Field Day by Katy Did

Clothing Choice

           

- Sang -

There was a break in the competitions for fifteen minutes. It gave those doing the final one, the obstacle course, time to get ready. We all gathered around talking.

I was feeling jittery and excited again. I looked at Kayli. I knew we were as ready as we could be, thanks to Dr. Roberts.

When he found out we wanted to do this, he immediately declared himself our coach. He was confident that under his tutelage we could win.

We were thankful for his help, thought it was so nice of him, and immediately started our training.

The man was a drill sergeant.

He scheduled every free moment we had for the past month with some form of exercise or training. It was a good thing the boys were just as tired from doing theirs, otherwise they would have noticed that I collapsed in bed at night, too.

I didn't know how many times we had run the path in the woods that the course has. We met him here often. He said that the trick was for not only our minds to remember the path, but our bodies, too. There were boulders and logs that you had to go over. Sharp and slippery bends in the path. It was wide enough so you could pass someone, but still difficult. He wanted us to know every nook and cranny so we never had to slow down.

We even had to run it when it was dark without flashlights while the boys were on assignments.

Dr. Roberts set up wood balance beams in his back yard and had us practice on those constantly until we could easily run across them. We also practiced doing belly crawls until we were experts at that. If our backsides lifted too high up he would yell at us.

His wife would come out and bring us sweet tea then scold him for working us too hard. He would just tell her to shush and kiss her on the lips, patting her bottom as she walked away. It was so cute. Then he'd turn his attention back to us and the drill sergeant would reappear.

He was standing with Mr. Blackbourne, Axel, Mr. Holden and the woman that was sitting with them this morning. They would be waiting at the finish to make sure all was on the up and up.

The finish consisted of a large, square, muddy area. Flags were buried in different places in the mud. The first to finish and find a flag wins.

Sean was with them on standby in case of injury.

An announcement was made that it would begin in five minutes.

"Princess, want to come wait with me at the finish?"

"Oh, um... you're not doing it?"

"No, just the seven of us compete, so that leaves an odd man out for the obstacle course. This year it's my turn."

I looked at the other boys, "So the rest of you are all competing?"

"That's right, Aggele, but we don't expect you to pick a favorite." He winked at me. I blushed, thinking about our kiss. He grinned knowingly. I felt my face heat up more.

North narrowed his eyes at us. Uh oh.

"Who's with who?" I tried to distract him.

North ignored my question, studying me intently.

"Silas is with North, Luke is with Gabe, and Nathan and I are together." Kota answered.

North said something to Silas in Greek. My heart started to pound. Oh no. Not now please. Don't find out.

Silas said something in return I couldn't understand and shrugged. North seemed satisfied.

I released the breath I didn't realize I was holding. That was close. But I knew Silas wouldn't keep it a secret forever.