Youth With You

पाँच

One day, Irene asked me, "Have you noticed that there are many more boys playing basketball after school recently?"

"I guess so. Maybe because the weather's warming up?"

"I don't think so," she mysteriously smiled and said, "They're there because of you."

So, I began to pay attention to the gazes of the people around me, and those gazes weren't only directed at Irene anymore. Ever since I had committed assault with a beer bottle, it seemed that overnight, everyone began to notice the girl walking next to Irene.

It was true that there were quite a few people that would strike up a conversation with me. Whenever I used to have a confrontation when playing basketball, the boys would always give way to me. But it didn't seem to be the case now, and many boys would deliberately defend me with all their might. Oftentimes, I would circle the perimeter a few times in possession of the ball and still couldn't find an opening to go in.

If I were to make a judgement now, the Lisa at that time would be considered a beautiful and attractive girl in every respect.

I felt that until now, Irene was standing in the center of the stage, and although I was next to her, I was in the shadows. But one day, there was suddenly a spotlight on my head too.

The next year, the school expanded and a new stadium was built. Spring that year welcomed one of the school's grandest sports events. Because I played basketball often, it gave people the false impression that I was very good at sports, so much so that the class representatives wouldn't give up until I signed up for an event. In reality, my sprint, long jump, and so on had never been any good. I looked at all the events and finally chose the 5000 meter run that no one had signed up for, which was the longest distance.

Although I often played basketball until I was exhausted and even practiced a few long-distance runs, I underestimated this race. After the gunshot sounded, a tall girl from class six set the pace, and I nearly had to use over half of my energy to barely keep up with her. On the second lap, I didn't have enough oxygen in my body, which completely disrupted my plans.

The feeling of standing on the track was completely different from sitting in the audience, because the heart not only had to supply the body with oxygen consumed during the strenuous exercise, but you also had to cope with the extra burden caused by the tension and excitement.

As I got onto the track, Irene descended from the audience seats and stood a short distance outside the field.

The girl who led the second lap still maintained that speed, and I hesitated over whether to continue keeping up with her, but I didn't know if I could keep up with her like this and would only be able to walk the next few laps.

The 5000 meter race was arguably the dullest, most time-consuming event of high school sports meets, especially for girls. At the start of the race, everyone came over to cheer us on, but after that they returned to doing their own things, and likely no one cared how many laps the people on the track had run.

By the third lap, I had already fallen a dozen meters behind the lead runner. Coming back from this lap, I only saw Irene standing all alone outside the field, apart from the staff members. I weakly smiled at her.

Irene, however, excitedly shouted, "Go Lisa!"

I already felt as if the speed my heart was racing was at its limit and I had nearly exhausted all the energy required for a 5000 meter race, so I didn't know what to do for the remaining four laps.