The Outside Lines (boyxboy)

Chapter 24 - Racing Hearts

Another one down! Gosh I wish I could make these chapters twice as long like I did with my other books. :( Anyway, thank you for all the support on the previous chapters, and hope y'all like this one! ^-^

Picture of Noah (Lau Halding)

Noah's POV

So, what crazy adventure are we onto next. I asked Taylor as I slowly twirled through the parking lot.

She shrugged. "Dunno." There was a silence. "Maybe we could have a walk around town and look for something interesting."

"That sounds like fun." Nathan chimed in, still in the process of devouring that poor slice of cake.

He's quite the slice himself. Nooo, shut up Noah!

"Noah and I already had a gander in that direction." She pointed north.

"Let's go..." I trailed, trying to decide which direction looked the most interesting. "There." My finger pointed north-west. The streets looked faintly decorated for the on coming fall season.

The others didn't disagree so I marched off, leading the charge.

Our footsteps all had unique sounds. Mine were pretty average, Taylor's were faint and infrequent, while Nathan's were solid. I found myself paying attention to the oddest things to pass the time.

I hopped along the stone walls accompanying the sidewalk. I grabbed onto the fences, swinging bar to bar and kicked rocks along the way.

"Your leg's doing well I see." Nathan pointed out with a smile.

"Oh, yeah." I replied awkwardly. "It took a bit, but it's finally almost healed."

"Awesome, that means you can participate in PE." He noted. He was right, and I couldn't wait for it! I finally had an excuse to be active again, and this time it didn't have to involve Chad!

What sounded like a party in the distance caught the group's attention. Taylor and I paced ahead to see what all the commotion was about. If it were an actual party, I had every intention of crashing it. We reached a left turn and were greeted by a large opening of land inhabited by several bodies. I decided to go up to someone and ask what was going on. I trudged through the semi-soggy grass dividing where we stood from the rest of the land. After reaching the other side of the baby swamp I reached an older woman cheering for... someone?

"Hey, my friends and I were just passing by and saw everyone over here, what's going on?" I inquired, slipping my hands into my pocket.

"Oh hello." The woman greeted, turning around to face me. "Every few months or so the local community gathers together and compete in silly tournaments and games. It's just an excuse for us to get together and have an all around good time." She explained in her heavy southern accent.

"Oh that sounds awesome!" I beamed, excitement dominating my tone. It was such a cool idea.

"Y'all are welcome to join. There are several outsiders competing in the race already." She pointed to the old looking running track with her beer.

"Oh, I'm good at running. Taylor, let's do it!" I pestered my best friend.

"I don't know, I wanna see how this plays out." She said furrowing a brow.

"Let's go to the field then!" I pressed, already half sprinting before she agreed. Nathan just caught up to us as soon as we began to move again. It made me feel a little bad for him, but oh well.