Runner Girl

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning, I'm up way before my alarm. I'm still jazzed from the game, and especially from what happened after.

We did like Aphrodite said, and while the basketball players put on a half-assed performance, the cheer team went all-out. I even tried a high kick, standing on my cast and flinging my other leg into the air, and I didn't fall on my face, so I consider that a victory. But even better than the rush of cheering in public for the first time was Rakesh.

He found me after the game, and I can't remember exactly what we said to each other, but before he left, he put his number in my phone and promised to bring me a cup of coffee and a donut in the morning. I'd laughed and told him I didn't normally drink coffee, but he seemed unperturbed.

"I can't show up empty-handed if I want to walk you to school," he'd said, his golden eyes locked on mine.

My breath had caught in my throat, but then I'd promised to text him my address and my coffee order in the morning. It's only five thirty, but I feel like I've already had the promised coffee; I'm all jittery and twitchy, and the adrenaline coursing through my body makes me feel like I'm about to run a race. I swing my legs around and get out of bed, reaching for my walking cast before my feet even hit the ground, but when I put a little pressure on my injured leg as I lean forward to grasp the cast, I pause. It doesn't twinge the way it usually does. Experimentally, I put a little more weight on it, but I still don't feel anything. My leg doesn't even feel stiff, which it usually does as soon as I wake up.

Suddenly remembering what Kary promised me, I spring out of bed, and for the first time in a month, I stand on my own two feet without any flicker of pain. I flex my toes experimentally, and then I let out a little whoop and grab my phone. Fingers flying, I send a quick thank-you text to Kary, and then I text Rakesh. So what if it's too damn early? I can't wait to see him and surprise him.

I wait impatiently for him to respond, but after ten minutes, I finally pry my fingers off my phone and hurry to the bathroom to take a shower. It feels so weird to be walking without pain or the clumping weight of my cast, but it's a good kind of strange. I hadn't realized how disembodied I felt the whole time I was hurt; now that my leg is healed, I actually feel like my full self again, and strength surges through me as I turn off the water. Even though my leg should still be weak, it feels as good as new, and I grin as I towel off. That's the advantage of having a goddess as your doctor, I think with a big grin. Even the weirdness of Kary's real identity fades as I get dressed, reveling in the fact that I can actually wear my jeans again. I take more care with my hair than I usually do, flushing as I remember the way Rakesh looked at me last night when he promised to wake me up, but even after all the time I've spent with the cheer team, their beauty skills don't seem to have rubbed off on me, and I finally settle for pulling my dark hair up in my customary ponytail.

Eyeing myself skeptically in the mirror, I wonder for the umpteenth time what it is Rakesh sees in me. Compared to Janel's self-assured, quirky beauty or Rosie's gorgeous hair, I'm plain, unfeminine, and not worth noticing unless I'm burning down the track, leaving the competition in the dust. But he did notice me, I think, my heart swelling with giddy excitement, and not because of my running.

Impatient, I check my phone, but Rakesh hasn't texted back. There's a message from Kary, thought, asking if I want to run with her before school. I pause, considering. I haven't been able to run for eons, but even though part of me really wants to lace up my shoes and remind my body what it can do, another part of me just wants to wait on pins and needles for Rakesh to come by. It's after six now; surely, he's waking up and getting ready, if he wants to be to school before the 7:30 tardy bell. I hesitate for another moment, but then I text Kary back, telling her that I've got to catch up on some things before school, but promising to run with her later. I feel bad about lying to her, especially since she'll see me walk in with Rakesh if she's in the hall when we get to school, but after her weird reaction before the dance, and more recently, yesterday after the soccer game, I realize I sort of want to keep him to myself, at least as much as possible. It's not like we're dating, I tell myself, trying to ease my conscience. He's just a crush; I'd tell her if anything really happened.