Can't Run From You

Chapter 45

Eli walked over to the strip of track and brought her knees up to her chest to stretch them. She then bounced on her toes and gave me a little smirk. She was mocking me because that's what I do. One of the guys was standing in the middle of the strip so that she knew not to go yet. When the guy stepped off the track the look in Eli's eyes was so intense. She took in a deep breath and hesitated for just a millisecond. When she took off I felt like I was watching it in slow motion. Her form was graceful and elegant. When she was in the air she got so much height that it looked like she would jump out of the pit, but gravity pulled her back down to earth. Eli came out of the pit with sand all over her. She pulled the pony tail out of her hair, flipped over her brown blonde hair and shook it out with her hands. It was sexy as fuck. She walked up to Clark and I, careful to stand on the opposite side of Clark.

"You think I beat her?" she asked Clark as if I wasn't even there.

"You two are the weirdest kids I know." Clark laughed. "But I think you have a good chance at it."

The marker guys measured her jump and then told the announcer person. They marked the jump as a 17'1. Same as mine. Eli looked at me and grinned.

"We tied." I said leaning over Clark to tell her.

"Let's just see what they say." Clark looked down at us and said

"Why are you two talking around me. Just stand next to each other."

"Can't. Thea's parents hate me." Eli laughed. Clark groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I have to talk to the other coaches to see what we're going to do about the tie. You two stay here and don't cause any trouble."

"No promises." Eli called out as Clark walked away. As she did I looked around the crowd to see my mom looking at me. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds before she gestured for me to go over. I did as I was told and waded through the crowd to get to them.

"Thea, I thought we talked about this." My mom said in a low quiet voice.

"Talked about what?" I knew what she meant.

"About limiting your association with her." She wouldn't even say her name. It made me mad. My dad was just watching other events.

"She's on my team. And more than that she's my girlfriend. If you don't want to see her then don't come. And by the way she has a name. It's Eli. You loved her before I told you. I don't know why you have to look at her like she's a disease now." I started walking off in a frustrated manner when I heard my mother say

"Amalthea Grant come here right now." She didn't say it loud enough for the whole fucking track to hear but the few people that did hear it gave me sympathetic looks. I walked up to her and stood perfectly still. My mother looked into my eyes. The same look she's been giving me for day. We were standing there for a few seconds before she broke first. She let out a tired sigh and said

"We are not going to have this discussion right now. When field events are over you're going to sit with us in the bleachers and watch all the running events. Do you understand me?" I felt my blood boiling and my skin crawling. It was like my anger was this separate entity that was consuming me. It started in my stomach and radiated out. It chocked me and made my skin burn. My teeth were gritted and my finger nails were digging into my palm. I was still staring at my mother when I heard Clark calling me. I turned around and walked to her. I felt like I was on fire. Energy was flowing through my body and it didn't have an outlet. I walked up to Clark and Eli. My thoughts were silent because of the fact that if I let them free I would start breaking down.

I stood perfectly still and perfectly silent as Clark told us what was going on. They were going to have us both jump one more time and see who would get the highest. No second chances, no redoes. One jump. One chance. One shot. Clark walked off and went to talk to the other coaches and Eli and I stood there. She was looking at me but I wouldn't look at her. I wanted to run. To not do anything, but just run, so that maybe this anger would leave.

"Thea what happened?" I looked at her with anger still in my eyes. Eli have a relenting look.

"Just leave me alone." I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted her to make me feel better. To hug me and tell me it would be okay, and that we would get through this, but I couldn't. I could feel my mom's eyes on me.

"I'm sorry." Eli said as she walked away. Those two words made all the anger I was feeling turn into hurt and then more anger. As she walked off the announcer called my name and said I would be going first.

I got on the track and stood there waiting for the stupid guy to get out of my way so I could jump. When he moved I rocked four times and took off. My anger was pushing me forward. I ran as hard as I could, when my foot hit the board I flew through the air and into the sand. I got out of the pit took off my spikes and walked to Clark. They were still measuring my jump.

"Am I done?" I asked, my voice cold as ice.

"Uh yeah, but Eli's going to jump."

"Okay." I picked up my track bag and walked to the bathroom. I didn't turn around to see Eli jump. I didn't wait for them to tell me my mark. I didn't wait for my mom to tell me to grab my shit and go to the other bleachers. I walked into the bathroom and threw my track bag against the wall. Some random girl walked past me and gave me a look. I leaned my back against the wall and sunk down. Thank god there was no one else in here, because as soon as I hit the floor I started crying. The anger and energy that had been buzzing around in me had finally found its outlet.

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After my breakdown in the bathroom I walked out to find my parents. There wasn't much more they could do to me, but I didn't want to piss them off any more than I had too. I found my parents still at the small bleachers watching the boys jump. I walked up to them and stayed quiet.

"Good job honey you won, and with a new PR of 17'3." My dad said handing me the medal.

"Thanks." I grabbed the medal and shoved it in my track bag. I looked around for Eli but I didn't see her. I saw Clark still talking to some of the other coaches. I walked over to her without even telling my parents. When she saw me coming she gave me a look and put her hand on her hip.

"What did Eli jump?" I asked.

"You would know if you hadn't disappeared."

"Clark." I groaned.

"She scratched. Didn't even jump just ran through." I let out an annoyed sigh. Eli doesn't scratch, and even if she did she would have still tried to jump, not just run though the pit. I walked back to my parents. I felt completely broken. I hurt Eli. My mother won. Its barely noon, but I felt like I had already lost everything.