Track Practice

[lovebirdjo†]

The early afternoon sun beat down on the girls and boys preparing for their midday practice session in fourth period, no clouds having saved them yet. Sweat had already begun pouring from some of the team members, and as their coach prepared to begin, each and every person stretched and began to jog slightly in place; warming up. Track wasn't the favorited sport of Hobbsborough High School's students, but the team was pretty decent condsidering. While one of their beloved coaches, Coach Kyle, started to call roll, the other made sure everyone was warming up so they didn't pull anything. This gave all of the team some time to talk, or cause a little trouble in some cases.

"So Annabelle... how many girls have you molested lately?" was heard just loud enough for said girl, who was a few yards away, to hear. Moving her legs from their spread out position, the redhead just kind of glanced at the female who had attempted to start something with her, a fake smile forming on her face. She had better things to do than simply get pissed off about some random girl on the team helping spread lies. Instead, Annabelle called out a greeting when she heard her name being called by Coach Kyle, before setting off onto the track to begin her warm-up. The tall female pulled out her iPOD from the pocket of her pink track suit, and immediately set it to shuffle. Placing the small headphones into her ears, she giggled slightly at the random selection. Most of the team was still warming up, so she didn't bother to keep it on low. Basically, she blasted her music and began to speed up.

You just walk in, I make you smile,
It cool but you don't even know me,
You take an inch, I run a mile,
Can't win you're always right behind me.

Slightly glancing behind her, the bitchy females on the team that had attempted to get her angry had begun their few warm-up laps. The one who had actually said something gave the smiling redhead a bit of a look that clearly said "Go to hell." before turning to one of her lackeys and whispering something that made her giggle and look at Annabelle with a smirk. Annabelle mused on their idiocy for a few idle moments before continuing her happy run and listening to the Spice Girls sing their girl powered hearts out.

And we know that you could go and find some other,
Take or leave it or just don't even bother,
caught in a craze, it's just a faze,
Or will this be around forever.

She had reached a good speed by now, and taking deep breaths, the redhead smiled as she passed the slower people. The redhead knew she wasn't the best on the team, but just being better than someone at something always gave her some interesting feeling of superiority. She loved that feeling. Competition was all about discipline and patience. Pace, sprint, pace, sprint. She used this tactic many a time, and by now it was simply habit to methodize like she did. Instinct kind of took over as she ran, incoherently taking out the realness of life and letting everything be one bit of pure concentration. Perfection was key, and it was everything.

Don't you know it's going too fast,
Racing so hard you know it won't last,
Don't you know, what can't you see,
Slow it down, read the sign, so you know just where you are going.

To Annabelle it seemed as though nothing was ever in place right where it should be. With all that she had, the girl just didn't know what to do sometimes. Sure, she prayed to God for forgiveness, and attended mass every time the door opened, but at the same time she didn't feel as though God was really helping her at all. She didn't like questioning God, and every time she began to, she would cut her mind off like a light switch and think about something like what she would like to make in Home Ec. for their next bake-a-thon. Her mother was always making sure she was alright, going so far as to ask her frequently if she had had sex with anyone.

It was embarrassing that she had to be sheltered, but the redhead certainly didn't want to end up like some drunken wench out on the streets earning her money. She would continue to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a successful businesswoman and loving housewife. That was what she wanted, right?

Stop right now
Thank you very much,
I need somebody with a human touch,
Hey you! You always on the run,
Gotta slow it down baby, gotta have some fun.

At this particular point the girl decided to speed up even more. Not looking where she was going, she ended up running straight into the back of a random boy, and found herself on top of him with her hands on his chest. She had stopped alright, but not the way the song may have intended.

[Jotun†]

Kayla had since discovered that her favourite time of the week was track meets. Excercise and physical tasks seemed to relieve her stress better than anything else. Here, there was no obligations other than to perform well, which came naturally.

While stretching, she smiled at the exchange between two - probably younger- girls Kayla didn't know, one implying heavily the other was a lesbian - to Kayla it seemed funny that the one who was supposedly homosexual wasn't attached at the waist to another female.

Finishing stretching, Coach Kyle called out her name, and she responded heartily, eager to start warming up. As they started the girl who was picked on - Annabelle, Kayla had to remind herself - seemed to move ahead of the rest of them. Why Kayla never saw fit to stand up for her was at it's most now - Annabelle didn't really have an attitude to support the way she stood out. Kayla dind't dislike or even look down on her, but there was no reason to stand up for someone who refused to do it herself. And so it was fitting that Kayla laughed with the rest of the team when Annabelle clumsily ran into a boy on the track, taking them both down.