Corey

Feb 12, 2008 - 09:09 AM PST

Corey combed her fingers through her sweaty hair; disentangling snarls roughly and impatiently. She bent over to rest her hands on her warm thighs and gasp down deep breathes of air. The cheers from the bleachers rang in her ears as someone handed her a towel to wipe away the sweat that dripped off her chin and ran down her chest and back. Her short hair clung to the back of her head and the sides of her face.

She made her way behind the fence that separated the track from the bleachers; patting her breathlessly pink face dry. She sat down on the first row of metal bench and grabbed a water bottle from the cooler beside her. Corey popped it open with her teeth and took a big swallow to re-hydrate herself. The remaining water was squirted refreshingly on her salt entwined hair and trickled down her back and face and into the corners of her mouth. She tasted the sweaty salt water on the tip of her tongue as she licked her lips and sighed a final time to get her breathing and heart rate back to normal.

It took her a minute to realize that people were applauding to the sound of her name over the loudspeaker. And it took another minute to realize that her win had put her team into first place. She would’ve smiled if she had the sense to, but all she did was sit there on the first bleacher, reserved for runners, with a cold sweat making her uniform stick to her hot body. She looked down at her running shoes that looked awkward on her feet she realized. She looked at the other girls’ shoes and saw that they were equally ridiculous and so she sighed.

Little dots marked the concrete around her feet. Thunder roared in the distance and the light sprinkle became buckets coming down hard. Everyone ran to their cars; jackets above their heads for shelter. The other girls’ parents rushed them away from the storm and into the safety of their expensive cars.

Corey sat in the downpour of rain and sighed. It was hard for her to look up now, so she stared down at her new shoes as they quickly absorbed the water around them. She sat there, on the very first bleacher row, all alone. The darkening grey sky was lighted by nearby lightning. Corey wiped at the fogged up face of her watch and tried to determine the time. She couldn’t get a clear view of either of the hands. She got up finally because it was no use to wait for her parents; she didn’t have any.