Can't Run From You

Chapter 3

Six periods later and I'm making my way to the track. I had moved my car closer to the track after I changed but walking to the track in this heat was still terrible. Today was going to be a long day.

After I ran my warmup lap I sat down next to Lucy and Molly on the red track and started to stretch my legs. Molly and Lucy were the first two legs of our relay team. Besides Will, they were my closest friends. Lucy has been one of my best friends since we were in the fourth grade. As for Molly she had just started going here a couple years ago, but we loved her as if we'd known her our whole life. As I reached to touch my toes I saw Lila in the corner of my eye rounding the corner of the track finishing her own warm up lap.

"Incoming." Lucy laughed as she and gave Molly a look. We were all giggling to ourselves when Lila came up. I didn't feel like dealing with Lila right now so I just went back to my stretching. When I looked up I saw Lila coming towards me.

"Do you think we could get our handoff right fast so that we're not here all night like yesterday?" she asked making it sound like it was me who wasn't fast enough. I just rolled my eyes and then gave her my fakest smile.

"Sure thing babe." She hated when I called her babe. She rolled her eyes and walked off to another group of girls on the team to stretch with. As I watched her walk away I couldn't wait to tell Will about this. I loved getting under her skin. As I looked around the track for coach Clark I saw someone walking up to the track. I looked a little closer and realized it was Eli. Without saying anything I got up and walked over to her leaving a confused Lucy and Molly on the track. I had been seeing Eli all day. We had four classes together and lunch. I didn't sit with her during lunch but I saw her. As I got closer she recognized me and waved at me.

"Hi again." She said sweetly.

"Hi. You run track?" I asked stupidly.

"Uh yeah I've been running since I was like 10." She told me as we walked to the track.

"What do you run?" if she ran relays maybe I would finally have someone to replace stupid Lila.

"At my old school I did the individual 100 and 200 and sometimes I'd do the mile relay if they needed someone. Why?" she asked giving me a small look. At that moment I realized I was prying.

"Sorry I don't even know you that well and I'm asking all these questions." I apologized.

"No, its okay." She laughed.

"Here come meet some of the girls on the team." I said leading her over to Molly and Lucy. At seeing us they both stood up and gave me a somewhat confused look.

"Guys this is Eli, she just moved here." I said to my friends. I then turned my attention back to Eli and said

"This is Molly and Lucy. They're part of my relay team."

"Your relay team?" Lucy asked cocking her eyebrow at me and crossing her arms.

"Hey I'm team captain henceforth my team." I said jokingly.

"I'm new here but I don't think it works that way." Eli said as she started to pull her brown blonde hair into a pony tail. I was staring again, and this time Molly was here to tap her elbow against mine to make me stop.

"I like her." Lucy laughed as she nudged me. Before I could say anything Coach Clark walked onto the track. When she saw Eli she gave me a look. She was thinking exactly what I was thinking. Run off.

"Alright well it looked like we have a new runner. What's your name?" She asked Eli.

"I'm Elizabeth, but everyone just calls me Eli." As she said this Clark walked over to her and introduced herself as coach Clark and whatnot. After they talked for a bit Clark walked back to the rest of the team and said

"Alright ladies, time for a run off." I looked over to Lila to see the look on her face. She was pissed. God please let this girl be fast.

Runoffs consisted of a 100 a 200 and 400. The first run off would be the 400. Coach lined us all up at the starting line of the track. The first heat consisted of me, Molly, Lucy, Lila, and Eli. I lined my toes up with the lines on the track, and even though this was just a runoff, not and actual race, I still felt the butterflies in my stomach. When she blew the whistle, I took off and got up to my 400 pace. To my surprise Eli was right next to me the entire time, with Molly and Lucy barely behind us, and Lila behind them. Eli and I ended up running a 59.4 400. With all of the run offs Eli was right by my side the entire time, if anything she was pushing me to go faster. No one ever really kept up with me, let alone challenged me. After we finished the 100 we all walked over to the water hose.

"Dude you have to run in our relays." I said a little too excitedly.

"I mean maybe. I only ever did one relay and the handoff for the 400 is different than regular relays." She said pulling her spandex down a bit. As I looked at her I realized that she was really tan.

"Well just think about it." I smiled secretly praying coach would just make her do it. After we got water we all walked back to coach for her to tell us what to do.

"Alright ladies since todays Friday and I'm in a good mood I'll let you guys out early. But if you have field events you need to get with your coaches and see what they tell you. As for long jumpers you're with me." I just groaned and rolled my eyes. I was the only long jumper we had. Everyone else did triple or pole-vault. I started to go towards the pit when I realized Eli was following me.

"You do long jump too?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah I do. I wasn't just stalking you." She laughed as we followed Clark.

"Has anyone ever told you you're the perfect person." I laughed.

"Once or twice." She replied as we got to the pits. This girl was literally a life saver. Not only could she replace Lila she did long jump too, now I wouldn't be the only one jumping. This was great. I couldn't wait to tell Will.