"Rowan?" Called my mother. I raised my hand to signal I was on the couch. "Sweetie, you need to go to bed. Final day of senior year tomorrow!" She squealed excitedly.
To say I was nervous for the end of high school is an understatement. I was terrified because not only did I have to prepare for university, I had the track and field Olympic trials in July. I would be flying up to Eugene, Oregon by myself to see if I could qualify for the ultimate athletic competition. I'm not even eighteen yet! My birthday was September tenth.
"I know. I'll go to sleep after I get some track stuff figured out, okay?" I told her kindly. She nodded and kissed my head that special way mothers do.
"My baby's all grown up!" She exclaimed. She spent about ten more seconds staring at me with pride before going up to bed. It was only 10:15, but I needed to email my coaches for state details.
"I guess I'll find out in the morning," I sighed and walked up to my room. As I plugged my phone in, a notification came up: an email from Great Wood High School. It was about the state meet, and that I had qualified.
I don't want to sound obnoxious or seem to be bragging, but of course I fucking qualified! I'm going to the Olympic trials for crying out loud! Although I'm not the youngest there, I'm one of the youngest to be competing at this level. Recently, Cadance Miller, a sixteen year old professional sprinter, reached out to me.
I was the other high schooler going for gold (literally) this year. She'd originally reached out via social media and we exchanged numbers eventually. She lived in Atlanta, so we've planned to meet up in Eugene. We don't run the same events, but we are both sprinters. We've exchanged running plans, stretches, core exercise and race recovery techniques. It's very pleasing to have someone else know exactly what you're going through because she is also going through it.
I checked the time again and realized how late it was. I dragged myself back up to my room and fell asleep, exhausted from today.
-
Sound weird iPhone ringtone that I chose.
Ugh. No. Let me sleep. It is 5:45 in the morning. I grabbed my phone to turn my alarm off when I realize, I'm a good thirty minutes late and that was my mother calling me. Crap crap crap crap. I picked up and let my mom know I was awake before throwing off the covers and jumping out of bed.
Okay. I didn't jump out of bed; I fell and hit the floor with a really loud thud. What a fantastic way to start the day, don't you think? I rushed around my room trying to find a clean sports bra. Grateful the one I found was black, I threw on a muscle tee and ran downstairs. My hair was still a mess but I could fix that after I ate.
"And you say I don't get up early enough," my fifteen year old pain in the ass, aka my brother, Kayden, taunted.
"This year I had a parking spot, so we didn't have to leave at seven, so be grateful you-" I stopped after seeing my mother's glare. While I was waiting for my toast, I munched on some rasberries. "I'll grab lunch with Ry, Mom." My mother was giving me a look because I hadn't packed a lunch. "Butter my toast for me, s'il te plaît?" I asked as she nodded. Running up to brush my hair and bring my backpack downstairs my toast was waiting. I ate it quickly and ran back to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
"Rowan!" Kayden called. "Come on! I need to go!"
"So you can flirt with the freshmen?" I teased him. He glared and went to the door. "Alright, alright I'm coming." I grabbed my keys and unlocked the car. "Get in," I hurried him in. He opened the door and got in the passenger seat.
Kayden still had his permit and he was a pretty sloppy driver. How did he even have a permit?! He tends to forget to turn on the blinker for turns anyways. He is not going to pass on his first try. No way in hell. I have a better chance of winning Olympic gold than that.
The ride to school was quiet, minus the complaints of the music in the car. My car my rules and my rules state: "driver picks the music and shotgun shuts his pie hole." I had my parking pass in the window of the car and got a decent spot.
"We're here, dork," I told my brother as I opened my door. Stepping out, my best friend, Rylee (Ry for short), ran over and jumped on me.
"Rowan!" She squealed excitedly. "I heard from a little brother that you're going to an Olympic qualifier this summer. I nodded my head and she squealed again; she hugged me tightly.
"Uh, Ry?" I wheezed.
"Oops!" She said with a giggle and put me down. I took a deep, exaggerated breath and she hit my arm. "Don't be such a butt cheek, Row." I chuckled as my friend and I walked onto campus for the last day.
Ever since freshman year the campus has never changed. That's a lie. The lockers get repainted every two years, but who am I kidding? That's literally the only thing that would change. I heard the teachers I had were pretty decent this year too. I've only ever had one "bad" teacher and she whipped me into shape for AP chemistry. I did not slack off nor did I have "senioritis." Colleges and universities were sending me interest letters and even a couple scholarship offers from sciences to athletics, but I had my sights set on UCLA. When I applied there, I wasn't sure I would be able to make qualifying times but my last season in high school took a scout's breath away and I got into my dream school.
"Hey," my friend said, stopping. "Look, its Alec Ryans." She said quietly. "I hear he's had a crush on you since sophomore year." I look to where she's pointed and see a rather tall yet thin boy with reddish-brown hair shoving books into his locker.
"Come on, you stupid textbooks!" He muttered angrily. "Cooperate for once, will you?!" With a final shove he managed to fit his books in. He slammed his locker shut and saw me. Awkwardly I waved with an even more awkward smile. He smiled back and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.
"I still think you and Scott would make a cute couple," Ry sighed and we continued the journey to Economics. "I've even heard Alec could be at university right now, but his parents didn't want him in college so young."
"And who told you that?" I asked her curiously, raising my eyebrow. "Did you here it from that nosy junior, Ylse?"
A blush of embarrassment flooded her face. "Maybe..." she trailed off and looked away. "Oh hey! We're here!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the final first class of senior year. Insert a sarcastic wonderful here. Why couldn't I just stay in bed?
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Why hello! How are my lovely readers today? Anyways what's your thoughts on the first chapter? Updating schedule shall be every Tuesday or so because that's when my mom gives me tacos.
-Hannah ( ^_^)/~~~
P. S. Have you heard about this person? Candace Hill is an amazing person. She's a sprinter with a 10.98 second time in the 100m sprint. THATS REALLY FRICKIN FAST!!! She's only 16!!!!!!! What?!
P. P. S. I'm restarting the plot so if I don't update this Tuesday then 1000 apologies in advance! I have to rewrite all the other chapters because I realized this would be too long before the actual point of the book was reached. Okay bye!
YOU ARE READING
Through the Finish
Teen Fiction(This summary is likely to change often as I suck at this) Your final day of senior year is supposed to be relaxing and relieving until fall brings about college. After training for the past four years to achieve a spot at the Olympics, Rowan's went...
