Page 27 of Racing Hearts

Ellie needed to gather the relay team together so they could warm up, so this was the perfect opportunity to finally talk to Sierra. “West End four-by-four, gather up!” she shouted.

The three other girls were quickly by her side, ready to warm up. Ellie purposely placed herself right beside Sierra for the warm-ups to make it easier to talk. “Awesome job today. I’m sure you’re super pumped. Your times are so much better than mine were at this point in my freshman year. By the time you leave here, you’ll have all of my records,” Ellie elbowed her in the side. “For my own pride, I just hope it doesn’t happen while I’m still here,” Ellie joked.

By her sophomore year, she had already broken the school record in the 400, and last year, she broke the school record in the 200 and 4x400 as well. She didn’t expect those records to last forever, but it did kind of suck that they would most likely be beaten in the very near future.

Sierra stopped warming up and stared at Ellie with wide eyes. Ellie waited for her to say something, but an awkward silence stretched between them for almost a minute without a word being spoken.

Ellie cleared her throat. “I was just kidding. I’m sorry. You did have a really good day, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of breaking my records. I totally wouldn’t be mad if you did. You know, if that’s what you’re worried about.”Okay, why am I rambling now?

Sierra shook her head. “Sorry. I’m just having a hard time figuring you out. I can’t decide if you want to be my friend or if you only talk to me so you have something to laugh about with Juniper.”

It hurt that Sierra thought that about Ellie, but she also couldn’t blame her. Ellie hadn’t done the best job of reassuring her that her intentions were pure. “I’m not talking to you so I can laugh about it with Juniper. I’m talking to you, because I really want to get to know you better.”

Those words felt much heavier than they should as they left Ellie’s mouth. Why did it feel like she had just confessed something big and scary when all she said was that she wanted to get to know her teammate better? There was nothing crazy about that. Admitting it shouldn’t make her heart beat out of her chest the way that it was at that moment while she waited for Sierra’s response.

“Sorry. It’s confusing for me, especially after you begged me to get dinner with you then ditched me without any real explanation.”

She knew how bad that situation must look from Sierra’s end, but what other choice did Ellie have? Her best friend needed her. She wasn’t going to ditch her when she was clearly dealing with a lot. “I know. I’m sorry. I owe you an ex—”

“Third and final call for the women’s 4x400 meter relay. All teams must report to the starting line now or you will be disqualified,” a voice said over the loudspeaker.

Of course.It was as if this conversation wasn’t meant to happen. “Maybe we can talk after the race.”

Sierra shrugged. “I doubt my moms will want to stick around too long once the meet is over, but there’s always next semester.”

Next semester was a month away. The thought of waiting that long to make things right with Sierra made Ellie sick to her stomach. She didn’t like when things were unresolved, especially when the contention was mostly her fault.

She let herself forget about it as she waited by the track for the race to start. The first two runners on her team had them in fourth place, but Ellie had no doubt that would change once Sierra got the baton. She wasn’t wrong. Ellie watched as Sierra easily passed two runners and closed in on the third. Sierra’s hand off to Ellie took place at almost the exact same moment as the hand off of the first-place team. She pulled away from Ellie slightly over the first 200 meters, but Ellie quickly closed that gap once again when they started the second lap of their leg of the race.

Ellie pulled ahead right at the end, giving herself her second win of the day. She wasn’t naive enough to think this was how every meet would go, especially since the competition was better at later meets, but it was a pretty damn good place to start.

She high-fived her teammates and tried not to be disappointed that their coach pulled them into a team meeting before she could say anything to Sierra. He talked to them about how happy he was with the results of the meet and reminded them again to put in work over Christmas break. “Bus leaves in fifteen minutes,” he told them at the end. “Anyone taking the busneeds to get their stuff together and head that way. If a parent or guardian is taking you, make sure we have a note from them.”

As soon as the meeting ended, Sierra practically sprinted over to her family, almost as if she wastryingto get away from Ellie, which she very well might have been. Ellie didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of a group of people she never met, so she decided to let it be. She would have to be okay with waiting until after Christmas break to make things right with Sierra. At least that gave her time to figure out how to do it.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked behind her to see her mom standing there. “Quite the ending to the day. Great race, champ.”

“Yeah, sweetie, we are so proud of you,” her mama added before leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Mama.” Ellie gave both of her moms a hug, then instinctively looked around to search for Sierra once again.

“Looking for me?” Juniper asked as she jumped on to Ellie’s back and wrapped her arms around her neck.

Ellie shook her best friend off of her back, then turned to face her. “Of course I was looking for you. Who else?”

Juniper put her hands on Ellie’s arms and pushed her bottom lip out in an exaggerated frown. “Try not to miss me too much, okay?”

Ellie brought her hand to her head in mock despair. “It’ll be hard, but I’ll try my best.” Even though she was joking around, Ellie really was going to miss her best friend. It was always weird going from seeing each other every day to not at all for weeks in a row.

Juniper held her arms out toward Ellie. “Give me a hug. I have a bus to catch. One that I’ll be riding onall alonethanks to you.”

Ellie pulled Juniper up against her. “Make Chris sit with you. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Hmm. That’s a good idea. He’s not you, but he’ll have to do for now.”

Ellie gave Juniper one more big squeeze before letting her go. She watched her leave then moved her eyes around the room one more time to see if she could catch sight of Sierra. She was nowhere to be found and neither was her family, which meant she must have already left.Damnit.

“Want to get some dinner before we go home?” her mom asked her.

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