Goode Highschool

Track Season Starts

Annabeth POV

The next day at school, there was an excited buzz going around. I didn't really know why, but I had my suspicions.

I had heard that track season would start sometime this month, and I had a feeling that day was today.

I don't really know why the coach wouldn't tell us the start date of tryouts, but I figured it didn't really matter considering he would probably announce tryouts in home room this morning.

I saw Maddie struggling against her locker as she tried to close it.

"Having some trouble there?" I asked jokingly as she managed to get it closed. She swung the lock into place and snapped it tight.

"Why the school doesn't fix the broken lockers over breaks, I have no idea. There's a screw loose on the handle so it gets jammed easily. Plus, I can't just close it. I have to lift the handle, slam it, smack the top with my hand, then drop the handle. It's so frustrating. And don't even get me started on opening it." Maddie punched the locker with the side of her hand.

"I have to say, your locker makes me thankful for even my crappy locker, mine just has a temperamental lock. But, discussing bad lockers is not what I came here for. I have a feeling track season will start today. Are you gonna try out with Percy and I?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

Maddie grinned, "Oh, definitely. This is the only sport I'm good at. I've been running track every year since sixth grade. Minus eighth grade, but only because for some reason I was very prone to sprained ankles." She winced, rubbing her right ankle.

"How many times did you sprain your ankle?" I asked, feeling skeptical that she sprained her ankle all that many times.

"Four. Five if you count the one that happened before the season started." She laughed bitterly.

I laughed too, "How could you have possibly sprained your ankle five times within a sixth month period?"

"Well the first time, I was playing on my middle school basketball team and fell while we were running backwards. Then, the day after the first tryout for track, I was skateboarding and fell, spraining it so bad that it looked broken and I thought my season was over. Then, not two weeks later, I was running and I tripped over a curb and sprained the other one. And then, after that, I was practicing for long jump like a month later and someone forgot to rake after they jumped and there was a hole in the sand, so the second I entered the box, my left ankle twisted and I rolled, thus ending my eighth grade track season. I was really upset because I thought I actually had a chance at making state in high jump. I was an inch away, too. " Maddie frowned, reliving old memories.

I scrunched my eyebrows together, "That's only four."

"Oh, the last one was pretty bland. I just tripped when going down one of the steps in my house and it tweaked my ankle, causing another sprain. Doc says I'm lucky to be walking without pain. Two sprains on one ankle and three on the other, they say I should have extremely damaged a lot of nerves in my foot. But, I have like some sort of miracle case which I highly doubt. But, I must say, ice became extremely helpful during these ordeals." Maddie smiled, then frowned, "Did you hear that the coach has a practice uniform for us?"

"No what do we have to wear?" I said.

Maddie scrunched up her nose, "Boys have to go shirtless, which I'm not complaining about, but girls gotta wear sports bras. Which isn't all that bad, but I feel like the coach just wants the guys to stare at us. And I would say that the coach just wants to see us wearing sports bras, except she is a girl, which wouldn't make sense."

"Well the coach seems pretty smart. I honestly don't think the uniform is there for pervertish tendencies, but thanks for the last minute advice." I smiled.

Since we had been talking a while, we ended up in our seats in home room.

LINEBREAK

I changed quickly at the end of the day, slipping on a gray sports bra and gray running shorts, both with sea green trim. When I was joined by Maddie outside the locker room, I noticed she was sporting similar attire, except her sports bra was turquoise with lime green running shorts. I also found that her bright yellow running shoes were blinding to look at.

She saw me squint at the shoes, "Sorry for blinding you with the shoes. When my mom took me shoe shopping she said she wanted to be able to see me when I was running. And these were the most comfortable."

"It's all good. I'll just not look at your feet. Come on, let's go join the drills." I suggested, and she nodded in agreement, turning on her heel.

As we approached, we saw Percy standing in front of the line of people. Maddie jogged to join him, and I went and stood in line with the others.

"Alright," Maddie said. "Right now, the Goode track team has no official team captains. But, since we were captains last year along with two seniors, who are no longer going to this school, we will be your unofficial captains until captains are elected. The way to become a captain is to show the coach that you can lead the team and keep it under control, along with being able to get along with other captains. Coach picks two boys and two girls. Now let's get started. I will leave the drills to Percy, and while we are running laps, the coach likes to keep a 'team effort' sort of thing going on, so Percy will lead the pack, and I will follow along behind the pack to make sure it stays, you know, a pack." She turned to Percy and waved her hand as if to say they're all yours. She jogged to us and joined me at the end of the line.

"Okay guys. Let's get started. I am going to yell out the name of the drill, then I will begin doing the drill. After a second or two, follow along behind me doing the drill. Everybody got it?" People nodded and a few 'yeah's and 'sure thing's were heard. "Alright good. "

He turned, yelled out a loud 'arm swings' and took off down the field, swinging his arms in giant circles and skipping. Not even two seconds later, the rest of the team took off too, and all one hundred or so of us made our way across the field.

When we completed all of the drills, Percy told us to get water and then meet back here where the coach will talk to us. When the team started to disperse, him and Maddie jogged over to me, and Percy enveloped me in a hug, and giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

"So, what do you think? liking the idea of captain Percy?" He smiled goofily.

"I think you are letting it go to your head." I laughed, missing up his hair, "and you stink too. "

I then proceeded to push his bare chest away from me, because he really was pretty sweaty, even though we had only just done drills.

Maddie laughed too, "I think you should try out to be captain with us. You'd be good at it. Plus, I don't think that I could deal with discussing with the coach who we thought should go in each race with him being so childish."

"Hey!" Percy said as we laughed again, "I resent that!"

"Sure you do," I smiled, trying to contain my laughter.

He frowned, and I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain. The team is starting to gather." and we all jogged to where the coach was standing.

Hello my Goode students!

It has been a long time since I updated, but I noticed I was about to hit 8k reads and (SERIOUSLY?! YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY LIKE MY LITTLE FANFICTION THAT MUCH??!!?) I decided it was probably about time that I updated.

So have a lovely morning.

Comment, review, vote and always...

Keep Smiling,

AlgaeEars