“Stick!” Aanya yelled, and with perfect synchronization, Grace shot her hand up, thumb down, fingers splayed.
Aanya slapped the baton in her hand, both of them going full speed, or so I thought. Grace shot forward, her toned quads contracting with power. Her mouth was relaxed, but every muscle in her legs, her arms, and her abs tensed.
As she sped by me, I actually felt the wind tousle my hair.
“Holy shit,” Oliver said.
Goose bumps prickled the skin on my arms as I shot them in the air. “Go, Gracie!”
She dipped her head and leaned forward as she crossed the line. The rest of the girls ran toward her squealing.
Coach held up his stopwatch, his eyes wide. “Fifty-two.”
“Holy shit!” Oliver took off toward where the girls were huddled around Grace.
I beat him to the group, yelling Grace’s name. She busted through the girls around her. Before I even realized it, she wrapped her arms around my neck.
I couldn’t help but swing her. Felt like the natural thing to do.
“You did it!”
“Oh my gosh!”
“Grace!” Oliver came up to us and rammed into me. “You nailed it!”
I nearly tipped over at the force of his body weight, so I let go of Grace. James, Mateo, and the rest of the girls joined in on the pile up. We all stumbled to the side, laughing.
“It’s so on this year!” Harper shoved Oliver and Mateo back. “Give the girl some space.”
Grace laughed and tossed me the baton, then leaned over and rested her hand on her knee. Tears dribbled onto the track, and my heart burst.
“You nailed the hand-off,” I said, stepping toward her. “Did it feel okay?”
“It did!” She grinned, standing up.
Her pale face was flushed. Her big smile crinkled the skin around her eyes, making it an adorable, full-faced smile. I wanted so much to take her in my arms again, but she made it clear she didn’t want a relationship with me and I would respect that.
“Good, because I have a feeling you’re taking this team to state this year.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Grace
“Nothing says celebrating like Dwayne Johnson!” Willow said. “You deserve it. Movies. Junk food. My treat. Plus, it’s The Rock. Everybody loves The Rock! E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y!”
I shifted my cell phone away from my ear because she was screaming so loud. It seemed weird that I got a call from her about celebrating my tryout.
“Come on!”
“My parents aren’t big on me going out on a school night.”
“The movie starts at six p.m. That means you’ll be home by eight thirty p.m. No biggie,” Willow said on the other line.
She’d been in the car a few times when Brodie had picked me up in Preach’s car and we had lab together, but we hadn’t really hung out outside of school, which would be nice. And, I had to admit, I really did want to celebrate my wicked-fast run today.
An image of Preach spinning me around today flashed in front of my eyes… Talk about swoon-worthy. Heat steamed my cheeks at the memory.
I pushed it out of my mind and focused on talking to Willow. Not only would it be fun to go out with her, I wanted more details about her recovery and how she’d come out on top. We’d gotten into talking about it a little, but there was only so much time during class and at lunch.