School For The Aphrodisiacs (No Longer Continuing)

School For The Aprodisiacs

Prologue

I felt like a lioness, no matter how broken I felt at that moment. There was no questioning it; I was running the bloody race. For a week now, everyone had been giving me looks of concern or fake sympathy. For a week now, I'd been receiving words like "you'll be fine" and "it'll pass". I already knew these things, why were people telling me over and over? Were they a scratched record that was still sitting on play? Maybe they were the broken ones.

But most of all; for a week now, I'd been told that I didn't have to run the race, didn't have to feel the pressure. Were they stupid? I was going to run the race. It was what I'd been attending training for every morning without fail for over a year. Every race was like a mountain that I ran over and accomplished - whether I won it or not.

"On your marks," The man said as he signalled the man in the box above.

Two hundred metres, ten girls. It was the Olympic Games and I felt like I could throw up, but I'd already beaten one or two of them in the one hundred metres. I'd already scored a gold medal for America. I could make this, couldn't I?

"Get set!" He yelled and I mentally pushed away the bile that was rising in my throat. I'd already thrown up once today, I wasn't too keen to do so again.

Then time slowed, to the point where all I could hear was my breath. Slow - in and out, my heart beat considerably faster. My knees bent and my arms rose gently. My calves tensed as my toes sprung me up, ready to set off like a jet.

Beep!

Time shot back to me and I flew away from the starting line. My legs propelled me forwards as my arms pumped the air past me. I followed the lines as my toes hit the ground again and again. The space between my legs soon became long enough so that I was no longer taking strides - I was bounding across the track. My trademark, I was known as Rabbit at my school and now for my country.

I passed the fifty meter line with easy and grace as I continued on. My gaze was straight ahead, not worrying about the others either beside me of behind. Air rushed past my face and into my throat, drying it so that I didn't need to swallow.

Adrenaline filled my veins like it always did, making me wonder if I even had an ounce of blood in me at that moment. In my head, all I chanted was "run faster"; so I did. A giddy grin danced over my face as I sprinted past the one hundred and fifty mark.

I mentally pushed forward my pain and guilt, images of my parents on the hospital beds in front of my very eyes; and I felt my legs accelerate. The ground was meeting my feet faster and harder, and then I saw it - the twenty meter line. But I'd already passed it. I sped up more as I met the ten meter.

It was over in a couple seconds. My legs slowed and I turned around, seeing the woman in front hit the forty meter line. Eyes wide, I dropped to my knees and laughed, looking at the people in front of me timing their runners.

A woman came over to me, a wide grin on her face. She passed the timer to me and I screamed at it, falling back onto the fake grass staring at it. It had taken me 20.98 seconds to complete the whole two hundred meters. That was 8 seconds off of my best time ever. A couple moments later, the girls came off and shook hands with each other; more spitefully with me. It didn't bother me though, I didn't care at all.

†.†.†

"In third place, Melissa Barnes," The man in box announced as Melissa walked up to the stage and had a medal hung around her neck. "Second place is awarded to Grace Miles," He said as she followed Melissa suit. "Our first place champion has achieved something that no other girl her age has ever done before."

I blanked for a moment. I had? A frown crossed my face as I waited to the side of the stage, "Something that most female runners will dream of yet never gain. Luna-Lu Coyote has managed a time of 20.98 seconds. Now, that is 1.56 seconds off of the world record made in 1997 that has only been broken today. American wins gold with Luna-Lu, the teenage superstar."

Shock ran through my body, and I froze up. Maybe there was a mistake. Was the whole of society screwing with me now? I was definitely not popular at school or in my running club, but I wasn't hated. I was known as Rabbit from the track team, and that was it. So why had these people played a trick like this on me? In front of the whole world?

But before I could ask anyone, I was shoved onto the stage and a medal swung around my neck. I blinked over the sea of peoples - teenagers and adults alike - my stage fright taking its place. I would have been fine if I'd thrown up before hand - but I hadn't.

I waved and grinned at the cameras, giving up my worries. They were serious. I'd made history. And then I stumbled off of the stage.