That Girl And her Tiger Tattoo

ch. 1- the race

I ran down the track. I had made track team this year so that was cool, I guess. Not like it was a secret passion or anything. It's just I had gotten in trouble for punching this dude who hit my girlfriend and I was punished. The principal said I had to join track. Unfortunately, I wasn't any good at it. The principal announced over the loud speaker that he'd let me off of my punishment because he felt so bad for me. Apparently, "I can't even make track to save my life."
Then, the next day, it was my birthday. And, my girlfriend dumped me. She felt that she couldn't be seen with me so she decided to date the guy who hit her because he's "popular."
The thought of it made me run faster. I was a pretty skinny guy, I was lanky but still not scrawny. So I was built well for track. I smiled to myself as I passed the kid ahead of me. I was behind only two other people. I passed the next guy and was right behind the lead. I was catching up... catching up...
And he won. That was the end of the third lap, it was over. I sat down on the dewy grass, grabbed my Gatorade, and chugged it. When it was empty, I through it at the winner, my friend, and he laughed and threw his at me. I got up as I heard coach blow his whistle. He motioned toward me. I made my way to coach and stood next to him.
"How you doin, Tom?" The coach asked as he pulled a pen from his pocket and began to write on his clipboard.
"Good," I say.
"Nice day for running, huh?"
"Yessir."
"And you're doing well balancing school with this extracurricular activity?"
"Yup."
"Well, then, can I actually send you to a competition?"
"You'll have to ask Principal Brian."
"I see."
Did I mention that once I made track, I wasn't even able to go to the games, I just had to train. I mean wow. I guess he realized that once it became important to me he'd have to take it away.
Surprisingly, the next day, the coach told me the principal said yes. I stared at him, shocked. "No way."
"Yes," the coach replied. "Actually, he complied. It was no easy feat but he did."
"Well that's good," I say. "So, when's the next game?"
"Tonight."
"Oh..."
"Yup. We're going now, hop on the bus."
I nodded as he pushed me along onto the bus that suddenly appeared behind me.
I sat down in a seat by my buddy, the leader, he had saved me a seat which was good because although I was able to pass every one of the other team mates, they still believed they were soo much better than me. All high and mighty. Kinda pissed me off to be honest.
We arrived at the next town soon and got off the bus. It was on the east side of us. We were from the town a 30 miles to the west of the twin towns. We were going to the west town of the twin towns. The other was east. We had to be careful in the twin towns though because 1 year ago this mental patient disappeared from the east town and they never found him. So obviously he could've gone either farther east or to the west town.
As we got off the bus, I shivered. We walked a couple blocks down to the West Woodlands High School so that we could get warmed up. As we walked, some of the kids began talking about the escaped mental patient. "I bet he's big and ugly and mean," one said.
"Yeah," another agreed. "Just a stupid oaf. He probably hunts kids down and eats 'em."
This cop walked up along with a couple. "Hello," he said. "I'd appreciate if you'd not talk about it."
"S-sorry," they stuttered.
"Thanks," he said.
The woman of the couple shook her head as they walked past.
The man muttered, "her." I wonder what that could've meant.
A little boy limped after them. "Wait up," he called.
The couple stopped and grabbed their son's hands to bring him along.
I stared after them. Something about the family sent a chill down my spine.
My friend slapped my back. "We're good. No reason to be nervous," he said. "And we're almost there. C'mon! Race you there!"
I looked ahead at the high school and chased him down the street.
Soon, we arrived at the West Woodlands high school. The rivals, the west side of the twin towns, or to us, The Loggers. Time to dominate! We went in and followed coach to a locker room to get into our gym clothes. Then, we headed out down a hall and out a door to the field where coach was waiting. It was a long football field with a track going around it. I went up to the edge. My friend looked at me and said, "Remember the key to this is simply to finish."
"I know," I replied quickly before the person from West Woodland popped up beside me.
"Ready... set... go!" The other kid's coach yelled. The kid was on the 2nd track, which was longer because it was on the outside of the 1 but he was ahead of me and onto the 1. I chased him, running as hard as I could. I began to catch up as I thought about something that made me good and mad. Soon, I felt lighter than air and was running like the wind.
I sped up to the kid and went into lane 2. I began to pick up speed and made my move to pass him, he sped up, blocking me. I ran harder and tried again to pass. We hit a curve and I fell behind. Undeterred, I sped up again, he blocked, we went on like this for awhile. 
We hit another curve, this time I didn't fall behind. I ran as fast as I could, throwing it all out there. We ran together, neck and neck, nearing the finish line for the second time around.
I passed him right at the finish line. I ran super fast, this was what coach called "reaching the top." I was on super speed. I ran fast, faster than I had ever run before. I didn't look back until I reached the finish line and saw the boy huffing and puffing a couple places behind me. I finished the track with good time and sat down in the grass. Coach handed me a bottled water and I dumped it into my mouth, barely swallowing. I almost frowned myself I was so thirsty. I dropped my bottle and went to coach. "You did well," he says. "Really well. He had you blocked there for awhile and you kept pace. Nice job, Tommy."
I smirked as I passed the best guy on the team, other than my bud, of, course. I bumped his shoulder hard enough to knock him down, but he kept his balance, wobbling a little. Then, he went to coach.
"You're up, John," I heard coach saying as I walked away.
I stood by the track and watched John run. He did okay, but it ended up being a tie. The other coach stepped up.
"Hey," he said. "Rematch?"
"You challenging me?" Our coach asked.
"Maybe," the other one said.
"Well then," our coach replied. "Let's do it."
So John and the other kid ran a rematch. John won by a bit. Last, it was my friend, Ben's turn. Ben was the leader. He could do it. I knew it. But, that's when I saw the kid he was up against. It was a tall kid, with a long thin body. He could probably win by leaning forward so his head passed the finish line. Poor Benny. Ben looked at me, with a nervous look.
I gave him a thumbs up and mouthed, "What counts is that you finish. Run hard, brother."
He nodded and soon they were off.
Ben certainly did win. By a lot. Turns out that just because you're the perfect shape and others look up to you both mentally and physically does not mean that you're good at it. Not even close.
So, we boarded the bus and headed for home. It was getting dark out and we were eager to be home. But, for some reason we had to stop on the way out of town. The bus had stopped mysteriously and the driver said he had to get out. He came back a moment later and told us to hop off because the bus might get a bit cold so we ought to just get out and look around town for a half an hour.
We got off the bus and saw that a sharp knife had been stabbed through the tire so that's why the bus had to stop. I grabbed Ben and we followed the tire tracks back a little ways until we got to the spot where we had felt the bump. There was a small hole in the ground that may have been used to prop up a knife. I pulled my jacket tighter around myself and allowed Ben to drag me into town. We stopped at a couple stores, not spending any money until he found an anime one and went in. I stood outside for awhile and just listened to the sounds of night.
Finally, I got bored and began to pace. Soon, I was pacing back and forth too much and I was beginning to walk around the block.
I turned the corner and walked out onto the street in the dark. Suddenly, a shadow jumped out at me, it seemed to be following me. Then, I was soaring... then landing and... wham! I hit the ground hard and a soft sigh escaped my lips. I looked up at a girl with pretty gray eyes, ripped jeans, and a red plaid flannel. What? That's all she's wearing to keep warm.
"Aren't you cold?" I ask.
"I run hot."
And with that she was off. I got up and looked at her as she ran, then, I looked the other way and realized that she had pushed me out of the way of a moving car.