A/N: this is what I worked on instead of studying for my test. sorry if there's any mistakes. hope you enjoy! :)
The late summer breeze blew through her hair as she moved quickly down the track. The sound of her shoes hitting the asphalt brought a sense of relaxation to her as it always did. It was still early in the morning, but it was her favorite time of day. Everyone else still rested soundly in their homes, except one Beth Childs. The twenty-two year old track star was always running on her university's track during the early hours of the morning.
Turning a corner she stopped in her tracks as she saw another girl her age approaching the track. She had a bag on her shoulders, wore a pair of yoga pants and a pink under armour long-sleeve shirt. Her hair was tied tightly back into a ponytail along with a pink hairband. As Beth ran closer and closer she saw the other girl's lips move.
Coming to a halt, Beth took out one of her ear buds which was blasting Evans Blue's latest album. "What was that?" Beth asked out of breath.
The girl smiled and repeated herself, "I said that I'm surprised to see someone else here this early."
Beth checked her digital watch she used for exercising and shrugged. "It's not that early. It's only six o'clock."
"How long have you been out here may I ask?"
"Since four thirty. It's my favorite part of the day." Beth replied easily.
"Impressive."
Beth smiled. She didn't know why she felt pride from that comment, but she struggled to keep it contained. A moment passed by before Beth shook her head and offered her hand. "I'm Beth."
"Alison Hendrix." The girl replied as she shook Beth's hand.
"It's wonderful to meet you, Alison." The two shared a smile and then they easily fell into a comfortable running pace. The rest of the morning passed by quickly, the two women slowly got to know each other a little bit before they had to return to their apartments to do last minute errands and what not before the first day of classes tomorrow.
Later that night, Beth returned to her apartment with her arms full of groceries and saw her roommate and best friend sitting in front of the television playing the latest Assassin's Creed game. "Bloody patriot," she exclaimed as she died.
"Y'know Sarah, there is a counter attack button." Beth laughed putting the bags on the kitchen counter.
"Psh, wha'ever. Didn't wanna kill him an'way…" Sarah grumbled.
"Sure."
Sarah Manning had been Beth's best friend since her family moved here during middle school. Beth was quick to befriend her after a few boys started calling them "clones" because they looked so much alike. And after watching Sarah beat those guys up for the name-calling along with making fun of her accent, it only solidified her wanting to be friends with the punk. Over the years the two shared everything, and were almost inseparable. Beth forced her to go running with her and Sarah forced Beth to play multiple video games with her in return. And when they got to high school, Beth never ditched Sarah to hang out with her athletic friends. Everything was fine for a while, until Sarah met Vic and got addicted to drugs. More than once she had cursed Beth for this and that, but every morning Beth had showed up at her house to pick her up for school. And when Sarah went through rehab due to her foster mom's and brother's influence, Beth was still there with a pint of ice cream and a video game. During their senior year of high school it was Beth whom was falling apart. Beth's parents were going through a divorce and she was on anti-depressants. It was during this time that Sarah discovered Beth's boyfriend was cheating on her. Sarah had beaten the guy up for cheating on Beth; she then went over to Beth's house with bloody, broken knuckles, a pint of ice cream, and a video game. The two had their differences, but they were also as close as two girls could be.
Beth made work putting away the groceries before she grabbed a couple beers and went to sit next to Sarah, who was getting killed yet again. "Alright, Manning, let me show you how it's done." She said as she traded Sarah a beer for the PlayStation3 controller.
"We both know I'm better at video games, Childs."
"Sure ya are." Beth said as she took a sip from her beer and placed it on the coffee table then resumed the game.
Beth pressed buttons and after a couple combo moves, the patriot died and she handed the controller back to the punk. "That's how it's done."
"Shu' up."
Beth laughed as she sat back with a book in her lap and watched Sarah play the game. It was only twenty minutes later that Sarah gave up on the game and turned it off. "Getting' tired of dying?" Beth mused.
"Shush you." Sarah sat back and drank her beer. "You ready for classes tomorrow?"
"Yes and no."
"Don' worry you'll still be able to get up at that ungodly hour."
"That's not what I'm worried about."
"Speak up Childs, I can't read your mind."
"I'm more worried about you."
"Me? I'll be fine."
Beth sighed; she knew this wasn't going to go over well. "Sarah, I know Vic is in town and that he wants to see you." Sarah shook her head, pretending she didn't know what Beth was talking about. "I know you know, so cut the bullshit."
"I told him to fuck off, Beth. I'm not going to go down that road again." Sarah replied, anger in her voice.
Beth took a deep breath trying to remain calm. "I believe you, Sarah. But that doesn't keep me from being worried about you. You're my best friend; I'm always going to be worried about you. I just want you to be careful when you see him."
"I'm not going to see him! Have a little faith, would ya?" Sarah exasperated as she stood up and retrieved another beer from the fridge. Beth was quick to follow her into the kitchen.
"I do have faith in you, Sarah! It's him I don't have faith in. He got you into drugs before; he can do it again if you let him. Just please be careful around him. Maybe you don't remember that last time you got involved in drugs, but I do! I don't want to see you like that again!"
"You're not my mom, Beth. You don't have to worry about me!"
"No, your mom abandoned you! She never worried about you!" She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. "Shit Sarah. I am so sorry."
Sarah stared at Beth, tears forming in her eyes. "Go to hell, Beth." With that Sarah grabbed her leather jacket and left the apartment.
When the door slammed shut, Beth turned and punched the fridge. "Ah, fuck!" She exclaimed as she stared down at her now bruised hand. "Sarah, I'm sorry," she whispered to the open air before sliding down against the fridge, dropping her head in her hands.
Beth knew she fucked up when she waited up all night for Sarah to come home and she didn't. At four thirty Beth found herself running harder than she's ever had before. Her argument kept playing over and over in her head and each time she hated herself that much more for it. She knew Sarah's mom had always been a sore spot for the punk, and to throw that in her face wasn't her best moment. Now Sarah hated her and she didn't know what to do. So round and round the track she ran. She continued to run when Alison showed up to do her own workout. Beth made no move to stop running though. She just kept pushing herself to run faster and faster.
The morning passed by and Alison was packing up when she saw Beth still pushing herself harder than she's ever seen someone push themselves. Worry creased her forehead and Alison waited until Beth came her way before trying to gain her attention. When she did, Alison saw streaks of tears running down her face. "Beth, stop. You're exhausting yourself." Alison said as she placed her hands on Beth's shoulders to stop her.
Beth didn't care if she were exhausting herself. She only cared about Sarah's wellbeing, and she had hurt Sarah, so she didn't care if she exhausted herself. "I'm fine."
"You're not. You're dehydrated and pushing yourself too hard. C'mon, I'm taking you home." Alison made no room for argument as she picked up Beth's things as well as her own. Beth allowed herself to be guided by this woman she just met yesterday.
Alison successfully helped Beth to her apartment and had the athlete sit on the kitchen stool while Alison got out a couple glasses of water. "Drink up. You need to rehydrate." Beth was no in no mood to argue so she pick up the glass and drank half of it before setting it back down. Alison took the seat beside her and said, "I know we hardly know each other, but if you want to talk about what's got you so upset, we can."
Beth looked up from her glass and stared into Alison's honey brown eyes. Her eyes captivated her and she had to stop herself from spilling all of her secrets. This girl made her want to tell her everything and as badly as she wanted to, she couldn't do that. She wasn't sure what was going on with them yet; whether they were friends, or just two people that ran in the mornings on the same track. And Beth wasn't going to do anything to screw that up; she wants to be friends with Alison. Maybe even more than that, but that was a crazy idea considering she barely knew her.
"If you don't want to tal-"
Beth cut her off. "I fucked up real bad last night. My best friend and I had an argument and she didn't come back last night. I'm just worried about her and I hate myself for some of the things I've said to her. That's why I was pushing myself so hard this morning."
"Also because your hand looks broken; which we need to take care of, by the way. First aid kit?"
"Under the sink." Beth looked down at her right hand and noticed the swelling and the bruising. Yeah, that wasn't good. "I didn't even remember that…"
Alison hopped off the stool and reached beneath the sink for the first aid kit. "You really should take better care of yourself, Beth. At this point you won't make it to graduation." Alison mused. She then carefully took Beth's hand to examine it closer. She then grabbed an ice pack and placed it gently on her hand. "Hold that there, and then when the swelling goes down, I'll wrap it up."
Beth smiled and did as she was told. "I'm sorry, I'm such a mess. I'm not usually like this."
"I don't mind." Alison reassured. "What time do you have classes?"
"Shit! I completely forgot class started today." Beth jumped up.
"Beth, relax. Go get cleaned up and I'll wrap your hand before you head to class."
Beth nodded and smiled. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Alison smiled as she watched Beth disappear down the hallway into her bedroom.
This year was going to be interesting.
A/N: thoughts? Review!