Taylor was sitting in the locker room, still fuming from the beginning of the school day. He had headphones in blasting Feel Nothing by The Plot In You to get him pumped and keep his mind distracted. He was mouthing along as he
He looked over to see Trevon standing at the end of the lockers, an apologetic face.
Taylor turned his face back to his phone and turned the volume completely off, but pretended to keep listening to the music.
“I know you can’t hear me and you don’t want to talk to me, but I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry. I care about you and love you man. I want to help you, in any way that I possibly can.” Trevon spoke, even though he thought Taylor couldn't hear him.
Taylor avoided looking over at Trevon, pretending he couldn’t hear him.
“We’ve been friends ever since we were born. Hell, I'd consider you a brother…maybe more.” Trevon continued on.
Taylor kept staring at the locker, his arms on his legs as he focused on being ready. He collapsed his hands together and lowered his head, as if he was praying.
Trevon sighed and went to speak again, but stopped himself.
“Love you Taylor.” He said softly before leaving. Once the doors shut, Taylor removed the headphones and put his clasped hands to his forehead, holding back tears as he prayed.
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Taylor finally made his way back to the track, his team already finished with stretching. They all looked surprised to see him, while Trevon avoided looking at him all together. The coach walked over and looked the most surprised.
“Taylor, what are you doing here? And how are you walking?” He asked.
“I said my prayers and took my vitamins.” Taylor responded jokingly.
Some of his teammates and the coach all chuckled, except for Trevon who just kept looking down towards the ground as he continued stretching.
“Well, it's good to have you back. Don’t feel like you have to rush into things. Take it slow and ease yourself back in.” The coach said as the people all began to line up against the starting line. Taylor and Trevon were right next to each other, yet neither of them spoke or even turned to look at each other. The coach fired a gun that had a blank, and all of the runners took off.
Taylor immediately began to distance himself from everyone, every step adding a foot to his lead. Trevon was the only person who got close, but Taylor was just too fast. Trevon kept pushing as hard as he could while Taylor kept running, ignoring everything around him. His vision once again began to blur, but he just forced himself to keep running. He turned the first corner of the track with so much force he moved a few lanes over before going around and immediately running back into the inside lane. He was running as quickly as he could without pushing, yet was still leaving everyone else in the dust. Taylor kept pushing as his vision started to go even blurrier, making it impossible for him to see anything as more than a colored blob. He knew the track so well that he knew when the next turn was, very quickly turning the corner again and managing to cross over in less lanes as he went around. He quickly ran for the final stretch and slowed down as he approached the line, running by with so much force and wind that the coach was nearly knocked over. Taylor made sure to slow himself down carefully and not exert too much force onto his legs at once.
Taylor turned back and saw that Trevon was further than everybody else, and he was a few seconds away from the second corner. The last place person had just finished the first turn as Taylor watched, barely even breaking a sweat.
“Taylor…I…how did…” The coach was struggling to speak.
“What?” Taylor asked.
“That was a one minute lap. How did you do that?” The coach asked, flabbergasted. Trevon was turning the last corner and began to slow down, catching his breath and breathing heavily before he finally crossed.
Trevon had to hunch over to breath when Taylor walked over, holding his hand out. Trevon looked up at him before taking his hand firmly.
“Only reason you won was because I think I pulled my hamstring.” Trevon said as he began to limp to one of the benches, grabbing his water bottle and drinking half of it at once.
“Yeah sure, that’s the reason.” Taylor responded with a smile.
Trevon finished and smiled while keeping the water in his mouth.
The other track students all finally crossed with wildly longer times than Trevon and Taylor.
“Alright everyone, that was just a warm up. We’re now going to be doing long jumps. Remember, this isn’t a requirement so you don’t have to do this if you choose.” The coach said as he went over the roster.
Taylor looked over at Trevon, who looked back still breathing heavily and his head covered in sweat.
“I ain’t doing that.” Trevon said.
Taylor laughed.
“I might try it.” Taylor said.
“You’ve never done it before. You’ve only ever done running stuff.” Trevon replied.
“Might be good to diversify.” Taylor joked.
They both laughed before Taylor got up, walking over to the long jump space. Some of the track students were standing off to the side of the sand they jumped into, their arms crossed as they watched.
The fist student ran and jumped quite far, the coach measuring it out where his feet first touched.
“Ten meters.” The coach said as he wrote it down.
The next student ran quickly, but had a rough jump with their legs giving way as they pushed off the ground.
“Four meters. Just shrug it off, it happens.” The coach said.
Another student ran, getting a perfect run and jump. He landed quite far as the other students all cheered.
“Twenty-One meters. Congratulations.” The coach said as the student looked very proud of himself.
There was one more in front of Taylor, yet he looked a bit nervous.
“Hey, you got this. I believe in you.” Taylor said softly.
The student turned and smiled.
“I’m not sure I can beat that.” The student said.
“Don’t worry about beating that. What’s the best you’ve ever gotten?” Taylor asked.
“Sixteen meters.” The boy replied.
“Sixteen? That’s amazing. As long as you can even get close to that that’s impressive, but aim for sixteen and an inch. That way you know you’re improving.” Taylor said.
The boy smiled and caught his breath. He quickly took off running while doing his best to catch his breath. He jumped high in the air and came down hard, falling forward hard to the ground, sending a cloud of sand into the air. The coach quickly ran over.
“Sixteen and a half meters.” The coach said.
The boy lit up with a wide smile as he got up, brushing the sand off his body before jogging to the side, waving and smiling at Taylor before high fiving his friends.
Taylor stared forward at the long jump ramp. He was breathing slow and deep breaths. He cracked his neck and kept staring. He took off running, moving faster than anybody before him had. Once he got to the jumping off point, he jumped high and began to race forward in the air. He was moving so quickly that his brain freaked out and his body began to lose control, making his feet land at an angle toes first, every toe suddenly breaking and shattering loudly. Taylor fell forward as his body hit the solid and hard track, looking down confused before turning back. He was a foot past the track with his feet nowhere touching the sand. All of the track students and the coach were frozen in shock with wide eyes before they all ran over to check on him.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1cD0lIE21P
“Taylor?” Trevon asked with a shocked expression and tone.
“Yeah?” Taylor asked back.
“How the fuck did you do that?” Trevon asked.
Taylor started to stand up, his toes completely fine as he wiggled them, looking down curiously.
“Taylor!” Trevon shouted and aggressively grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth.
“Yeah?” Taylor asked calmly.
“What is going on?” He asked loudly right into Taylor’s face.
“I don’t…” Taylor said as he looked over his body, but then his stomach loudly growled. Everyone looked at him confused as Taylor grabbed it, almost as if it was painful.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDLWDO2J6s
“I need…food.” Taylor struggled to say as he tried to walk while clutching his stomach.
Trevon was the only person who quickly walked after him. The two made their way out of the field area as Taylor was stumbling around, tripping as he stepped off the curb and hit the ground hard.36Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM5Exqc68nt
“Taylor!” Trevon ran over and quickly helped him up to his feet.
Taylor was breathing heavily while clutching his chest tightly.
“I’m starving…please…I need food.” Taylor said.
Trevon was confused but quickly carried Taylor out of the school grounds. They were quickly rushing to the quickest convenience store they could find.
“What the fuck is going on with you Taylor?” Trevon asked loudly.
As he carried Taylor, it felt like he was carrying a skeleton. They quickly moved until they made it to the nearest gas station. The doors opened up automatically as Taylor almost collapsed, but Trevon pulled him back to his feet.
“Hey, what’s going on over there?” An old man asked loudly from the counter just inside the door.
“Just…I need to get stuff for my friend.” Trevon replied as he sat Taylor against the wall and softly tapped his head. Trevon walked around and grabbed an arm full of food before going to the drinks, grabbing multiple energy drinks. He carried it all to the counter and dropped them before handing the cashier a debit card. The cashier scanned each item, and after he did Trevon took them and tossed them to Taylor, who immediately would try to open them, but was too weak.
Once everything was paid for, Trevon quickly grabbed everything and took Taylor outside. They sat on the sidewalk and Trevon opened everything for Taylor. Taylor tore through all of the food and drinks very quickly, but the strangest part was that his body was visibly turning back to its normal size and shape. The muscle definition was returning as he ate, Trevon staring at him with wide eyes.
“What the hell?” Trevon asked.
Taylor finished the last bag of junk food and groaned.
“I don’t know man…I just…I don’t know…” Taylor said as he laid back on the ground and grabbed his head.
“Well, we should get you back home. Does your Mom know whatever the hell this is?” Trevon asked.
“Probably not. Only started recently.” Taylor replied as he was aggressively rubbing his head.
“If shit like this can just jump out of nowhere, I’m gonna have to stop caring so much about being healthy.” Trevon replied in a joking tone, able to make Taylor crack a smile.
“Yeah well, you won’t get to my level.” Taylor joked back.
Trevon laughed and took Taylor’s hand, slowly pulling him up to his feet.
“Can you walk?” Trevon asked.
“Yeah, I should be fine.” Taylor responded.
The two of them worked together to gather the trash they left over, collecting everything before throwing it away in multiple trash cans. The two of them began to walk back down the sidewalk next to a quiet street.
“I am going to get this just settled before we continue, but I do not know what the fuck is going on with me. I’ve been running faster than…well anybody, but whenever I do it feels like my insides are being eaten away. I get drained so quickly and it’s physically painful.” Taylor said to break the silence.
Trevon didn’t respond at first, listening and then thinking of what to say.
“Is it the same reason your legs are fixed?” Trevon asked.
Taylor turned as they locked eyes, continuing to walk slowly.
“Probably.” Taylor replied unassured.
They both laughed and kept walking. Taylor stared down at the ground as he tried to think about what was going on with him. Trevon stared at the ground, thinking the exact same thing.
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