Storm, Meet Raine

Subs.

HER.

     "Down. Up. Down. Hold!" Coach yells at us from across the grass, all of our arms shaking as he continues to make us do push-ups at his slow as heck pace. "Up."

     Vincent glances at me, his face turning red from the amount of energy we're all putting into this stupid workout. "I have a date," he whispers excitedly, but I'm guessing the whispering is more of him being out of breath, not being overly excited.

     Our brutal pushups didn't stop my interest. "Seriously? Oh my gosh with who?"

     "A boy..." I'm sure he's blushing as he looks down into the grass. I slowly tilt my head up, waiting for Vincent's mouth to move again, but he's not budging. "What?" He scrunches up his face when a bead of sweat falls into his eye.

"You're not going to tell me? Is he at least cute?" I question as I watch him continue to do push-ups with one hand, rubbing his eye with the other. Once he could see clearly, he plants both hands on the ground, his eyes subtly looking across the field. When I follow his gaze, I notice Mr. Isaiah giving Vinny a light smile. "You and Isaiah are together?"

     "Can you say it a little louder for the people in the back—damn, shut up!" He chastises me. I poke my bottom lip out. "And we're not together. We're dating."

     "Which means you're together," I slow down my words, giving him the 'are you dumb?' look.

     "You're clearly getting brainwashed by the twenty first century if you believe that going on dates gives you a label," he shakes his head in disappointment. I part my lips to give a snarky reply, but I was cut off by our lovely coach.

     "Guess I'm not working y'all hard enough because Carter's over here yapping." He blows his whistle six times, making my heart drop. "I'm here all day folks," he chuckles before eyeing me. "Everybody say thank you to Carter while you run your miles."

     I collapse face first into the grass, my arms officially unable to hold up my body. Vincent leaves me as he usually does, eager to finish his miles early so he can go home. Or in this case, go on his date with Isaiah. After a few seconds of self-shaming, I lift up to start my run, only to be pushed back down by a shoe. "You don't know how to shut your mouth, do you?"

     I bite my lip to keep from hurting Carson's feelings. "Get your filthy foot off of me."

     Oddly enough, he obliges, lifting his shoe from my back and holding out a hand for me to grab. I narrow my eyes at it. "I don't trust you."

     "Fair point," he shrugs, but still keeps his hand out for me. "Think of this as a restart. I can't change my personality, but I'll play nice." When I didn't reach out for his hand, he surprised me by bending down to grab my hand on his own. "I promise."

     "Pussy!"

     Both of us turn our heads to where Hunter was standing, one arm around a chuckling Coach while the other was lifted toward his face, his hand cupping his mouth. He was rewarded with Carson's right middle finger.

     "Come on," he lifts me gently, helping me off of the ground. "Run with me?" His silver eyes shimmered in the setting sun, and at that exact moment, with my heart hammering out of my sweaty chest, I couldn't reject him. Especially not with this supposed promised.

     "I'm giving you a piece of my trust, Speros," I remind him once we were standing in front of each other, my chin lifted, taking in our height difference.

     "I'll guard it with my life."

     It was sarcasm, but I found it to be the sweetest thing he's ever said to me yet.