Coach gave Hannah the signal to step up for the 400 meter dash. As she got ready Hannah could hear the cheers coming from bleachers.
A couple voices in particular caught her attention, John's wookie howl, Emily's not overly enthusiastic shout, and then Skylar's repeating a cheerleader cheer.
But Hannah couldn't dwell too much on her friends support, it was time to focus. Head up, eyes on the woman with the starting gun, Hannah counted her breaths.
One. The woman gave a small nod at the lined up sprinters. Two. Up went the hand holding the small gun loaded with blanks. Three. A finger rested against the trigger. Four. Fi-
Bang!
Eight runners jolted forward, legs and arms pumping, chests heaving, hair flying, feet pounding the rubber track, their goal right in front of them. Hannah started in the in the middle of the group, she matched her breathing to her stride and focused on ratcheting them both to top speed.
Blurs of colors was all Hannah saw of her opponents as she passed them. Blue to fifth, green to fourth, yellow to third, and purple to second. The navy with a half shaved head stayed just out of reach and passed the finish line just a step ahead of Hannah.
“So close.” The winning teen quirked the left side of their lips up. “Yet so far.” Hannah stuck her tongue out back at Colleen her biggest rival. The two of them giggled as they returned to their respective teams.
Hannah and a cheerleader both became victims of an idiot teenage boy’s thoughts of a funny prank. “The real wave!” Three boys jumped up, tossing water balloons as they threw their hands in the air. Hannah was lucky enough to miss the worst of it, only one balloon breaking open at her feet, soaking her shoes.
Those boys clearly didn’t care as they ran deeper up the bleachers cackling.
“You good Hannah?” Coach asked. Hannah nodded and squished her way to her next event, a relay. She had to grit her teeth as she ran, hating the way the wet sock and shoe rubbed against her skin. Her breathing was messed up and it wasn’t a great performance on her part, placing fifth this time.
Hannah hissed as she removed her shoe sitting on the bumper of John’s car. Before anyone could ask if she was okay, she yanked off her sock. “Ugh, I knew it.” She grumbled, seeing the popped blister on the side of her foot. “This is why we don’t run in the rain.” She pouted as Skylar missing the joke, asked Emily a serious question about whether water balloons could be considered rain.
“I’ve got a first aid kit in the back.” John tapped his car. “Do you need anything Hannah?” She sighed and asked for a bandage. At least she would be healed up by the next track meet.
Word count: 484
