Twins: Lost then Found in Love

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Running

Location: Glenheights High of the Sciences, Outdoor Track

Haylee's POV

I'm chatting with the coach, updating him on my training over the summer and what my goals for this year are. For the 2.5 mile race, I want to break 14 minutes this year. And for the 5K (3.1), I'm going for sub 17.

"Great goals, Evans," Coach says, smiling. His voice is deep and rough. He lowers his voice. "Captainship seems to be in your future, Ms. Evans, if I can say so myself."

I try not to blush but fail miserably. That means a lot to me. "Thanks, Coach," I say softly. He pats me on the back. "I–"

I get cut off by a familiar voice. "Hi Coach, I'm Miles and I'm new. I was wondering if I could run something different from the other people on the team because I've never run competitively before and I'm afraid I'll throw up."

"Now, throwing up is part of the process. Evans here knows that very well," he tells Miles (ugh! That annoying boy from this morning). "Don't you, Ms. Evans?"

I laugh even though that's the last thing that I feel like doing right now. I don't look at Miles. "That's right, Coach." First race of last season I threw up halfway through it but still managed to hurl myself across the finish line in 1st place, sobbing. I stretch and look at the wall. 

Coach blows his whistle. "Jog a lap, go!" I take off a good 50 meters behind everyone and still manage to pass them without breaking a sweat. We all stretch and wait for the coach to announce what our schedule is today. "So," he says, consulting his clipboard. "Full plate today, people. I hope you all trained over the summer because otherwise you'll be hurling before you're halfway through." A bunch of people start glancing at each other nervously. I ignore them. I've been training like crazy all summer. "We'll be doing some sprint exercises first. Sprint the straightaways (100m) and jog the curves. 5 laps, so in total you'll be sprinting 1000 meters. Then, you'll be sprinting 200m, jogging for 200 m, sprinting, etc. So that'll be sprinting 1000 meters as well. Any questions? Line up."

I get myself into lane 1. Miles ends up next to me. "Um, so what's your name?" he asks me. I ignore him. Not just because he's annoying, but because I'm in Runner Mode and the only thing that matters is running. Coach motions with his arms. 

"On your mark," he barks. I do one more stretch and line my toe up with the starting line. "Set." I get into position. "Go!" I take off like a madman. I pump my arms like there's no tomorrow and sprint like all hell's breaking loose. I reach the 100m mark and slow to a jog. I look back. Many people are right behind me, but I'll loose them soon. I notice with a smirk that Miles is dead last and he already looks like he's about to pass out. 

I sprint again at the next straightaway and slow to a jog again. I've already lost a lot of people. I repeat this 5 times. I've lapped Miles twice already, and most of the others once. I finish and look at the coach.

"Great job, Evans!" he shouts. "You can take a short break or you can go right on to the 200m repeats." I'm breathing hard, but I start the 200m. That's the whole deal with running: You have to know how to push past the pain. Everyone has the potential to be fast, but only a fraction of people realize this and know how to push themselves.

When I finish all my 200m's, I stop, grab some water, and cheer on my teammates. Miles is very interesting to watch. He's thrown up twice already, and has been lapped by everyone at least twice. I assume he's not very fit.

Location: Glenheights High of the Sciences, Outdoor Track

Miles' POV

Oh. My. Damn. Why in the world did I join the cross country team? I feel like someone has punched me everywhere, and someone's squeezing my chest in a form of torture. That's what this is. Torture. I'm not even fast. I've been lapped by that godamn  H Evans or whatever her name is 5 freaking times. Everyone else has lapped me at least twice now, too. I hate myself and I hate everyone else, too. The world is cruel.

Suddenly I'm seeing stars. The last thing I see is H Evans' perfect face watching me as I pass her, and then suddenly I'm falling. There's a loud shout and then everything turns black.

Location: Local Hospital, floor 2, room #7

Haylee's POV

"He's lucky my reflexes are fast," I grumble. I had caught Miles just before his head hit the floor because he was passing me, and then he fainted and I lunged out and his head hit my hands. I think he still got a minor concussion though, because the doctors look a little worried. They've given him an IV tube because apparently he fainted because he was pushing himself too hard and he lost too many nutrients or whatever when he threw up.

Because of him, Coach and I had to go to the hospital because Coach is our coach, and he asked me to go with him. The rest of the team got to go home early. Not that I'm complaining. It's nice to be Coach's favorite.

"Sir," one of the nurses says to Coach. "Your athlete will be fine, but you should let him rest for the next few days until his concussion is gone and he's fully recovered. Young miss," she says to me. "You may have saved Mr. Spezzaferi from one of the worst weeks he could ever have. He would for sure have had a super major concussion if you hadn't caught him."

I nod humbly. Oh boy, is Mr. Spezzaferi going to hear about this later!

Location: Local Hospital, floor 2, room #7

Miles' POV

Slowly, I come to my senses. What? Where am I? Who am I? Oh, wait. I'm Miles Spezzaferi. Duh. My head throbs. I open my eyes to see a pair of worried, beautiful, crystal blue eyes staring down at me. I blink, then blink again. After 5 more blinks I realize that my eyes are not playing tricks on me. The person staring down at me is none other than H Evans.

"What's your name?" I croak. The girl laughs. Her laugh is tinkly and cute.

"Haylee," she says. "Haylee Evans." She frowns down at me. "You know, I still find you annoying, even though I do kind of take pity on you since you have a concussion and you have a tube sticking into your arm and you're lying in a hospital bed."

I close my eyes. "Why am I in a hospital?" I ask finally, opening my eyes again. 

Haylee (I finally know her name!) looks at me for a long moment. "You really don't remember?" I shake my head. "We were practicing for cross country, you threw up at least 2 times, then fainted." She smirks. It's a cute smirk. "I caught your head, thank God, otherwise you would be feeling 100x worse." I groan and close my eyes again. I hear Haylee retreat into the hallway, and call out, "He's awake!"

"Hey," Haylee says gently as she comes back over to my bed. "Are you going to be okay?" I open my eyes. Her expression is worried, and oh, she looks so amazing. 

"Yeah," I say, not wanting to worry her. She hands me a cup of water. "Thanks," I say, taking a sip.

She smiles down at me and squeezes my hand. I get all tingly. Then she abruptly stands up and looks at her watch. "I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow. Feel better!" she calls over her shoulder.

I lie there for a while till the nurse tells me I can go, confused.