A new bit from the novel I'm currently working on (and you've seen some of!) Enjoy!

Chapter 7: In Which I Go to the Dark Side

            Meet day. Time to rock it.

            The gun shocks me into action. My trainers rip into the grass and I take flight on the course I know so well. Our home course at Skyview Lake. I plow up the first hill and they’re all behind me. Not one of those girls has anything on me. Dad is here somewhere with Bryce. Mom is here too, I’m sure.

Short quick steps uphill, pump your arms. Get it! Attack this hill. Go, girl. Why are you here? Why are you running? To win.

I wonder if there are any scouts here. I’ll show them. I’ll show them I’m not the girl I was last spring. That I’ve got it back. I’m Jaisa Jameson and they want me to be their cross country star. I’ll show everyone I’m not the girl who got dumped by Mikah anymore.

“Harder, Jameson!” Coach Q yells to me at mile two. “I want a school record.”

A school record will be my old PR. A personal and school record. I’ll do to. I want it. Half a mile to go. I can blow that record out of the water. The record is 14:22. I set it last year while I was still running to make Mikah proud.

“Give your kick Jaisa! Beat me!” Cooper’s voice comes to me from the crowd. I see him running outside the flags that section off the course. The boys’ race is after we finish. He’ll wear himself out. What is he doing?

He’s running fast. Beat him? OK. This is a terrible idea for him. He has to race too!

The finish line pulls tight across my chest. 14:18. Bam! I am a super star!

“Damn, Jaisa!” Cooper slams into me and hugs me tight. “Way to set the bar for the rest of the season!”

Coach Q claps me on the back. “That better be par for the season and not max. I’m proud of you though. Get to the start, Cooper. I’m assuming that sprint with Jaisa was warm up for your win?”

“Right.” Cooper salutes Coach Q and starts jogging over to the start. He looks back at me, jogging backward and gives me two thumbs up.

I feel great. I mean, my chest is heaving, I couldn’t have gone harder, but really, I could keep this up. I could do better as the season goes on. I will. I will do better.

Dad and Bryce jog over in their St. Ann’s gear to hug me. Mom walks over, waiting behind while Dad and Bryce praise me.

“I’m so proud of you, Speed Demon!” Dad said.

            I look over Dad’s shoulder to see Mom hugging herself while Dad bear hugs me. Mom steps forward when Dad let’s go.

            “Way to go, Jaisa. Hi, Bryce. Nick.” Mom nods to my dad, not meeting his eyes.

            “Hey, Jules.” Dad still calls Mom his pet name for her—short for Julia. He runs his hand over his bread and up into his hair, looking down at the ground.

            I’ve got to get away from this. “I’m going to go watch the guys finish. Thanks for coming, guys. See you love you bye.”

            “See you love you bye, Jais!” Dad calls while he drops his arm around Bryce’s shoulders.

            Mom lifts her hand in a small wave.

            Cooper won by almost twelve seconds. Not even a contest for him either. He didn’t set any records though. We go for a cool down jog as a team and when we get back to the gym, Coach Q announces captains.

            “After today’s performance, there is no doubt in my mind that our girls’ captain will be one of the best leaders this team has ever had. Jaisa, come on up here. And Jeremy, you’ll be leading our boys.”

            “Party tonight to celebrate your win!” Lydia whispers into my ear when I sit back down to listen as Coach Q breaks down the next week’s practice schedule. It’s Saturday morning. A week from last week’s party. Garrett has messaged me every night day since the party. He has already asked me if I’d be at the party tonight.

            “I think you should go with him. Or plan to meet him there,” Lydia says on the way home. She drove me to the meet this morning.

            “But I don’t know if I really want to see Garrett.”

            “He obviously likes you. He’s nice, interested in what you have to say—per evidence from the messages he leaves you, they’re basically like love letters—and not bad looking at all.”

            She’s right. We do have things to talk about. His parents are also divorced. He also had Mr. Miller, but had almost failed regular physics. We really got on a roll about Nebraska football. But then I remembered he was supposed to be playing for Nebraska but didn’t make grades. He told me about motorcycles. I’d actually really like to go for a ride on one. I’ve never been on a motorcycle.

            But Cooper talks to me a lot too. In class, while we run. But he’s not going to the party. He said he was hoping for a low-key weekend and he’d talk to me on Monday.

            “I’m just really surprised Cooper didn’t ask you to do something,” Lydia says.

            “I told you. He said low-key weekend.” I fiddle with the seatbelt.

            “I know, but he asked you to watch a movie last Sunday. Low-key sounds perfect for a movie date night.” She checks her teeth in the rearview mirror while we wait for a stoplight. “Oh, well! I don’t know what Cooper’s deal is. I’m glad you’re coming out with me. And you don’t owe Cooper anything so Garrett is all yours tonight. No awkward negotiation between the two. Let me tell you. It’s not fun to be out with both guys who might want to date you.”

            “Everyone wants to date you,” I grumble.

            Lydia pulls into the apartment complex. “Take a good nap so that you don’t have to leave early this time!” she calls as a lug my bag out of the backseat.

###

            “You look really amazing,” Garrett tells me leaning on the cab of Tanner’s new Ford pick up. His breath smells a little boozy. We’re at a county party. Out in the middle of the cornfields on a county road.

            This party’s theme follows the theme of the St. Ann’s football game: hillbilly. Flannel, cowgirl hats and boots, braided pigtails and jeans. I can see Garrett’s muscles under his plain white t-shirt. It’s more like an undershirt the way it stretches across his chest.

            “I heard you went totally HAM at your race today.”

            I look into the black cornfield. Hard as a motherfucker isn’t really how I’d describe cross country running, but I guess it’s a compliment. “Yeah, I’m pretty excited.”

            He leans in closer to me. Lydia’s giggle rings from the tailgate of Isaiah’s truck where she sits, tipping back vodka Red Bulls.

            “We should probably be celebrating then.” Garrett taps his red plastic cup with mine and chugs the rest of his beer. I sip my lemonade. Even though Cooper isn’t here, I still stole his trick.

            A dark SUV pulls into the crossroads, kicking up dust and gravel. “Shit. Who’s that?” Garrett asks, shielding his eyes from the headlights. There are dozens of us here. I can feel everyone tensing ready to run if an adult climbs out the car. People shift their drinks out of view, shielding them with their bodies or dumping them out.

            A two tall guys climb out of the front seats and two girls climb out of the back. The guy who exited the passenger seat reaches up and rubs his eyebrows with his left hand. Mikah. Mikah is here. He reaches back to the girl who had been sitting behind him and wraps his arm around her waist. She’s wearing Daisy Duke shorts, cowgirl boots, pigtails like mine and her flannel shirt is tied up under her boobs revealing a sparkly belly button ring in her perfectly flat stomach.

            Lydia is beside me. I have no idea how she got there. “Who’s this bitch?” she asks. “Drink this and wipe that stupid look off your face.” She hands me her cup and I down the drink without thinking. My insides light up. The alcohol burns but I feel a little more alive.

            Garrett slips his thick arm around my shoulders and kisses me hard. When he pulls away, his forehead rests on mine. “You’re beautiful. You kicked ass at your race today. You’re with me and better off without him. Do you want to go? Or do you want to show him?”

            I grab his cup and down it too, take a big breath, letting the alcohol relax my brain, my body. I’m tired of worrying about Mikah. I just want to let it go. I bite my lip and look at him through my lashes like I’ve seen Lydia do so many times. “Let’s show him.”