Chapter 5

"I'm afraid that we all make mistakes. One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes. If we lie about having made a mistake, then it can't be corrected and it festers. On the other hand, if we give up just because we made a mistake, even a big mistake, none of us would get far in life." -Terry Goodkind, Confessor

"So I need to speak to Coach Finstock if I want to join?" Will questioned as Isaac guided her to their History classroom. It was the only class aside from Chemistry and English that they shared.

Moving out of the way to avoid walking into someone Will bumped into Isaac in the process. "Sorry." She squeaked in apology. She wasn't used to a school this big. There were too many people.

"He'll probably be in his office if you need to find him." Isaac informed her.

"Which is in the boys locker room right?" She asked moving out of the way of another person. She remembered Scott mentioning something about it when he was indicating where her classes were earlier.

"Yeah." Isaac replied smirking at her expression. It was a cross between dread and worry. But mostly dread.

"Great." She sighed. "That's bound to go wonderfully." Isaac laughed steering her into the classroom as she nearly walked past the door.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God..." Will muttered as she paced back and forth outside of the boys locker room. She wasn't quite sure of the procedure here. Was she supposed to knock before entering? She always knocked before entering Scott's room and this was pretty much the same thing.

But what if that wasn't right? Maybe she was just supposed to just go ahead and walk right in?

Taking a deep breath and going with her better judgement Will rapped twice on the door before walking in.

No one really acknowledged her presence, a few guys looked up as she walked in but went right back to what they were doing before. And there weren't any naked guys which was good because that would have caused a very awkward scene.

Will navigated her way around the locker room making sure not to walk into anyone or anything as she did. When she reached Coach's office she briefly wondered why it was on the complete opposite side of the locker room. Surely it being next to the door would make a lot more sense? It would stop awkward things that usually happened to people like her.

The door of Coach Finstock's office was slightly ajar and he was sat at his desk writing. Knocking and pushing the door open a bit wider Will stood in the door way waiting for Coach to say something.

"Greenberg-" He started in a harsh voice not looking up from what he was doing.

"I'm not Greenberg, Sir." She interrupted before he could get any further.

"What?" He questioned this time looking up from his desk.

"I'm Will McCall. I was wondering about joining the cross country team-"

"Another McCall?" He butted in leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, Sir." She replied nodding.

"Well then, you're on the team."

"What-" This wasn't how she was expecting the situation to turn out. Wasn't she supposed to show that she could actually run before being given a space on the team?

"But the state rules that try outs are mandatory." He continued waving around the pen he was holding. "So you'll have to run."

"I-" She tried but was once again cut off by Coach Finstock.

"Friday, after school." He finished simply before returning to writing clearly showing that their conversation was over.

"I-I'll just go?" She jabbed her thumb towards the door and turned to leave, glancing over her shoulder before she left his office to confirm that she was supposed to.

"I'm not entirely sure what just happened" Will said out loud once she found herself outside of the locker room in a very confused state.

What had she just gotten herself into?

Cross country was not a good idea. At all. It was the worst idea in the history of ideas. Ever. Who ever created cross country was the spawn of Satan.

Will had been running for approximately 20 minutes and so far she had fallen over an average of of once every minute. She was sweaty and her legs and elbows looked like they had been attacked by a bear. Also she had a cut on her arm. God knows how she got it. She wasn't even sure when she had done it.

"I take it back! I don't want to do this any more!" She shouted as she ran fully aware that no one could hear her.

"I want my books back!" She cried. "They don't cause pain!"

"Well, not physical pain anyway..." She amended as she pushed stray pieces of hair that had fallen out of their bun out of her face.

Stopping as she reached an uphill part of the course, Will bent down resting her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath. Why was she putting herself through this?! It was torture!

"If this were a movie I'd be amazing at this..." She muttered as she straightened up and began walking up the raised terrain.

After 25 more minutes of running and (mostly) walking Will spotted the end of the course. Surprisingly Coach Finstock was still there. She had expected him to leave, she was probably the slowest cross country runner in the entire history of cross country. Well, maybe not the whole history. But most of it.

Breaking into a sprint for the last leg of the course, Will collapsed on to her knees as soon as she had passed the finish.

"Well," Coach started looking at her sweaty, bruised and cut self currently lying on the floor at his feet. "At least you finished."

"Good job." He smacked Will on the back as she stood up causing her to lurch forward slightly. "I guess we'll be seeing you tomorrow for the meet." He slapped her shoulder once again before making his way back into the school.

"I-Wha-bu-" She gaped. "Huh?"

The meet didn't even get her out of chemistry!

Falling backwards on to the couch as soon as she got in not even bothering to take off her bag or sweaty clothes she groaned at the ceiling. She hated herself right now. And Scott. If he hadn't brought up cross country in the first place she would never have gotten the stupid idea of trying out in the first place. And it was also Scott's fault that she had been given an automatic place. Damn Scott and his stupid lacrosse skills.

Just as she was thinking this Scott entered the house followed by Isaac. They both looked like they had tried out for cross country too. But way more intensely.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Will asked forcing herself to get off the couch.

"We went to get Mexican." Isaac answered dropping into the arm chair at the same time Scott took up her place on the couch.

"It better have been some damn good Mexican." She said as she entered the kitchen and began looking for ice packs in the freezer. She got the feeling it was probably better not to press for answers.

"Here." She threw an ice pack to each of them before lifting Scott's legs, sitting down in the place they were occupying, letting them rest on her lap when she had settled herself.

"I see cross country went well." Isaac stated nodding towards her legs and then leaning his head against the back of the chair.

"I made the team at least." She sighed turning to face Scott who looked about ready to pass out. "You really don't look good." When he didn't say anything she turned to Isaac. "He really doesn't look good."

"I think we should move him to his room." Isaac groaned as he stood up.

"Alright." Will replied moving Scott's legs groaning as she got up too.

"Come on then." Isaac grabbed one of Scott's arms throwing it over his shoulder so that he could grab him by the waist and haul him off the couch. When Isaac had Scott on his feet Will got on the other side of Scott putting his other arm around her shoulder and gripping his waist.

Moving Scott was not easy. Isaac and Will were constantly bumping into walls which wasn't helping their own aching bodies. When they reached the stairs it became apparent that they couldn't all fit up at once so Will went up ahead and Isaac dragged Scott up the stairs. When they reached the top Will resumed her previous position and with only a few more bumps and bashes they got Scott to his room.

"There." Will breathed pulling the duvet over the now snoring Scott. "I think I need to sleep before I pass out too." She said rubbing at her eyes.

"I'm with you on that." Isaac said closing the door of Scott's bedroom as they left. "And just think we've got a 5 hour bus journey ahead of us tomorrow."

A/N:

I hope this chapter is okay :D I had so much trouble trying to write it my laptop crashed and I ended up re-writing it like 4 times ;_;

4themoonshot: Thank you for your review ^.^ I hope you liked this chapter :D

Isaacfan: wcsstore/TopShop/images/catalog/16P14DPNK_ - the leggings I wasn't describing very well xD Thank you again for reviewing!

Thank you for reading! If there is something you don't like about this chapter or think I can improve please tell me :)