Evangeline
At the end of the session, as we're stretching, Daniel turns to me.
"What's your relationship with Owen?"
"Hm?" I look at him curiously, choosing my words carefully. We haven't spoken at all during training, so why now? He's Luke's friend, Asher's and my tutor." (Not sure if the grammar is accurate, do correct me if it is)
Daniel's eyes narrow, and he looks away. "Ah. I see."
"What's your deal with him?"
It's rude of me to ask so blatantly, but the want to know is eating me up inside. Daniel sends a half glare my way. "It's nothing."
I eye him a little, deciding to keep my mouth shut. "Okay."
"Are you going home after this?" Daniel asks undoing the laces on his spikes. A much needed change of subject.
"Yeah. But I have to text Luke to ask if he's coming to pick me up." I pull out my phone and drop a text message to my stepbrother.
R u home yet? Daniel asks if ur picking me up.
"Cool. Um, if not, I could walk you home?"
I blink at my senior in confusion. "Pardon?"
Daniel's cheeks tint. "I mean, could I follow you home—"
He slaps a hand over his face. "Argh. I need to talk to your twin brothers." I giggle hysterically. "Okay, sure. You know you're always welcome to visit."
"Really should've phrased that better," he mutters under his breath. My phone pings with a notification.
Why? Shift jus ended. I'm otw rn.
Says he's there for the twins.
K. He'll go w us. Be there in 5.
:)
"What did he say?" Daniel glances at me. I show him my phone screen, and he nods in acknowledgement. Jessica sashays up to us, holding a clipboard. I don't usually speak to her at all, despite the fact that she's my senior and Luke's ex. "Hey, guys! Here's an announcement. I've already notified the others, so its just you guys. Next Friday, we're hosting a friendly little competition with Verne High. If you wanna sign up, please do so now!"
She thrusts the clipboard at us. There are several events listed, with the names of some of our track mates under them as well. I take a snapshot with my phone camera to look at all the events and pass it to Daniel so he can write down whatever.
"Which one are you going for?"
"Maximum two events," Jessica trills, flicking her long hair over her shoulder.
I tap my chin in thought. I'm a pretty good sprinter, yet my stamina is average, and I've been working my ass off for the past few months, two days a week. I fill in my name under the two hundred meters event. A rush of excitement goes through me. This will be my first competition, so...baby steps.
Daniel does long-distance, and I see him tick his name under the one-thousand meter event. He passes the clipboard back to Jessica.
My phone starts vibrating.
BadadadadadabadadadadaDADADA
Buh da DA-DA-DA!
Face flaming, I hurriedly receive the call.
"Hello?" My cheeks are hot under the incredulous stares of my two seniors, as well as a few others from several of my track mates stretching not too far away.
"Princess. I'm outside the gate." Luke's voice is slightly muffled.
"Okay. Let me grab Daniel and then we'll go."
"Alright."
I hang up and immediately busy myself with shoving my track shoes and skews into my shoe bag.
"Your ringtone's the chicken dance? That's so funky." Daniel snickers from behind his hand. Jessica's gone over to the next cluster of kids to inform them about the Friday event, seemingly having decided to ignore what he just heard.
I rise and dust off my shorts and glare at him, lips twitching upward. "Yeah, so what?"
Daniel snickers again. "Oh, nothing."
I heft my bag onto my shoulders and scoop up my shoe bag and jacket. Daniel does the same."Can we just go???"
"Fine, fine."
