by Lexy Timms
Aileen zipped up her coat and took a deep breath as the van pulled around and stopped in front of the building.
Here we go.
Chapter 2
A cold wind picked up and whipped Aileen’s pony to the side, slapping it against her cheek. She shut her eyes so the ends of her hair wouldn’t poke her eyes. Blinking, she refocused as she pulled her pony and then threw her hood on to stop it from swinging.
The driver set her suitcase beside her. “Can you sign this so they know I dropped you off in the right spot?” He handed her his clip board and a pen.
The pen didn’t want to write. She shook it and finally got the ink to flow so she could sign her name.
“Have a good trip.” He jumped in his SUV and drove away, leaving Aileen standing in the cold in front of the building.
A girl wearing a bright red coat came out of the building and jogged down the steps. She paused by Aileen as she put her knit cap on.
“Hi.” Aileen stood staring at the girl, the least she could do was say hello.
“Hey.” She smiled. Her dark brown hair disappeared inside her hat. Her smiled reached her pretty brown eyes. “Are you the hurdler?”
“I think so.”
“You here on a recruiting trip?”
“Yup.” Aileen felt silly holding the handle of her suitcase and shaking because of the cold. Ohio was cold, but this was freezing!
“Come on. I’ll take you to Coach Anderson.” She turned and jogged up the large cement steps to the door she had just come out of. She held the door open for Aileen. “I’m Jani, by the way.”
“I’m Aileen.”
“Cool. Where are you from?”
“Bucyrus, Ohio.” She set her suitcase down and pulled the handle out again to drag it by its wheels. “Where are you from?”
“Canada. B.C. West Coast. Mountain country.” She laughed when Aileen nodded, as if it made sense why she didn’t seem to have issue with the cold weather. “I may be from Canada, but it doesn’t get this bloomin’ cold where I live. I had to go and buy another tuque last night. I keep leaving mine at track or where ever and people are nipping them.”
“Tuque?”
Jani pointed to her hat. “Tuque. Canadian hat.” She laughed. She had a contagious kind of laugh that made Aileen smile. “I keep telling Coach he needs to slap a Red Coat on the front and sell them for money for the program.”
“It sounds like a good idea.” Aileen walked beside Jani, noticing how short she was compared to the friendly, chatty girl. “Do you play volleyball?” The girl was tall and Aileen vaguely remembered that the chauffeur had mentioned the volleyball team trained there as well.
“I’m a high jumper.” She elbowed Aileen and leaned in. “Not saying I haven’t chatted up the cute volleyball assistant coach. He’s working on his master’s degree and coaching part time. Super-hot.”
Aileen nodded, not sure how to respond. Maybe a little too much information?
Jani giggled again. “The volleyball offices are just down the hall from the track office. Wavertree is back there.” She pointed behind them. “You go left where we came in. It’ll take you to the indoor track.”
They passed a trophy case with old track and field equipment inside it, along with black and white photos.
Jani tapped the case. “These things are all over the place. The original ones start here and as you make your way down to the indoor track they move up to present day. It’s kinda neat.” She slowed and opened a door with frosted class.
On the glass was written Athletics T&F. A plaque below the glass showed Coach Anderson as the head coach. The jumps coach, distance coach and whoever else was listed as well, but Aileen didn’t get a chance to read all the names because Jani leaned against the door to let her in.
The scent of new runners waffled through the door. Aileen unzipped her jacket and pulled her hat off. The heat from the office felt ten degrees warmer than it probably was.
A small desk sat directly in front of the door. A petite lady, a few years older than her mom, smiled at the two of them. She pushed her chair back and stood up. “Jani! Did you forget something?”
“I found this poor recruit freezing her butt off outside. Is Coach Anderson still in his office?” Jani winked at Aileen. “This is Marge. She’s the track secretary and totally awesome. She keeps Coach Anderson in line.”
Marge smiled and came around her desk with a file folder. “Aileen Nessa, right?”
She held out her hand, but Marge gave her a hug, surprising Aileen.
“I printed off an itinerary for the weekend.” Marge opened the folder. “Coach Anderson mentioned you would need to train so just look over the schedule and let me know if you need a ride to the track.”
Her face was open, her expression genuine; she seemed really sweet. Aileen looked over the schedule. “Probably tomorrow morning before the track meet. I’m supposed to lift weights. Is there a weight room here at the track?”
Jani shook her head. “We lift at the football stadium. There is a little weight room here but it stinks. Only the distance runners use it so there aren’t any weights heavier than ten pounds.” She nudged Aileen. “Way better view at the football stadium anyway. Most of the varsity athletes lift there.”
Jani sounded like Becky. All about boys. Both of them.
Marge cleared her throat. “Just tell me what time you want to work out and I’ll make sure you have a ride to the weight room. The track meet starts at ten. The Holiday Inn you are staying at includes breakfast. If you don’t mind taking care of your own breakfast tomorrow, Coach Anderson will take you out on Sunday morning so you two can chat.”
“Okay. Sounds good.” Aileen dropped her backpack off her shoulder and stuffed the schedule inside.
Jani grabbed her suitcase and tucked it next to a filing cabinet beside the door. “Let’s go meet the coach.” She grabbed Aileen’s hand and led the way.
There were three offices to the left of Marge’s desk and then a pair of French doors with frosted glass. Jani knocked on one of the doors and poked her head through the small opening. “Coach?”
“Jani!” A husky voice called out.
Jani opened the door all the way. “Aileen’s here.”
The large office was easily the space of the three offices on the other side. A beautiful oak desk sat in the middle of the room surrounded by photos and plaques all over the wall. A large photo of Tyler Jensen hung on one side. It was black and white except for the burgundy red uniform. Aileen glanced at the other pictures and then over to the Coach.
Coach Anderson sat behind the laptop on his desk. He wore a dress shirt, and Aileen guessed there was probably a suit jacket hanging on the back of his chair. He was in his fifties with a dusting of gray hair and bright blue eyes. He smiled when their eyes met, and stood up.
“It’s great to finally meet you, Aileen.” He came around the desk and held out his hand.
She returned the firm handshake.
“Jani, thanks for bringing Aileen in.”
“No problem.” Jani checked her watch. “I’ve got to jet. I’m going to be late for class.” She smiled at Aileen. “I’ll see you at practice later. Coach Anderson asked me to take you out for dinner tomorrow night after the meet. We’ll catch a movie or something after.” She turned slightly so the coach wouldn’t see her wink. “We’ll figure something out. See ya.” She saluted Coach Anderson before leaving.
Coach Anderson chuckled before pointed to a leather chair for Aileen to sit down in. He went back around the desk. “Jani’s a fireball. She’s got lots of spirit. You won’t be bored around her.” His phone began to ring. He checked the caller ID before muting it. “Jani broke the school high jump record as a freshman last year. She qualified for NCAA’s indoor and outdoor last year. Coach Maves is the jumps coach. She thinks Jani will set a new PR at tomorrow’s meet.” He leaned back, resting his elbows on the arms of his chair, and folding his hands together. “I’d like to hear about you. How is school
going? Training?”
Aileen was used to this. The past four recruiting trips had all the coaches asking her the same questions. “School’s good.”
“By your GPA, it looks like you aren’t having any problems.” Coach Anderson chuckled. “Do you know what you want to study when you start university?” He scratched his jawline. “Last time we talked you said you weren’t sure.”
“I’m still trying to decide. I like the sciences. Maybe biology or something like that.”
“Gatica has a very strong science department. If you decide to major in biology, or any life science jobs, it opens you up to a lot of possibilities like biotechnology, pharmaceutical, post doctorate. We have a fantastic master’s program here as well. There is also kinesiology. A lot of the athletes at the school get into the kin or physio therapy program. The school just added a new sport therapy program to go with it. The classes filled very quickly.”
“I’ll have to look into the program.” She said politely. They did interest her, more than dissecting frogs and rats for the next four years. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to show any interest in anything particular.
“And how’s training going?”
She didn’t mean to, but a sigh slipped from her lips. “It’s going. My high school coach has me training through indoors to focus junior nationals this summer.”
Coach Anderson nodded. “It’s not a bad idea. I know it’s more fun to compete than it is to train, but it’ll pay off in the long run.”
She nodded, glad he got it. “I like training. It’s fun practicing or doing plyometrics and stuff in the weight room. My coach just has some crazy ideas for combining weight room stuff with plyos. Since I’m from a small town and we only train at the high school, he likes finding things in the school to use for training.” She laughed. “Last week he decided to make an obstacle course inside the school. I mean down the halls. He found this old tire and filled half of it with sand and made me run stairs with it, then drop it and hop over these old chairs he had found in a storage room. I had to hurdle them! It was crazy. They were set so the chair part was facing me and I have to get my lead leg down fast or I’d nail the next chair. It was deadly.” She still had a good bruise on her shin to prove it.
“I think I like your coach.” Coach Anderson smiled. “I like his work ethic. We just happened to have a better choice of training equipment to use. Gatica’s football program had a state of the art weight room and training facility that all the varsity sports use. You’ll see it tomorrow morning.” He pointed to a panoramic picture hanging beside Tyler Jensen’s picture. It showed the indoor track. “We have cold winters. I won’t lie to you about that. However our indoor facility has hosted Indoor Nationals and international meets. It’s one of the best in the country. We do warm weather training over spring break, usually down in Florida, and also head south for a number of our opening outdoor meets of the season. It works well for us.”
She liked the idea of spending a weekend in Florida, especially if the cold weather ran into March or longer. Stanford, on the other hand, was warm all year long.
His phone began vibrating. He checked the call. “Shoot! I have to take this.” He shot her an apologetic smile and then glanced behind her. “Coach Maves!”
Aileen turned in her chair to see the jumps coach. Coach Maves looked a few years younger than Coach Anderson. She was about five foot seven, close to the same height as Aileen and had short dirty blonde hair kept in check by a simple headband.
She smiled at Aileen. “Perfect timing. I was about to ask if you were ready for lunch?”
“Sure.” Aileen stood and slipped her backpack over her shoulder. She looked at Coach Anderson who had picked up his phone. He moved it away from his mouth so he could speak to her. “Maves will take you to lunch. I’ll see you again at practice?”
She nodded. It sounded good to her. She followed Maves out of the office and paused by the track office main door. “Should I take my suitcase?”
Maves paused. “I’ll toss it in my office while we are out.” She picked up the suitcase and set it in her office. She grabbed a file off her desk. “You have… a campus tour after lunch. I’ll keep the case in here and you can grab it after the tour. If there’s time between the tour and practice, I can take you to the hotel to check in. Otherwise one of us will drop you off after.” She slipped her coat on and wrapped a scarf around her neck. “You hungry?”
Aileen checked her watch. It was just after one. “Yeah,” she admitted honestly.
“Then how about we hit the Student Union? It’s a short walk and we can cut through the field house.” She led the way out of the office and waited for Aileen in the hall.
Aileen followed her and they headed down the hall where she had come in, and then off to where Jani had pointed to earlier.
“The school mascot is a red coat soldier. The school color was originally a poppy red. Over the years the color has changed to more of a burgundy color. The track uniforms are burgundy red while the football team still uses the poppy red color. We changed ours about two years ago.” She chuckled. “The team kept complaining the poppy red was bleeding into their other clothes. Apparently a lot of the track team doesn’t know how to separate their whites from their darks.”
Aileen nodded but had no idea what she meant. She’d never done a load of laundry in her life. She guessed she would be asking her mom to teach her this summer.
They came to a T-section in the hall. Maves pointed to the left. “That’ll take you to showers and change rooms. The other way heads down to Kinesiology and sport classes, and also our medic rooms. We have a room set for massage therapy, where a number of the athletes receive a massage once a week, and possibly more if needed. There is a large rehab room that we share with the volleyball team. There are ice baths, ultrasound, physio and whatever else you need. We baseline test two times a year and they help out with BMI, body fat percentage… all that kind of jazz.”
She started walking forward again. “This will lead you outside and also to the indoor track.” She pulled on a large set of metal doors.
The ground changed from grey tile to reddish pink mondo track beyond the door. Aileen stepped through the door held open for her and peered around. The pictures on the brochure and school website had showed the track, but the reality of it obviously couldn’t be captured in pictures. It was huge and awe-inspiring.
Her heart rate sped and she glanced up at the large stained glass windows and seats that surrounded the track, above them. One of the large windows had a red coat soldier depicted on it. The place was amazing.
“Art students have painted the lead glass over the years. It’s pretty neat.”
“It is.” Aileen was at a loss for words. The empty track contained six lanes. Hurdles were set measured perfectly on one of the straightaways. The high jump mats were on the far side and pole vault mats were just across from her. She had the itch to settle into one of the starting blocks and race to the first hurdle. She inhaled slowly, taking in the scent of rubber, sweat and cool air.
She could stay here forever.
“If we cut across, there are entrances we can use. They are open on the inside but locked outside… unless there’s a meet or a volleyball game. They have the same painted lead glass on them too.” Coach Maves started across the track.
Aileen hesitated to cut across. This was sacred ground on pretty much any track. You never cut across, you always walked around. At least that’s what she believed. Yet, here she was, falling behind because she hesitated to break the rules? She grinned and jogged to catch up to Coach Maves.
What fun was following the rules anyway?
Chapter 3
Outside, Aileen zipped up her jacket once again, and slipped its hood over her head. She stuffed her hands deep into her pockets and walked beside Coach Maves.
“The Student Union is a crazy hub of activity,” Maves commented. “It has just about everything, from student council activities, to study rooms; the cafeter
ia and also a pub with pool tables, darts, and other games are set up on the lower floor.”
A blast of warm air hit them as they walked inside, along with somebody dressed in a red coat; sporting a blow up horse they were pretending to ride.
Aileen burst out laughing as she flipped her hood back. The guy was carrying a water gun but it must have broken. The one side of his jacket was drenched and the gun seemed to only sputter a few drips.
“Beware fair maiden,” he shouted at her. “I will protect you.” He stepped between her and Coach Maves, pulling out a plastic sword and swinging it in the coach’s direction. “Ol’ Maves, I know about your treachery.”
“Sean McFarland! If you hit me with that thing you are going to be running outside for practice!” Maves grabbed at the plastic sword just as Sean jumped back and crashed into Aileen.
She lost her balance and fell to the ground. A huge POP! sounded as Sean tumbled and landed on top of her. “Oh no!”
“My horse! My horse!” Sean scrambled up and lifted his deflating horse’s head. He spun around to help Aileen. “Are you alright?” He held his hand out to pull her up.
“I’m fine.” Surprisingly she was. When he had fallen on top of her, she’d expected to get the wind knocked out of her lungs. Instead, it had felt more like a heavy, bony blanket. The guy couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds. Distance runner.
Coach Maves grabbed Sean’s sword and bopped him on the head with it. “Sean, this is Aileen. She’s visiting from Ohio.”
Sean pulled his funny looking hat off, revealing a dusty brown mop of hair. He had cute freckles sprinkled across the bridge of his nose and bright blue eyes.
“Sean is a freshman. He’s running the mile tomorrow.”
Sean grinned at Aileen. “What event do you do?”
“Hurdles.”