Running

Chapter Twenty-One: Part One

PERRY SOLO
Perry walked out of the bathroom in work out related clothes. "I might have to steal these from Kelley." She joked to herself. She grabbed a thick black hair tie off of her wrist and put her hair in a low pony tail. One that wouldn't cause too much pain for her head.

"Hope, you said they're getting taken out today, right?" She asked. Perry hoped they would get taken out. She doesn't want to be babied because of a few stitches.

The tall brunette nodded. Hope walked over and wrapped her arms around Perry's smaller body. "I have a few important phone calls to make. So Julie is taking you to get them out."

Her heart felt like it missed a beat. Perry hasn't talked to Julie since they shared that awkward kiss. "I, um, I." She stuttered over and over again.

A knock on the door stopped her mouth running at a million miles per hour. Hope released her daughter and opened the door.

"Hey JJ," Hope greeted the younger woman. She shut the door and returned to Perry. "Listen, I'll go get Sare from her room and then get on the bus. You two will meet us at the field once the stitches are taken out." She added, giving them a stern, yet somehow loving look.

"No problem," Julie said. She patted Hope's shoulder before turning to leave. Perry got a quick kiss on the forehead, then began following Julie.

*One And A Half Hours Later*

The car ride to the field was a lot more eventful than the one to the doctors. This time around they were actually talking to each other. "Listen, I'm sorry about kissing you." Perry let out all of the sudden. She kept her dark brown eyes trained on the car's floor.

Julie giggled as she turned the music down. "Per, it's totally fine." She turned lanes and glanced at the younger girl. "If anything it should be me apologizing. It wasn't right for me to kiss you either. I'm the older one here..." Her words faded out. Like, she didn't seem too where her words were going.

"I forgive you."

"I forgive you too."

Perry reached her hand back and gently touched her now unstitched area. She could only feel the slightest bit of soreness from doing so. "J, does Hope ever talk about me?"

"All of the time. Hope usually tells us about the funny texts or whatever you send her." Julie explained, pulling into the parking lot.

"I mean like, does she saw she ever regrets adopting me?" Perry asked, tying her hair into a loose pony tail.

She shook her head. Julie honestly couldn't imagine Hope saying that to them. "No she doesn't. Hope loves you too much to say that. Despite known her for like what, two weeks? She loves being around you." She stated. "When you were gone she was pretty upset. She felt like a failure for letting you get attacked like that."

Perry smiled a small, gentle smile. "Thanks for telling me that Julie." She unclicked herself and hopped out from the car. Then she shut the door, before making her way over to the field.

"Hey Platypus!" Shouted Ashlyn, waving as she took a sip from her water bottle. "How does the head feel?"

The girl shrugged, getting closer to Ash. "It doesn't feel as tight. And now I don't have to worry about accidentally hitting my head on my stitches, and being in pain a lot." Perry told Ashlyn, getting a pat on the shoulder.

"You should probably sit on the bench for a bit. Mainly so you can rest up." Ashlyn threw her water bottle onto the ground. "There are granola bars and extra water bottles next to Dawn. Just ask her if you could have one of each. Practices last about four hours. So, try to get as much energy as you can." She added.

Perry gave Ashlyn a thumbs up, "Thanks Ash!" She walked over, hands shoved in the pockets of her shorts.

Dawn looked up from her clipboard to look at Perry. "Hello Perry, what can I do for you?"

"I would like a granola bar and a water, please."

Dawn grabbed one bar and one bottle of water. "Here you go. The bench is over where Whitney is sitting, tying her shoes."

Perry nodded to the older woman. "Thanks Dawn!" She practically shouted before walked to the bench. The girl took a look at the granola to see that it was one of those energy ones.

She set her few things down on the ground before sitting next to Whitney. Perry ripped open her granola bar and ripped off a small chunk. It tasted pretty good. She felt someone ruffle a bit of her hair. Perry looked up to see Whitney. "Hey Whit, you can do it!"

Whitney just laughed as she jogged off to join her teammates.