Golden Medals: A Phoenix Drop Days story

Chapter 3

"Ready, set... go!"

Both sprinters start running in their respective lanes, 400 meters as they're accustomed to. Of course, without the appropriate equipment and in their uniforms; it's even impressive how fast they can be in such conditions. They start pretty on par with each other, but at the end Hunter is able to take the lead, eventually ending the race faster.

Panting slightly, he brags to Keori "Can't keep up or something?" smirking teasingly.

"What?! Of course not! I was clearly in a disadvantage here!" she claims.

Chuckling he responds, confused "How?!"

"I have a skirt, it's uncomfortable!"

"These pants aren't exactly comfortable to run in, either, you know?"

She stares at him insistently and points to the bottom her uniform "Skirt!"

Hunter laughs at her and she eventually starts laughing too. Despite the gender difference, they have a very similar speed, not to take in mind that Keori is a meif'wa, her additional agility helps her have a stronger yet lighter, swifter kick. The fact that Hunter, as a human, can keep up with meif'wa sprinters is impressive on its own.

"Yo! Guys! Mind if we join?" Amy greeted them, she was accompanied by her teammate Shiro and Avery. She offered to run with them but Keori declined.

"You guys can race; we'll go and sit on the bleachers for a while" she stated.

"Huh?!" Hunter turned at her startled.

Keori turned to him and in a low voice said "I wanna talk to you about something" and winked.

"I call dibs on lane 1!" Shiro exclaimed.

"Hey no fair!" Amy ran towards the track, and behind her Avery cheered for both of them.

Keori and Hunter sit on the bleachers near the benches, they look at the track for a while; Amy and Shiro were running, some of the members of the football team were tossing the ball at each other, and some of the soccer players were doing tricks. Something about the field made both of them feel... at home, they really felt the belonged there.

Keori sighs and turns to Hunter smiling "So, when are we telling the coach about the plans for this year"

"I... I don't know, I guess it's best that we tell him as soon as possible, right? If we really want to go to the nationals, we better start training soon"

"Yeah!" Keori jumps "We're gonna start training every day from now and we-!"

"But- "Hunter interrupts her "Remember we can't push it too much, this is still High School and we got stuff to do" his voice suddenly turns much softer "and... I don't want you to strain yourself or anything, it's bad for you..."

Keori tilts her head to the side in confusion.

Hunter snaps out of his own thoughts "And the rest of the team, too... ah haha..." he laughs nervously.

Keori sighs once again and looks at the ground "I just... I really want things to go well... the state league wouldn't help me get a contract, so the High School nationals are my only hope, really..."

Hunter gently puts his hand on her shoulder and sweetly encourages "I know we'll make it! Besides, I don't think any contractor would want to miss out on your talent"

She laughs "You don't seem to worry about getting a contract too, you know? Do you... not want one?" she looks at him with a mixture of intrigue and worry.

He's slightly shocked at the question "Um... not that's not it- I just, haven't thought about it much, that's all. I mean, I guess... if the opportunity shows up, I might sign" he still sounds indecisive, and Keori knows he is.

"We've talked about running so much but... you never told me why you left the team, during sophomore year..."

It's still a very loaded question for him, regardless of whether it's Keori or not. He wouldn't be able to answer it without telling her why he joined again, and that why was her. He looks away conflicted "I guess... that year just wasn't- "he can't help but hesitate on his statement. He tries to speak but the words just won't come out his mouth.

"Why haven't you even tried to talk about it before" she probably doesn't get he didn't want to talk about it, though not her fault, she doesn't realize how oblivious and straightforward she can be.

"It's... complicated" he tries to give some information to her "you know how my parents- "

"Look out!"

Hunter was interrupted by a loud warning about the football going straight to his face.

Keori quickly grabbed it in the air "Watch your throws!"

Hunter then thanks her. She throws the ball aiming at the other players, but it just so happens Isaac was walking towards them, intersecting in the trajectory of the ball, and... being hit on the back of his head. A pretty hard hit, Keori's strength wasn't something to take lightly. Stunned, Isaac drops to the ground putting his hand where the ball landed.

"Ow..." he complains.

Annabell, who was walking with him, hurries to help him "Oh my Irene! Are you alright?!"

"Oh- sorry..." Keori apologizes, but not gonna lie, she was pretty impressed by her throw.

Hunter bursts out laughing "Isaac, you dumbass!" he mocked. Both him and Keori run towards him. Hunter offers him his hand to help him get up, and once he does, he laughs again. "I can't believe you got hurt by that, don't you play football or something?" He mocks once again.

"There's something called helmet, you know?" they both laugh. Keori tried to, but she feels a little bad about it, and Annabell is just too worried.

"Are you sure you're not- "Annabell puts her hands on Isaac's shoulders.

"I'm fine, Bell, don't worry about it" he gave her a smile "what were you guys doing?"

"We were just doing some races, wanna join?" Hunter jokingly offers Isaac. He may be fast as a football player, but he wouldn't be able to even barely catch up with sprinters.

"You just wanna see me suffer"

He laughs "I mean, you're not wrong"

"Hey!" Isaac punches him in the shoulder.

"Let's go race Amy and Shiro, we'll make them regret offering it" Keori laughs, and followed by Hunter, she goes up to her other teammates.

Annabell stared at Hunter for a few moments.

"You alright?" Isaac asks.

She chuckles "You're the one that got hit in the head"

He laughs and beckons her to join their 'Throw the ball' game. She hesitates a little but then joins as other girls start playing, shortly after the track members join too. A big group starts to form, as they play funny and impressive things happen, then the bell rings and they head out to class.

Keori and Hunter speak with the coach, he agreed with them that they should start early, so they decide to start literally the day after. Keori stays at Hunter's house for a while and watches some various sports with him as the track tournaments haven't been scheduled yet. She the leaves and prepares for tomorrow, the club day.