Love's Not A Competition

We got into our starting positions again and he started counting. On the three I waited half a second after he took off before pushing my self up. I was giving him a handicap but it was alright. I still passed him and won the race. I laughed again and he frowned at me.

“You’re really stubborn when it comes to winning,” he said.
“Do you want to try some hurdles then?” I asked.

He nodded and we went to go get some hurdles out of the sports shed. He set them up while I watched. He was wearing a t-shirt but I could see his muscles as he lifted a few hurdles at a time. He set up only three hurdles each and I walked to the starting line beside him. I still felt confident. I had tried hurdles a couple of times but it hadn’t really worked since I was short and had shorter legs than all the other kids. That’s why I liked running. You didn’t have to have overly long legs to be a good runner, I mean if you had long legs then you would be a really good runner but if you had all the other qualities then it sort of made up for the short legs. You just had to have strength, stamina and speed. Oh, and skills.

“You can’t beat me at my own sport,” Zeke said.

I grinned as I got into my starting position. As Zeke counted again I glanced at him briefly but I really wish I hadn’t. His hair was sticking to his forehead and his muscles strained as he tensed them. I sighed quickly before concentrating on the track before me. Zeke said three and we both started running. It was going alright until I came to the first hurdle. I had a good speed going and jumped over it, only just grazing it with my right leg. I ran on to the next one and it all just seemed to go downhill from there. I was nearly over it but my leg knocked it and I fell forward. I rolled a few times and groaned loudly as I grasped my twisted ankle. I must have made a bit of noise because Zeke came sprinting back.

“Are you okay?” he asked quickly, looking over me as to look for injuries.
“I’m fine but I think I sprained my ankle.”
“Is it the same one that you broke last year?”

I looked down at my right ankle and grimaced. The doctor had said that this ankle would be weaker than my left ankle for at least two years but I never thought that I would sprain it while doing hurdles. I must have tried to land on it while I was falling and twisted it wrong. I bit my bottom lip as Zeke helped me up. It hurt too much to put any pressure on it and I had to hobble along. I really, really hoped that it wasn’t broken. I doubted it would be but there was always the possibility. Zeke was practically carrying me back to the dorm building and when we reached the infirmary I immediately collapsed on the bed. Zeke went to go find the nurse while I rested my foot on the bed. I knew all about sprained ankles so I placed a pillow underneath it to keep it elevated as I lay down. The nurse entered the room and shook her head at me.

“I thought you were doing well. I haven’t seen you since you twisted your knee in the middle of last year. You always seem to be hurting yourself.”
“It wasn’t my fault this time. I was jumping hurdles and I guess I wasn’t exactly tall enough to jump it.”

She clucked her tongue at me as she assessed my foot.
“Well, good news is that it isn’t broken.”
“And what’s the bad news?” I asked.
“You’re going to have to keep off it for at least two weeks and then you will have to come back and see me so I can tell you how your healing process is going. I will bandage it up and give you an ice pack. I assume that this boy can help you back to your room.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said.

The nurse bandaged my ankle up and gave me an ice pack as she said before Zeke half carried me up the stairs and into our room. As soon as he had moved all of his stuff off the bottom bunk and put all of my stuff there I lay down on the bed and sighed. I wouldn’t be able to run for nearly three weeks or more. This was going to suck. Not training for a week was bad enough but for nearly a month? I was going to get out of my rhythm again. I would have to explain to the coach what happened or maybe the half truth of what happened. He would probably kick me off the team for doing something reckless like jumping hurdles. I was meant to be taking it easy and then I go and push myself far too much.

“I’m so sorry.”
I snapped out of my train of thoughts and turned to look at Zeke. He was kneeling beside my bed and he looked worse than I felt.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let you jump the hurdles. It was stupid. It’s my fault that you won’t be able to run again.”
“Get a grip,” I said sternly. “It’s only a sprained ankle. It’s not like they have to amputate my foot or something and besides, it was my idea to jump the hurdles so shut up and go do something useful.”

“Did you want something?”
“Yeah, I need some water. Go and fill up my water bottle and while you are downstairs tell Brittney to come and see me.”

He nodded, grabbed my water bottle and practically ran out of the room. Maybe this whole sprained ankle wouldn’t be a bad thing after all. I rested the ice on my swelling ankle and waited for Brittney to come and see me. It was only two minutes later when Brittney, Eric, Aidan and Katie all came bursting into my room. Brittney sat on the bed beside me while the other three sat on the ground. They bombarded me with questions before I finally sighed and gave in.

“Zeke and I were having some races and then I asked if we could jump some hurdles since he was getting sad because I kept winning. We did and then I tripped on the second one and sprained my ankle, no big deal,” I explained.

“Have you told Mr. Kingston?” Eric asked. “You know how he feels about injuries.”
“I would tell him if I could. I might get Zeke to tell him for me. He’s been quite helpful since he thinks that this is his fault.”
“Are you going to make him your slave?” Brittney asked excitedly.

I looked at Katie briefly before shaking my head.
“Nah, he has someone else to look after that is more important than I am.”
Just as I said that Zeke walked back into the room with my water bottle. He handed it to me before taking a seat beside Katie.
“I feel like I’m in hospital with all of you sitting at my bedside. Anyway, shouldn’t you guys be going to dinner?”
“Oh, yeah, do you want me to bring you anything?” Eric asked.
“Nah, I’m tired. I think I’ll just go to sleep.”

They all nodded and left the room. When I was finally alone I grimaced from the pain and took the ice pack off before getting under the covers. It wasn’t until then that I realized that Zeke hadn’t changed the sheets. I could smell him on this bed and it smelt like the cologne that I had brought him for Christmas. It made me smile to know that he was using my present. A second later I frowned. I had been such a bitch that night.

I had thrown the present he had given me back in his face because he had been with Katie, his girlfriend. I wonder if he still has it somewhere. I looked around the room and was about to get up when I remembered that I couldn’t walk. Also, a part of me didn’t want to know if he had kept it. He had chosen Katie and that’s all that mattered right now, even if that locket had been the best present that anyone had ever given me in my whole life and that it happened to be completely perfect. I sighed before squeezing my eyes shut and willed myself to go to sleep.