaneous and I struggled to pick out the cheers of my parents through the crowd under my hammering heart. My legs felt like jelly and I would have fallen to my knees if the coach hadn’t held me up at that moment and patted me firmly on the back.
“Way to go champ – you did it again!” I ignored him and grabbed the wet towel from his hands, soaking my face and my jersey with the delicious coolness.
“Thanks,” I finally muttered and turned around to face him. “Have you seen my parents?” He smiled nervously for a second and that told me all that I needed to know. I shrugged him off and took the Gatorade from his hands, muffling the screams in the back of my throat threatening to burst. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the judges sitting high above the finish line, as if they were waiting on their thrones. I glanced at the giant clock beside them.
21:42. I must have came in at least a minute before that…not bad.
I still had a good ten minutes until the race would be officially over so I swigged the rest of the Gatorade bottle and excused myself to go to the bathroom. When I was finally out of the vision of my coach I dialed my mother’s number and tapped my foot as it rang and rang and rang. I tried my father’s cell and after the fourth ring he finally picked up.
“Hello darling.” His voice sounded defeated and tired but I could tell he tried to make himself sound as happy as possible.
“Where are you?” I demanded, deciding to waste no time.
“Oh just…handling some things. I’ll be done very soon dear. I’ll be done before the race ends so I can pick you up. Don’t bother your mother she’s very…busy.” I quickly released five spurts of breath like I always do when I’m agitated and stood there in silence. “Look,” he continued. “I know you wanted us to be there but the truth of the matter is that these things take time and a lot of devotion and you know we would have been there if we could have been. I was counting on it. But I’m sure you did wonderfully. You always do. You’ve always been the best; you never need cheerleaders to cheer you on. You still do great. I’m proud of you…” My father trailed off into nonsense rambling and I held the phone by my thigh and felt the vibration from his voice against my skin. I lifted the phone to my ear.
“Okay, its fine,” I said. “I got first place. I’ll see you when you get here, give me a call.” I hung up quickly before he could say anything else and walked back to the school tent. Largo High School was spelled out in big bubbly letters above Samantha Riley’s head. She was conversing with her parents, smiling broadly. Just a little too happy for my taste. As I approached, her parents shuffled off into the corner of the tent.
“You have a pretty smug smile on your face for someone who finished second,” I taunted. She looked me up and down slowly, not saying a word. She reached out her arm and rested it firmly on my shoulders. I wanted to shove her off of me but I was curious.
“You’re right…” she said, tapping her chin. “Maybe I’m smiling because I’m not half the bitch that you are.” I was a little shocked at her brutality but then again it was senior year and she had a lot of inhibited hate and I didn’t have that many feelings to hurt in the first place. She cocked her head as if she was sympathizing with me and I waved her off with the flick of my wrists. Sitting down on the dirty tarp I watched the minutes on the clock slowly pass by until the race was over. And the whole time I sat alone.
.
