Chapter 25 #3
“Thanks Cara. I’m excited about the tournament,” he tells her. She looks me up and down pointedly and returns to her friends. Gabby waves goodbye as the warning bell rings.
Shaking my head at them, I grab my backpack and tray and walk towards the racks to drop it off.
As I’m setting the tray down, I get shoved from behind, hard, by two hands.
I flinch as sounds dissolve around me, creating a bubble around my body.
Booming beats echo in my ears. I realize the sound is my heart, like drumbeats against my ribs.
It’s okay, Summer, I tell myself. Just breathe.
I begin to hear muffled voices around me, but I’m stunned still, an enormous block of ice, frozen in place.
Trying to force air into my lungs through the panic, someone pulls the racks beside me away from the wall, and Seb appears in my line of vision.
His eyes are full of worry, and his lips are moving, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. He slowly reaches out and takes my hand, placing it on his chest. It takes a minute, then I register his exaggerated breathing. I follow along until the ringing in my ears stops.
“You with me, Sunshine?” Seb’s brows are furrowed, and his mouth is pulled down in a frown. I don’t like that. It doesn’t fit his jovial personality.
I nod my head, finally unsticking my stiff body, and push away from the racks. “I’m hugging you,” Seb tells me as he gently pulls me into him. “What do you need right now? Are you hurt? Tell me what to do, Sunshine, please.”
“Need a minute. Not much. Just stay here,” I respond. I take a few deep breaths of citrus as Seb holds me. “You smell good,” I mumble.
I haven’t flinched that hard in a while.
I wasn’t expecting the hit, which is my fault for letting my guard down, but it’s really nice having backup again.
Once I’ve gathered myself, I pull away from Seb and gaze up at him, feeling extremely self-conscious.
“How many people saw that?” I ask in a quiet voice that only he should hear.
“Hardly anyone, Sunshine. Turn around.” Seb gives me a small smile and a gentle nudge.
I turn to realize all the guys have formed a semicircle around us. My eyes grow damp at the thoughtful gesture. It’s been so long since I’ve had any protection at school.
“Oh no, what’s wrong now, Sunshine? Please, please don’t cry,” Seb begs. “I don’t do well when the ladies cry. Ask anyone. I can’t handle it!”
Blowing out a lungful of air, I rapidly blink the tears back inside me. “I won’t cry, Hurry,” I say to him before shifting my attention to the rest of the guys. “Thank you, everyone. I’m okay now.”
The guys all turn around. Alex is watching me with concern. “Summer, can I be blunt?”
That doesn’t sound ominous at all. I already freaked out in front of them, so what could be worse? Don’t ask those kinds of questions, Summer, I internally berate myself. “Yeah, okay.”
“Did you flinch at the contact or from hitting the racks?” Alex asks.
“Hey man,” Seb says, coming to my defense, but I put my hand on his arm. These guys hardly know me, and still protected me. They deserve to have some information.
“It’s okay, Seb. It was the contact, Alex. I haven’t been good with touch since last year.”
He nods. “Thank you for telling us, Summer. We will all keep a closer eye out so this does not happen again.” He steps closer, looking at my head. “Your forehead is red. It seems you hit the racks there. It may bruise. Would you like to see the nurse?”
“No, I’ll be okay, but thanks.” Panic attacks always drain my energy reserves. It's what I imagine coming down from a drug high to be like. I just want a nap now. I’m still embarrassed as well. From the heat of my body, I imagine I’m reminiscent of a ripe tomato.
I watch Nick look me over from head to toe. When he makes eye contact, he nods and leaves. Bay gives me a small smile and wave, then he takes off for class as well.
“E and Alex have AP Chemistry with you next. Are you okay to head to class with them, Sunshine?” Seb asks.
“I’m good, Seb. Thank you,” I say sincerely. “Get your butt to class.” I poke him in the side to get him moving, trying to lighten the mood.
He squeezes my hand, then gives E a quick kiss on the cheek and leaves.
“Sorry about that, guys,” I say to Alex and E. “Let’s get to chemistry.”
“No apology required, Summer,” Alex assures me, stepping up to my left side.
“I agree with Alex. No one should apologize for trauma.” E gives me a gentle smile from my right.
I consider myself lucky to have these guys in my life after coming to South Carolina.
When we get to class, Alex again introduces me to the teacher, Mrs. Voight, who is an older lady with a grey bun and large glasses.
“Hello Summer. Welcome. Here’s your textbook.
We already have an even number of lab partners, I’m afraid. ”
“Summer can join us, Mrs. Voight,” Alex says.
“I figured, Alex. Let the boys catch you up on everything, and if you need extra help, come find me,” she smiles.
“Thank you, Mrs. Voight,” I say and follow Alex and E to their lab bench.
The class is similar to AP Biology. Mrs. Voight lectures before we begin the lab.
We are studying titration today using sodium hydroxide and hydrogen chloride.
Alex does the equations, E gathers supplies, and I do the setup.
We all take part in making the dilution of chemicals and performing the titration, repeating the process again with me doing the calculations, E doing the setup, and Alex gathering supplies.
We work on the additional problems and the titration curve together.
Both guys are smart and knowledgeable, and we seem to work easily together.
Alex turns in our papers for us when we’re done, as I review the syllabus in the time remaining.
Luckily, it seems this course is only one week ahead of where I was in Virginia.
I ask Mrs. Voight if I can complete the lab I missed and, of course, Alex volunteers to help.
We will do the chemistry lab on the same day he booked the biology lab.
Alex is turning out to be a real sweetheart.
My last class of the day is gym. I go to my locker to get my gym bag before heading to the gym building through the school’s back door. I find Nick standing outside the building. “Are you waiting for me?” I ask.
I get a nod, so I follow him across the yard. He leads me inside and pauses at an office in the hallway; the door labeled Berry, and knocks. Nick opens the door after hearing, “Come in.”
He sticks his head into the room, saying, “new girl,” and motions for me to enter. I step in as he leaves towards the court. Okay then.
“Hello. You must be Summer. I’m Coach Berry. Have a seat.” She is an intimidating woman, dressed in shorts and a tee, whistle around her neck. She has a no-nonsense look about her.
I sit in the chair facing the desk. “Hi, yes, I’m Summer,” I greet with a small smile. My palms feel a little sweaty from nerves. My body has been jittery all afternoon, little tremors running from my fingertips to my feet at random times.
“Your extracurricular activity is track?” She asks, flipping a pen through her fingers.
“I ran the 400 and 800 meters.”
“Have you tried the 200m relays?”
“No, I haven’t. My last school didn’t run relays,” I reply, wiping my palms on my pants. I take measured breaths to calm my rapid heartbeat.
“Any interest in jumps or pole vaulting?” She cocks her head, running her eyes over me. Not in a creepy way, but an assessment of my fitness.
“Honestly, no.” We didn’t have a full track team, only running back in Virginia. I don’t think I would’ve been interested, anyway.
“Alright, Summer, I’m not only the PE teacher, I’m also the track coach. The season has already started here. Were you training in Virginia already?”
“Um, no, not this season. It usually started at the end of March. I need to tell you, though I didn’t run track last year.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“I was in an accident.” Please don’t ask me for details.
“Sorry to hear that. Any lingering injuries I should know about?”
Phew, she’s not going to pry. “No, I’m fully healed.”
“Okay. Here’s what I’ll do. I teach a regular gym class to those who don’t take part in varsity, but I allow athletes to train during the period for their chosen sport. You can use this time to train for track. Have you been running at all?”
“No, Coach.” Hopefully, that doesn’t stop her from allowing me to try. I never even considered the possibility that I couldn’t run track.
“Let’s hope you have some muscle memory, then.
I want you running on the indoor track for the first week so I can evaluate you.
It’s also easier until you get used to the humidity down here.
Your natural talent and progress will determine whether you join the team.
You’ll need to meet qualifying times by mid-April in at least one distance to stay on the team and get credit for this as your extracurricular.
We’ve been training since early February, so you have some catching up to do. ”
I nod in understanding. “I’ll work hard, Coach,” I promise.
“Don’t go out there and overexert yourself when you’re out of practice. Be smart. First, work on getting back in shape and then focus on increasing your speed and distance. Okay?”
“Yes, thanks, Coach.”
“Practice is after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. In your case, I think running in class this week will be sufficient, and we can reevaluate on Friday. Now, let’s get to class.
” She gets up from her chair, and I follow her over to the court area, where she points out the girls’ locker room and tells me to get changed and train.