“Not this time.” Eric's glare managed to, impossibly, intensify. Kevin didn’t know whether to feel relieved that he’d been saved from a most horrible fate, or worried that there might be a next time.
As the group made their way into the locker room, and Kevin continued to be subjected to his friends' angry glares, he decided to go with worried.
He really, really needed speak with Lilian about when it was and wasn't appropriate to kiss him, especially a kiss like that.
And just why was he suddenly not as bothered by the idea of her kissing him?
***
“Alright people! Listen up!”
Kevin, Alex, Andrew, Justin, Chase and a still angry Eric sat on a bench by the track field. There were roughly twenty people on the track team, so the bench was a little crowded, even though it was nearly fifteen feet long.
Kevin sat between Chase, who’d gotten over his jealousy quickly enough, and Alex, who'd thankfully decided to sit between him and Eric.
Their rival team from Mountain Shadow High sat several meters away, their dark red and black uniforms making them easy to spot. They appeared to also be getting a speech from their coach.
Coach Deretaine looked at all of them with what could only be described as a maniacal gleam in his eyes, as if he had temporarily lost his sanity and gone bat-shit crazy. And he had. For the upcoming track meet, that is.
Coaches the world over have always been temporarily overcome with madness right before their team’s sporting events. It was just in their nature.
“This is our first track meet of the year,” the mad coach was saying. Mad as in mad as a hatter; not actually angry. “We've been training hard for this meet.”
“Doesn't he mean he's been training us hard?” Alex quipped, cupping a hand to his face so he could whisper to his friends without being overheard. “We're the ones doing all the work.”
Unfortunately for him, all coaches were predisposed toward hearing any and all unwanted comments members of their team whispered, regardless of how softly they were spoken. They had ears like a fox.
Thankfully, this talent only kicked in when someone said something insulting, degrading or otherwise negative about them. Or when someone tried slipping a comment by them while they were giving some kind of pre-game spiel. Otherwise, their hearing was fairly normal.
“You got something you'd like to say, Straight?”
Alex stiffened in his seat, his back going ramrod straight. “No sir.”
Coach Deretaine stared hard at the young man for several seconds, long enough to make the boy squirm.
“Hn.”
He then gave a noncommittal grunt. Whatever the boy said simply wasn't worth his time. There were more important things to be thinking about—like giving his team the standard pep talk every coach spewed out right before a big competition.
“All of you have exceeded my expectations in training.” As Coach Deretaine spoke, he began pacing back and forth, making a long sweep from one end of the bench to the other. He initiated eye contact with each member of the track team as he moved down the line. “And I see no reason why you should not exceed my expectations now. I expect all of you to do your best and kick ass when you get out there!”
His words were received by several shouts from the members of the track team.
“Oorah!”
All members of the track team played far too much Halo. They actually had bi-monthly online tournaments.
Surprisingly enough, Justin was currently tied with Kevin for first place. Who knew that a boy who seemed socially inept and slow on the uptake could be such a damn good shooter?
“Now let's get the fuck out there and show those little bastards from Mountain Shadow High who’s top dog here!”
“OORAH!”
As a great cheer went up amongst most of the track team, Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose. Whenever Coach Deretaine became… uh, impassioned? Yeah, that sounded about right, if a not little understated. Anyway, whenever their coach became impassioned about something, he would lose his composure and start swearing like a sailor who'd been grounded for several months. In other words, he swore like a very angry, irate sailor.
Those sailors had the worst potty mouths ever.
It was kind of embarrassing.
***
“All right, first up are the women's hurdles! Get out there, ladies, and show those pansies who’s in charge here!”
Kevin didn't know any of the girls on the track team (the only time he interacted with them was during the bi-annual online Halo tournament), so he didn't focus on the competition, and instead turned his attention to the stands in the hopes of spotting someone he knew.
Almost immediately a large bead of sweat trailed down his left temple when he saw Lilian up in the stands. She was holding her “Go Beloved” sign above her head, and her gaze was currently sweeping across the field, most likely looking for him. She was impossible to miss, what with that large and colorful sign of hers.
And he wasn't the only person staring at her. There were a large number of people sitting around the redhead doing some staring of their own, but Lilian didn't even seem to notice them. She was off in her own little world.
Must not facepalm. Must not facepalm. Must not facepalm.
“I don’t want to see a bunch of bimbos jumping over hurdles! Show me my Beloved!”
Kevin facepalmed.
“Men's hurdles are up next! Get your asses out there!”
Kevin snapped his attention back to the track field; Justin was competing in the hurdles. He could see his dark-haired, pale-faced friend marching out onto the field with the others.
There were multiple differently-colored uniforms out there; their own light blue and Mountain Shadow's red, then there were dark purple, yellow and lime green. He didn't recognize some of the mascots, but they didn't have a serious rivalry with most of those schools.
Coach Deretaine had forced them to memorize the red uniforms and mascot of Mountain Shadow High, so they would know who they needed to put in their place. He was crazy like that. He also seemed to have some kind of personal grudge against Mountain Shadow. No one knew why—they were too afraid to ask.
Props had to be given to the referee; the moment everyone was on the field, he separated Justin and the other hurdler on their team from the two Mountain Shadow students, putting them on opposite sides of the track. He clearly knew of the intense hatred between the two schools, and wanted to make sure there was no foul play—in case they decided to try something, like tripping their opponents during the competition.
The gun went off and Kevin watched as his friend bolted down the field. He darted past the first hurdle, leaping over it, feet pounding on the course. Desert Mountain’s first runner bypassed Justin, but the second seemed to lag behind him. Kevin thought he could see the second runner glaring daggers at his friend, but couldn’t be sure because they were too far away. Justin jumped over another hurdle and picked up speed. He ran past a hurdler in yellow, then one in blue. The others were too far ahead for him to catch up. The whistle blew when the last hurdler crossed the finish line.
Mountain Shadow got third.
Justin came up to the bench, and Kevin frowned when he noticed how… not tired his friend appeared, almost as if he hadn’t gone all out; he wasn’t even sweating. Odd, but not unexpected. His friend rarely seemed enthusiastic about anything.
“You alright, Justin?” Kevin asked when his friend sat down. Justin gave him a blank look, eyes half-lidded, almost bored or maybe even apathetic. It was a little disconcerting.
“… Fine…”
“Girl's one-hundred meter dash is up next!”
Kevin began prepping himself, which really just consisted of him slapping his cheeks several times and taking deep, gulping breaths. His first competition was up after the women's one-hundred meter dash. He wanted to be ready—both mentally and physically—to give his all.
“Come on, ladies, get out there and make those other schools your bitch!�
��
At the same time, he couldn't keep the large drop of sweat from forming on the side of his head at his coach's crass words.
“Alright boys! You're up! Let me down and you'll be running laps for the rest of your high school careers!”
Kevin took a deep breath, then exhaled as he stood up. This was it. The moment he had been waiting for. Or at least one of them. He still had the two-hundred meter dash as well, but that wasn't important right now. The only thing that mattered at the moment was the current event. Now was the time for him to show his stuff! He would show everyone how fast he had gotten, and he would prove to Chase once and for all that he was the faster runner!
As if reading his mind, Chase smirked at him as they walked onto the field side by side.
“Don't go thinking that you're going to beat me just because you did well at our last practice. I'm still faster than you.”
Kevin glared at his rival.
“You can tell yourself that if you want, whatever helps you sleep at night. But, we both know that I'm going to be the one leaving you in the dust this day.”
Chase returned Kevin's glare with a stare to match. Sparks flew between the two, physically manifesting for all to see. Several runners gave the pair a wide berth to avoid the errant arcs of energy that struck the ground, leaving black scorch marks on the earth. One person wasn’t so fortunate—an idiot who walked between the two and got zapped for his troubles.
“Oh damn! Shit just got real!”
“Was that lightning?”
“Man down! Call for a medic!”
A pair of medics rushed up and put the poor lad on a stretcher, ignoring the smell of burnt flesh, and the way the boy's muscles twitched, contracting and expanding in spasms from electrical damage.
“Damn idiot,” one of the medics cursed. “He should know better than to get between two rivals like that.”
The other nodded. “Un-fucking-believable.”
Kevin broke his glare with Chase as they were directed toward their respective lanes. With his rival no longer near, he prepped himself for his first competition of the day. His breathing slowed as he knelt down and put his feet against the starting blocks; right knee closer to the ground, both knees bent as he stood on the balls of his feet. Kevin kept himself propped up on his fingers as opposed to his knuckles.
His head raised as he looked at his goal; the one-hundred meter mark. He tuned out almost everything around him. The noises of the crowd and other competitors died away; all of his focus, all of his attention, was on his goal and nothing else.
He was so focused that he almost missed the sound of the gun going off. Almost.
As a loud Bang! rent the air, signaling the start to the race. Kevin launched himself from the starting position and into a fast-paced sprint as his body reacted before his mind could realize what was happening.
He hurtled forward, opening up full-throttle, his muscles straining as he pushed them as hard as they could go. He could feel his calves and thighs and glutes burning intensely as he ran, expanding and contracting, pushing and pulling. It felt like they were being torn apart. His breathing came out in heaping, rasping pants; acid dripped into his lungs; adrenaline coursed through his body as he pushed himself to the breaking point and beyond. His eyesight blurred around the edges, creating tunnel vision, obscuring everything outside of that little circle directly in front of him in a thick haze. There was nothing on his mind except reaching the finish line as quickly as he could.
Mere seconds later, it was all over. Kevin gave one final gasp before almost collapsing. Only his desire to not look like a pansy kept him standing upright.
Ragged breaths tore from his mouth, which felt thick and dry, like he’d gone months without water and his tongue had begun to swell.
His chest burned, every breath he took felt like acid dripping through his body. Muscles ached; limbs like wet, limp noodles. He wobbled once, to the left, and then straightened back up.
He blinked when he registered the sensation of someone slapping him on the back.
Turning his head, Kevin faced the person who was doing the back slapping, Chase, who stared at him in awe, surprise and more than just a little envy.
“Holy shit, Swift! Have you been holding out on me or something?”
“Huh?” Having caught his second wind by now, Kevin looked at his rival, the dumb-looking expression on his face accurately conveying his confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Idiot.” Chase rolled his eyes at the younger teenager. Kevin bristled at the insult, but didn't get a chance to retort as his rival spoke again. “Check your time.”
Frowning, Kevin did just that. Looking up at the board, he found his time easily enough. It was the one on the top.
He blinked once. Then again, for good measure.
“I-is that really my time?” His voice sounded rather stunned.
“Yeah, I can't really believe it either. You've never gotten a time like that before.” Chase looked up at the board again and whistled. “Ten-point-fifteen seconds, damn.”
Chase had taken the words right out of Kevin's mouth. He was unable to believe his eyes. The last time he had gotten a time even close to that was last year during tryouts. Since then, he’d been unable to achieve that time again, 10.23 seconds, which he had just surpassed by a pretty good margin.
“WAY TO GO, BELOVED!”
While Chase began snickering, Kevin facepalmed.
“Your girlfriend's calling you,” the older boy teased.
“Shut up.”
As they walked off the track and moved towards the cheering members of their team, Chase looked at Kevin with a serious expression.
“Don't think I'm going to give up just because you beat me. The next time we race, I'll be the one leaving you in the dust.”
Having gotten over his initial shock, all Kevin felt now was elation.
“You're welcome to try,” he fired back, grinning at the other boy with an expression of smug satisfaction. There was no way Chase's words could get to him now. Nothing could.
“TAKE ME NOW, MY HOT BLOND STALLION!”
Cue another facepalm.
***
Lilian couldn't keep the beaming smile off her face as she watched her beloved beat everyone in his competition. If ever there was a time where she felt proud of her mate, this was it. Elation didn't begin to describe how she felt at seeing her mate do so well.
She also felt more than a little hot under the collar. Her mate had never looked more appealing than he did right now. He looked so intense, so focused on his goal; it was incredibly sexy.
By Inari, she just wanted to jump his bones!
Lilian had also been surprised by how fast her mate had gotten. She had never seen a human run that quickly before. It was surprising, to say the least.
She just hoped he wasn't that fast during other… certain… strenuous… activities…
Ufufufu…
Mind out of the gutter, Lilian.
“Right. Sorry.”
S'okay. Just try to keep the inner workings of your imagination down to at least a PG-13 rating.
“Muu, I don't think that's possible,” Lilian said, ignoring the people that were staring at her. “How about NC-17?”
Hm… very well, that would be acceptable.
“Alright!” Lilian grinned in victory. She would have also pumped a fist into the air, but since her hands were holding onto her sign, she just settled for the grin. “That means I can still have sexy-times with my mate!”
Everyone within Lilian's general vicinity slowly began scooting away. Not that she noticed. She was a little too busy laughing.
“Ufufufufu!”
Yes. That laughing.
Wanting to see more of Kevin, Lilian refocused her attention back onto her mate. He was being led off the field by that other boy. What was his name again? Chasey Something-or-other? Whatever. It wasn't like he mattered anyways. He was just her mate's rival. His only purpose was to make her mate loo
k good. That's how this stuff worked.
As her beloved disappeared into the crowd of teammates who stood up to congratulate him with backslaps, headlocks and noogies, Lilian tried to find something else to keep her attention. There wasn't any point in watching the track meet when he wasn't the one competing.
Her eyes gazed out at all of the people currently in the stands. There were quite a few. While track and field wasn't as big as, say, football, it was still a pretty popular sport. The track meet had received a pretty big turn out; there was a sea of people that were standing or sitting in the stands, while a few were over at the concessions stand, buying drinks or food.
As she continued looking around, she spotted something that caused her eyes to narrow. She had only seen it once before, but there was no mistaking that outfit; a black gothic lolita dress with frills, ruffles, V-shaped piping along the bodice, puffy skirt, elbow-length gloves, black stockings and slipper-like shoes. She would recognize that clothing anywhere. It belonged to the girl that Kevin had gotten a prize for from that machine grabber-thingy when they’d gone to the arcade.
Lilian always remained wary of other women who may want to steal her beloved's affection from her.
Deciding to figure out why this girl was at her mate’s track meet, Lilian stood up from her seat. She then began walking down to where the raven-haired girl stood. If this hussy was here to see her mate, then she would have to make sure this loli understood that her beloved was already taken.
The girl in question was at the bottom of the bleachers, her hands holding the railing as she watched the Desert Cactus High’s track team with a look that Lilian didn't like at all. Because the goth girl was all the way at the bottom, and Lilian's seat was in the middle of the stands, she had to stride down the many stairs to reach the other girl.
“Ouch!”
“Ow!”
“Dof!”
And because she was carrying a really large and unwieldy sign, she ended up smacking several people on her way down.
“Oof! What the hell?!”
“Hey! Watch where you're swinging that thing!”
“My eye! Oh God, you poked my eye!”
“OH, THE PAIN! OH, THE HUMANITY! WHY GOD?! WHY?!”
A Fox's Tail (American Kitsune Book 2) Page 16