“Ready,” Aanya yelled.
I bent my legs.
“Set.”
I drew in a breath.
“Go.”
I shot forward. Beside me, Preach did, too. And man, he was fast. The slap of our cleats hitting the track blended away into white noise as I focused on Sam up ahead. Zeroing in on the imaginary finish line, I pumped my arms and leaned forward.
The cool air flowed over me as I powered forward. Preach was a step ahead of me. His stride was even, powerful, and smooth. Inching ahead of me with each stride, I knew he was going to win, but I’d make him work for it.
Come on, Grace!Pumping hard, I stole back an inch, but it was too late.
Preach crossed first.
“Damn, girl!” Sam yelled as I passed by.
I slowed down, eventually jogging alongside Preach, and he gave me a side look.
“Holy track cleats,” Preach said. “You arefast.”
I leaned over and put my hand on my knee as I sucked in air. A hint of cedar and recent rain curled in around me.
Preach rested his hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m craving a double cheeseburger.Just sayin’.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Preach
“Let’s drown the Twin River Fighting Pike!” I yelled to my teammates.
“Comin’ in hot with thecheese.” Mateo threw his head back and laughed. “It’sgreatto have the old Preach back.”
“Yeah, it is,” Oliver yelled from beside me. “Now let’s do this!”
James whooped and said, “We’re going to crush them!”
We let out a few more whoops in our four-man huddle, then we clapped and hustled to the center of the field. The sun spilled over me, and for once, it actually felt kind of warm. Well, Wisconsin-warm, which meant a balmy forty-seven degrees.
That could change quickly, though. There were dark gray clouds looming in the distance, and if it dipped below freezing tonight, it could dump a couple of inches of snow on the freshly melted streets.
Whatever, it could blizzard tonight for all I cared… I needed to focus on kicking the Fighting Pike in the gills!
“Yo, what’s up?” Dravin, Twin River’s left wingerand4x100 anchor, trotted up to me.
“Dude!” I fist bumped him. “Long time no see.”
“Yeah! Shit’s a little different here than in hockey training camp, huh?” He punched my shoulder. “You and Brodie really took it to us last summer. Toughest coaches at the camp.”
“You know it.” I nodded at Dravin as he passed by. “See you out there.”
Hockey camp… Hockey. Felt like Dravin had sucker punched me with a slap shot to the gut. It hit me like a wave sometimes, that I was done with hockey forever. That I wasn’t going to college in Alabama. Or going anywhere, actually. While I’d always run track, I’d never thought of it as my sport. But this past week, at daily practices, hanging with the track team, it felt good.
Different, but good. But then sometimes reality hammered down on me, like with Dravin.
He jogged to the other side of the track where Grace and Sam stood, a few feet away from his team. They were huddled up together, leaning in and chatting. Dravin whispered something into Grace’s ear and tapped Aanya on the shoulder.