House of Roses and Glass

Day 20: "Wolf"

The sound of running footsteps causes me to look up from my work. My ribs are killing me, but I'm still forced to do my community service work of picking up trash. But, then again, I didn't technically tell them about my injury.

Sitting down on a nearby bench, I rest my trash grabber next to me and the trash bag on the ground. A small smile comes to my face as I see my teammates run through the forest.

Swallowing the lightning bolt of pain that flashes through me, I stand and clap, cheering for them the only way I can.

"Woo! Great job, Chaol. You got this!" I shout, using up all the air I have in my lungs. He's in the front, his breathing steady even though he is halfway through the race. Much better than my breathing which comes in pants, every breath a stabbing pain.

I'm so focused on holding my ribs inside of my body, I don't see the tree root. And Chaol must be too distracted on him being in first place, that he doesn't see it either.

He doesn't see it until he trips over it.

Chaol goes down hard, a cry of pain escaping him as the dirt swells up around him and he hits the ground with a snap. My phone is already out, and my fingers fly as I call Coach Sabine.

I kneel beside Chaol with my phone to my ear. "Chaol," I say to get his attention. He pushes himself up and lets out a hiss. "Can you stand?"

He shoots me a glare, but I ignore it when Coach Sabine picks up the phone. "This is Sabine."

"Hey, Coach, this is Sam. Chaol just tripped over a root, and I think he broke something."

"Where are you two?" Her voice comes out cold and pissed off.

"We're at the mile and a half mark."

"I'll call the nurse and someone will be over there in a second." I don't even have time to say thank you before she hangs up.

"I don't need help," Chaol says, shrugging out of my helping hand in order to try and stand by himself. I roll my eyes, though, as he almost faceplants again before grabbing onto my shoulder.

I side-eye him, cocking an eyebrow. "You sure?"

He glares at me like I haven't known him since freshman year when he was one of the slowest people on the team. When he didn't have any friends because of his often cold attitude. When he wasn't some hotshot.

Footsteps pad on the ground, and the rest of the group come through the trees. Most of them aren't from our team, so they glance at us and keep running. Smirks cover their faces as they race by, joyful that since our star runner is out they might have a chance. Assholes.

Hearing Chaol's short breaths, much like my own, I lead him over to the bench and sit down next to him. He eyes the trash bag on the ground. "Sucks that you're on clean up," he murmurs, making me quirk a brow. "We could have used you today."

"Glad someone misses me." The words come out before I can think, and I promptly shut my mouth afterwards, looking away from Chaol. I didn't mean to sound rude.

He raises a brow.

"I mean that it feels different, knowing I can't run. Like I'm missing out on everything. Like you guys are out there having fun and moving on while all I can do is watch from the sidelines." The words spill from my mouth like a waterfall, and my heart lifts as I finally bring the words to life after keeping them bottled up.

"What did you expect, all of us to stop everything for you?" Chaol says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

I grit my teeth together. Maybe this injury will be good for Chaol. Then, maybe he'll be brought down off his high horse and stop being so whiny. "You'll see what it's like when you have to watch all of your friends move on while you're stuck on a bench."