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Half Truths - chapter 14

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Chapter Fourteen

Another couple of weeks pass, and this is officially winter, now.

Winter doesn’t really mean much in San Francisco, beyond an extra layer of sweater, but Grace really dislikes the training sessions that have to continue after school. Because it is definitely too cold for shorts now, but the coach still makes the team wear them, as he is safely swaddled in a million layers and a body warmer.

She kind of hates track.

Except that she doesn’t- she wouldn’t still be doing it if she actually hated it.

Grace likes the feeling of burning energy, and the competition against her own personal bests. And she loves Pearl, and likes a number of the other girls on the track team.

And so even though she really doesn’t like winter season, and a healthy majority of the boys on the team, Grace stays. She worries that if she quit, she somehow wouldn’t be achieving her potential.

(But surely that is the same with everything? Different levels of potential in different fields.)

She doesn’t want to quit though. She isn’t a quitter, even when it means working until bed, and then getting up earlier than she has ever done before, to go for a run just to keep her conditioning in check.

Hannah fits in, because Grace spends nearly all of her limited free time with her. They go to the coffee shop almost every other day, and talk in circles while Annie watches them with a smile and gives them free refills.

And sometimes they hold hands underneath the table, but sometimes they don’t.

And sometimes when Grace drops Hannah off at the end of her road, they kiss like they don’t care if someone sees them (Because what are the odds, really?)

But sometimes they don’t.

Despite her best efforts, Grace can’t help but feel like maybe they are getting away with it. Maybe this could be a thing which eases into reality without anyone having to arch an eyebrow in the slightest.

It’s a damn stupid notion, but what isn’t, these days?

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Mamrie feels like she is missing something.

Namely, her little sister.

But then again, Mamrie is hella busy herself. Senior year turns out to be kind of hard work, and then Coach Winters expects training standards to be consistently high, and it all culminates in Mamrie feeling like any time that she has to breathe in two uninterrupted breaths is a blessing and a privilege.

But Hannah shouldn’t be as busy as she seems to be. Constantly staying late at school, and then disappearing up into her room to do more work. Which, well, that’s reasonable, because Hannah gives one hundred percent towards her school work, whereas Mamrie doesn’t even have an ‘one hundred percent’ setting, when it comes to school work.