Where Two Collide

Chapter Twenty-One - Alice

Chapter Twenty-One

Alice

I started running fairly young. When I was six I ran with my mum in a Breast Cancer Awareness marathon. We only planned on walking it, her, me and Cat. But when it started and I saw the runners sprinting past us, my competitive nature kicked in, and away I went. Obviously I didn't do that great, I was only six with little legs, and my dad who had been on the sidelines at the time, ended up having to run along with me to keep track of me. I say run, I was running, he was speed walking.

Whilst Cat was taking art classes I was running circles around the school field, participating in sports relays and one-hundred-metre sprints, and then around our block as I got older. In high school, I joined the running team and took to the purpose-built track with ease.

Tia and Rachel joined the team too, but Rachel didn't enjoy the sport and soon quit. Tia kept up with it, however, it was clear she didn't get out of it the same feeling that I did. She was easily distracted and would sometimes spend half the time stood off to the side chatting to random people who stopped by. Usually boys. Tia had an endless stream of boyfriends which basically changed week to week.

For me, running cleared my head. It was where I would think and hash things out that were bothering me. It was my me time. When I ran, everything around me turned into white noise. The world didn't rush by me, I rushed by it. I was in control, and that level of control was soothing to me. Especially in the times when life felt hectic.

When I arrived at school, and shortly after Cat had disappeared off toward the art department as she usually did so early in the day, I soon found myself to be the focal point of students stares and ducked whispers. It was the first time I'd been back since the accident and I knew what Owen had been saying, but not what people thought. That concerned me the most. Those stares, what did they mean? Was it a silent judgement or was it pity? I didn't want to be pitied, and I definitely didn't want people to think badly of me.

I shoved my belongings in my locker and headed for the running track.

Outside I sat on a bench and double knotted my trainers. It was still fairly cold outside, without the wind it was bearable, it would even be pleasant once I started running. I pulled my hair out my face and tied it with a bobble I always kept on my wrist, then began to stretch.

Our high school track was set up at the front of the school where the main entrance for students was. This was one of the major reasons Tia got distracted during practice. There was a ring-link fence that sealed it off from outside influence, but it meant you could still see people's to-ing and fro-ing in the car park at the front of the school.

I knew Owen's structure better than I could recall anything else, and as he crossed the parking lot to the school gate with Dan and Ashton in tow, I was immediately drawn to him. He had a certain gait about him, there could be a thousand people and I would still know exactly where he was. My eyes followed as he kept in step with his friends, his lips moving as he spoke to them, his head going back as he laughed.

My heart stopped.

I began to run.

Straight out onto the track I ran. My arms pumping at my sides as I gained speed. Faster. Just a little faster. I pushed past the feelings of weakness from my recent illness and kept going. My feet hit the ground with heavy thumps, and I breathed deeply, steadily. Today was going to be difficult, I just knew it.

Then, a second pair of feet. I didn't look. I couldn't look. What if it was Owen? I wasn't ready to speak to him; I couldn't take his anger again. Still, I would have to deal with him at some point, it was unavoidable. People would notice. They had already been noticing me, staring, whispering. I was used to being noticed, but this was different, this had a lonely feel to it.

"You're getting slow, I'm not usually able to catch up with you." Jogging beside me was Tia.

Had I slowed down, or had I not been going as fast as I thought I had? She was right, now that some of the upper years had moved on, I easily had the fastest time in the team. Tia was nearer the bottom. She could have been much better, she certainly had the athletic build for it, if only she took practice more seriously.

"Should you be running yet, I mean you've just come out of hospital," she said, and I could tell she was worried.

I slackened my pace. "No, in fact they specifically told me not to, but I needed to think."

"About your fight with Owen?"

I bit down on my lower lip. I knew he'd been yelling but I hadn't realised it had been loud enough for people to hear. "You know about that?"

"Well yeah, the way he went stomping out of the house on Saturday it was pretty obvious something was up," she said. "Was it because of Rachel's game?"

"Something like that." Well at least she didn't know all the details.

"I thought so," she said, sighing. "She never thinks about how her antics effect other people, and some of those questions were a bit risqué. I mean, even I found out things I'd rather not have known." She shuddered and I knew she was thinking back to the pee incident.

"I knew he'd been out with others before me, I just didn't realise he'd done so much, you know?"

"That's boys for you."

I nodded. "Yeah I guess you're right. It'd been nice if I didn't have to hear about it the first time in front of all my friends though."

"Oh yeah, but you'd be lucky if you found any boy that was keen to sit down and have that talk with their girlfriend." She stopped mid-stride, resting her hands on her knees and I turned to face her, jogging on the spot. "Want to get fries after school? I have the worst PMS cravings right now and I feel like I must have burnt them off by now."

I laughed. "You've barely been out here 5 minutes; you'd be lucky if you'd burnt off one fry."

Tia waved her hand at me. "Fries don't count at this time of the month anyway. Meet you after the last bell at your locker?"

"Yeah okay." Fried food made everything seem better.

Tia glanced at the ring-link fence and smiled as Ashton approached, shoving is fingers through the holes and leaning in. "What's up Tia?"

She straightened and her body fell naturally into a flattering pose. She was good at that, as though she'd spent hours studying fashion magazines, which she probably had knowing Tia. "Hey Ashton."

I rolled my eyes. "See you later," I said and turned back to the track.

Tia was late meeting me. I'd managed to successfully avoid Owen all day but hanging around my locker made me an easy target. When he saw he me, he made a beeline for me and I tensed up, unsure of what to say.

"Hey you," he said and pressed his lips briefly against mine. "I haven't seen you all day, where have you been?"

He was acting normal, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I wasn't sure if I was relieved by that or angry. "Yeah I had to do extra practice today and I've been swamped with classes," I said. This was only sort of true, I hadn't had to do extra classes and I'd only been swamped because I'd thrown myself at any opportunity that passed which meant I was anywhere Owen wouldn't be. That meant staying behind to help tidy up, carrying stacks of books and generally being a model student for my teachers.

"About the other night."

Here it was. I held my breath, waiting for the crescendo to drop.

"I've thought about it long and hard," he said, his expression smooth and firm. "I've decided to forgive you."

I stiffened; half relieved half baffled. "You forgive me?"

He jutted his chinout. "Don't get me wrong, what you did was really shitty, but I've decided to be adult about it and let it go this once. So, I forgive you."

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