Nonsense

The Partner Run

I'm going to write a small series of shorts with this couple. enjoy~ [•is like a POV change]
(I posted this previously but removed it for various reasons. I edited it and decided to post it again)
Oh, the other chapters aren't as weirdly depressing.

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"Today's two-mile run will have an opportunity for you to earn double the points!" The female PE coach told her agitated students. She walked back and forth through the rows of middle-schoolers dressed in their PE uniforms. The dull uniform consisted of dark blue knee-length shorts with a grey t-shirt sporting the mascot- a swordfish.

The coach ignored the groans from the students, begging her not to make them run.

"Today's run will be special, as I said." She continued in a feigned excited tone, "Today is the partner run!"

Great. The girl in the back sighed, already knowing the routine. The teacher pairs up the slow kids with the fast ones, and gives them both double the credit if they finish the run together under the time limit. Ellie was quite fast, when she wanted to be at least. She didn't want to be dragged down by some seventh grader that looked at her like she was a fossil or a rotten piece of fish. She tuned out most of what the teacher was saying, waiting for her to announce who she'd be paired up with. She heard a few names she recognized, but many she didn't. Her friend Carley was paired up with a girl named Amy. Evan, her best friend, was paired with Marina Brown. 'Ooh, how perfect', The girl thought, knowing how much of a crush he had on her. She looked over at said blonde boy and snickered at his flushed cheeks. Her breath suddenly hitched in her throat. Wait, what if I'm paired with-

"And Ellie Weiss will be with Caden Xylander."

Him.

"B-but Mrs. Ferguson-" She started to protest, only to be ignored.

Her hands flexed as her eyes widened. She looked over at Evan, wordlessly. He looked back at her with sympathy, mouthing good luck while shooting an encouraging glance. Ellie looked down at the asphalt and let clumps of her light hair fall in front of her face. It was bad enough he was in her PE class, now he has to run with her. She hated to let him see her all sweaty and smelly, but she had no choice now.

The two had stopped talking altogether about a week before school started, now its mid-February. Even though all this time had gone past, Ellie couldn't seem to get around him. Him... She'd enter her own little world when she thought about him. That dark coffee-colored hair she wanted so badly to run her fingers through, those intensely expressive hazel eyes that she could melt into... Evan was the only person she ever told these thoughts to, besides her diary. She even kept most of it from her best girl friends.

She now found herself looking at Caden, attempting to read his expression. He sat next to the girl on her right, since their last names were so close. His face was his normal placid, but his eyes told a different story. Ellie stared into those honey-colored eyes, heart dropping with guilt. There she saw agitation, mixed with dread and apprehension. Her stomach twisted with the thought that has run through her mind in the dead of night, every night.

He really hates me now, doesn't he?

•

Caden's eyelid twitched, along with the edge of his mouth. The name bounced around his cluttered head. Ellie Weiss. The name; her name. The girl that made his palms sweat, the girl that tried her hardest to break through his shell. He felt her eyes on him, to his left. He tried to control his labored breathing by focusing on his pounding heartbeat.

Calm down, you'll have to face her.

One, Two,

Caden turned his head to look at her, once he believed that his face was expressionless. Her deep brown eyes widened in surprise and embarrassment. He tried not to focus on the sadness in Ellie's eyes, hidden by a joyful façade. He tried not to focus on how perfectly her chestnut hair framed her face. Dammit.