Not Alone

Chapter 11 - Making a friend

I wasn't sure initially where I'd be compared to all the other runners. I also wondered how good Connor was, but it was obvious that he was a good runner from his strong start.

I didn't want to compete against the other girls. I came here because I loved to run because I needed it. Running helped me feel calm. I was going to run for myself today and not for anyone else. I was here because I worked hard to get to university and out of that house, and maybe I did deserve this. I was going to give it my all, just like the coach said.

I didn't have a watch like the others, so I didn't know my time. There were a few guys way ahead of me, including Connor, so I used him as a guide and pushed myself to try and keep up as much as I could. It felt so good to be out on this track, finally at the university of my dreams doing what I loved. There wasn't another girl ahead of me, just some guys. I saw Connor and some of the guys way ahead of me passing the finish line so I started pushing myself even harder.

"Yah Rhys!" Connor cheered and whooped. The other guys cheered me on too.

I ran past the finish line and then slowed down and walked back towards Connor and the others, taking deep breaths as my lungs were desperate for air.

The other guys who were already done congratulated me. I blushed and mumbled thanks to them. People certainly weren't this nice to me on my last team.

"How come you never told me how good you were?" Connor said as I walked up to him, out of breath.

I laughed awkwardly and then the coach came up to me. "Amazing job, Rhys," he said, looking impressed. "I'm so glad you took us up on our offer."

I smiled. "Thanks. I'm glad I'm here."

The other people were racing to finish so the coach went back to his position timing their runs as they passed the finish line.

We all cheered everyone on. Lacey finished and then jogged up to me after getting some water.

"Nice run," I said.

She smiled. "Thanks. But you, wow. Good job."

I saw her eyes dart over to look at Connor who was chatting with some of the guys beside us.

"Good job everyone," the coach said once everyone was done running and we all had a minute. "Now for the fun part that we'll be doing every practice. Plyos."

Some of the runners groaned.

"We're trying to increase our power and our strength when we do these exercises, so really make sure to explode out of them," he said while demonstrating the first exercise which was jump squats. We did twenty of those and then lunges were next. Once we finished two more types of exercises he sent us off to do a cool down.

This time Connor ran beside me from the start.

"You excited?" he asked me and wiggled his eyebrows.

"For what?"

"For your first party," he said.

I thought of something. "Can I invite someone?"

"Well, you are one of the hosts," he said and nudged me on the arm. I never thought I would be a host of a party.

"Really, I'm just starving."

Connor groaned. "I know. Do we still have leftover pizza?" Nate had made homemade pizza a couple of days ago and it was delicious. 

"You guys finished it yesterday," I said.

"Oh," he said, looking sad.

"I'll look through the cupboards when we get back and see what you guys have to work with," I said, his face lighting up as he whooped.