Chapter 7
721 Words
The rest of the week passed like normal. I went to my morning classes, had lunch with Trish and her group, then met up with her again for afternoon classes. By the end of the week, it started to feel routine. I loved it.
Since it was Friday, I would be free for the next two days. The school closed for the weekends. This was a bit different than what I remember, but the last time I even thought about school was 1936.
Tonight I would be going home with Trish and her siblings. They had invited me to hang tonight out earlier in the week. Trish told me to bring an extra set of clothes so I could spend the night. All day I was fighting to reign in my tails. I was so excited at the idea of a sleepover I thought I might burst with happiness at any moment.
Thankfully, I was able to let out some energy in phys ed. The teacher decided we should work on endurance training. Basically, we needed to run as many laps as we could before the end of the period. I had never been more happy to see that running track than I was today.
I stretched with Trish and some of the other girls I got to know and we started our rounds. Every time the teacher saw people chatting while running, he would blow an awful whistle. I cringed every time I heard it. Maybe it was my sensitive hearing, but I wanted nothing more than to stuff it right up his nose.
Despite the annoying ‘no talking’ reminder here and there, it didn’t bring me down. I could feel myself picking up speed and I made my way around the track again and again. The still warm afternoon air blew through my ponytail and across my skin. I wished I was in my fox form, but this would do for now.
I could feel the familiar tingle and heat against my lower back so I focused on my breathing. My speed picked up until I felt the rest of the world falling away. Lost in the moment, all I could feel were my feet against the track and my calculated breaths in my ear.
Just then, reality came back to me fast and painful as I found myself flying through the air and skidding across the track.
“Holy s**t! Kitty are you ok?” I could hear Trish yelling from the other side of the track. She bolted across the football field that separated each side of the track and came down next to me. “Here let me take a look”.
I turned over to sit bringing my knees up slightly. Both of them were skinned up and bleeding. My palms too had a bit of a rash from trying to brace myself against the track. Trish stuck out her hand and I extended my legs out to her.
“Well champ, I think you did quite a number on yourself.”
“I don’t know what happened.” I said confused.
“I do”. She pointed down at my shoes. The laces had come undone and I had tripped myself. “Well, that’s..” I couldn’t find the word I was looking for.
“Embarrassing?” trish offered.
“Interesting. Guess I need to practice my knots.” I shrugged my shoulders.
Trish just shook her head at me and stood up. She reached out her hand and helped me up. I could feel the sting in my knees as the flesh crinkled from me standing.
“You were really flying around that track. I think I lost count of how many laps you did.” Trish said as she looked me over from head to toe. “You aren’t even out of breath.”
“I really like to run. It makes me happy and I find it calms my mind.” I looked back at her and smiled. I felt her gaze warm me up. I could tell she was impressed. It made me want to shift to my fox and strut.
“Come on speed racer. Let’s go get cleaned up and head to my house. The bell rang and we are finally free for the weekend.”
She intertwined her arm with mine and we walked like that back to the locker rooms. Maybe this is what having a best friend felt like.
- Writer
