Treadmill

III.II

Terrible, blazing light streamed in through the thin curtains in Rebecca's room as she woke to the sound of her phone ringing at a volume of absolutely atrocious levels. Everything about her waking up was awful: the light made her want to rip out her eyes, the noise made her want to cut off her ears, and both combined made her head feel like it was splitting open without any regard as to what that might do to the brain inside of it that felt like applesauce. She had never felt this level of anguish before, not even when she had fallen off of the treadmill the day before. Had that even happened? She couldn't be completely sure. Everything felt like it could very easily be some sort of terrible dream that was all coming to a head in her bedroom at what felt like the crack of dawn, but which was probably closer to noon.

Rebecca heard her phone stop ringing and thanked the stars that the noise ceased. Now it was just the light that made her want to die, so the desire was cut at least in half by the absence of the blaring ring against her ears. She knew she was in her room; the comforter strewn over half of her body and the pillow she was currently falling off of were both enough evidence of that. But while she knew her current whereabouts, she had no earthly idea of how she had gotten there in the first place. How much had she drunk the night before? What had she done? How had she gotten from Kennedy's apartment to her own?

She sat up in bed slowly, just beginning to adjust her eyes to the light when her phone started ringing again. She hit the answer button repeatedly, desperately trying to make the terrible noise stop.

"Rebecca?" A voice came through the other end of the phone, "Rebecca! It's 10:15, where are you?"

Rebecca checked her Fitbit and tried to act like she was surprised that she had overslept, but she wasn't. She had never had a drink of anything in her life, so the night she decided to go all out, it was sure to not have desirable consequences.

"I'm in my room." She whispered back, "Where are you?"

"Outside your apartment building." Kennedy replied, "Assuming it is yours. You were so out of it when you texted me the address that I had to ask Chelsea for confirmation."

Celeste, Rebecca corrected in her head, you had to ask Celeste for confirmation.

"So, are you coming?" Kennedy asked after Rebecca didn't respond, "I'm gonna leave in like five minutes. I'm already late."

"Yeah, I'm coming." Rebecca whispered, "Just give me a second. I'll come out soon."

She hung up the phone and grabbed the first set of athletic clothes she could find, throwing on her dark purple high school volleyball shorts that finally fit her again—to the point of being a bit loose—and a soft blue sports bra with a white windbreaker. Not the most matchy-matchy thing she could wear, but it served its purpose.

She walked unsteadily to the bathroom after changing her clothes and sloshed through brushing her teeth, spilling some toothpaste down the side of her chin as she did so. She pulled a brush through her hair before putting it in a low ponytail, ignored the fact that she looked like a Founding Father, and threw some deodorant in her bag before making her way to the kitchen.

No one was out in the kitchen yet, which Rebecca was grateful for: she didn't need questions about anything she had done the night before or that she was doing that morning. She grabbed a protein bar, filled her knock off Hydroflask with cold water, and pulled on her black sneakers. She was halfway out the door before she remembered to run back to her room and grab her phone and wallet.

"Took you long enough." Kennedy laughed as Rebecca climbed into the passenger's seat of the former's red Honda Accord, "Drink this. I made enough for both of us."

Rebecca took a sip of whatever was in the thermos Kennedy was offering her and almost spit it out.

"It's black coffee. It'll help, I swear." Kennedy pulled out onto the main road, "But don't worry. I won't tell anyone that this is your first hangover."

Rebecca felt herself blush slightly, her cheeks growing a soft shade of pink.

"How did you—"

"You went for beer. Beer tastes like feet."

Rebecca shrugged and nodded, forcing herself to swallow the coffee sip by sip. She hardly paid attention to the direction they were going in, just to the fact that with every sip of coffee the sun got a little bit less blinding and the radio got slightly quieter.

"We're here." Kennedy announced, pulling into a parking space. Rebecca took one last sip of coffee and grabbed her bag before hopping out of the car and into the parking lot of the local recreation center, which was about a seven-minute drive from her apartment. It had felt more like thirty seconds.

"I like the outfit." Kennedy commented as she got her bag out of the backseat and joined Rebecca on the other side of the car, "Multiple colors are definitely in right now."

Rebecca nodded her thanks, feeling frumpy next to the other girl's outfit. Perfectly fitted black volleyball shorts and a light grey tank that tied in a knot in the front to make it a crop top. Her hair was up in the same high ponytail that Rebecca had seen on her the morning before, in the gym. It had only been a day since that whole thing had happened, less than 24 hours. It felt like it had been years.

"Just so you know, some of my friends are way good at volleyball, so be on your best game." Kennedy advised as the two girls walked into the rec center, "But if you lose to them, don't stress about it. They're super nice when the game ends."

Rebecca nodded, feeling her heartrate start to pick up slightly.

What about when the game was going on?

A/N: Let me know your thoughts on the book so far! And how you feel about Kennedy--do we trust her?

-Katherine