Payson knew better than to follow her, but Riley didn't, and it turned into a fierce battle of "two-sisters-that-can-both-run-really-fast". They raced each other through the streets of Boulder, until it turned into a game, and it ended with the two of them lying in the grass, giggling. When the giggling subsided, Alexis burst into tears.
"She can't do this to me! It's my last year in the juniors." She said, and curled up into a ball, and hopped into Riley's lap. Riley unbraided her long, brown hair and let the now-curly strands cover her small face.
"I know, Lex, listen, you need to trust Payson. She made it onto the team without competing in the Pacific Rim. Twice. And I'll let you in on something—you are a helluva-lot better than Payson ever was. Everyone knows it, even Payson." Alexis wiped her teary eyes, sniffled, and gave Riley a huge hug. Although Alexis wasn't sure about it all, she liked the peaceful moments when she wasn't in the gym. The two girls sat on the grass silently for half an hour, just breathing and forgetting about the busy year they had ahead of them.
"don't worry Riley, Seth is going to get you girls to the world championships, I can feel it in my bones."
Alexis broke the silence, but in sent Riley off her butt and halfway down the street. She had totally forgotten that the other members of Seth's team were waiting at her house, as she spent her jolly good time in the park.
The two girls got home 3 minutes later, gasping for breath, and laughing.
"Nice of you to join us, Riley. I hope you enjoyed your 5 hours with Payson!" She looked at her watch, and then at the 3 girls in her living room. Mara Franklin, her best friend, and also national champion runner up, Nicole Grace, 4th place in the country and also known as BITCH, and Jessica Laurel, 5th place in the country, and no one knew anything about her. Those girls were sitting in her living room, drinking tea and chatting as if they had known for ages. Riley sat next to Mara—they hadn't seen each other for awhile, since she had been in Kentucky to visit her Dad (her parents had a nasty divorce). Without further commenting, Seth continued his speech:
"Girls, I brought you here on a mission. Now I know you all think that I brought you here because I want Riley to succeed, but that's only partially true—because I want all of you to succeed. From this moment on, we are a team. All for one, and one for all; no ego, nothing of the sort, because we are here to get you guys on a world championship team this year, and for further years. " He took a sip of his coffee and opened his laptop. "the game plan goes something like this: In march we go to Italy for 2 weeks, to learn what a European peloton is like. Once we get back, there is the National tour, from which the committee is creating the roots for the world championship team. You guys are going to kick butt so hard at that race that they're going to have to change their mind about not having a girls team." Everyone squealed at the idea, but Riley knew better. It was going to be a tough year. Training would be so hard that they would be too sick afterwards to have fun, even though the idea of living together was "cute" and all. "And then, in April we are going to have 1 week of rest, and then it'll be off to some world cup events, and an international tour; when we come back—nationals, and then too, you are going to kick butt. By then, you'll hopefully accumulated some attention from the Europeans and gotten strong enough that they can't refuse."
It all seemed so simple, the way Seth just said it like that. But Riley had an unsettling feeling. The girls all seemed so giddy, and so excited, but all Riley felt was sick. She clutched her stomach, ran to the bathroom, and before she could get the door shut she vomited into the toilet bowl, Seth's hard work at making her a recovery drink down the drain—literally. She bent on her knees, threw up a bit more, and then dropped the top of the toilet seat and rested her head on it. She could vaguely hear Seth saying "Leave her alone, she's a bit sick," but she ignored it. He wasn't lying. She was sick: she was sick of the hard work she put in that got her nowhere. Nicole, Jessie, and even Mara worked hard, but no one worked nearly hard as Riley, and it was no secret. Thinking about it just made her heave so she just rested her head.
Alexis poured a cup of water for her sister and headed to the bathroom, to find her sister fast asleep with her head rested on the toilet seat.