Chapter Twelve Part One - A Revelation

Mornings were getting colder and colder and getting out of bed got harder and harder. The alarm went off at five thirty, a blaring explosion of noise straight into my ear. I pressed the 'off' button and practically crawled out of bed, wincing as the cold air hit my bare hands and feet.

Oh boy did I hate cross country training. Every time I thought about running, my soul wept from the depths of hell. I quickly ate breakfast, changed into my track and field uniform and shoved my normal uniform into my bag.

Exams had started and they were still intent on forcing us to come to training. I didn't have an exam today so after training I'd either be staying in the library or going home and studying.

I arrived at training on time for once and started stretching with the others. Unconsciously, I had been looking around for certain people. At what point did I begin to search for these people?

"On time today, are we?" Hunter asked, walking over.
"Yes, with much difficulty getting out of bed," I puffed, doing starjumps.
"You look like a raccoon."
"What?" He traced his finger around his eye in a circle.
"Huge bags," he explained.
"It's called lack of sleep due to study."
"Ah, I see, study. Feeling confident?"
"Ha, no."
"Are you going home after training?"
"Probably. I can't concentrate with people around so I can't stay in the library."

"Hunter! Get back here!" The coach shouted.
"Yes sir!" Hunter exclaimed. He jogged up to where the coach was and was handed a stack of cones.
"Captains, to the front please! Junior and senior captains on my left and squad captains on my right."

There were two junior and two senior captains as well as two squad captains - one male, one female. I didn't really know who the juniors were, but the two senior captains were Abbey and Luke, a cheerleader and a jock. The two squad captains were Sarah and...who was the male captain? Ace came flying down the side of the oval from the path and came to a puffing halt next to Sarah as she stood at the front.

"Late again Ace?" The coach asked.
"Won't happen again," Ace replied.
"Sure it won't."

That's right. Ace was the male captain of the squad. Of all things he was good at, it was running.

"Alright, for your warm up, run one lap of the track," the coach shouted, overpowering the quiet murmurs and whispers.
"Hah, Ace," Hunter laughed, obviously enjoying the pain his friend would be going through. Maybe I would be laughing too if I didn't have to run it. It was seven in the morning and the sun wasn't even up. In other words, it was way too early for this.

The thin sport jacket did nothing against these cold winds that sliced against my skin. "Hunter, you're running too!" The coach shouted.
"But sir!" Hunter began.
"You're running. It's good to get warm in the morning."

Now I laughed. To myself of course. Too bad he noticed.

"Hey, how is making me go through torture funny?" Hunter asked when he made it to where I was standing.
"How was making me go through torture amusing?" I asked in return.
"I don't know. It just was. Besides, your reaction was just too," he paused for emphasis. "Cute," he grinned.
Mayday. I could feel my face burning up. Why are you burning up, face!?
"Like that expression," he smirked. "Keep it up, nerd bird." He tousled my hair, messing up the fringe I had spent so many minutes pinning up carefully so the wind wouldn't whip it everywhere. Oh the pain. You douchebag Hunter!

Subconsciously, I had walked all the way to the starting point of the track which was at the bottom of a hill. The track was essentially a path that went uphill, right on flat ground, then right again downhill and right on flat ground back to the beginning. Lots of hills. Fun.
"You look like you're having fun," Ace joked.
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" I replied sarcastically.
"How about that race now that the ankle is well and truly healed?"
Right. That race. The time when I had a totally swollen ankle. Oh piggybacks. Such painful memories.
"I've told you before, I'll lose. I am not fast."
"Like I said, I'll give you a head start."
"If I lose, that's embarrassing and if I win, it'll hurt my pride," I laughed, sending puffs of white air out in front of me.
"You're one complicated nerd," he grinned.

"Alright! One kilometre! You have five minutes. Anyone who doesn't make it back in time will be doing three laps for their warm up! Get going!" The coach yelled.

Oh boy did I get going. My best time was five minutes and that was a one off. My usual time was five and a half minutes, and that was in good weather, not dark, windy and cold weather.

My calves burnt as I forced my legs to carry me up hill. My feet were heavy, slamming against the pavement rhythmically as I pumped my arms. The cold, winter air cut against my skin like a metal blade. The air whistled past my ears and found its way into my sport jacket.

I reached the top of the hill, my whole body burning, the lactic acid building up in my muscles. My breath was jagged and a stabbing pain rose in my side, but I kept going. I was going to keep moving. I couldn't fall behind. The boys passed by me one by one in a gust of air. I looked up and one hundred metres ahead was Ace, leading the pack as per usual.

My legs felt like lead; lifting them required all of the energy I had left. I could do this. Come on, keep moving. The pain only gets worse if you stop. I hadn't realised how badly out of shape I was after skipping out training sessions and running half heatedly. I improved quickly, but I also detrained quickly.

There was a loud wheeze coming from behind me and then a thud. I stopped and boy did the pain hit me. It creeped up through my muscles and pulled. I walked over to where the thud was and there he was.

"Hunter!" I shrieked. He was red in the face, wheezing as he lay on the grass of the side of the pavement. His face contorted as he struggled to breathe. I crashed down onto my knees beside him. What was I meant to do? What was wrong with him? "What the hell's wrong with you?"
"Ast-hma," he wheezed.
"Do you have your puffer?" I asked, panicking. I could see him slightly shake his head as he continued wheezing. I had never come upon this situation before, nor did I know what to do. "Wait here, I'll get help!"

I got up and started running. The adrenaline coursed through my veins. My feet pounded against the path faster that they had ever before.

It was at times like these I hated the fence that surrounded the track; I couldn't cut through and had no choice but to run the actual track. I sprinted, running because a life may have depended on it. My arms pumped by my sides as I pushed past clumps of people jogging.

I let my legs carry me freely downhill, the cold wind rushing straight up to me, my face burning. At the finish line, I could see Ace stretching. "Ace!" I shrieked as I flew past the finish line.
"Splendid time. Four minutes fifty five," I barely heard the coach say.
"Ace! Ace!" I puffed. "Hunter's stuck up on the hill. He's having an asthma attack!"
"What!?" Ace exclaimed.
"He's wheezing and on the ground up there!"
"Hunter doesn't have asthma," Ace replied, looking confused.
"I don't care! We have to go now!"
"Let's run."

We sprinted up along the starting part of the track again, pushing past the pain that came with forcing ourselves up the hill. The stitch clawed at me, stabbing deeper and deeper until every move brought complete pain.

Could you die from asthma? Would Hunter /die/? I forced myself to keep up with Ace as we reached the final part of the hill.

We arrived at the top and found Hunter.

"Took you two long enough," Hunter grinned, leaning agains the fence.
"I knew it," Ace laughed, slapping his friend on the back
"What?" I asked.
"I told you he didn't have asthma. Besides, he does that stupid red face thing to everyone," Ace explained.
"You made me run that whole way for what?" I snapped.
"Don't worry, he fools everyone the first time."
"I was motivating you, and I must say, seeing you all worried about me was quite touching," Hunter said.
"Motivating?"
"You beat your time didn't you?"

"You pretended to have asthma so I would...run faster?" I gaped.
"Also, I was getting tired. I didn't wanna run anymore so I figured if I had 'asthma', they'd let me walk, or at least have Ace carry me," Hunter laughed.

The stitch still ebbed in my side and a burning sensation snaked its way up in my chest. I put my hands on my head and stood up straight to open up the oxygen pathway. I took slow breaths in and out. It happened whenever I over exerted myself; my chest would start burning and it'd hurt to breathe.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Ace asked, probably seeing my strained face and hearing my slow breaths.
"Pain the chest," I replied slowly before continuing to breath slowly.
"Let's head down," he said. I put my palm out and mouthed the word 'wait'.
"Well, if you can't walk, it looks like the only alternative is to carry you," Hunter grinned.

My mind flashed back to previous piggyback experiences, also known as Ace dropping me in the mud. I threw my hands out, palms splayed to convey my distaste for the idea.

"What was that? I didn't hear you," Hunter said, slowly approaching me. I put my hands back up on my head and started walking. My chest was tight and clenched and every breath and step I took hurt. The two followed beside me silently.
"You don't look so crash hot," Ace said.
I would happily have snapped a reply, but it was too bad talking would have hurt even more.
"Don't you worry," Hunter smirked. I could feel something bad approaching. "If you fall, one of us will catch you," he finished. 

I quickened my pace, determined to stay as far away from them as possible. The pain had slowly begun to subside, as it usually did with time. I made it back down to where the team was gathered.

"Where's Hunter?" The coach asked, clearly unimpressed.
"Back there," I managed to wheeze. I walked in small circles with my arms on my head and just a few seconds later, Ace and Hunter arrived.
"What happened Hunter?" The coach interrogated.
"I was feeling really bad, like I couldn't keep going," Hunter said, doing his best to make the lie sound convincing.
"That's it. You're helping out the team until cross country is over."
"But coach!"
"Until cross country is over, Hunter."

"Man, the coach is so unreasonable. He's still mad because of the prank," Hunter complained as he stood, watching me walk in circles, breathing ever so slowly. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, as though suddenly realising that the pain was no joke.
"It goes away after a while. It happens quite a bit," I replied.
"Have a drink," he said, tossing me a water bottle.
"Thanks.

I opened the bottle and chugged half of it down, wiping my mouth with the sleeve of my jacket after I was done. I looked over at where Ace seemed to be searching.

"Oi Hunter! Where's my bottle?" Ace yelled. I looked at Hunter. He smirked. I looked at the bottle in my hand.
"Is this..." I began.
"Is that..." Ace began.
"To answer both of your questions, yes." Hunter grinned proudly.
"Did you drink from it?" I asked Ace.
"Yes, and now I'm dying of thirst," he grumbled.
"I just drank out of a bottle you already drank from!?" I shrieked.
"You know," Hunter said.
"What?"
"You know what? You probably don't want to know. It'll just make it worse." He smiled and patted me on the back while I gaped. I just drank from someone else's bottle. Even worse, it was that punk, Ace's!