Chapter 29

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NORA

The next morning when I tiredly make my way to the kitchen, mom is already there making pancakes while humming something under her breath. With a large smile she trusts a huge stack at me and nudges me to sit down.

I pour some syrup over the deliciousness and glance at her knowingly. "Trying to make me feel better about last night?"

"Huh? " she tries to act as if nothing's wrong. "Oh. Not just that. I just thought you might be hungry and since I'm home..." she trails off and continues humming.

"Right..." I give her a long look but can't help but smile when she starts shaking her hips while flipping a pancake. "You're such a weirdo."

She winks at me over her shoulder. "And you're a part of me, hun, so what does that make you?"

I stuff a large bite in my mouth and shake my head, but can't help but smile a little.

Mads walks into the kitchen, then, dropping her heavy backbag on the floor and eyeing mom warily. "What's going on?"

"Morning, honey," mom says chirpily. "Here, eat," she hands Mads a full plate, which she hesitantly takes.

"Okay," Mads slowly sits down. She'd clearly expected to find mom still angry about last night, not happily making pancakes and humming.

We eat in silence for a while while mom does the dishes. I don't know what to say, and Mads clearly feels the same way.

"You need to hurry if you want to catch the bus," mom dries her hands and looks pointedly at my sister. "Have a good day, both of you!" she smiles at us as she exists the room. "I have some work to do."

"Oh, yeah, right," Mads checks the time and starts shoveling the food in her mouth.

"You can drive with me, you know that, right?" I look up from my own food. "I didn't make you take the bus, that was your own decision. So, you can still drive with me."

"I..." she looks a bit surprised. "I didn't think you'd want me to after the way..." she swallows hard and avoids looking me in the eye, "after the way I've been treating you lately."

I give her a small smile. "You're my little sister. You can annoy me and not talk to me and be angry at me all you want, but you'll always be my sister. So no, I'd never make you take the bus when I have a perfectly good car with enough space in it."

Mads just looks at me for a long time, clearly at a loss for words. "Thank you," she finally says, her voice husky with suppressed emotion.

"Yeah," I feel my own throat constricting and get up to put away my dishes just to have something to do. "Be ready in fifteen." I hurry up the stairs to get dressed and pull my hair up on a bun before going back downstairs. Mads is already ready.

"Let's go, then," I grab my bag and keys by the door and lead the way. The drive is spent in silence as neither of us really know how to talk to each other anymore. But I don't mind the quiet because at least she's driving with me instead of avoiding me. I'll take any small win I can.

We pick up Olive on the way, and a look of surprise crosses her face when she sees Mads in the car. She recovers quickly, though, and greets us with a bright smile.

"Nice seeing you again, Maddy," she smiles at my sister from the back, clearly happy for us. "It's been a while."

"Yeah" Mads turns in her seat to flash her  a smile back. "It's been weird without your running commentary every morning."

I stifle a giggle and Olive just laughs. "Yeah, I talk a lot, I know. Oh, that reminds me!" She turns to me. "What are we going to do about prom?"

Right, prom. I'd certainly not forgotten all about it. "Uh, I don't know."

Olive narrows her pretty gray eyes at me playfully. "Please tell me you didn't forget about prom?"

I huff indignantly, a small smile playing on my lips. "No, of course not. Never. Not in a million years."

She crosses her arms. "I thought so. So, who are you going with? I'm thinking of asking Evan," she purses her lips in thought. "Do you think he'd say yes? I mean, I know he has a lot of options but I think I have a chance, don't you?"

Evan clearly likes Olive, but then again he likes basically every girl, so who's to know what he'd say. Before I can answer, though, Mads pipes up. "You don't want him to ask you?"

"Well," Olive looks at my sister, "obviously that would be awesome, but he's a guy and guys are kind of dumb sometimes, so I'm not sure if I should wait for him to grow a brain. I mean, what if someone else asks him while I'm waiting for him to ask me?"

"Okay, fair point" Mads agrees while a plan starts to form in my head.

"I'd say wait a week," I tell my friend. "I mean, we still have weeks before prom so there's no rush. The guys probably haven't even thought about it yet."

Olive ponders it for a minute. "You're probably right. They don't realize us girls want to plan everything early on and not at the last minute. Speaking on which, when are we going dress shopping?"

"Well, we could go on Sunday?" I suggest as we arrive at the school. I park in my usual spot and kill the engine.

"Great" Olive picks up her stuff and follows Mads and I out. "I'll ask the others and we can all go together, make a day out of it."

"Sounds like a plan."

---

On Saturday morning I climb into the bus behind my friends, my mind already shutting out everything but my strategy for today. It's the last meet before districts next week, last chance to practice without the pressure of messing up my chances to get to states.

I pull out my phone and earbuds and crank up the music, my eyes closing as I retreat into my pre-race bubble. About an hour later Olive nudges my side and I open my eyes to find we've arrived at the host school.

There are six schools competing here today, none of which is Cornell, to my relief. I'm sure I'll be seeing dad's new and improved daughter at districts, but the less I see of her the better.

"Okay, guys!" coach Wheeler yells from the front of the bus. "You know the drill, let's go."

The first half of the day goes by slowly as all my three events are in the latter half of the day, but I do my duty as captain and cheer my teammates on as they tackle their events. I give pep talks to the nervous JV girls and hoot as they succeed, and give words of encouragement to those who don't manage their best today.

The only person I try to avoid is Tyler, which doesn't turn out to be that hard as most of his events are early on.

I can't help but watch his races, though, my eyes glued to his perfect form as he gives his all. He does well, no doubt about it, as I knew he would.

My day finally picks up when I head to warm up to the four hundred meter dash. I'm filled with energy and determination, my body itching to run. 

"You've got this!" Evan hollers from the sidelines as I make my way to the track. I send him a fleeting smile, spotting Olive, Jordyn, and Michelle all next to him, shouting me words of encouragement.

Just as I'm about to turn away to go take my spot, I notice Tyler a bit behind my friends, looking intently at me.

My chest tightens and I have to look away to get myself together. Ignore him, I tell myself. It's just you and the Tartan under your feet. You have this in the bag.

I take my place on lane six and follow the instructions. When the gun goes off, I take off like a lightning strike.

I concentrate on nothing else but my own race as I pump my legs faster, pushing past the pain. It's over quickly. I step over the finish line first of my heat, my muscles feeling tight.

Coach Wheeler gives me my time, and it's a good one. If I run like this next weekend, there's no reason why I can't advance to area.

After the guys have run the four hundred, it's time for hurdles and after that the eight hundred. The JV competes first, and then it's time for varsity girls. When Olive's heat is called, she leaves me to the warm-up area.

I have to wait a few more heats before it's my turn. I do well, breaking my personal best.

"That's my girl!" Evan high-fives me on his way to warm-up.

I catch Tyler a few feet away scowling at him. What the heck is his problem? I almost ask him, but then shake it off and walk away. I'm not wasting any of my energy to drama today. I still have the mile meter relay left at the very end of the day, and in the meantime I have teammates to cheer on.

The crowd grows more exited as the last event of the day begins.

The four by four is usually always the most waited-for event, as it often gets exiting.

Zoe, Hayley, and Nia join me in warm-ups when the JV heats start. We have really come together as a team this season, our time getting better and better with each race. We've really concentrated on hand-offs in practice, really perfected them. We've become a well-oiled machine, so to speak.

And then it's finally time to head to the track. On the mark, Zoe positions herself on the starting blocks on the second lane. And then they're off.

She manages to get a small lead on the other girls and her hand-off to Nia is perfect. Nia takes of with the baton, keeping the lead but only barely. Hayley is up next. As she nears me, two other girls at her heels, I move on to the innermost lane, ready to do my part.

My blood is pumping with adrenaline as I get ready to finish the race. She passes the baton in a downward movement into my receiving left hand and I close my fingers around it as I sprint into full speed. I can hear the other girls at my back, trying to pass me. Not going to happen.

I reach the curve in the track, then the three hundred mark. Only a hundred to go.

I push myself as far as I can go, determined to finish first. Zoe, Nia, and Hayley all cheer me on as I get closer.

Only a little bit father, I chant to myself, embracing the pain in my legs. And then I'm over the finish line and my team rushes to me. 

"Yes!" Zoe pumps her fist in the air. "We did it!"

I focus on catching my breath but smile nevertheless. Hayley hands me a water bottle and I take it gratefully. Then I'm sandwiches in a sweaty group hug and I can't help but laugh. This has been a good day.

Our school did well overall in the meet, so the bus ride back is spent laughing and joking around. That evening I'm so tired and happy that I fall asleep the minute my head touches a pillow.




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