"Shiro? Where are you guys?" I asked into the phone. "You were supposed to be here half an hour ago."
"We got side tracked, I promise that we'll be there to watch you come in first!" He yelled.
"Okay," I sighed. "I've got to go, the race is about to start."
I hung up without a response and threw my phone into my bag and walked over to the start line. There were ten different schools, we were competing at State, and we were at the hardest course for Cross Country running in the state. My team consisted of me, Lance McClain, Pidge Gunderson, Matt Holt, Shay Letean, and a few other people.
Most of us got along well and the others were good runners, but not quite as fast and resistant as me. It made me happy to know that I was the best. I grouped up with the team and we just talked for a bit before we had someone take a pictured each team then a picture of us all at the start.
Lance lined up next to me and grinned, his blue and black jersey, handing off his slim body. "Ready to rumble, newbie?"
My favorite nickname, despite me being the best I was still the newest addition to the team. "Not really."
"Still bummed about you boy, Keith?" He looked over at me and I shrugged.
"I guess, I just wish he were here." Lance smiled and patted my back lightly.
"You'll see him soon." I nodded glumly, despite me being excited about this race, Keith had injured himself running sprints in track last summer. He dug it and got nailed in the face with someone's spikes. He went into a coma and he hadn't waken up since. It's been five months and it was killing me a bit.
"Ready... set... go!" Lance and I took off, not at a sprint, but a mild jog, he kept good pace with me for a good ten minutes until we got to the mountain. I kept jogging at the same pace, but Lance began to fall behind. I whipped him a small smile and kept running up the hill.
I wasn't in first, there were six people ahead of me. All of them from Galrak High. Their dark purple jerseys swished across their bodies and just watching it made me feel stronger, and quicker. I wasn't going to let my new school's number one rival beat me.
They were all boys, tall and muscular, most of them looked like they were built to run, but so was I. I noticed that one of them was falling behind, too quick of a start maybe, I easily passed him.
We were still going up the mountain and my legs were screaming, it felt so amazing, wind rushing through the jersey, and pushing back forming sweat. The fifth runner tripped and I picked up the pace to get past before he got up.
I was just reaching the top and about to head down the mountain. There were still three in front of me and determination burned my lungs. We were going down a zig zagged path to the bottom, then running one more mile on flat land.
I could feel my legs move a little quicker with the decline and I passed the fourth with ease, but I could tell the other three and two weren't going to give me an easy time compared to the others I'd passed.
They ran shoulder to shoulder and never stopped moving, well obviously. Their arms pumped back and for in sync, their legs moved forward at the same pace, they even had the same hair cut. It suddenly dawned to me that they were twins.
They were ten feet in front of me and we were about to reach the bottom when I zipped off the trail for seconds and rounded around them. They both yelled at me and I laughed, turning my head to them. "Your pace was too slow for me!"
They growled angrily as I kept moving forward. The last one, the one I had eyes on only minutes before was no where in sight and I could feel my heart lurch as I rounded a corner and saw him.
I smiled and jogged a little faster to try and pass him, but he saw what I was doing and move his pace a little quicker. I groaned to myself and tried again, but he just kept matching my pace before I could even pass him.
This continued for about eight minutes until I could hear cheering in the distance, the boy didn't speed up, but I could tell he ran a little taller, his back was straightened and his shoulders were back, he looked proud from what I could see.
Soon a large crowd came into view, people holding signs and what not, then I saw the finish line. It was the same as every other from all the races before, but all my friends were standing at the end. Allura, Shiro, Hunk, Coran, Sven, and even Slav, who didn't like me much to begin with, but you know.
This didn't motivate me enough to make me pass the boy in front of me, as we were winding down to the last few yards, Shiro and Allura moved apart and I saw him.
Same unruly hair, bad posture, and shit hoodie as before.
My best friend, my running partner, my boyfriend, Keith.
My heart stopped and I lengthened my stride and pushed harder, breaking into an impossible to match sprint towards Keith. The boy who was now far behind me didn't matter, the race didn't matter, no one else mattered, nothing else, the world could have exploded and all I would have cared is that Keith was here.
I broke the line and crossed the finish, but kept running yanked Keith into a tight, sweaty hug. He grunted and I could feel tears welling in my eyes. "You're awake."
"And you didn't stop running. "
"Of course I did stop!" I burst into a sob and I felt more arms wrap around us. I looked at Keith and kissed him, lightly, he returned the kiss and I could feel him smile through the the kiss.
We won the race, turns out the rest of our team was right behind me almost the entire time, they passed all the Galrak boys except the one I just barley passed.
But I didn't care. I had my boy back.