Warrior: The Forging of a Champion

Chapter 12

An hour into the trip, I'm awakened by my phone. It's a text message. I open my phone and look at it. "How did u do?" It's from Chris. 

"Gold," I respond. 

"Great, call me 2morrow." 

"Will do," I respond. 

We pull into the parking lot at nine. I get my bike and ride home, show my parents my medal, and then go upstairs to try to fall back asleep. Unfortunately, falling asleep on the way home has made that impossible. Picking up a few of my books I try to do some homework. If that doesn't put me to sleep nothing will. I start in on some Latin but I start to think about Chris, so I send her a text. 

"What r u doing?" 

"Sleeping." 

"How do u write and sleep." 

"LOL." 

"I'm doing Latin." 

":( ""What r u doing 2morrow." 

Running. 

"Running where?" 

"Your school." 

"Time?" 

"8:00." 

"OK C U there." 

See me there? I think I'm going to be doing stairs and sprints. What is she going to do I wonder. 

"OK," I respond, go back to my homework, and eventually fall asleep, thinking of Chris and Latin, but mostly of Chris.

The next day, I grab my phone and head out to the high school. It's a two mile run from my house. The morning is cool with a little breeze. It is just the right tempature to keep me cool but not so much that I overheat. The sun is up and is shinning it's rays through the trees making long shadows across the ground. I work up a good sweat on the way there but plan on doing the hard work at the track. I remember Chris saying something about meeting me there, but when thinking about it I realize that she must have been kidding. She wouldn't want to go to there that early in the morning. 

I make my way to the High School at a pretty good pace. The track that surrounds the football field is built into a hill, so when I enter the stadium, I walk down a flight of stairs to get to the track. As I'm going down the stairs, I see a person is sitting on the bleachers wearing a baseball cap and a gray hoodie with her back to me. 

I get down to the track, look back up at the stands, and see it's Chris. She waves and I motion for her to come down. "You actually came?"  

"Sure. I want to see what do in your spare time." 

"Okay, well I guess I'll start with intervals across the field. I have a minute to run and then rest and then start again." 

She grabs my watch and sits on a bench right off the field and tells me when to go and how much time I have left in each one. I do a set of ten of those and then move over to the stairs where I sprint up the steps. Chris bolts to the set of steps next to mine and tries to run up them as fast as I can. She does a pretty good job. The next time she says she is going to race me, takes a few steps ahead of me, and yells "go." I still pass her. We both laugh at her lame attempt at cheating. 

I go to the track and run a series of sprints, first fifty yards then thirty then fifteen. After that, I do some foot speed drills at the base of the steps. I finish those up before I sit down on the stairs. 

"This is your workout?" she asks sounding impressed. 

"This is it. A light one for my day off." 

"You walked here?" 

"Yep all the way from there." She points to a house right off of the street across from the high school. It is a small white rambler with blue shades. 

"That's your house?" I ask. 

"Yep, I get to see my school twenty-four hours a day." 

"What are you going to do today?" I ask. 

"I hope I can spend it with you," she says. 

"Oh, okay, that would be good. Let's see, I need to shower and change. I'm pretty funky right now. I live a few miles from here, and I usually run back home." 

"Okay, I'll follow you." 

We both sprint up the stairs and start jogging back to my house. She keeps up just fine, and I think, given the opportunity, she might want to pass me. We make it to my house. When we open the door, we see my mom sitting in the kitchen still in her PJ's and pink bath robe. Her hair is pushed back still wet from a shower. 

"Mom, this is my friend, Chris." 

My mom, reading the paper, doesn't look up and when Chris responds with "Hi," she realizes it's not a boy Chris but a girl Chris. She stands up, introduces herself, and then, of course, starts peppering her with questions, "Are you the person he met at the mall?" 

"What school do you go to?" 

"What grade are you in?" 

"How did you meet?" 

"What activities do you do?" 

"Where do you live?" 

After listening to this for a few minutes, I break in and say to Chris, "Sorry but the interrogation will have to continue while I shower and change." 

Chris laughs, and my mother defensively jumps in. "I'm not interrogating you, am I?" 

"Oh, no just getting to know each other," Chris responds. 

I leave the two, shower, change, and come back to the kitchen where they are sitting, drinking coffee. As soon as I walk into the room, they both stop talking. "What?" I ask. 

"Your mother was just telling me that it took a long time to toilet train you, and you slept with your favorite stuffed animal for years." 

"Thanks, Mom." 

"She's very interested," my Mom says. 

Chris and I go to the family room, and use the computer for a while, watching funny videos on YouTube. After that, we flip through the TV channels to see what's on. I want to watch ESPN, but she insists on watching some home decorating show. Since we can't come to an agreement, we go back into the kitchen, get some roast beef sandwiches and then head out of the house to get away from my parents. We go for a walk and end up in the park. 

In a secluded place, I lean in to kiss her. I feel her lips on mine and put my arms around her, and she put her arms around me and pulls me into her. I loose my balance and we take a few steps backward, then she stops and pushes back to me and I step a few little steps back. We continue this dance back and forth all the time with our lips together and our eyes closed only stopping occasionally to see if someone is coming or if we think that we hear someone. We go on for a while and then, before we would go too far, we continue our walk. We get back to my house, and Chris tells me that she has to go to finish some of her homework. 

I walk her home, and when we get to the high school, I give her a long kiss goodbye. We both promise to text each other tonight and tomorrow at school. I wait and watch as she walks away and into her house. I have enough time to think on the way home that this is the happiest that I've been in a long time. A gold medal, a date, and a day with my new girlfriend, not a bad weekend.