Playing with Fire

Chapter 2

Her icy blue pupils flash out like a lasers straight into mine. I stand there gaping at her coat now stained with gravy.

"Oh my goodness I am so sorry!" I frantically apologise desperately trying to wipe the stain off with a tissue.

"Forget it" she waves her hand at me, scowling in disgust.

"I'll help you clean it up"

"Just leave it, did you not hear me the first time?!" she raises her voice and repulse written all over her face.

"Come on, don't mind her" Chloe guides me back, Renee and Mia following close behind.

"If she does anything to you tell me and I'll get Dylan to teach her a lesson" the pretty asian whose name was Renee fumes.

"Dylan's Renee's boyfriend" Mia kindly explains to me.

The guy sitting next to Renee perks up at the sound of his name, his mouth stuffed with nuggets looking like a chipmunk caught in act. No doubt he looked unbelievably hot even with his mouth jam packed with food. He must work out a lot or something because he looked like he had a nice body too, muscles bulging when he bent is arms at an angle proving my point. 

"That's me" he confirms, mouth still full of food. What a cutie. Even his friends are cute. 

Ohmylordy.

I make eye-contact with the guy that scared the living wits out of me this morning. His eyes undeniably terrified me but yet at the same time mesmerised me. Don't go there Jess, sure he's freaking hot, but he already hates you, judging from what you did to him this morning.

"Lets get changed now" Renee grabs her bag and nodding her head towards the exit. "We have PE next"

YES. PE. The thought of playing sport or any form of exercise instantly made me cheer up.

***

"That's Mr Harrison" Mia whispers to me as a tall middle aged man appears, carrying batons.

"As most of you have already been notified, our annual athletics carnival will be taking place in exactly a month from now. Until then we'll be focusing our training on short distance running specifically the 100m track which is compulsory for all ages and genders regardless"

There was a mix of responses; a few groans and a few whoops. 

"As for today, you will be running 100m and I will record every persons time"

"Are you good at sprinting?" Mia asks.

 "I guess I'm okay" I shrug like it was no big deal. 

Truth was, I was actually a pretty good runner whether it'd be long distance or short distance. My dad was a track and field coach and he spent a lot of his free time training my brother and I when we were young. He told us we would qualify for the nationals if we kept up our speed. We lost everything the day the media and cops flooded our house . My mothers arms wrapped around my brother and I as we stare in a mixture of horror, shock and confusion as they took him away.............in handcuffs. I blinked back the tears threatening to spill out and swallow the lump that had formed at the back of my throat, a pain lingering in my chest.

I need to focus.

"Girls, you'll be running first one at a time so get into a line. Boys, sit at the benches and watch first"

"Whose the fastest girl in your class?" I ask Chloe who was behind me in line.

"Renee" she replies with hesitation. "Think you can beat her?" she teases. "I'll be rooting for then" she chortles.