Racing for You [Young Adult Interracial Romance]

One.

Chapter One

SPRING, FRESHMAN YEAR

Rhiannon ran through her pre-race routine. She shook her hands, shrugged her shoulders and jumped quickly on her toes to calm her nerves. This was the part of racing that she both loved and hated the most, those awful moments before you stepped up to the start line. She puffed her cheeks to let out a deep breath and went over her race plan in her head. She was nervous. The 800 m was her best event, and she didn't want to stuff it up, not in her first NCAA national championship final.

The role call started, she heard her name and stepped forward and waved to the crowd. She knew her family was up there somewhere. Her mom had called after the semi-final to tell her how proud they all were, she kept on blabbering uncontrollably until her brother Lucas had taken the phone off her and finally ended the call so Rhiannon could go socialize with her friends on the team. Thank god for Lucas.

Oh god, her nerves were so bad she felt like she was going to shit her pants. It was time. She stepped up to the line and a wave of calm washed over her. It was just her and the track. Nobody else. Nothing else. Just her and the track. The starting gun went off and she launched herself forward. She was hyper aware of her body, she could feel her legs pumping, the air rushing in and out of her lungs, the braids in her pony tail brushing against the back of her neck. She'd gotten a good start. 

She rounded the last turn of the first lap in fourth or fifth place, she couldn't tell and she wasn't about to start looking around to try and figure it out. She was in a good position. You might not have known it from the number of girls in front of her but she felt good about it. She was in her rhythm.

She crossed the line, just one more lap to go. She was in the zone now, the only things that existed were her body and the track. She could feel the lactic acid building in her legs and the heat in her chest growing but she focused on her rhythm. 

On the backstretch she picked up the pace, making her big move. The U-Penn girl was surprised by her early move and tried to go with her but Rhiannon didn't even notice. Nothing could get in her way now, she was gearing up for a big finish. 

She came around the last turn and knew that the line was close. Her whole body was screaming at her in the most intense pain, her chest was about to explode. She picked it up for the final sprint. God she felt awesome, she'd never been in so much pain and held her technique together like this before. She pushed it out as hard as she could to cross the line. 

Her eyes went immediately to the scoreboard. A personal best time, she had known it before she saw it, but there was something else, her name was on the second line with a 2 beside it. That couldn't be right, she was just a freshman, she wasn't supposed to place at the Nationals. But there it was, second place. 

She couldn't believe it. She put her hand over her mouth in shock. 

She thanked and congratulated the other runners, walking on air, not believing what an amazing race she had just had. Someone was calling her name. She scanned the crowd and saw her family leaning over the railing of the stands to wave to her. She laughed at them, they were even more excited than she was. 

She walked over to them and clasped their hands and took a rub on the head from her dad. Now she was glad they were here to celebrate with her. Her mom started blabbering again, the tears were flowing in full force and she couldn't stop saying "Rhi I'm so proud, I'm just so proud."