Butterflies (A Before You Exit fanfiction)

Chapter 27

MARIA'S POV

Finally, I'm in homeroom, getting ready to leave. Well, actually, I can't leave because I'm trying out fro cross country with Jenna and Kristina. Toby isn't a runner. Jeremy is, though, and he's also trying out, but he falls into the varsity cross country category, while the girls and I are in the junior varsity category. Also, Toby's trying out for junior varsity basketball, Riley for varsity soccer, and Thomas, Braiden, and Connor for varsity basketball, even though basketball doesn't start until December for the people who are playing more than one sport, and in early October when basketball is the only sport someone plays. Obviously, the guys are trying out for basketball starting in early October. The girls and I might try out for winter bastketball. And yes, Kristina hasn't played on a team before, but she has helped Jenna and I practice, so she could play if she wanted to, and obviously, she does.

Oh, and why are we trying out for cross country? Well, the school has two teams, one experienced, one inexperienced. Why? I don't know. But you have to try out to get on the experienced on, not on the inexperienced one.

"You guys ready?" Toby asked us.

"I guess." we all replied as he lead us down to the gym, where all the teams and their coaches met.

"Good luck!" Toby said.

"You too!" we replied as he went off into the direction of the jv basketball team, and the girls and I into the direction of the jv experienced cross country team.

"Hello." the woman at the jv experienced xc table said.

"Hi. Are you the coach of the JV experienced cross country girls team? I asked.

"Yes. My name is Ms. Grace. You can call me that, or Coach Grace. I haven't seen you girls around. Are you new here?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm Maria Collins."

"Kristina Wolts, but you can call me Kris if you want, or Kristina, whatever you want."

"And I'm Jenna Lopki."

"Okay. How long have you girls been running?"

"Well, the elementary school we went to didn't have cross country or track, so I started last year." I said.

"Me too." Jenna said.

"Well, this is actually my first year because I played soccer and tennis last year and the year before that. But, I have always been the best runner on both those teams, and I've decided to drop those sports and go to cross country, track, and possibly basketball." Kris explained.

"But, even though we haven't been on a team that long, or ever, we have been running for a long time." I added.

"Okay. Now all you have to do is jog around the street for as long as you can. Jenna and Maria, you two obviously know that yiou have to pace yourselves to do cross country, so you're not running, unless surprisingly that's your pace." Ms. Grace said.

"Okay, thanks." we said.

Since we changed during lunch, because we had no other free time, the girls and I walked outside to see a lot of girls and boys doing the same thing that we are about to do.       

"Okay, let's do this." I said as I began jogging. The girls followed me. They're paces are different so sometimes they were ahead of me, sometimes they were behind me.

There was someone out here watching us to make sure we won't cheating. What we had to do was time ourselves on our phones. So, I started mine, then put it in my pocket. The teachers were out there to make sure that we're not just standing there and letting the timer go or any other form of cheating. Then, we had to go up to the table outside, show the man there our time so he could write that and our names down on the paper.