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 Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:48 pm
There was always a sense of joy among the kids on half-days. Smiles erupted at the noon bell and the students would shuffle out quickly, forgetting their school-time worries and moving on to homework and video games. A silence would fall over the school, but not every student would leave.
In the midday sun, Karmi moved hurriedly to the track. After the last bell sounded it's final goodbye she had rushed into the girl's locker room and changed into her P.E. uniform, trying to get to the track before the rest of the school had time to react. Although she loved being around people, she was selfish in the way of wanting the first lap around an open track. Carefully avoiding the cracks in the cement below her, she rushed past the volleyball courts and down to the track area.
An earthy scent was abundant the further she traveled from the rest of the school. Stepping onto the grass, her feet squeaked across the remaining dew which the noon sun had yet to dry. There was a silence around her, which meant that the teams had yet to organize and take the first laps for themselves. She smiled.
"I wonder how much company I'll have today," she said, looking forward to the track. "Hopefully I'm not alone the whole time."
Truth be told, she often delighted into thinking that someday someone might be there before her. It was a dream unrealized thus far, but maybe the school teams would finally get more organized and plan workout days for their players. Lost in thoughts, she nearly stepped onto a dry dirt patch with a large crack down the middle.
"Ooh!" she exclaimed, hopping over it quickly. "The last thing I need today is bad luck." And with that, made a greater effort to reach her destination.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:48 am
Honestly, he didn't need this. This was just ridiculous.
Out on the track by himself, before Karmi even got there, stood Skip in his gym uniform. He had been waiting for other people to arrive - his friends and fellow teammates, specifically. By the way things were looking, the rest of them were going to be no-shows. Great! Just great; so much for baseball conditioning!
It wasn't often that Skip called for early conditioning training like this. In fact, he only did it once and a while, as he knew how much the other guys liked to have some time off. But this time was different. The Meadowview baseball team had a game coming up against another public school team soon, and they were no where near ready. The conditioning he had planned was to help prepare them all for that.
Oh, well. So much for that! There was no use getting all worked up about it. The worst case scenario was that no one would show up to practice. So far, that seemed to be true. Then again, on the bright side, more training for him. Who knew being the captain of the baseball team would be this difficult? Ahh...now that he thought about it, it was no problem for Skip. He could just give the guys a good pep talk next time they had a regularly scheduled practice.
"Better make the most of this," the senior said to himself, "or it'd be a waste, otherwise."
With that, he got to stretching. You know, perhaps this wouldn't be so bad. It wasn't often that the track itself was this free of people. On regular school days after classes were out, it was usually packed, so this was a welcomed relief. It would definitely make his conditioning a whole lot easier if he were uninterrupted. He could get used to this. Perhaps it was a sign to come train at the track more often. If it was, well...that could always be arranged.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:21 pm
A gentle wind picked up as Karmi rounded around the last fence in her way. Excited, she stood on the edge of the track, overlooking its earthy wonder. As her eyes surveyed the landscape, they stopped on a lone figure stretching near the center of the track. She blinked, Well I'll be... she thought, jogging over to the lone figure.
Immediately she recognized his hair. Isn't that the baseball team captain? If not, he looked uncannily like him.
"Hey," she said towards him.
A smile graced herself. Finally someone had beaten her out to the track and she was thankful for it. Maybe I can get a good race in, if I'm lucky. She had been aching for a race, or even just a run, with someone else. With the rest of her track team on off season, she was feeling rather lonely in her runs. Glancing at Skip she looked hopeful.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:33 pm
Although he hadn't expected to see anyone else on the track, Skip wasn't surprised when Karmi jogged her way over to him. She was on the track team after all, wasn't she? 'I'm pretty sure she is,' he thought to himself, thinking back to the track season last year. The girl was pretty hard to miss in the events, what with her pink hair and all that.
"Mornin'," he replied cooly with a soft smile. "Out for a run?"
Just after he asked his question, a thought crossed the boy's mind. 'Oh, snap...what if she asks for a race? Will she ask for a race? Please don't ask for a race.' The thought of running against Karmi around the track seemed daunting, and while he could probably keep up with her, running wasn't exactly his strongest point. She'd probably run him into the ground, and then where would he be? Embarrassed, and left standing in the dirt; that's where.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:59 pm
Karmi kept her smile as she nodded, "Yup. I think the early afternoon is a good time to run." she replied, studying him slightly.
Months had passed without a good run with others. Even if it just a friendly jog together, she had been aching for someone to run with. Most of the Track team had moved on to other sports during the off season, but she remained firm in running. In past years she attempted basketball, but couldn't hold onto the ball while she tried to run. Therein was her weakness. No matter how well she could run and do other track activities, she failed to be able to bounce a ball and run at the same time. Never again. Track was her sport, her strength, and what made her truly happy.
She had yet to find someone that was that much into Track as she was, but at least other athletic types could understand where she was coming from. Surely someone from Baseball... She thought, keeping her eyes fixated on Skip. It had been a long while since she had seen any of the baseball team out on the track. Elated at the fact she finally had a running partner, she glanced around to see if there was anyone else who could join them.
"You're Skip, right?" she said, remembering the name from one of the baseball games she had gone to with friends. "Are you the only one here?" She moved her eyes slighlty, searching for more of his team nearby.
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:20 pm
"Yeah, that's right," he said with an amused laugh. Brownie points for Karmi! She actually remembered his name, while not many other people did. "Skip Parker," the senior added a moment afterward, nodding his head to her politely. "And you're Karmi, right? I've seen you competing on the track team."
The track team at Meadowview was something to be reckoned with, or so he had heard. Apparently, during track season, they would have practice almost every day of the week for at least one or two hours. Now that - that was commitment. Why couldn't the baseball team be like that?
A sigh of a mixture of disappointment and annoyance escaped him when Karmi asked if he was the only one at the track. If only it weren't true. At least one other person showing up would have been nice. But no! All of them wanted to sit back and relax, regardless of the upcoming game. Uggh! Baseball was going to be the end of him. How could the team expect to do well this season if none of them were serious about it?
"Unfortunately, yeah," he mumbled, glancing downward at the track. "The rest of the guys and I were supposed to have conditioning today, but by the looks of things...none of them have shown up. I should have figured this would happen. None of us really enjoy the conditioning part of practice."
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:05 am
Karmi watched him carefully as he let out his sigh and continued on. Intuition was serving her better and she could almost feel the annoyance he had towards his fellow teammates. Maybe right now wouldn't be the best time to be competitive. she thought, making a warm smile.
"Yup, Karmi's my name." she said at first, to answer the older question, "I'm sorry about your teammates." she said softly, folding her arms as the smile on her face grew. "But that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with the conditioning training."
Truth be told, she was slightly embarrassed after that. Obviously her ability to tune into other people's emotions was off beforehand. Now that it was apparent to her, she was dead set on helping him. A glint caught her eye.
"I could always run laps with you, maybe help you keep pace or something." She said, making sure to read his reactions carefully. If he was for it, she'd continue; if not, she'd let up and maybe try to run down the rest of his team.
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:44 am
Skip blinked in surprise when Karmi apologized about his teammates. Really, though, it was fine. There was nothing he could really do about the situation, after all. If the team was going to skip, then they were going to skip. He couldn't force them to come if they didn't want to. All he would have to do when he saw them next was to give them a piece of his mind a good pep talk!
"I wouldn't mind having someone to run with," he admitted.
Let's face it. Running alone sucked. At least, from his point of view. Jogging is something that should be done with a friend. If he ever found himself alone out jogging one morning, he could bring his iPod, but it wasn't the same as having an actual person with him. The interaction he had with others while running was nice.
Karmi was really willing to help him. Noting this, the baseball made a mental note to return the favor later. It would be the least he could do for her cheering him up and conditioning with him. Hmm...the trouble was 'what to do?' He studied her carefully after he accepted her offer. Well, at least they'd be able to talk during their run. Perhaps then he could find out more about her, and be able to figure out how to repay her that way. Yes! That's how he'd do it! He would get to know her!
Perfect plan!
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Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:19 pm
"Alright then!" Karmi said with sudden enthusiasm, moving onto the dirt track and staring down it. She smiled back at Skip and bent down, limbering up before doing any running. It was always important to her to stretch before a run, even before a nice jog. She had made plenty mistakes when she first joined track; not stretching had been one of the worst.
Stopping suddenly she stretched out her arms in front of her, cracking them slightly to put them back in place. "Let's get started!" she exclaimed, taking a step forward.
As if on cue from the gods of the superstitious world, and seeing as her foot fell on a crack in the hard packed dirt, she glanced down just in time to feel her body hit the ground. Karmi had tripped.
Laughing a little to shake it off, she blinked and looked to the side of where she had fallen. "I'm okay!" she mumbled upwards, both embarrassed and with a mouth full of sand. And that was going so well too... she thought, though she couldn't be mad at the situation when she was in such high spirits. I wish I had a gymnasts balance though. And with that, she got back to her knees, cautiously looking back to see Skip's reaction.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 3:22 pm
Ouch!
Karmi had just tripped and fallen, and by the looks of things it probably didn't feel very well. A wave of concern washed over his face, despite the fact that she said she was okay. That was the problem with girls. They always said they were okay, even if they weren't. Clumsy wasn't something that Skip would peg Karmi for, but then again, you couldn't judge a book by its cover.
He didn't even hesitate after she fell. Once she got to her knees, the baseball player extended out a hand to help her up. "Here," he said gently, "let me help you. Are you alright?" His voice was full of concern. Sure, it was just a trip, but it could have been worse.
"You have to be careful, especially on the track," he went on to say, recalling a particularly nasty fall that he took during a race on a field day. It hadn't ended well; poor kid walked away with two badly scraped knees, and he had lost the race. "Besides, if you fall and hurt yourself, who is going to be my jogging buddy? The last thing I want is for you to get hurt to where you can't run anymore."
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:02 pm
Smiling, Karmi took the extended hand and pulled herself up. "Thank you, I think I'll be alright." she said, blushing while reveling in her embarrassment. She wanted to explain herself. Clumsy wasn't really her forte, but once it involved breaking over a superstition she knew that she could trip, fall, anything deemed extremely unlucky.
Carefully, she patted the dirt from her uniform and looked herself over. No harm done. She flipped her hair back and looked back towards Skip. Karmi hadn't seen such blatant kindness expressed towards herself in a while. It made her happy to see it. Especially from another athlete.
"So how about that run now?" She said, rubbing the dry areas of her elbows. "I'll give you a head-start." She giggled, finally loosening up completely around him. It had been a long while since she had met someone new that she could share some interests with.
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Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 4:10 pm
It was good to know that she was going to be okay. God, he couldn't even imagine what would happen if Karmi had injured herself seriously. He'd probably end up carrying her to the hospital or something. 'Damn it, Skip,' he thought to himself, 'don't think things like that! Then something actually will happen. You're just asking to be jinxed!'
A head-start? He didn't need a head-start. If anything, he would be able to keep up with her - at least, for a little while. "A run sounds good, but I don't need a head start," he said with a light-hearted chuckle. "I think I'll be okay." In the back of his head, Skip could only hope those words wouldn't come back to haunt him. It was annoying to say something, only to have to eat those words later on.
After all, she couldn't be that fast...could she?
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:44 pm
Laughing as well, Karmi started a slow jog down the track, hoping he'd be there next to her. She couldn't properly gauge how fast he could actually run. Though, she felt right in assuming since he played baseball he'd at least be a good sprinter. With the friendly atmosphere, she didn't want to ruin it by making a running experiment out of it.
As they started to jog, she turned to him with a smile, "So, I know you like baseball. Are you into any other sports?" she said, making sure to keep pace.
Truth of the matter was that she had no clue about Skip. Observing him on the baseball field was one thing, but outside of that she had maybe only said "Hi" once or twice to him before. Just a hollow, happy hello. She thought. Feeling that the run was going well, she felt at ease to try to get to know him just a little better. She felt they were very similar, even down to having streaks in their hair. Perhaps intuition drove her to this conclusion, she couldn't tell sometimes. There was always a need to be around people, and she was always as nice as she could be, but there was still that teenage girl inside her that gravitated to people with similar interests.
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:02 pm
This jog wasn't so bad. He could actually find himself getting used to doing something like this. If all things went well, maybe he would even keep coming back every so often to go for a short little run. It would be good for him, that's for sure - help to keep him in shape. The rest of the team may not be up for it necessarily, but there was nothing to stop him from coming.
Jogging side by side to his female companion, Skip gazed at her out of the corner of his eye. He shrugged in mid-job, but made sure to keep moving. "Yeah," he told her as he glanced in her direction again. "I really enjoy water polo and hockey. What about you? Do you like any other sports aside from track?"
It's kind of funny how people are drawn together. Normally, Karmi would have been someone that Skip would have overlooked if it weren't for their encounter on the track. Why that was, he had no idea. Maybe he enjoyed the comfort of his regular group of friends that the thought of trying new things was intimidating. Whatever the case may be, he was out of his comfort zone now and in a whole new element. Better late than never, right?
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Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:24 pm
As she kept jogging, she had to think, but shook her head lightly. "I can't ever decide what I like best about a sport, so Track is the perfect place for me. That way, if I'm tired of hurdle jumping, I just move on to the long jump or even discus." She said, going over years of attempting other sports in her head. Though in most sports there were different positions one could play, she knew herself better than that. Trying every sport from tennis to soccer she noticed a trend; she got bored easy and would always change her mind after a week of staying on the same position about being on the team.
Well, he doesn't need to know all of that. She thought, smiling to herself. The bouncing of her hair felt nice as she jogged. As her heartbeat got quicker, she felt the rush of energy that she loved. It made her feel peaceful. Having a partner to run with helped that feeling to. As if the rest of the world didn't have problems, that's how it made her feel. Though it was a short-lived feeling, she cherished it every time she went out for a jog.
She glanced over at her comrade again. With a wide grin she had to ask, "So you wear your sunglasses all the time? I normally see you with them." In fact, he was the only kid she really saw with sunglasses. It made him stand out and had always made her wonder.
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