Experimental

~ Chapter 5 ~

"What?" Priscilla blinks.

"Follow me," Mr. Abbott demands, spinning around and walking toward the field.

Some of the kids start to hesitantly follow, so I go with the crowd. We walk for a minute before Mr. Abbott stops us next to the huge track that wraps around the field. Unlike my school's track, this track looks to be an entire mile. Lining the big open field are several groups of oak trees.

"Everyone, line up at the starting line!" Mr. Abbott says. "This race is just to see what your starting baseline is. We will also do this at the end of this year to see how much you've improved. Make sure to do your best."

All ten of us line up at the starting line and wait for Mr. Abbott to tell us to start.

All of these kids probably have so much more experience than me.

I can't wait to come in last.

I mean, all of these people could trail Jaxson, right?

"You're going down," Priscilla whispers, getting into runners' position.

"Yeah, probably," I mutter to myself.

"Okay, three, two one, go!" Mr. Abbott shouts.

I take off.

Wind whips through my hair as I pump my arms and legs to run as fast as I can. I find myself imagining Jaxson smiling back at me while he runs ahead of me, which only makes me want to run faster.

Before I know it, the white finish line comes into view.

When I finally cross the finish line, I wobble over to the grass and drop to the ground, gasping for breath. That might have been the fastest I've ever ran.

After I can kind of breathe normally, I look around to see how many people have already finished, but all I'm met with is Mr. Abbott's shocked face.

I look out to the track to see the rest of the class still running, not even at the halfway point.

"Were we supposed to take two laps?" I ask, still trying to catch my breath.

"No," Mr. Abbott blinks, scribbling something on his clipboard.

"Then—"

"You ran a whole mile in thirty seconds." he interrupts, still shocked.

I blink. How is that even possible?

"Blackwood, you live with humans, correct?" Mr. Abbott asks smoothly.

I nod slowly. How does he know that?

"Okay, so how did you learn about this place?" he asks.

"My friend told me."

He raises an eyebrow. "Your friend?"

"Yeah, he's a vampire."

"Really? What's his name?"

"Jaxson Cage."

He purses his lips as he scribbles something else down on his clipboard. "Interesting."

We wait for a few more minutes for the rest of the class to finish. I stand back up once they start to approach. All of them eventually cross the finish line, either staring at me in shock or glaring at me, Priscilla giving me especially disgusting looks. She looks like she's trying to burn holes in my head with her eyes.

"I think I know why the teachers have been staring at you now." Julia says, breathing heavily next to me.

A few seconds later, Lionel approaches us and flops down on the grass out of breath. "How did you run so fast?" he asks, gasping for air.