The wind rushed around Nicole as her legs pumped harder and harder, sweat dripped down her face as she crossed the finish line. The sweat pooling above her lip as she stopped to catch her breath; first again; she thought to herself. Has she lost in any of the mock meets in the past few weeks? The answer was obvious to the people who had lost to her. A sweat rag was suddenly thrust towards her, looking around she noticed her friend, Amy, holding the other one.
"Can't you let me have just one victory Nicky?" Nicole laughed at her friend's sarcasm, wiping the sweat that was gathering on her brow.
"I can't help being so good Amy, maybe you should try a little harder."
Suddenly Amy looked past Nicole towards where their coach was standing. Next to their coach was a slender figure, they seemed to be chatting, about what? Nicole had no interest in figuring out. "Is someone joining the track team?" Amy asked, diverting Nicole's attention towards her.
"I didn't think so." Nicole said, still out of breath. The two stared as their coach began walking towards them with the slender figure. As the two approached Nicole suddenly recognized the person. Eva? That was ridiculous, Eva was the cheer captain, what interest would she have joining track so suddenly? Not to mention throwing away the cheer career she had worked so hard for, she was by far one of the best cheer captains the school had seen in years. Nicole didn't give it a second thought, of course she wasn't joining track, she was probably just asking about using the field for practice.
"Nicole!" Her coach's low and throaty voice called to her. "You know Eva, right?" Nicole nodded, still very much confused as to why she was here. "She's joining the track, why don't you chat with her for a bit?" Nicole was shocked, there was no way Eva would just throw away the five years of cheer she had put in.
"Yeah, I guess." Still baffled, Nicole picked up her duffle bag and nodded for Eva to follow her to the locker room. Once in the locker room she set down her bag and found a stall where she could put her bathing suit on. "So, what made you want to join the track team?" She asked before turning on the water and beginning her rinse.
"I was just a bit bored with cheer, ya'know? It was just too much, all the drama and whining about uniforms, or boys." Eva's voice echoed in the empty locker room.
"I guess, but just throwing away all that hard work out of boredom and annoyance, seems a little ridiculous. Don't you think so?"
"Sure, but aren't you supposed to be welcoming me to the team, instead of trying to scare me away from it? I get it, it's wasteful but it's my decision, not yours." Nicole thought this over for a moment, before rethinking the best way to approach those questions.
"What does your mom think of this?"
"She's on board, as long as I'm happy she doesn't care about the opportunities I'm 'throwing away'. Would yours?"
"No, but…" Nicole cut herself off there, deciding instead to inform Eva on the team's practice times and upcoming meets. "Practice starts at three-thirty and ends at five, so make sure you have a ride for after. Or wait, you have your own car, right?"
"Yeah I do, so transportation won't be a problem. It never has been." Nicole finished washing herself and shifted to turn off the water. She stepped out, a towel around her waist and water dripping from her hair. "Most of the girls go home to shower, why not go home and do it there?"
"I don't know, it's peaceful and the water pressure here is way better than at my house. Any other related questions?"
"I don't think so. Do I need any special gear for running? Any shoes, clothes, workout equipment." Nicole thought for a moment before shaking her head and pulling her shirt over her head. Eva was staring intently at her back as Nicole faced away from her. She could feel her eyes follow her as she moved to grab her pants. "Anything else?" She asked, whipping her head around to see Eva swiftly avert her eyes.
"No, I don't think so. I'm going to go now, unless you want a ride?" Nicole thought on it for a moment before declining, why would she get in a car with someone she hadn't spoken to for nearly four years. "Suit yourself, I'm heading out. See you tomorrow I guess." Nicole nodded, removing the towel from beneath her shirt and flipping her head down to wrap the towel around her damp hair. She heard the door click behind Eva as she left and took that as her cue to leave as well. What are you up to Eva? Nicole still couldn't wrap her head around Eva leaving cheer out of boredom. There has to be something else, or maybe I'm just being paranoid. Nicole pushed these thoughts aside before reaching into her bag to grab her earbuds and plugging them into her phone. She blasted the music into her ears, trying to stop any more intruding thoughts about Eva.
As she walked home Nicole couldn't manage to get Eva off of her mind, memories of their adolescent friendship poured into her mind.
When she arrived home her step father, Chris, was in the kitchen preparing food while her mother sat at the table sipping tea and reading. "Did you have a good day, Nicky?" Her mother asked her, she shrugged and sat at the table explaining the bizarre appearance of Eva at the track. "Well, I don't find it strange at all. I'm sure she's telling the truth and the only reason she's joined is out of boredom." Chris brought the food over and served some to Juliana.
"Maybe she did miss you, I mean it's not impossible. You were so close in middle school, I still wonder to this day why you guys drifted." Nicole thought for a moment, shoveling some food onto her plate. Why had they drifted? At the moment Nicole could not remember, but this question was the one that would keep her up all night.