6. Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Dylan
T his practice was going to be awesome.
Even though I’d already run a wicked workout with Pete, my college Cross-Country coach, this morning, I could feel the adrenaline of pre-workout anticipation dumping into my veins. I bet all the kids here could, especially with the wicked drum intro to one of the greatest songs of all time. Now, it was time to ride the wave.
Elise called everyone to the starting line.
Let’s do this.
I shook out my arms and legs and fell into place beside our top boys. Elise raised a brow at me, then shook her head. Standing there with no makeup and her hair pulled back, the girl was gorgeous, as always. I bet all the other girls hated her for being able to look that pretty the second she rolled out of bed.
“Alright, we’ll be running five eight-hundred-meter intervals today.” She had to shout to be heard over the tunes. “That means you run two laps at your best pace, take a break, and then I’ll start you again. We’ll repeat that five times. Remember, this is supposed to be hard. 1 ‘Strength is the product of struggle; you must do what others don't to achieve what others won't.'"
Well said, Elise.
With her hand on her stopwatch, she blew the whistle, and we took off.
I kept pace with our top three guys for half a lap before sprinting ahead.
Here came the guitar solo.
I swung around, strumming my air guitar while running backwards.
“Come on, bro’s. It’s go time,” I called as the guys tried to gun me down.
The three of them scowled. Hey, if I ticked them off enough to get them to run a faster time, then great. We needed to make up for our embarrassing performance at the Sea Lion’s Invitational last year and redeem our team’s name. Not that I blamed anyone for being off at that meet. Coach Dave’s disappearance on the day of the biggest race of the year had been a tough blow for all of us, especially Elise.
I swiveled around and looked to where she was standing with her stopwatch. What a smokin’ hottie. Sure, she could be a little grumpy, but just like the warm and delicious goodness inside every Hot Pocket, you had to break through the crust to experience that level of pure cheesy joy. Elise definitely had a hard shell, but she was without a mom or dad, barely graduated from high school and already parentless. It made sense for her to be a tough cookie to crack.
Tanner, our top boy, blew past me. Jaxon and Evan pulled up beside me, then edged ahead. We were in the straightaway of the final one hundred meters of this lap, and Elise stood next to the line, ready to call out our times.
We still had one more lap to go. Plenty of time to catch up to those three. Maybe this time, I’d just hang by their side and push the pace. Get them to run a little faster than they otherwise would. Of course, if I pushed them too hard, they wouldn’t have anything left in the tank for the rest of the intervals.
The best thing would probably be for me to stop, cut across the field to where Elise stood and cheer for all the kids as they crossed the line. But that would mean quitting. Looking like I couldn’t hack it, and I’d given up.
Not going to happen.
I sped ahead and hung with Tanner and the boys around the track until he started to pull away at the end. The kid had a wicked sprint.
I could beat him on a good day, when I hadn’t already completed a college level practice before starting intervals. But not today.
It was okay. He could win. I bet it was the fastest time he’d gotten in the eight-hundred meters, at least during practice. After crossing the finish line beside Jaxon and Evan, I lurched over to where Tanner was hunched over, wheezing. We bumped fists, both of us too winded to speak.
Once I could walk without falling over, I joined Elise. She and I cheered on the rest of the kids as they sprinted into the finish.
Rose was the last to come across the line. Was that girl actually grinning? She was just as sweaty as the rest of us, but I can guarantee I hadn’t been smiling like that when I finished.
It wasn’t long before Elise called everyone to the line, and we went again. Now, Def Leppard was playing. Another excellent song choice, if I did say so myself. I stayed on the outside of Tanner as we curved our way around the track. This time, I didn’t have enough energy for any air guitaring, which probably made Tanner happy.
We came across the line one second slower than our last interval. Not bad for tired legs.
When I finally had the energy to look up from my hunched position, I noticed Elise chatting with Coach Pete, my college coach, and Coach Tara, his assistant. Pete gave me a stern look. With his hands behind his back, he walked toward me.
“So, my workouts aren’t enough for you, Mr. Harper?”
I straightened, grateful for the shades that hid my reaction.
Coach’s white hair contrasted his black polo, and aside from the slight potbelly, he was as trim as any runner I’d ever met.
“I uh…” What was I supposed to say? “I was just trying to help out. You know, give the guys a little challenge.”
Coach’s blue-eyed stare burned through me like laser death rays.
“Sorry, Coach.”
“Dylan, I take my job very seriously. I put a lot of time and effort into makin’ sure my kids get the best possible trainin’ to give them the best chance to succeed. Now I have no clue why you refused the scholarship we offered you to come run for us. Never heard of anyone turnin’ down a scholarship only to walk onto the team before you, but I’m invested in every kid that steps onto my track.
“You’ve got more talent than I’ve seen in a while, and I’ll be darned if I’m goin’ to see you throw it away by doin’ stupid things like runnin’ two practices back-to-back, or cliff divin’ in stupid places just cause one of your teammates dared you to.”
How did he find out about that?
“I got you this coachin’ job because I thought Elise’d be a good influence on you, but I need you to be smart and not throw away a potential career by doin’ dumb things that’re gonna get you injured.”
Elise shouted for everyone to line up for another interval. My legs were ready to fall off, but I still wanted to join them.
“Yes, sir,” I murmured.
“Good.” Pete slapped me on the back, then steered me to the first row of bleachers. Bessey padded along beside us. She eyed Coach expectantly when we sat, then let her tongue hang out the side of her mouth in a wide grin as he scratched her behind the ears.
“That’s a good girl. Are you takin’ good care of Elise, Bessey?”
The dog’s tail thwacked against the bleachers. Her whole body shook with the movement.
“Now, tell me more about these kids,” he said, turning to me. “Who’s lookin’ good this year?”
Coach and I talked team dynamics for a while. Whenever the runners came by, we stood and cheered. Then, he asked more about what was going on in my life. The guy even remembered my grandparents’ names from when he’d run with my aunt in college. He was cool like that, taking an interest in his team members' lives. I’d heard he even found a job for a kid when he’d had to drop out of college to support his mom and sisters.
“Mind if I join you?” Coach Tara, aka Medusa, approached us, finished with her chat with Elise.
Ugh. Did I have to say yes? Sure, she was my coach, but there was just something about her that radiated skanky devil spawn whenever I got near her. Maybe it was the way she threw herself at every single guy on our team, completely ignoring the looks of horror we gave her whenever she did it.
I waited to let Pete be the one to give her the green light, but he was busy typing something on his phone.
“Actually, I should get back to helping Elise,” I said, standing.
Practice was over. Kids were either stretching, guzzling their waters or packing up their stuff. Tara raised an eyebrow. She could see as well as I could that there was nothing to help Elise with.
Chuckling nervously, I squeezed past the woman, catching a whiff of the cheap hairspray she used to tease her hair into those layers of fluffy bangs that stayed clumped together even in the strongest breeze. Hadn’t big bangs been a late eighties, early nineties thing, along with the belly shirt she wore? Granted, they were making a comeback but not among fifty-plus year-olds.
“I’ll be right there, Elise,” I called.
Elise had wandered over to my sound system, her hands covering her ears, and probably did need help. But even if she didn’t, there wasn’t anything that could stop me from heading over to her. I had to escape Tara’s clutches.
1. Henry Rollins