Playing With The Boys

Chapter 6- Exhaustion..

Step. Step. Step. Step. That's the only words I could force through the haze that I called my mind. My legs were shaking with each stride and streams of sweat were soaking my forehead. My earbuds had fallen out of my ears a long time ago but I couldn't bring myself to put them back in.

    Now, don't think I'm some psycho that can run all night long without stopping. I walked a ton and stopped once to change out of my gear and rehydrate myself. Right now I was jogging through the curve in the track, watching the sun rise over the horizon and paint the sky with yellows and oranges.

    I heard a door slam by the locker rooms and turned my sore neck to investigate. It was Hunter carrying a small machine that I soon identified as the one they used to paint lines on the field. He looked up and spotted me still running my relentless circles around the track.

    "Hays! What the hell are you doing?" He yelled in my direction.

    "Running!" I yelled back, not bothering to look at him.

    "Get over here!" He commanded. I could sense the authority in his voice. He was not happy. Good.

    I jogged over to where he was standing and noticed a sharp pain in both of my shins. Shin splints. When I approached I forced myself to stand up straight in front of him. I swallowed my heavy breathing and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I was going to show him that I could be strong and that I deserved to be on the team. I refused to look weak in his eyes.

    "Were you here all night?" He asked, his eyes searching me from head to toe. I stood up even straighter and looked him square in the eyes.

    "Yup. You told me to run laps until you said to stop. And that's exactly what I did." I said, gesturing back to the track.

    His eyes widened in shock but he quickly recovered and tried to hide it. "Whatever. Go home and get ready for school. No practice on Fridays, so lucky you. You're gonna be a sore bitch in a few hours." He said as he walked away, making it a point to shove into my shoulder.

    I forced my heavy legs to walk me to the locker room and when the door slammed behind me I collapsed onto the cold concrete floor. I fumbled for my phone and when I found it I sat up so my back was against the wall.

    I scrolled through my contacts until Jordan's number appeared on the screen. I put the phone to my ear and waited until he picked up.

    "Alex? Where are you? Are you okay? Your dad just called to tell me you didn't come home this morning. Is everything alright?" Jordan's frantic voice filled my head and jumbled my thoughts.

    "Can you come and get me?" I whispered into the phone.

    "Tell me where you are. I'll be there in a heartbeat. Just please tell me if your okay." He responded.

    "Girls locker room at school. I'm okay." I said. I could feel all my energy leaving my body as my legs went numb. It was really cold.

    "What the hell are you still doing there?" He asked. I could hear his car starting in the background.

    "I'll explain later." I said as the phone slipped through my fingers and clattered to the floor beside my feet.

    "Alex? Alex? Alex! What's going on?" I could barely hear Jordan's voice through the phone. I wanted to reach out and pick it up, but I just couldn't. I was too exhausted.

    "Shit!" I heard his voice one last time before he hung up the phone.

    I closed my eyes and waited for him to show up at the school. I think I even might have fallen asleep.

    Jordan came sprinting through the door still in his pajamas. His brown hair was flying in all directions and he wasn't wearing shoes.

    "Alex? Are you okay? What happened? Alex!" Jordan said as he kneeled next to me.

    "Running. All night." I wheezed out. My breathing was still heavy. I just couldn't get a full breath of air.

    "Alex look at you! You could have seriously hurt yourself!" He said, giving me his 'stare of disapproval.' I could see the worry laced through his features though, so the look didn't scare me as much.

    "Sorry." The word came out barely above above a whisper.

    "Come on, I'm taking you home." He told me as he put both of my bags onto his shoulders. He leaned down and picked me up bridal style like I weighed nothing. He was carrying me through the door when I remembered.

    "Can't go home. Nobody there. No key." I told him, my eyelids drooping closed.

    "We can just go to my house then. No harm in missing one day of school." I could feel his chest vibrating as he laughed.

    I only realized we were at his car when he laid me in the backseat and started the ignition.

    "Now please explain to me why you forced yourself to run all night long." He said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

    "Hunter told me to run until he said stop. He never did until he showed up this morning." I said the words slowly as my lips struggled to keep up.

    "So you did all this to prove a point?" He asked, exasperated.

    "Yup."

    The car shut off and I just assumed we had gotten to his house. I was even too tired to open my eyes and check. Jordan came and got me from the backseat. He pulled me into his arms once again and carried me into his house.

    I didn't open my eyes until I was laid on something soft. I looked around to see that Jordan had put me on his bed. He sat next to me and looked me over.

    "Does it hurt anywhere?" He asked me softly.

    I did a mental check of my body until I focused on the stabbing pain in my shins. "I think I may have shin splints again." I said, thinking back to when I got them from playing football in sixth grade.

   

    I felt the bed shift as he got up and walked out of the room. Well that was helpful.

    My eyelids turned to led as I laid there, waiting to see if he would return. I was almost all the way in dreamland when I heard him walk back into the room.

    Something extremely cold hit both of my legs and soothed the pain instantly. I looked down to see that Jordan had placed a bag of ice on both of my shins. I weakly smiled up at him and he laughed.

    "Promise me you will never do something like that to yourself again." He said,  turning serious.

    "Mhmm." I mumbled.

    "Good. Now get some sleep."

    I could have sworn I felt his lips lightly press against my forehead. Maybe I was already asleep.

**Soo I think I kept you waiting long enough! Sorry!! I've been having really bad writers block and basketball season finishing up has been stressful :P But thanks for hanging with me and I'll try to update soon! Vote and comment! Love ya!**