Chapter TWELVE
Cross-country checklist:
- Additional training: Coach recommended interval training / fartlek, tempo runs, progressive runs
- CORE WORKOUTS (remember: Yuffie's abs are #goals)
- Bananas bananas bananas
- Hit weekly mileage - which means must run outside of practice…
- Do not miss the next meet, or I think Coach will seriously cut me. Literally. Jokes...I hope.
"MOOOOOM! Where are my keys?"
"I didn't touch them!" she hollers from across the room in the kitchen, stashing a prepacked lunch into her bag. "Where'd you leave them last night?"
Last night...I try to recall what I did after I got back yesterday, but morning fatigue clinging to my consciousness makes it hard for my brain to function. "ARGH!" I groan, flipping through all the pockets in my bag.
"Do you need a ride?" Mom offers. "I think I have time...right, my meeting starts at 10."
"Yeah, could you - oh!" I triumphantly fish out the keychain from the depths of my bag. No clue how it ended up there - actually, I have a semblance of a clue, but anyways. "Thanks Mom. I wanna grab coffee before school starts."
"Okay, well, have a nice day! I won't be back till after dinner, so heat up the leftovers or eat out."
"Again? I'm getting sick of instant noodles."
"Then you can eat out with your friend! I'm sorry, work's been so crazy, and ever since I got back from the business trip, my boss just has even more expectations..."
"Dad's not even back yet! You're gonna leave me home alone?"
"I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out how to fend off any bandits that invade our house."
"But Mom - "
"Oh, sorry, I gotta take this. Hello?"
When Mom puts on her Business Voice, that's my cue to skedaddle, cause she isn't going to pay me any attention short of me breaking an arm. Grabbing an apple, I dash out the front door with a mumbled, "Bye Mom" that I don't think she heard.
As my mom's said before, "work sucks. Get good grades so you can land a nice job where you don't have to work so hard."
Yeah, I'm still stuck on the 'get good grades' part.
I'm mentally calculating whether I have time to also get a bagel at my usual coffee place, so I almost miss the person waiting on the other side of my car.
"Hey."
"Hey - whoa!" I take a step back, eyes warily regarding his silhouette against the morning sun. "What are you doing here, Sora?"
Sora grins. "I'm here to take responsibility."
"What? Dude, I need to get to school." I open the door on my side and hesitate for a moment. "You're not catching a ride with me, are you?"
Sora beams like he isn't doing anything wrong - which I guess he isn't, but…what's he doing here? I'm so confused...I'm not missing out on anything, right? No, cause it's impossible I asked to meet him first thing in the morning.
But figuring that out is less important than getting my coffee, so I let Sora on the car and step on the engine. "So, what are you doing here?" I ask again once we're on our way.
"I said, I'm taking responsibility."
"So what does that mean?" I take a sharp turn, which makes Sora grasp for the handle on the roof of the car.
"You - there's a car on the left!" he exclaims urgently, head darting back.
"I see it," I calmly respond, stepping on the gas to speedily lane shift anyways.
"Where are you going?" he asks.
"Oh. To get coffee. I need my morning caffeine hit or else I'm gonna fall asleep by the end of first period." I narrow my eyes at him. "You still haven't told me why you were standing outside my door like a stalker."
"Hey, you know that I know where you live, right?"
"Yeah, but still, you're not exactly who I want to see first thing in the morning."
In response, Sora remains silent.
Very smoothly, I turn into the small plaza and park my car before heading towards my usual coffeeshop. "Okay, Sora, it's too early for my brain to function. What's your point?"
"...so, you know how I owe you for making you miss your meet? Well, I figured out how I'm gonna make it up to you."
"Oh, okay, how?" I ask. Thankfully, the line isn't long, but I don't think I'll have time for a bagel. Those pastries look really good though…
"I figured, Coach is making us schedule conditioning on our own time, so why don't we work out together?"
"Oh, okay, when? One latte, and can I get that blueberry muffin? Thanks."
"Cool! Hey, can I also get an iced Americano?" Sora chirps.
"Hey, I'm not paying for you!" I complain, handing over a crisp bill. "I'm broke enough as it is."
"Calm down, I"ll pay you back. It's $2, right?"
"With tax and tip!" I remind him as I grab the receipt and my pastry from the cashier. We head towards the pickup area to wait while I munch on my blueberry muffin. The lull in conversation reminds me to continue probing, "what were you saying?"
"Uh, I was thinking mornings? Cause otherwise it's hard to work around our afterschool activities - "
"Wait, what are you talking about?"
Sora looks at me. "I said, we could work out together, and you said yes."
I choke on a crumb. Death by blueberry muffin is not how I want to go. "What? No!" I exclaim.
Sora gives me a weird look. "You just said yes."
"Hey, anything I say before 10 in the morning is off the record. Stop taking advantage of me while I'm uncaffeinated."
"O-kay...so why'd you change your mind?"
Making sure I properly swallow this time before speaking, I chew thoroughly and then look Sora in the eye. "That just...doesn't make any sense. Why would I work out with you?"
"Uh, how does it make no sense? We both need to condition anyways. And why not? Research shows having a partner boosts productivity - "
"I don't care what research shows - I just don't get why I'd work out with you."
I await a quick, witty reply from Sora but instead, all he has to offer is silence. Which makes me nervous - what can he possibly be thinking?
"...I'm just trying to return a favor," he mumbles so quietly I almost miss it. Before I get a chance to respond, the barista calls out my name and hands us our drinks. I take a long, thoughtful sip of my latte, watching Sora do the same.
Ahh...glad to be caffeinated.
"Or I guess you can't keep up," Sora mutters between sips.
Death by latte is also not the way to go - but actually...ahem, anyways. After clearing my throat, I look at him incredulously. "Excuse me?"
Sora shrugs. "We do different drills for conditioning, right? You've probably never done our drills before."
"How different can conditioning drills get? Hell, my whole sport is basically conditioning. Anything you do, I can."
"All you do is run for long stretches - but we have to practice our endurance and sprinting." Is he boasting? He's so goddamn cocky when it comes to his sport. He acts like it's the greatest thing on the world.
"So? That's basically interval training, right?" I snort. "We do the exact same thing!"
"You'd probably outlast me in a race, but you're not gonna sprint faster than me."
"I'll have you choking in a runner's dust, Sora."
"Prove it."
"Prove - okay, bring it, Sora," I boldly proclaim. An eager smirk rushes to his face.
"Okay, tomorrow morning 7am at the park?" he proposes. The mere thought of being awake at 7 makes me mentally balk, but it's as if the glint in Sora's eyes is daring me to back down. Why would I back out of a challenge I know I won't lose?
"You're on."
God, someone turn that alarm off.
Like most people, I have a love-hate relationship with my alarm. It's sorta like my relationship with my parents, actually. Most of the times, when they're being loud, I get really annoyed that they're making me do things I don't wanna, but in hindsight, I can see everything's for my own good.
Wow. Quite the philosopher at 6:30am.
I snooze a few times and start to hate the upbeat song I've chosen as my alarm. Shutting it off, I sit up in my bed and draw a deep breath. My entire body says no, slip back under the covers, you can sleep another hour…
But then the thought of Sora gloating over me makes my eyelids fly open as I rest my feet on the ground.
God, I hate Sora.
Grabbing my prepacked bag, I drag my feet to the bathroom and splash some water on my face to wake me up. Okay, I'll admit, staying up till 2am marathoning the last episodes of Smash Doctors was a bad idea...but I just wanted to see the main leads get their happy ending that they deserve!
Sighing heavily, I trudge back to my room and toss on a random pair of shorts and shirt. Stuffing my keys and phone into a small bag, I check the time and realize I'm gonna be late. In the kitchen, I grab a banana and bottle of water before booking it out of there.
God, why the hell's it so cold too? I've literally never been awake at this hour of the day since...years. Goddammit, Sora.
The entire way to the park, I'm only shivering and cursing Sora under my breath - lovely. So by the time I get to the park, I'm a very grumpy camper.
Sora's there already bouncing a ball on his knees. When he sees me, he waves friendlily enough, but my foul mood just makes my frown deepen.
"Hey! You look like you just woke up and didn't have breakfast," Sora comments lightly.
"Wow, gold star for you," I return. "See, I made it. So, what're you gonna do today?"
Sora shrugs. "Was just gonna do some laps. I haven't worked out in awhile so I'm taking it easy."
My response is a very unladylike snort. But I'm hungry and tired so I don't give a damn. "Sure. I'll warm up and do interval training."
"Wow, first thing in the morning?" Sora asks as we start the first lap. The cold is really getting to me - I should've worn something thicker, or maybe brought a hat - so I grunt in response and keep to myself for the rest of our warm-up.
It's funny watching Sora stretch though. He does the same stretches we did in elementary and middle school soccer, which I'd totally forgot about until seeing him now. When my eyes catch his, my first instinct is to look away, but he makes a face at me so I just laugh instead.
"Alright, I'm getting cold again so I'm gonna just start jogging," Sora says, jumping to his feet. "How are you gonna keep track of time for interval training?"
I shrug. "I'll probably just sprint and rest every other 100 meters," I figure.
"But you're lazy so you're just gonna slow down."
"Am not!" I protest hotly. Why does he have to state it so matter-of-factly? "Besides, I have an idea of my pace."
"I can call out the time for you," Sora proposes. "I have my watch."
"What, you're just gonna holler across the field?"
"The field's not that big. Are you doing 30 seconds sprint, 1 minute jogs?"
Just the thought of the workout makes my body sigh tiredly. "...yeah," I mumble, signing off on my death sentence.
Sora smirks, raising his hand with a watch. "Okay. Ready, get set - "
"Go!" I exclaim, wanting to beat him to the chase. Sprinting off ahead of him, I decide he can choke in my dust, the dust of a real cross-country athlete. His endurance has got nothing on mine.
Thirty minutes later, the story's a little different.
"Oh, Kairi!" Sora exclaims from behind me. "Fancy seeing you, again!"
"Shut...up…" I grumble between heaving breaths. I hate him I hate him so much, so much, like, how's he still smiling after laps and laps around the field…?
"Time to sprint!" he adds in cheekily. I resist the urge to curse (because now that'll only waste my breath) and begrudgingly pick up the pace so it's just a little faster than my 'jog.' Well, to be honest, my 'jog' is more of a fast walk now, and my sprint's what my jog should be. But we've been at this for awhile and I'm dead tired and did I mention how much I hate Sora?
"Kai, your sprint's slower than my jog," Sora points out astutely. No one asked for your fucking opinion, Sora.
"Shut up," I summarize my thoughts succinctly, but just to prove it to him, I pick up my pace enough so the distance between us starts growing again. Slowly. Verryyyyy slowly…
When we finally reach the place we started from, I decide that's all I can do today. "I'm done, I'm done," I insist, wobbling towards my backpack and water bottle. I basically collapse onto the ground, yearning for a rest of some sort, because with Sora's annoying voice yapping off every other minute, I might've pushed myself a little harder than I'm used to.
"Phew! That was good for the first workout!" he exclaims, proudly standing tall over me. I look up and raise a hand to block out the sun. For some reason, the one thing I can think is how comfortable he looks here. Like if there's such a place as Sora's place, it's here: with his self-satisfied smirk and sweat-glistening forehead, proudly looking over what he's accomplished.
Meanwhile, I'm here sprawled on the grass, drowning myself with water like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, not so sightly.
"I still have practice today," I complain, shutting my eyes and lying down on my back. The grass is kinda soft, and it's pretty comfortable just soaking in the sun and resting after an exhausting workout.
I peer open an eyelid and notice Sora plop down next to me on his butt. I rest my head back down, looking up at the sky. I'm not really big on the whole 'silence' thing between people, but with the morning quietness, the silence feels comfortable between us. For once, I don't feel the need to fill up the space with meaningless words.
Probably cause I'm just too tired.
"You ever wonder why you do sports?" Sora asks out of the blue.
I blink, my brain struggling to function after a long period of inactivity. "Yeah...why're you asking?" I turn the tables on him.
He shrugs, looking away from me at the far distance. "Cause I just realized, I think this is why I play sports - this moment. When after everything's over, I'm just glad I got to forget about life for awhile."
"So you don't play sports cause it's fun, you play to escape from your life? That's kinda sad."
"I mean, if you think about it objectively, how are sports fun?" Sora shrugs. "You run till your lungs are dying and you can't feel your legs. You chase a ball around the grass, or in your case, you literally are just making yourself run in circles and circles. What's the fun in that?"
In my heart, I want to call out his bullshit, but I can't debate with Sora at this hour in the morning after all that running we did. So I keep quiet and let his words fill the silence.
"And like, sure you scored more goals than last time or you ran faster than before. But what does that actually mean? Nothing, you know? You're just doing it to prove to yourself you can actually do it. No one else actually cares."
"Fans care," I manage to come up with.
"Fans care when you win," Sora says. "I don't know what's worse - when they hate you or when they ignore you when you lose."
"Okay, you're right, people do that," I concede. "But...are you saying you aren't having any fun when you're playing soccer?"
"I don't know," Sora admits. "I mean, I feel like I'm having fun, but why? My dad asked me the other day," he explains, "and he pointed out how there's no objective purpose to playing soccer. It's not like I'm gonna go pro or anything."
"S'not like I'm aiming for the Olympics either," I point out. "But I still run."
"Then why do you do cross-country?"
"...I don't know," I confess. I mean, my brain isn't completely functioning at 7:30am. "I just - I always have. I've always been a runner. What happens when I stop running?"
What happens when I stop running? Good question indeed.
Sora simply shrugs. Of course, if I don't have an answer, how would he?
Sora looks...sad. Which is a weird look on him. So I reach over and slap him on the back. He's a little startled and turns around with surprise written on his face.
"...sorry, I don't know what I was gonna say," I backtrack, suddenly feeling my prepared words of encouragement sound trite and meaningless. "I guess that's a good question."
"I was gonna say, your question's valid too," Sora says. "What will happen when we stop running?"
Sora's also a little too thoughtful for post-early morning workout. I'm not used to anything outside of him and that dumb smile he always wears. "I don't know...but maybe that's okay," I conclude, jumping to my feet. "S'not like we have to have all the answers at 16, right?"
I turn around, extending a hand to help Sora up. He looks up curiously, sorta like a lost child.
But finally, he smiles and takes my hand.
A/N: SoKai fluff! Regular updates! What more can you ask for?
(You can ask for more, ask away and ye shall [probably] receive.)
Transitions in relationships are always hard for me. Did you find this shift sudden and abrupt? I'm trying really hard to 'show, not tell' the changes, but let me know which parts can use some revision.
And in the next chapter...one of the subplots will finally reach its climax. Yay-yeah. I swear I have an outline...that's really messy...but going somewhere...!