Can't Run From You

Chapter 15

Thea's POV

I woke up about an hour later because Lucy was shaking my shoulders saying to get up already. I lazily sat up and looked around the camp. Eli wasn't in the hammock anymore. I then looked down at Will who was still asleep with his arm around my waist. I gently moved his arm trying not to wake him but not succeeding. He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"You going to warm up?" he was still half asleep.

"Yeah but the race isn't for another 45 minutes."

"Okay then I'll hang out with the guys until it starts." He was still half asleep as he said this but nonetheless he still got up and went to the other side of camp where all his friends were sitting. I got up, grabbed my spikes and started following Lucy back to the camp.

"Hey where's Molly?" I asked realizing it was just Lucy and I.

"She had to go to the bathroom but she said she'll meet us on the track." She said this without even turning to face me.

"And uh, where's Eli?" I asked a little quieter.

"She's already on the field warming up."

"Oh okay." I hadn't talked to Eli since we were interrupted earlier. She didn't look very happy when she walked out of the bathroom. I hope she's not upset or anything.

When we got to the field I saw Eli sitting on the turf stretching. She didn't seem mad or irritated, just focused I guess. Lucy and I sat down next to her and started stretching. A few minutes later Molly came up behind us, said hi and started stretching too. There were only two other schools here which meant there would only be 3 teams in our heat, 4 if one school had two relay teams.

"You guys ready to win this?" Eli said as she smirked at me.

"Hell yeah." Lucy and Molly both said. I just laughed. There was no way I was going to lose to some smaller teams that couldn't even jump past a 14.

After we had warmed up and worked on our handoffs and got our marks down I grabbed the lucky baton out of my track bag. We all huddled up as we waited for the coaches to tell us what heat we were in and to line us up. Since we were running the 4x1 first we all wished each other luck and went to our separate starting points. Since I was third leg I would be running the curve. I counted out the steps and set down my half of a tennis ball on the track and waited for the fun to start. I always get so jittery before the race starts. I started jumping around to try and get some of my nervous energy out, it didn't help. I jumped a little more until I heard the gun shoot. When it shot I felt all of my nervousness dissolve. I set my feet then counted to ten, then again, and by that time I saw Molly start running at me. She had the lead, but not by much, but at the last 10 yards or so she kicked it in. As soon as she passed my tennis ball I took off as fast as I could. I counted out my 5 steps, threw my hand back and felt the cool metal hit my hand. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I didn't look back. I looked straight ahead, hugged the curve as much as I could and ran as fast as I could. I started coming up to Eli and when I hit the mark she took off. The threw her hand back and I put the baton in it. I felt the rest of the girls come up and run past me to hand off. I didn't look at them though. All I could see was Eli. She was running so fast that she was at least 10 yards ahead of everyone. When she passed the finish line she turned back and looked at me and waved the baton in the air. I couldn't help but smile at her. She was just so cute.

"That was fucking awesome!" Molly screamed to us when we all found each other after the race.

"We did amazing." Lucy said smiling.

"I felt like I was flying." Eli laughed. A few seconds later Clark walked up to us.

"You guys did great. You guys ran a 52 second relay. Pretty good for our first meet." She said giving us all high fives.

"Now go get some rest and eat something, but not too much. I don't need you all throwing up after the next race. It's the 2x4."

After she walked off we all went back to where we had left our stuff. There was a big group of our team on the field on the inzone sitting around watching our stuff. When the saw us coming they all started screaming and saying good job and what not. Lila was sitting on the outskirts of the group with a pissed off look. I just ignored her dirty look and walked to my stuff. Before I reached it though I was suddenly being lifted off the ground.

"Babe that was freaking amazing. You ran so damn fast." Will said as he turned me around in a circle before setting me back on the ground.

"Haha thank you." I said feeling dizzy. I looked over at Eli who was talking to Lucy as she put her shoes on. She didn't look at me, but I know she could feel me staring at her.

"Man, that was a great run. And Eli had such a huge lead over everyone. She did great." He said to me then he looked up and said to Eli

"Hey Eli you did freaking awesome. You had a huge lead."

"Thanks. I try." She said haughtily, but also jokingly. I just looked at her and she gave me a sly little smile. Will was behind me with his arms still wrapped around my shoulders and as putting his weight on me. I saw Eli just turn around and look at Lucy and they started talking. Weird. When did they get so close? Whatever. I sat back on the field and looked around. Eli was looking over her shoulder every couple of minutes. I just laid down on the track and let the sun hit my body. Two more races. I could survive that right?

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We won the 4x2 but just barely. The other team actually put up a fight this race, but their anchor was no match for Eli. We had been lounging around all day except for when we had to run. Will was by my side the entire time. It was about 3 o'clock when they started doing the hurdles which meant we still had a while before the 4x4. We had migrated back to our camp that was under the bleachers. Eli was in her hammock and Molly and Lucy were on the mats asleep. I was playing on my phone and Will was talking to some guys about baseball season. I went back to my phone but I saw Eli getting up to go to the bathroom I think. I started to get up.

"I'm going to the bathroom." I told will. He just nodded and went back to talking to the guys. I got up and chased after Eli to the bathroom. When I walked in she was fixing her headband.

"Hey." I said stupidly.

"Hey."

"So about earlier..." She cut me off

"Don't worry about it."

"You ran awesome. I think you beat my times." I said inching closer to her.

"Nah we ran about the same. You did great." I wanted to kiss her. I wanted her to kiss me back and to touch me like she did before. I inched even closer to her. By now I was right behind her. She turned around and faced me. I had put my hair down earlier so now it was a wild mess. Eli tucked a loose strand behind my ear. Her brown eyes were just staring into mine. I leaned in to kiss her but she turned her face so I kissed her cheek. Embarrassed I pulled back and took a step back.

"I'm going to go watch the hurdles." She said winking at me. I watched her walk away. She was still mad. I looked in the mirror and put my hair back into a pony tail, then looked at myself. I don't know what it is about her but I want her. I want her to want me back, but I have Will. And I can't break his heart like that. I can't be this. I can't like her. I looked at myself and tried to swallow what I'm feeling. Pretend like everything's fine and maybe it will be. Right?