Higher, Faster, Stronger

Breathe in. Breathe out. Freak out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Freak out. OH MY GOD….

Ok. Recap. Date…on Saturday. Which is in 24 hours. Today is Friday. Yesterday was Thursday.

SNAP OUT OF IT. When did I start talking in 3 word sentences? Someone slap me. Seriously I'm losing it. Ack, I'm doing it again!

But let me recap the start of my weird day.

I woke up at 10 with both Derek and Nate standing over me. My eyes immediately went to my calendar. It was definitely Friday.

"There has to be a logical explanation to why you're both here on a Friday, at," I looked over at my clock, "10. And why I'm not at school. And why you're not either."

"A pipe burst and flooded a hallway in school. It was on the news at 6. Your mom said she caught it and turned off your alarm. We got here 15 minutes ago and talked to your mom for a bit. She said she had a client meeting at 10:30, if that means something to you," replied Nate.

"And why you're in my room? That only usually happens in my nightmares." I asked with a bemused smile.

"The idiot wanted to do something today so he dragged me into it. Your mom said we should wake you up."

I groaned and pushed my burgundy comforter to the ends of my warm bed. I was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a long sleeve black shirt and was still too zonked out to have anyone care. They're my boys, for pete's sake.

"Ok, downstairs in the kitchen, both of you." I ordered. "My morning breath could kill something. I'll get ready and be down in 5." I pushed both towards the door and shut it promptly behind me.

Pulling on a black pair of pants and a baby blue shirt and pulling my hair back I jolted downstairs.

"4 minutes, 32 seconds." Nate announced when I reached the kitchen.

"Idiot."

"How pathetically bored are you if you're actually counting?" I demanded. "Besides, there's no way that it took 4 minutes." I opened the fridge for the OJ and pulled out the butter.

"Did so!" Nate insisted.

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not! Now, stop arguing with me or this orange juice bottle will become a permanent fixture to your head."

"Did so." He whispered. I whirled around with a knife in my hand and tried to look threatening. He pulled back, eyes wide. "Now, did either of you eat?"

"I did!" exclaimed Nate. With that his stomach growled like a Bengal tiger. "Well…I'm a little hungry."

"I ate." Derek paused to send withering look to Nate. "I can't really speak for this bottomless pit." He paused and we heard another squealing of Nate's stomach. Which by the way sounded like a fuzzy woodland animal going through a cheese grater. Poor critter, he never had a chance.

Nate shot looks at both of us. "What?"

"I don't get it. You eat as much as a baby killer whale and have not managed to eat yourself into morbid obesity. Not only that, but all you eat has as much sodium as a salt mine and yet you're still alive. To top it all off, you remain the same weight and only get taller. I just don't get it."

"Me? I've seen how you eat, Sarah. And it's not too ladylike." He snickered. "How do you manage to stay...I don't know, skinny isn't really the right word and healthy makes you sound like a horse…"

"Idiot, I think the word you're looking for is petite."

"Figures that bastard would come up with the girly sounding word." He laughed. Derek snorted as I handed him off a mug. "Figures I'd come up with the word that sounds like I haven't spent my life watching TV."

"Aww, how cute, they're bonding." I put on a mothering smile and ruffled the hair of both of the boys. "Honestly, what am I going to do with you two?"

"Feed me?" asked Nate. Derek and I exchanged glances. "Kill me." Replied the other one. I gave Nate a mug and started the tea water.

After foodstuffs were served to the bottomless pit, I asked the inevitable. "So what did you want to do today?" An exchange of looks followed.

"I dunno." Said the resident blond. I nearly stabbed him right then and there.

" You got me out of bed when I could be sleeping for nothing but to feed you?! That's it, I'm going back to bed!" as I raced back upstairs and pulled the blankets over my head. Suddenly I felt a pair of arms lift me out of my bed (my nice WARM bed mind you) and carry me like a blushing bride downstairs. I was then deposited on the coach next to Nate. He seemed to have switched locations from the time I bolted to the time the Captain brought me back downstairs.

And I must admit, it felt nice to be held.

"Showoff." He muttered to Derek.

He stood over us like a towering father. "Sit. Talk. Or pain."

"Thank you, Captain Macho for enlightening us." I quipped. He shrugged.

"Hey, I don't care. You two work it out." Raising an eyebrow at Blondy, I muttered, "We should just wax him." Nate flinched in mock pain, while Derek stood over us looking utterly bored.

"Well, it depends. Do we want relaxing or more strenuous? Cause I know Blondy here is always up for a challenge."

"Have an idea?" quipped the Captain.

"Actually, I do." I shot back. "Hit the gym for a couple of hours and later on, we can hang out here, watch movies and such."

Nate made a face. "What, got a problem with my idea?" I asked. He shook his head. "I'm ok with it as long as we don't have to do girly stuff like nails and hair."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed, his hand, holding it up to my face. "Pity, your cuticles really needed it." He scowled and grabbed his hand back. "Do you guys have any work out clothes with you?"

"No, but we only live about 10 minutes away." Replied Nate. "Hm." Replied Derek.
"Great, now get out of my house. I gotta get my stuff ready. And do the dishes."

"No going back to bed now," mocked Derek, poking me in the shoulder blades.

"But it was so nice and warm!" I whined.

"Hey, bastard! Stop flirting and get over here!" Nate called from the doorway. Derek shook his head and put his hands back in his pockets. As soon as he reached Blondy, he took his left hand out of his pocket and WHAM. Right in the forehead.

I winced, but I couldn't really say he didn't deserve it. Our Captain had patience issues, not to mention a line with teasing. Nate loved to toe the line. I reached over the sink and got a bag, then filled it with ice for his forehead. Handing him the bag, I pushed him out of the door and closed it. "See you in 10 minutes."

Meanwhile, I was down to the age-old debate: what was I going to wear?

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I packed a bag and met the boys outside. It was decided on earlier that I would drive, it just made things easier. As we pulled up to the gym, Nate stuck his head out the window and yelled out where the nearest parking spot was. Fast forward to the changing rooms. I pulled on a pair of yoga pants with a tanktop on. I grabbed my water bottle and ran out of the room. Ran and bumped into someone rather familiar. Ok. This bump was more like a head-on collision, so I ended up going into a one handed back bend in order to from completely falling down.

"Ow, I haven't done one of those in a long time."

Cameron's hand reached down to me and I latched on for support.

"Nice save," he smirked. I let out the breath I had been holding. "Hey, I haven't done a backbend in a while. It was either that or a headache from the door. And don't you smirk at me. Could have at least tried to help me."

"What, and fall down myself? No thanks." By this time Derek and Nate had caught up. Nate looked just as surprised as I was. Derek looked impassive, as ever.

"Thompson? Woods? What are you doing here? It's just like one big team reunion." Cameron made the mistake then of leaning on me by putting his arm around my shoulder. I grabbed his arm with both of mine and bent forward, sending him sprawling onto the mats before us. Basic self-defense trick, using your opponents weight against them.

"They are with me." I gave a half laugh and pulled them away towards the weights.

While I warmed my legs up on the bike, Nate and Derek headed over for the actual lifting. Nate was spotting our dear captain only yards away from where I was. I looked over at them and just let my legs take over. As they switched between repetitions, Cameron wandered back over to me.

"Geez, I was just trying to be friendly."

I threw him one of my patented 'you've got to be kidding me' looks. "Don't lean on me like that, ok, pumpkin?" I patted his head like I would a dog's.

"Aww but Sarah, I just wanted a hug." He whined. I'm pretty sure he was joking but still. I had really had enough of him today, and I'd only seen him for 4 minutes! "Nate! Cameron's hitting on me!" One pair of black eyes swirled around immediately. Another set of blue ones swiveled as well.

"Yo! Paint boy! You're making her uncomfortable! Leave!" Nate, in his orange t-shirt stood out by a mile as he stepped over to where I was cycling.

"What are you, her bodyguard? I'll leave when I want to." He stepped in front of Nate challengingly. I let out a small whistle.

"Yo, over here. One, Nate don't try to kill anyone today ok? And you, when I say no touchy, I mean no touchy. I thought getting your butt handed to you was hint enough. Eesh, the testosterone's starting to smell worse than the walls."

I stopped cycling while Cameron and Nate were still giving each other death glares. Nate was only really liked by about half the team. On the field, they all respected him. Off was another story. Derek however, well…no one really had the balls to challenge him.

Speaking of which, said person sided up to my free side.

"What did you want?" he asked rather coldly. Brrr… I think my water bottle just froze.

"Same as all of you. Bulking up for the season." He shrugged off Derek's cold streak.

"What season? Half the teams we've faced were pansies. The only one I've heard so far that could be trouble is Saratoga," I commented.

"Oh they're trouble all right. If Gabe doesn't go insane and try to murder everyone on the field." Cameron mentioned dryly.

"You know him?" asked the Captain.

"In a way." Cameron gave a twisted smile. "He's my little brother."

He kind of said it like it was a common piece of information.

"Our mother died after he was born. Our father blamed him for her death. Kid kind of grew up twisted. Everyone was afraid of him for some reason or another. Anyway, it got to the point where Terry and I couldn't be in the house with him anymore. He was bounced around from pysch doctor to psych doctor. Too much trouble you know? We moved here with our dad while Gabe stayed in Saratoga Beach with a guardian."

The floodgates opened and the questions started.

"Wait, Terry's related to you?" Me.

"You're related to that psychotic nut job?" Derek.

"Is there a ramen stand around here?"

We all just turned and looked at Nate who just shrugged. "What?"

"Yeah, Terry's the oldest of us. I'm sure you," he looked over at me, "Know her by now. And yeah I'm related to him. Is that a problem?" He asked pointedly at Derek.

"No, I just don't want a family reunion on the field." He said sarcastically.

A loud rendition of the theme song from Carmen issued from Cameron.

"Your pants are ringing," I said while pointing. He nodded and flipped it open.

We shrugged as he flipped it closed again.

"I set the alarm on it. I gotta get going ok?" He waved and jogged back to the men's locker room.

"Well…that was…odd…" I commented.

"Yeah, I came here for the weights, not the family genealogy of Cameron."

Derek raised an eyebrow at Nate who commented, "What?"

"I'm just impressed idiot. You said a word with more than 4 syllables."

"GUYS! KNOCK IT OFF!"

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Later on at my house after a night of movies and a day of weights, Derek caught me by the arm.

"Bring food for tomorrow. 1 at the park, don't forget."

"Jeans and sweats?"

"Yeah."

"I'll see you there."

Bring it on