The Track and Me

Two

Chapter Two

"Carrie Ryan."

"Here." I said raising my hand in the back of the room.

Mr. Burns peered through the top of his glasses, nodded his head, and continued calling roll.

"Jake Stanley."

"Jake."

Mr. Burns looked down and made a mark on his paper.

You may be thinking, she has had a class with him the whole semester and he doesn't recognize her? If you are, you are correct. Jake does his own thing and, usually, doesn't involve anyone that won't help him in the future.

"Coach." Jake said running in out of breath, "I'm sorry I'm late. I-"

Mr. Burns held up his hand and motioned Jake to be seated.

Jake looked at his usual seat and noticed someone was in his seat. He quickly looked around and his eyes set on me. He began making his way toward the back and sat down in the seat beside me.

"Hey."

I kept my focus on the front of the room ignoring Jake to the best of my abilities.

"This is the last week some of you will be high school students. Some of you are about to go into your senior year and some of you are just ready for summer. Either way you have to pass this class."

Mr. Burns is the school's best history teacher. Well that's what the students say. Every upper class an will recommend him to their siblings. I just got lucky enough to be placed in this class.

"Your final is in three days. Some of you can make a zero and still pass the class. However, some of you need a good grade to pass. So, please study." Mr. Burns picked up a stack of papers and began handing him out. "Here is the study guide. Pick a partner and begin working."

Jake instantly turned my way and opened his mouth until Mr. Burns began speaking.

"Feel free to work by yourself."

I quickly looked down at my paper and scooted farther away from Jake.

"Wanna work together?" I heard from my right.

"I work better alone." I said back.

Jake was quite for a while. I looked over and seen him struggling with one of the questions. After 30 minutes I had finished. I placed the paper in my notebook and looked around the room.  There were a few people playing on their phones, working on the study guide, or just sitting there. Jake however had fell asleep.

"Stanley." Coach said beside Jake's desk.

Jake shot up and looked at Mr. Burns with wide eyes.

"10 laps after practice." Mr. Burns said and walked away.

"Dang." Jake said shaking his head.

******BRING******

I got up from my chair and walked out of the door. Luckily, that was my last class of the day. I quickly walked to the library to grab a book my grandma wanted to read. I really just wanted to run. After grabbing the book I went to the track. I walked on if for a couple seconds. I closed my eyes and imagined the crowd screaming. My last class is a free period so I have nothing to do.

I began stretching. I had to run. I walked to the starting line and took off. I went around the first and second curve with ease. I pushed myself even harder in the straight away. The third and forth corner went by fast. I gave it everything I had. Once I crossed the finish line I slowed down to a jog. I walked over to my bags until I heard a voice.

"So you can run?"

I quickly turned around and seen Jake.

"Why aren't you on the team?"

"I run because I want to. Not because I have to." I say back at him.

"Whats your name?"

I said nothing.

"Let's make a deal." Jake began. "Let's race. I win, you tell me you name. You win and I will leave you alone."

I thought about it. What did I have to lose?

"I don't know..... Fine."

We both got into positions.

"Ready." Jake started. "Set."

"Go." And I took off. Jake had a better start than I did. He was at least half way through the turn. Once we got to the straight away I caught up to him. I slowly edged past him in turns three and four. Once we got to the final straight away, I was gone. I passed the finish line first. I had beat Jake Stanley. 

"Ryan, what was that?" I heard from behind me.

And it was Mr. Burns. The track coach.

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