I stayed, but I wasn’t very happy about it.
Eventually, the teacher that worked the lunchroom to make sure there were no problems came over and told Symphony to leave. But that didn’t make me feel any better either.
God, I hated her.
With a passion.
“I gotta go,” I murmured, taking a bite out of the piece of pizza in my hand and before I grabbed my bag.
Shouldering the heavy duffel, I picked up my tray and headed for the trash, grabbing that last half-finished slice before putting my tray away.
When I was heading out the door, I made sure to make eye contact with Symphony as I walked out. And moaned as I viciously tore into the bite of pizza.
She narrowed her eyes as if she was saying ‘challenge accepted.’
Bring it on, little girl
I said with my eyes. You don’t mess with my mama and get away with it.
I was pushing through the doors and out into the sunshine moments later, very aware of what I’d just done.
Symphony wouldn’t be able to let this go. Not with how she was practically shut down in front of the entire senior class.
I was so lost in my thoughts, and what this would mean for my senior year, that I didn’t hear the fast footsteps approaching until they were right on top of me.
“Perry.”
I looked up and over my shoulder to find Banner right there.
I blinked, stopping, and stared at him.
“Umm.” I paused. “Yes?”
He held out my sweatpants.
“You forgot these.”
Then, without another word, he left, shoving his huge hands into his pockets as he moved.
He didn’t even have a backpack.
Where did he keep his shit?
Chapter 4
People say I act like I don’t give a shit. Newsflash, I’m not acting.
-Perry’s secret thoughts
Perry
My breath was sawing in and out of my lungs on the last quarter of a mile.
I could see Tempy in the distance, at least two, if not three minutes ahead of me.
Not that I was surprised by her ability to outrun me. At least I was keeping her in sight.
Flo, on the other hand? I couldn’t even see her anymore. That meant she was at least five minutes ahead of me.
I wasn’t dead last, however.
Rebel and Echo were behind me, and Blue had straight up tried to skip practice altogether because she was on her period and cramping. Meaning she was at the back and barely hanging on.
The last half a loop was around the outside of the football track. And I hated running this part of the loop.
Mostly, I ran to feel free. I loved running. It was my me time.
I ran to escape people, not see them.
Yet, Coach always had us running around the school’s loop just to be safe.
The school’s loop consisted of running out of the gym, around the high school parking lot, down and around the elementary and intermediate. Around the bus station, then back around the back side of the high school. Which then led us right around the football field to pass their fieldhouse before we were once again back at the gym door.
Overall, it was a little over six point two miles. Which ended up being ten kilometers.
And right now, I was totally and completely regretting having fucking pizza for lunch.
I was tasting the sauce as I put on a burst of speed when I saw the football team.
That’s why I didn’t like running when I was near them.
Because if I didn’t put on the speed, then they’d see me practically dying over here and they might have a reason to laugh.
Another reason that I put on the speed was because of fucking Symphony.
She always made a habit of being by the fence so she could yell at us words of encouragement.
Today was no different.
“Whew, Perry,” Symphony yelled. “Might want to unload that trailer when you run next.”
I narrowed my eyes and lengthened my stride, doing my best to ignore her.
“Bet your ass is regretting that pizza today, isn’t it?” Symphony asked.
I hated her.
And, worse, she was on the cross-country team with us.
Then, if that wasn’t bad enough? She was just as fast at it as I was, so on the days that cheerleading didn’t interfere with cross-country, she came to practices and made my day—or continued to make it—a living hell.
I was thankful when I finally made it back to the gym.
Not thankful when I saw the look on Flo and Tempy’s faces.
“What is it?” I gasped, going into the tripod position with my hands on my knees, hunched over and trying to draw in more breath.
Tempy made a grumpy face.
“We’re running bleachers,” she murmured softly.
I blinked, then turned to see Coach Little staring at us with an evil grin.
It wasn’t often that we had to do more work after a long run like this, but a lot of the time he did when he saw how bad we’d eaten that day.
He was a staunch supporter in fueling your body with what made it run the best. And now that I thought about it, I had seen him come in with a couple of other coaches and glance at our table.
Shit.
“Fuck,” I muttered darkly.
Tempy snorted.
Blue groaned and fell onto the grass face first.
I snickered and walked up to the water cooler, my eyes going to the football field briefly when I did.
I looked over and saw Alero standing on the side of the field looking extremely pissed off and very unhappy.
I wondered if that was because of the new guy, but before I could look more into it, the rest of our group arrived and Coach Little led us to the bleachers.
“I want ten sets of cross-country bleachers,” he said to all of us. “Once you’re done with that, you can go home.”
I grimaced and looked at the bleachers as if they were spawns of Satan.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered, then started up the bleachers.
Though Tempy and Flo were faster than me at runs, I had more raw
