The next day at Clayton goes by painfully slow. I'm not able to eat at lunch again, but thankfully Nate gives me some of his pizza. He tells me he's sorry about the way Izzie has been acting towards me. He says it's because she's threatened by me. Because I'm faster than her.
At track, we all jog to warm up. Izzie is jogging next to me, and I can feel her eyes burning holes into my side profile. Izzie jogs at the same pace as me. Soon she starts picking up the pace, obviously trying to show me up. I jog faster too. She's challenging me, and I won't let her win. We run faster and faster, until we're full out sprinting. "This isn't a sprint ladies, cut it out!" The coach yells at us. I hear a thud behind me, and I look to see Izzie on the ground. What happened? I run over to her. "Are you okay?" I ask, as I see her holding her wrist in pain. The coach runs over as well. "You pushed me!" She yells. "What? No, I didn't. I didn't." She's lying. Why would she do that?
The coach gives us both a detention in her office, not knowing who to believe for the accident. "You don't have to love each other, but you have to love each other." She says. Usually I'd crack a smile at a joke like this, but not right now. Izzie flat out lied that I pushed her. I already barely got into this school because I punched Bailey Bennett, and now I'm being accused of causing someone to get hurt. That does not look good for me. "Casey, you'll ice Izzie's wrist, and you'll both stay in here until you can get along." The coach says. "Actually, I think we worked it out." I say. "No you didn't." The coach replies, as she leaves. I reach for the ice bag angrily, and Izzie says, "I can do it myself." As she takes it from me. "I need to make a phone call, but someone pushed me. So now I can't use my wrist." She glares at me. Why would she still lie, when I'm the only one in the room? She knows I didn't push her. "I didn't push you, I was nowhere near you." "Whatever." She replies. "Can you at least get my phone out of my backpack, please?" She asks angrily. "Fine. I'm so sick of this stupid school and this stupid track team." I grumble, as I get her phone and give it to her. She dials a number and makes a call. "Hey, It's Izzie. I need you to watch the baby for an extra couple of hours. Thanks." She hangs up. "Baby? Do you have a kid?" I ask, in shock. "No, of course not. I'm not an idiot. My mother is." "Ha, mine too." I reply, with a small laugh. "Not that it's any of your business, but I take care of my three siblings." "You do?" I ask, wondering why she wouldn't treat them like shit too. "Yeah." Izzie replies. "So you're not a billionaire?" "Not yet." She answers. I sit down in the chair next to her. "My brother has autism, so I'm like constantly looking out for him." I tell her. "I didn't know that." "How would you? You barely talk to me." "I talk to you, I just say mean things." She replies, with a smile. She looks into my eyes. For some reason when she smiled it felt like my heart stopped. "You are not what I expected." I say. "Well I'm not like the other girls. I don't get to mess up. Last year Penelope drove her car into a tree, and guess what? Her parents bought her a new car. And Quinn has vodka in her locker, just in case she gets bored." She says, laughing. "But for me, this school, what I do here, it matters. I feel like I have to be perfect all the time, and It's exhausting." I look into her eyes. I had no idea. "Is that why you were such a dick to me?" I ask. "Probably. Or I might just be a dick." We laugh together.
Soon Izzie leaves the room and says, "I'll be right back." I move to the couch in the back of the coaches office. Izzie comes back after a few minutes, smiling, with her hands behind her back. "I'm tired of trying to be perfect all the time. Let's stop caring about everyone else for once. I raided Quinn's locker." She pulls a bottle of Vodka out from behind her back. We both laugh. This is going to be fun. While we drink, she talks about her home, and how it's horrible. Her mother is a drunk, and is horrible to her. She tells me how she stays at Nate's house just to be away from home. "You don't stay just because he's your boyfriend?" I ask. "No. Nate's great and everything, but sometimes it just doesn't feel right with him. Like we're from different worlds." I nod. We talk for a while longer. She's not that bad after all.