The Night Tournaments

19 - Arielle

~ A Few Days Later ~

"I can't believe that they're making us run on a Monday morning," Amelia Scarlett complained as the two of us headed to the girls' changing room, which was located next to the gymnasium.

Seaside Heights' annual cross-country day for 8th, 9th, and 10th graders was taking place today, and a bunch of students in the hallways were grumbling about being forced to jog around the campus in the chilly October air. I couldn't blame them, but since I considered myself to be a pretty athletic person, I wasn't really feeling the need to complain.

"Hey, it'll be fun," I told my blonde friend, laughing. "We need to work on boosting our stamina if we want to upgrade our standings in the cheerleading team, anyway, right?"

"Ugh, you do have a point," she said begrudgingly, and we set our sports bags down on an empty bench in the tightly packed changing room.

"Hey, Arielle! You look like you're in a good mood," a familiar voice called, and I looked up to see Bree Campbell smiling at me while adjusting the cuff of her hoodie. She had already changed into her P.E. uniform, but her beanie was still intact, as always.

"Bree! Are you ready for the cross-country event?" I greeted, tying my wavy hair up into a chic ponytail.

"I'm neither opposed to nor in favor of running," she answered bluntly as she stretched her ankles. "I mainly live off of my adrenaline rushes when I'm chasing bad guys and whatnot, but when it comes to a compulsory school-wide jog, then, well . . . it's a different story."

I chuckled, stuffing my pleated skirt into my sports bag. "Maybe it won't be as bad as you think! The five of us can all calmly walk through the course together - who cares if we're last?"

"Cheesebrain might care," Bree pointed out, rolling her eyes. "But if that happens to be the case, we can just allow him to go off on his own."

I finished changing, and Bree and Amelia trailed behind me as we made our way to the field, where all of the students participating in the race were supposed to meet. There were several teachers stationed across the wide area, and the teenagers were either wailing on the ground or warming up with competitive gazes in their eyes.

"What a diverse school community we have," Bree commented wryly as the lush grass flattened underneath our shoes.

Archer West waved to us from somewhere near the middle of the crowd, and I bid farewell to Amelia, who joined her own group of friends. Flynn and Claude were already with Archer, and my vision took time to adjust to the guys' new outfits. For every one of us, it was our first time seeing each other wearing Seaside Heights' P.E. uniform instead of the normal one. 

There was a variety of clothing items to choose from when it came to athletics - including additional options that were available if you were part of sports teams - but the girls usually wore a light blue athletic t-shirt with a miniature version of the school crest on it, a cropped navy blue zip-up hoodie, and gray joggers, which was what both Bree and I had put on. For the boys, the ensemble typically consisted of a male version of the same t-shirt but in navy blue, a black sports jacket with their own customized initials on one sleeve, and gray track pants with black stripes on the sides.

"This weather is absolutely quintessential for running," Flynn smugly remarked as soon as he saw us.

"Cheesebrain, stop being cocky," Bree reprimanded, shooting him a look. "Some of us don't like burning our lungs out as much as you do."

"At least people aren't barreling towards us anymore. I think," Claude mentioned, warily glancing around. 

He was referring to the epic rise to stardom that he, Flynn, and Archer had experienced for the entirety of last week because of the release of our true-crime podcast. A good majority of the girls in my grade were still going crazy over them, but the school environment was a lot less chaotic than before, which I regarded as good news.