Liam and Me

Chapter 1

"Hey!" A voice from the towering bleachers called out, "Rhombus!"

Ha. Rhombus. I'm Rhonda Carpenter, but my friends call me Rhombus. The joke dates back to the fifth grade. I looked up to see my good friend Grace leaning on the railing around the stairs that led up to the stands. I waved to her and hurried up to meet her.

Grace Esplin, to say the least, is one of the nicest people I have ever met in my entire life.

"Rhonda, you were amazing!" Grace jumped up and down, her blonde hair all over the place. She showered me with millions of compliments. Too many, if you ask me. Third place is, in my opinion, nothing to congratulate me about.

I had just finished the 800-meter run. Today was the last of our conference finals for track and field. Both Grace and I had qualified for finals in our events. Me, the 800 meter and the mile, Grace, discus and shotput. Grace isn't as built for running as she is for discus and shotput. She got first in both events. Sadly, none of my other friends qualified. Taylor and Kinsley aren't exactly the most athletic people, so they weren't here today.

Grace gave me a big teddy-bear hug, which squished my feeble body. I'm built more for long-distance running, I'm skinny, like a twig.

"Come and sit down!" She beckoned me to the bleachers. I followed her up an exhausting flight of stairs, till I recognized my purple gym bag and plopped down beside it. After I guzzled down probably a gallon of water, there was an announcement from the speakers.

"First call for Girls' 3200 meter." It blared. "First call for Girls' 3200 meter." Those sort of announcements become nerve-wrecking when they're meant for you.

"Ooh, the two-mile is starting." I said to no one in particular. I've done the two-mile before and it sucks. But not as bad as the 5ks in cross-country.

"Hey, Rhonda, isn't Liam doing the two-mile?" Grace bumped my shoulder with a smug look on her face. My face got red as I nodded my head very slowly. "You wanna go down to the field to cheer him on when the Boys' two-mile starts?"

I nodded again. The only thing slightly annoying about Grace is that she loves to tease people about their crush, and what's worse is that she's already dating Joseph Freeman, so I can't tease her back.

Liam Driscol is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS, for short. So am I. I live in a small, Alaskan town that is heavily populated by members of my church. Very few who live here aren't members. Goodwell is one of the nicest places in Alaska and I love it there.

Anyway, Liam is in my ward. Which is a wonderful coincidence. And my locker at school is right next to his, another wonderful coincidence. Hehehe. Note that the first coincidence is an actual coincidence, wards are often split up by ward boundaries.

I looked down at the track to see all the girls lined up for the two-mile race. I must not have heard the second and last calls for the run.

"You wanna head down there early?" Grace said. "I forgot that Nora was running the two-mile, we should go down and cheer her on."

Grace is friends with everybody, I swear. I vaguely know Nora, I once did a presentation with her in History. It was about the Salem Witch Trials, very fascinating if you ask me. Like, if you had more than two cats, you were considered a witch, along with some other dumb accusations.

We went down there anyway, to Grace's request and watched the girls run eight laps around the track. Nora has the funniest running face, others looked tired and lazy while running, but Nora looks possibly even worse, her face drenched in sweat with snot sliding down her dropping face. I get it, my nose always gets snotty when I'm running in cold weather, so I don't blame her. Sigh, Alaska is always cold. I'm surprised the snow has already melted.