Chapter 7
Ellie
The whole rest of the weekend after going to the haunted house, all Ellie could think about was Sierra.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had severely misjudged her.
Maybe Sierra wasn’t the monster Ellie had made her out to be.
The problem was that such a wedge had been driven between the two of them now, Ellie wasn’t sure where to start with making things right.
Plus, she couldn’t make things better with Sierra without pissing off her best friend, which made her wonder if it was even worth it.
It didn’t seem like Sierra had any interest in even holding a conversation with Ellie, so maybe it made more sense to let it be and keep everyone happy.
At least, as happy as they all could be with the clear tension.
By the time practice rolled around on Monday, Ellie had convinced herself not to push Sierra to talk to her.
At least, she thought she had come to that decision until she saw Sierra and pictured the tears in her eyes the other night.
She thought about how fragile Sierra looked and how much it stung when Sierra admitted Ellie was her hero at one point—a title that Ellie had successfully squashed.
Throughout practice, she couldn’t stop herself from sneaking peeks at Sierra. Who was this girl? What was her story? More importantly, why was Ellie suddenly so desperate to know it?
By the end of practice, aside from a few stolen glances, there had been no communication between the two of them.
The next day, things went the exact same way.
Fate must have been on Ellie’s side, though, because the next day Coach Kraemer asked her and Sierra to stay after practice to practice some handoffs.
Sierra didn’t look happy to be stuck with Ellie, but she still followed their coach’s instructions and stuck around until it was just the two of them left.
Even though the tension between them was very obvious to Ellie, their coach didn’t seem to notice.
In fact, the shit-eating grin hadn’t left his face since he requested them to stay.
“I can’t even begin to tell you girls how excited I am to see what you two do this year.
This is our year, and so much of that has to do with the two of you.
” Coach’s face became stern, a look that Ellie could tell he was struggling to keep.
“Now, getting down to business. I think if we keep you at anchor, Ellie, and have you hand off to her, Sierra, that the other teams won’t know what hit ’em.
I figure it doesn’t matter if we’re in the lead or five seconds behind, once you two step on the track, we’re sure to win.
I don’t want anything to slow you two down, which means the handoff between the two of you needs to be perfect.
” Coach looked at Ellie. “I know that’s where you struggled a bit last year. ”
Ellie was annoyed at him for pointing that out, even if it was true. For some reason, she and Juniper had never been able to perfect that last handoff, which was strange since they were so in sync in every other part of their lives. “Whatever we need to do, Coach, I’m in.”
“Me too,” Sierra said beside her, sounding more confident than Ellie had ever heard her before.
Coach’s smile came back in full force. “I knew I could count on you two. For now, I’m planning to keep the first two legs of the relay the same, which is why I only asked you two to stay tonight.”
Ellie’s stomach dropped. If he was keeping the first two runners the same, and Sierra was the third leg, that meant Juniper’s spot had officially been given to Sierra. Ellie was not looking forward to that conversation, but she didn’t have time to worry about that right now. They had work to do.
“Where do you want me?” Sierra asked. Her tone was serious, but there was something different about her voice when she wasn’t yelling at Ellie. It was smooth like warm butter on bread. The sound made tingles run up Ellie’s spine.
What the hell? Ellie shook these thoughts away and stood at the spot she would be in if she was actually waiting for a relay handoff.
“Go back about fifty meters and start from there. I know it’ll be tough, but try to keep your speed around what it would be at the end of a race,” Coach instructed Sierra.
Sierra nodded in understanding, then walked to the spot coach had told her to. When they both looked over at him, he nodded in silent instruction.
Ellie watched as Sierra took a deep breath and bounced up and down a few times.
Her limbs were long and graceful like a gazelle, and at that moment she appeared more relaxed than usual, like this was where she felt most at home.
Ellie understood that feeling completely. It was the exact same for her.
Sierra brought her eyes up to meet Ellie’s, and it felt like all of the air was pulled from Ellie’s lungs.
Those eyes … there was something about them.
They were blue and deep like the ocean, and Ellie wanted to stay lost in them forever.
She wanted to search within them and find out what secrets they held.
She tried to look away, but she couldn’t.
This was the first time Sierra had ever looked her in the eyes, and even though there were so many reasons she shouldn’t be thinking like this, Ellie found herself hoping that it wouldn’t be the last.
“Ready?” Sierra asked her, and Ellie nodded in response.
Get ahold of yourself, Finch.
Ellie watched Sierra running toward her and counted her steps as she decided the best time to start running.
Most times with Juniper, she took off too early and had to slow way down to grab the baton.
Then there were times she would try to overcompensate, and Juniper ran right into her.
As she turned to start running, she wondered which of those things would end up happening with Sierra.
Much to her surprise, when she looked behind her and reached out her hand to grab the baton, it was at the perfect spot. The handoff wasn’t flawless , but it was pretty damn close. It was definitely better than any handoff between her and Juniper, but she would never repeat that out loud.
“Wow! What a start!” Coach shouted. “Let’s do another to see if that was a fluke.”
After five more nearly-perfect handoffs, it was clear that it hadn’t been a fluke. For whatever reason, the handoff just worked with Sierra and Ellie.
“Wow,” their coach said the same way he had after every single handoff. He pointed his finger back and forth between the two of them. “Not many people have it, but you two do.”
“Have what, exactly?” Sierra asked before Ellie could.
“Chemistry. Ellie, it’s like you just know when Sierra is at the right spot without even looking. Almost like you feel it in your bones. Do you know what I mean?”
More than you know. Ellie was very aware of Sierra. Every move Sierra made, Ellie felt. She had no idea why, but she did. Chemistry, though? That word seemed a bit strong for two people who were good at relay handoffs.
Ellie shrugged to try to play it cool. “I guess I do, maybe.”
“Well, I think I’ve kept you girls here long enough for today,” their coach said. “Thanks for always being willing to go above and beyond.”
Ellie knew this was her chance to talk to Sierra, so she quickly packed up her things. Apparently, she wasn’t fast enough, because by the time she stood up, Sierra was already walking out the door of the indoor track facility.
“Hey, wait up!” Ellie yelled as she ran after her.
Sierra didn’t stop completely, but she did slow down, which was honestly more than Ellie expected. When Ellie caught up, she walked in stride with her. “Can we talk?”
“I don’t know. I had a really bad weekend. I want to get back to my dorm, so I can get my homework done and go to bed.”
“This weekend is kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. Or, at least, part of it. Are you—”
Before Ellie could finish her sentence, she was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket to find it was Juniper calling, and hit the ignore button. She’d be okay if she had to wait a few minutes.
“Sorry. I just wanted to ask—”
Ellie’s phone rang with another call from Juniper. I guess I better pick up in case it’s an emergency. She held up a finger to Ellie. “One second. Sorry.”
Before she could even say hello, Juniper shouted on the other end of the phone. “It’s official, isn’t it? That fucking bitch took my relay spot, didn’t she? I swear to god, that homophobic son-of-a—”
Ellie looked over at Sierra and it was clear from the down turning of her lips and slightly red tinge to her cheeks that she had heard what Juniper said.
Ellie took a few steps away from her in case Juniper had any other choice words to say about her.
“Hey, could we talk about this once I get back to the apartment?” Ellie asked Juniper before she could continue. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Ugh.” Juniper groaned. “The fact that you want to talk about it in person means I’m right. How fucking awesome.”
“We’ll talk soon, okay?” Ellie spoke gently, because she could tell how fragile her best friend was right now. “Make some popcorn and pick out a Hallmark Christmas movie. I’ll break my no Christmas before Thanksgiving rule just for you.”
“Pulling out the Hallmark Christmas movies? Shit. This must be even worse than I thought.”
Although Ellie could still hear a bit of stress in her best friend’s voice, it did sound lighter now, which meant her plan had worked. Ellie said goodbye to her, put the phone back into her pocket, then turned her attention to Sierra.
The only problem was Sierra was no longer there. Ellie looked around and found her disappearing far in the distance. So much for our talk.
Great. Ellie was pretty sure she had just driven an even bigger wedge between them. Not only that, but now, she also had to talk her best friend off a ledge. This was definitely not how she expected her senior year to go.