The Runaway (ON HOLD)

Chapter one

One thing my dad taught Maya and I before he died from an overdose was to believe in ourselves. So when Maya and I were seven, he taught us a chant to say before every race. Eventually Maya had come to the conclusion that it was silly, so she stopped, but I never did. So before every race, every test, anything that scared me, I chanted it to myself.

"I am a warrior!" I roared as I flexed my left arm down to my side, "I am a monster!" I flexed my right arm down, "I am a-"

"Dork, you're a dork." A very sweaty Carter said laughing from behind me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into a hug. A shade of red fell over my face, it wasn't the first time he caught me doing that, but that never made it any less embarrassing.

"Shut up!" I giggled, wrapping my arms around his waist. I looked up at him, remembering that he didn't place. "Hey about the race-"

"I don't really wanna talk about that right now." He said, cutting me off. I looked into his brown eyes, nodding and lifting my arm to move his long brown hair out of his eyes, before grabbing his hand and leading him out of the girls locker room that he had snuck into. Laughter filled the room as he twirled me around and pulled me close, locking his lips with mine.

As Carter left to go shower I was greeted by my very hyper mother and my close friends, Liam and Jackson.They all congratulated me, shaking me up and down so hard I'm pretty sure I got brain damage. Half their faces were covered with red, and the other half gold. The school colors. "Face Paint?" I asked, "I thought you guys were too cool for face paint?"

"And I thought you were too cool to be wearing your pants on backwards but here you are surprising everyone." Liam sassed looking at my pants. Shit. This is what happens when people rush me.

Before I could rush back into the locker room the stupid sports announcer called my name out, turning everyones attention to me and my backwards pants. "There she is! Hailey Miller! Come out here!" I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then walked to the awards. Katie soon made her way out of the locker room and followed me, holding my hand as she got her second place medal.

Luckily I don't think anyone really noticed my pants when I accepted my award and took my pictures, or they did but were just too nice to say anything. They had taken my picture for the school newspaper. It was the only time my name was in the newspaper for a good reason.

Liam, Kaite and I wanted to have a sleepover, but it was a school night. Normally my mom would let them sleep over, but not Jackson. "Only the girls and the gays can sleep over," she says.

After I got home and changed into my flannel pajamas I stepped outside on the balcony, allowing the cool air to hit my face. "Are you proud of me dad?" I whispered looking up at the stars. "I did it. I won first place. I know if you were here you'd be proud." I slightly smiled, tears threatened to fall from my eyes. I sat there, in the dark, imagining that my dad was here to tell me how good I did. That was until I heard my mom's voice call me in.

I laid down in my twin sized bed, staring up at the ceiling thinking. I made it this far, I won state championships for my division. I was set for life. Everything bad that could've happened, already happened. That's what I thought.

     I'm Hailey Miller, and this is the story of how I ruined my life.

I rushed into school the next morning prepared for all the congrats I would get, mostly from people I didn't even know. In my house the rule is that if you win a race or a gymnastics competition you get a day off from school, since we couldn't really spend extra money on cake or balloons or anything. And I won nationals, so that's worth like five days off of school. But no, I had to take my stupid history exam. My mom rushed me out of bed this morning. I threw on some leggings and a sweatshirt and sprinted onto the bus.