So there you have it

Disclaimer: This is all fictional.

I was surprised to find that I got so many views while I was moving, but still no one reviewed. This one is mostly dialogue, just a little warning.

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“Mary, did you get the times down?” He asked on the way to the office.

“Yes.”

“Good.” he said. “I wasn’t sure if the coach would believe me unless we had proof.”

“I don’t see why he shouldn’t.” Mary said. “He knows that you’re the fastest we’ve got. I think he would believe you.”

“Still.” He was skeptic.

Right after he told me it was him we had a little conversation on it. 'What do you mean it was you?' I couldn’t believe it. 'I mean it was me that came over to you. Don’t you remember?' I tried to forget it actually. No. You were only there for a few seconds. It’s still amazing though. What were the chances of meeting again. Especially since I wouldn’t have unless David had suggested to go into the world of sports. 'Well, I guess I don’t blame you.' I never would’ve met Jim otherwise.

Last time we met he was in a hurry to after his watch alarm went off. We were on campus at the time, but it’s spread out so getting there took some time.

“Why are you in a hurry anyways?” I asked.

“It’s a meeting. Every Tuesday at 5pm we have a meeting. We have like fifteen minutes before then.”

“Don’t worry,” Mary cut in. “We’re almost there.”

“He won’t mind me being there will he?”

“Why shouldn’t he, if he’s going to gain another member?” He smiled. “Besides we need another member now that one of us has graduated.”

Mary laughed. “I bet he’d ask that first of all.” She continued laughing. “Do you remember what he said the last meeting before they graduated?”

Jim joined in the laughter. Then he spoke in a different way probably mimicking the coach, “So has anyone gotten a replacement? No? Well it looks like I’ll have to fail you this semester then.”

“He really didn’t want to lose a member.” Mary told me. “It seems not that many people want to join in anymore.”

“It’s always basketball, soccer, football! What about track? What’s wrong with it?” He mimicked him again and Mary laughed. “Oh, we’re here.”

We entered the office. It looked like we were the first there. The coach was looking through some papers. He was holding them up so he couldn’t see who came in. “You’re late Jimmie. Where have you been.?”

“Sorry, I was at the track, so I just ran over.” He said.

“Did you really run?” He finally put down the papers. “Oh, Mary was with you. I’ll have to excuse you this time. Huh?” He blinked and leaned up against the desk and tilted to look at me better. “Who’s this?”

“Hi.” I said.

“This is Sam, coach.” Jim smiled really big.

He returned it to him. “So you’ve found someone, eh?”

“Would you like to know their times?” Mary asked.

He lost the color in his face. “You... timed yourselves to see... how... how fast you can do it?”

“Of course,” Mary said. “Jimmie told me to time them.”

“Mary!” He looked at her wide-eyed. “Not you. I can’t believe you watched them.”
Everybody looked at each other while he was muttering something like, “Not sweet little Mary.”

“Here.” Mary stepped forward and put a paper with the times on it. “There are the times.”
He picked up the paper, and read it. “Six laps. Time...” He looked up at the two. “Wait... you two... raced?”

“Of course!” Jim looked mad. “What were you thinking!?!”

He went over and hit him. “Oww, what was that for?”

“Dad, cut the crap.” He looked him in the eye. “You were thinking sick again weren’t you? I swear, it’s because of that, that mom left.”

“Don’t bring that up.” He looked serious.

“Sorry... I was just upset.” He paused. “So, what do you think?”

“She has promise.” He looked at the paper again. “I wish I could’ve seen this.”

“It was amazing!” Mary said excitedly. “It was even her first time.”

“Really, now.” He eyed me. I felt really uncomfortable. “She reminds me of someone.”

“Who?” I spoke for the second time.

“I can’t remember.” He squinted his eyes in thought. “It’s been a long time. Back when I was around your age.”

“She wasn’t named Lily was she?” I said just the right thing.

“Yes!” He exclaimed. “Now, she could run. Are you her daughter? How is she doing?”

“No. Her daughter’s name was Chloe.”

“Right.” He remembered something else. “I forgot. How is she anyways? How do you know her then?”

“David’s my boss. Chloe’s my friend. She’s...” I looked down. “I’m sorry. She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He mourned for a moment. “Oh well... I guess it would’ve happened sooner or later.”

“Dad!” Jim hit him again. “Sorry about that Sam. Insensitive jerk.”

“It’s ok.” I looked at him. “I didn’t get to meet her though. I started working there four months after her death.”

Just then someone else walked through the door. “Hi, coach. Hi, Jimmie. Hi, Mary. Hi, Sam.” They paused for a minute. “Sam?”

“Jerry?” I was surprised. “I didn’t know you were in the track team.”

“Yeah, it’s my last year though.” He said. “Why are you here though?”

“I was running at the track and Jim saw me.” I looked over at him. “I raced him, so I’m here now because of that.”

“He won didn’t he?” Jerry said unsurprised. “Don’t worry he beats everyone.”

“Just barely.” Mary said. “She was under two seconds behind him.”

“What!” He was this time. “Did I hear you right? She wasn’t even two second behind?”

“I still beat her by a second though.” He smiled big showing all his teeth.

“Oh shut it. This is the first time anyone’s gotten close that lives near you.” Jerry said. “What made you decide to go to the track to run?”

“David.” I said. “Remember he’s Chloe’s dad.”

“Oh right.” He was there for the party we had for Chloe. “Well it’s nice to have somebody else here.”

“It’s almost time.” the coach said. “So where is everybody!”

“Mike won’t be able to make it today.” Jerry said. “He’s sick.”

“That’s not everyone else though.” He was angry. “Everyone get here right now!”

Strange thing is that they did. Within seconds of him saying that four more people walked through. They all said that they could hear him down at the other end of the hall. Someone else informed him of someone else who wasn’t going to make it. I was introduced to everyone. No one told them about the race though just that I was joining the team and that Jim found me. They congratulated him, and then the meeting started.

I found out that the reason they needed me was because you need at least 10 people in order to do a relay team effectively. Jim told me later that it was just a preference of his father. In spite of his father being a track coach, he actually enjoyed running. He was never pressured to do it. When people learned the order, they were shocked. I didn’t know why, but I guess there was a good reason why.

“Now, now.” the coach said. “This is only temporary until we do practice runs with Sam here.”

They were reluctant, but agreed.

“We’ll wait a couple days before the group practice, since two are sick.” He looked over at me. “Sam, tomorrow we will practice. It will be with Jimmie and Mary like last time, but we’ll need another volunteer. Oh... how about you.” He pointed at the only other girl in the room. “What do you say, Sara?”

“I... uh... why me?” She looked upset.

“Don’t worry coach,” Jerry spoke up. “I’m free tomorrow.”

“Oh fine.” He agreed. “Tomorrow then.”

The group practice would be in a few days to let the two recover. I, however, had to come back tomorrow. After the meeting Jerry, gave me a ride over to the shop, so I could let David know. Chloe and Tom were there about to head out, so we followed them and hung out at the mall with Adam. They were shocked at first. Even though Adam acted the most, he wasn’t. It was actually Tom. He had known me the longest, and all throughout my schooling I had never gone out for sports. Frankly, I didn’t want to do anything that would put me near other girls. I knew they would pick on me even more. And he knew that more than anyone.

“Are you sure about this, Sam?” Tom asked.

“I’m sure.” I gave him a brief smile. “Something about this feels right. I... I’m relaxed when I run.”

“Well, good for you.” Chloe jumped in. “I’m glad for you then. But... where did you get the idea?”

I looked at her confused face speechless. “Well...” I paused for lack of thought. “David helped me a little.”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, we were talking the other day, and told him I didn’t know what to do.” I looked down for a moment. “That’s when he told me that I needed direction. If I were to learn anything, I should start moving in a direction. It didn’t matter which way that I went, just that I did.”

“He said that?” Chloe was the one that looked confused this time.

“Well, not in those exact words.” I sighed, “Look, could we stop talking about this?”

“Yeah!” Adam practically screamed. “I’ve had of this deep, thoughtful talking. Let’s go have some fun.” Leave it to Adam to suggest anything about having fun. So we spent the rest of time doing so. It was just was I needed before what was ahead. We ended up splitting up by 10, though, so I went over to the shop.