Chapter thirteen | Face planting

I gave the boys in the locker room a look, scanning the familiar faces. Their curious eyes averted away from me, making me roll mine.

If you want to gawk, then do it openly. My mind supplied with a snicker.

I pulled my shirt over my head, letting my body out on display. I was sure some other guys in the room laughed at my lack of muscles, making my ears turn red. Huffing under my breath, I sent silent curses their way.

With quick movements, I pulled my workout shirt over my head, hiding away from prying eyes.

Just as I got up from the bench after tying my laces, I felt someone crash on my side.

I looked up to meet Jacob's mocking gaze. Waiting for my glare, he shrugged in response and gave me a smirk.

"Try not to face plant on the tracks, Rodriguez. We don't want our tracks to get dirty with some squashed insects," he called over his shoulder, making laughter echo throughout the locker room.

My jaw ticked at his words as the mocking laughter depreciated my confidence. I was having second thoughts about trying out for athletics now.

With a hard glare, I pointed my eyes at the surrounding people. Some had the courtesy to stop laughing, but some just laughed louder.

"Assholes," I mumbled under my breath, inaudible to their eavesdropping ears.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, making me turn around. Connor gave me a tight smile and then turned to glare at others.

"Mind your own business!" he hissed.

Somehow in his presence, I felt at ease. I gave him a grateful smile, making him reciprocate my gesture.

"Ignore them," Connor advised.

I gave a nod at his words and focused my mind on the task in front of me.

Connor moved away from me as we stepped out on the grounds. "Best of luck, Eli," he called out over his shoulder, joining his team on the soccer ground.

"Luck," I muttered under my breath. "I will definitely need it."

My eyes searched for Aaron, trying to locate him across the ground.

I turned around when I heard someone call out my name. A smile slipped onto my face as I located Cynthia, and Andrea waving the pom-poms for me.

"You can do it, Eli!" Cynthia shouted from across the field. Andrea smiled brighter.

"You got this!" Andrea screamed.

I couldn't help let my eyes stray towards Cynthia. The smile and excitement on her face seemed so genuine that I couldn't keep my eyes away from her.

"Looks like you got some personal cheerleaders." I heard an unfamiliar voice say behind me.

I whirled around to face a smiling Aaron. Even if his words directed towards me, his eyes were focused behind me.

"Lucky guy," he muttered as I followed his line of sight. His eyes were solely focused on Cynthia, who was now talking to Andrea about something.

Feeling his stare, she looked away from her group and met Aaron's eyes. Waving his way, she gave him a brilliant smile.

I quickly turned away from her face, feeling an odd feeling eat up my stomach. As unease crept up my skin, I felt my fists ball up in unjustified anger.

Taking a calming breath, I tried to bring my emotions in control.

Focus, Elias. Focus. I repeated in my mind like a mantra.

I cleared my throat gaining Aaron's attention. His eyes snapped to meet mine. He gave me a guilty look with a lazy smile. "Sorry about that. So... are you ready to run?"

"As ready as I can ever be," I replied, fidgeting on my spot.

Aaron nodded in understanding and gestured for me to follow him. "First-time nerves," he reassured me.

"So, this will be easy. We usually take our players to earn on in summer camp, but since we are low on team members. Also, someone requested," he paused, a slight awkwardness filling his words. "We are ready to give you a try."

I didn't the name to know who that someone was. Oddly, enough this thought again brought a clench in my churning stomach.

I wiped my sweaty hands on my t-shirt and nodded along with Aaron's words.

"You have to run around the whole track within the given time. Don't worry. It wouldn't be much, just the time of our slowest runner," Aaron explained. "Our coach usually lets me handle the process of track tryouts, so you should be fine."

His words had an underlying meaning which I couldn't grasp.

"Ok," I muttered, getting ready on the spot.

"You run at the whistle," Aaron instructed, waving the whistle hanging by his neck in emphasis.

I got in position, focusing my mind on the task. I focused my eyes on the track as I took in slow breaths.

The whistle filled the silence, and I ran.

The run was a blur, and all I knew that I had to cross the finish line.

Just as I crossed the white line, I slowly brought my pace down. Almost tripping over my feet, I let exhaustion weigh over me.

I panted as I hunched over my knees. Sweat beaded down my temples and my neck, soaking my shirt.

Running shoes came into my view, making me squint up to meet Aaron's eyes. He smiled at me and turned the stopwatch towards me.

"You ran good. Good enough to be part of the team," Aaron declared, making me smile. I resisted the urge to yell in triumph because that would have been awkward and weird.

"You have to run once again around the track. So, come on get in position," Aaron instructed, almost making me faint at the very thought.

"Fuck," I muttered, wondering what the freaking hell I got myself into.

I turned towards the cheerleaders practicing to find Cynthia already staring my way.

She met my eyes with her bright ones and gave me a thumbs up. I gave her a tired look, making her chuckle.

"Congrats," An unknown guy said, patting my back. With a quick nod, I dismissed his words.

Tugging my usual shoes over my feet, I got out of the locker room. Finally, out of the hub of sweat, deodorant, and bad-smelling socks, I took in huge gulps of air.

As my feet moved across the gravel, my body protested in pain. I was sure that I would get a killer body ache by the end of the day.

"See you tomorrow!" Connor called out as he got into his car. I waved my hand over my shoulder, not bothering to turn around.

I stopped near Cynthia's car, not finding her anywhere in the near sight.

I leaned against the car, taking my phone out. Since Cynthia was the one to drive us to school, I had to wait for arrival. I swiped through social media, barely pausing at any post.

"Congratulations!" A feminine voice sang near my ear.

I jumped around in surprise to meet Andrea's dark eyes alight in amusement. She gave me a dazzling smile as her skin seemed to glow after the shower.

"Thank you," I murmured, feeling shyness creeping up my cheeks. I bit my lips lightly as I blinked down at her in awkwardness.

The normal wild thud of my heart was missing as I analyzed her beautiful features. I didn't let it show on my face as both of us looked towards the approaching figure.

"Am I interrupting something?" Cynthia asked, wiggling her brows playfully.

Andrea swatted her on the shoulder and bashfully shook her head. "Of course not."

With that, she quickly excused herself and moved towards her car.

"Come on, let's go home," Cynthia said, stretching her arms up in the air.

"What? No appreciation for me?" I asked as I clipped on my seat belt.

Cynthia rolled her eyes as her lips tilted up in a slight smile.

"I don't think you need me to stroke your already inflated ego. Andrea already did a wonderful job at that," she teased, focusing on the road.

"Genuine appreciation is what I was going to call it," I mumbled under my breath. "Better than the ones I got from many other guys in the locker room."

It was true that many of those guys congratulated me on getting into the track team. While it might seem normal, I couldn't help but notice the fickle nature of those people.

One moment they were laughing at me, while the other moment they were giving me appreciation.

"That is the truth of human nature and the top tier of the hierarchy. You are appreciated on the front as long as you hold influence," Cynthia replied in a cryptic way. "Your value is equal to what gain you can bring to others."

I didn't get much time to ponder on her words as we pulled up in front of her house. She parked her car in the driveway, turning the engine off.

As I leaned back to take my bag, Cynthia placed her hand on my shoulder.

I gave her a curious look as her eyes held a cautious look. She bit her lip in a moment of hesitation and then sighed.

"Eli, as you are climbing up the ladder, beware who you come across and associate yourself with. But, most importantly, don't lose yourself in the facade of what you are trying to be." Her eyes glinted at the last statement as her hands fisted my jacket.

I could only nod as her words made almost no sense to me.