Chapter 10
The next morning Megan woke up sick again, and ran to the bathroom. She cried in frustration. She thought this was over, she was sick of being sick.
I need to run, she told herself. She went back into the room and quickly got dressed trying not to disturb Adena. She grabbed her mp3 player and was out the door. As soon as she was outside she took off at a full run. She headed for the woods and her usual running trail.
She had been running for about an hour, and had lost track of ho many laps she had done, when the emotions hit her; she bust into tears. She tried to keep running, but couldn't. She stopped on the bridge and sank to the ground. Everything was catching up to her, all the stress and worry of the past few weeks, and everything about the baby. She was going to have to face the fact that she would have to leave Cascadia, and would probably have to give up on tennis.
"Megan?" A voice startled her. She looked up and saw coach Gunnerson standing over her. "Are you alright?" he asked crouching down beside her.
"It's nothing, I'm fine," she said quickly whipping her eyes.
"You don't look fine," he said. "You know you can talk to me about anything," he added.
"Really, I'm fine," she said getting up. "I have to go, or I'll be late for class," she said and then ran back to the dorms. Outside her room she ran into Adena who was on her way to breakfast.
"Are you coming to breakfast?" Adena asked her.
"Uh, yeah, I'll meet you there," Megan answered. She hurriedly showered and got dressed then quickly made her way to the cafeteria. Everyone was almost done when she arrived.
"You better hurry Megs, it's almost time for class," Adena said when she saw her. Megan grabbed a bowl of cereal and quickly shoveled it down then went to class with everyone else.
"Where were you?" Sebastian asked her on the way.
"I went for a run," she told him. Megan was distracted all through classes; she hoped that Gunnerson wouldn't say anything; she didn't want to have to deal with that.
At lunch Megan could barely eat, she just pushed the food around her plate.
"You should eat something," Sebastian told her.
"You should mind your own business," she snapped back at him. "I have to go," she said and got up and left. She went back to her room to change. She grabbed her mp3 player and headed out for another run. Running always made her feel better.
She had been running for awhile then suddenly realized she was going to be late for practice. She sprinted back to her room to get her racked and gym bag then out to the court. She was late; Gunnerson gave her a look, she just glared aback at him. He turned back to the rest of the students. Megan was surprised; usually he would have made her do pushups or something.
She went and joined everyone else doing the drills; she purposely stayed far away from Sebastian.
After practice coach Gunnerson approached her. "I'd like to see you in my office, meet me there after you shower," he said to her then walked away. She wasn't surprised he wanted to see her, but she still didn't want to talk to him.
She started towards the locker rooms and saw Sebastian standing up the pathway waiting for her. She knew she couldn't avoid him now.
"Hey, what's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing, I'm fine! I just need some space right now, ok?" she fired back at him.
"Ok, if that's what you want," he said. She continued on to the locker room and quickly showed trying to avoid having to explain things to Adena. She dreaded having to go see Gunnerson, but she knew she had to eventually, better to get it over with.
She knocked on his door. "Come in," he said.
"Oh good," he said when he saw her. "Have a seat." She shut the door behind her and sat in the chair facing his desk. "Megan, I wanted to talk to you about the tournament this weekend," he said. She nodded, not quite sure what he was getting at. "I think you should sit it out," he said.
"What! Why?" You think I'm not good enough!" she growled.
"That's not what I said. I just think you are pushing yourself too hard, and putting too much pressure on yourself," he said.
"Well I don't," she said. "And I am entered, and I'm going to play!" she added.
"Well I can't stop you," he said.
"You're right, you can't," she said and got up and left.
She knew she shouldn't have talked to him like that, but she didn't care right now. She would show him, she would show everyone. I'm going to win it all, she vowed herself.
She skipped dinner that night; she didn't feel like seeing everyone. Instead she ate a hyper bar and some cookies she had stashed away. Then she went to be early.
The next morning she got up at five to go for a two hour run. She had to be in top form if she was going to win the tournament.
At breakfast she avoided eye contact with everyone, especially Sebastian. She didn't pay attention in any classes; she spent the time visualizing her wins.
At practice Gunnerson had them playing match ups. Megan played Squib and creamed him. Squib was shocked, but it just made Megan even more determined that she could win the tournament. She went to bed early again that night; the next day was the first day of the tournament and she wanted to be well rested for it.