Page 11 of Racing Hearts

Chris grinned widely as if he was very proud of himself for grossing her out. “What’s scarier for you—talking about dicks or having a guy sneak up behind you with a chainsaw?”

Right as Ellie processed what he was saying, the sound of a chainsaw rang in her ears. She jumped out of her seat and partially onto Juniper’s lap. “Shit. Fuck. Fuck. Shit.”

When she finally calmed down and started to catch her breath, she noticed that everyone on the hayride was laughing at her. Well, almost everyone. Sierra honestly just looked miserable.

“How do we always seem to end up in this position?” Juniper joked as she pushed Ellie off of her.

Ellie was sure Juniper said that to try to get a rise out of Sierra, but Sierra was too busy picking at the hay while her date whispered something in her ear to pay attention to them.

The rest of the ride had some scary moments, but none of them had gotten Ellie as much as that first man with the chainsaw. Once the ride ended, Ellie paid close attention to which direction Sierra and her group went in so she could suggest going to the opposite haunted attraction from them.

That attraction was a haunted walk through the woods with no lights except from a small flashlight that their guide was holding. Usually, they saved this one for last since it was so terrifying, but thanks to Sierra, that didn’t happen this time.

Even with Halloween being over, the line for the haunted walk was very long. The longer they stood, the more Ellie realized how much she had to go to the bathroom.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Juniper asked.

Ellie made a point of dancing around even more. “Ireallyhave to pee.”

Juniper rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re going to have to hold it. We’re so close to the front now. We haven’t waited in line this long for you to miss it.”

“I know. I know.” Ellie brought her hand to her crotch to emphasize how uncomfortable she was. “I just really hope I don’t piss my pants. With how much I have to go, it mightactuallyhappen this time.”

Luckily, even with all of the jump scares, Ellie was able to make it through the haunted walk without any accidents. As soon as they were back onto the main portion of the farm, she pointed toward the porta-potties, which looked much too far away at that moment. “I’m going to run to the bathroom. You guys get in line for the next thing, and I’ll meet you once I’m done.”

She wasn’t sure if her friends responded, because she was already sprinting away.Thank god I’m a runner.She made it into the bathroom just in time and was so relieved, she barely took notice of how disgusting it was.

After washing her hands, she headed in the direction of where her friends would be waiting in line. Luckily, since they had been here a few times, she knew a back way to get there so she hopefully didn’t piss off quite as many people when she skipped the line. Also, this way she could avoid the crowd, since no one ever came back to the area she was about to walk through.

She took her phone out of her pocket to text Juniper, but staring down at it while she walked proved to be a bad idea since she soon walked right into something. When she brought her eyes up to see what she had hit, it was none other than Sierra.Of course. Just my luck.

She was about to say a quick apology and walk away, but stopped when she saw the glistening in Sierra’s eyes and the tears running down her cheeks. She could pretend she didn’tnotice and keep walking, but she knew if she did that, she would feel guilty for the rest of the night, if not longer.

“I know I’m probably the last person you want to ask you this, but are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sierra snapped, quickly wiping at her eyes, even though it was no use because more tears immediately started to fall.

Walk away. Just walk away. She’s giving you an out.“You don’t look fine.”

Sierra laughed through her tears. “And now you suddenly care? You didn’t care at practice or at the party when you…” Sierra shook her head. “Just forget about it. You clearly hate me. You don’t have to act like you don’t just because I’m upset.”

“I…” What was Ellie even supposed to say to that? It was true. Sierra was far from being her favorite person, and there was a good reason for that. “Okay, well have a good night. I’ll see you at practice on Monday.”

When Ellie started to walk away, she assumed that was the end of their conversation, until she heard Sierra’s voice from behind her. “You know, at one point I was really excited to be on a team with you. I guess it’s true what they say about never meeting your heroes.”

Ellie bristled from her words, the cool temperature seeming to drop even more from what had just hit her. If Sierra was so excited to be on the team with her, why had she been so rude to Ellie this whole time? Even when she first tried to introduce herself, Sierra had completely blown her off. That didn’t seem like the actions of someone who considered Ellie her hero.Never meet your heroes.The words rang inside her head. All she ever wanted was for her younger teammates to look up to her. Now she had someone who, at one point, had considered her a hero, and she had somehow ruined it.

So much for not feeling guilty tonight. Still, nothing made sense when it came to Sierra. Nothing added up. She wanted to ask Sierra for answers right now, but she was afraid she would also break into tears. They were already threatening to fall, even without pushing this any further.

Instead, she put her head down and continued to walk away. When she finally found her friends in the line, they were practically at the front.

“Did you end up taking a shit while you were in there, too?” Chris asked with a laugh. “It took you forever.”

Juniper scrunched up her nose. “Oh, please tell me you didn’t. There's a special spot in hell for the people who poop in porta-potties and make the experience even more miserable for the rest of us.”

Ellie shook her head. “I didn’t take a shit. There was just a long line.”

Juniper rolled her eyes. “There’s a long line for everything tonight.”

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