The next morning I performed my usual routine. Get up early please father, maybe get whacked a bit, get ready. I finished my chores early. I was going to meet the cross country coach this morning. I didn't let it show but I was excited. I was about to leave but mom was waiting by the door.

"Good luck." She said kissing my cheek before I headed out. It was Wednesday and I was ready to get my day started, especially with a run. Barely getting there on time I hurried over to a large group of kids around my age. I spotted the coach who was talking to the group of students crowded around him. Slowly I walked over waiting patiently until he finished talking.

"Okay. Does everyone understand?" The group nodded and murmured in agreement. "Good. Now on the track and do your warm ups." The group slowly dispersed heading off to do what the coach asked. I stepped forward eagerly.

"Um, sir." He turned studying me with thoughtful eyes not seeming to notice me at first.

"You must be the new kid." I nodded. Again his eyes seemed to search every inch of me. " Well then, looks like we are gonna have a change of plans then. Follow me I'll introduce you to the team."

I walked alongside him studying the ground. "Ever heard of time trials?"

"Yeah. Usually it decides if you're on varsity or not." I replied. He chuckled.

"Very good. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you're pretty good. I'll put you up against the best. I'm curious to see how you'll do." As he finished his sentence I realized we had paused in front of the track. "Cover your ears."

I did as I was told and he blew his whistle which screamed an ear piercing note. Within seconds everyone was standing in a group again.

"Okay guys. There's been a slight change of plans. We've got a new kid-" He paused asking for my name. "Blake Sanders. We'll be doing time trials to see where he fits. I think it would be best if we did three miles at race pace. I want to see his endurance and control. The rest of you don't let him beat you. We'll go to the bridge and back got it?" There was a murmer of complaints and a few excited 'yes's'.

I rested my backpack against the chain link fence before hurriedly I tightening my shoes. The rest of the group had gone off to finish warm ups. Only one person stayed. It was a girl. Her back was to me but she was talking to the coach. Listening I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation.

"Test him...see if...good. Can..do that?" The girl nodded then glanced over her shoulder for a split second. Her eyes had a gleam to them, almost like she was a predator and she was looking at me like I was her next meal. Once I was ready the coach quickly explained the route to me before blowing his whistle again. Everyone jogged over taking there positions. I readied myself at the line some how managing to push my way to the front despite angry words. I needed to get a good start, besides I was pretty confident in my ability. Out of the corner of my eye though I could see that the Coach was smirking.

"Remember this is for time. Prove your stuff kids." With that he blew his whistle. My muscles contracted propelling me forward. Getting a good start I sucked in a deep breath, this was my element. Setting into a pace I worked my way to the front of the group. There were three or four of us pulling away from the main clump of kids. Two girls, two boys. Closing my eyes for a brief second I relaxed, no use in getting tense it would only shorten my stride. Seconds ticked by, our feet thundering against the gravel of the trail we were on. It had easily been a mile and I was feeling good. Time to kick it up a notch. Spurring forward only one person dared to cover my move. The girl who had talked to coach. She seemed as comfortable as I was, the other two of the group began to slow, falling back.

I could see the bridge my heart pounding excitedly. Stay in control don't get excited to soon, I thought. Upon reaching the bridge I turned quickly now heading back the way I had come ,the girl still beside me. Only this time she was pushing the pace. I covered her move with a burst of my own speed. She was going to be hard to break. This was definitely going to be a battle to the end.

Sweat trickled down the back of my neck despite the frigid air and my breath came out in visible puffs. Both of my feet striking the ground lightly with each step. I watched the faces of the other students as they saw the two of us whizzing past them. Calling on another burst of energy I surged forward, again the girl followed. My legs slowly started to tighten up and I relaxed as best as I could yet she continued to go faster. She was good really good. For a second I thought she would pass me but I was not going to be beat by a girl ,no matter how good she was.

With one mile to go our pace became a blistering speed. Our breath came out in ragged gasps, both of us testing and trying to outdo the other. I stole glances at her out of the corner of my eye. She seemed to be holding her own. She saw me looking and with a roll of her eyes she took off. I wasn't prepared for the sudden change of speed and struggled to catch her. The track slowly came into view and she continued to push. I did to. We were moving fast and with a small struggle of breath I pressed a little harder both of us dead even with the other. Almost there.

We crossed the line at the exact same time only I stumbled. I bumped into her as we both tried to slow our speed only she toppled to the ground as did I. We slid and rolled against the rough rubber surface. Both of us a mass of flailing limbs and winces. When we eventually stopped I tried desperately to move away from her only every time one of us moved the other did too sending us both back to the ground. It was a good minute or two later and we were still struggling only now other kids had struggled across the finish line. A boy walked over to us with a few of his friends smirking at our predicament.

"Finally got yourself a boy Alpha?" The girl glared at the boy finally scrambling away from me. She struggled to her feet crossing her arms indignantly.

"Shut up Drew! We tripped that's all." She snarled. The boy held up his hands in mock defence. He was roughly Five ten. Average for a guy. His build was strong and sturdy his arms riddled with muscles. His hair was blond and short cropped, he had fierce brown eyes that studied everything with intensity. Standing I tried to walk past him. He snorted glaring at me as I headed for my bag. The coach approached me a smile on his face. He clapped me on the shoulder. When I didn't react he looked at the direction I had come from.

"Dog." He sighed. I followed his gaze to see him and his crew annoying the girl. Well, at least that's what it sounded like based on their voices, I couldn't exactly see her. I watched as the Coach walked calmly over.

"Alpha stand down." He said. The girl scoffed.

"Me? Tell the ugly bulldog to back off!" I smirked. Ugly Bulldog? That was funny. The boy's posture straightened and his muscles coiled.

"Who are you calling ugly?" He hissed.

"Ugly and stupid." She teased. By now the Coach had reached them. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Knock it off. Dog take everyone else to the locker rooms. Alpha come with me." The boy reluctantly obeyed and jogged over rounding everyone up. Coach called out again. "You guys have ten minutes!"

He shook his head waving me over. I walked hesitantly up to him. For the first time I saw the girl clearly. She looked to be five nine and she stood with an aura of self sufficiency and dignity, not necessarily power like the other boy. She had black hair that reached her chin with uneven layers. She had a splash of freckles across her nose. Her eyes were a piercing green. A message clear in them. Don't try me. If I could pick one word to describe her looks it would be pretty. Yes, she was definitely pretty. From the look of things she seemed to be extremely athletic like she would be good at anything and yet she looked extremely familiar. Had I seen her before?

"Blake this is Alpha." Coach said gesturing towards her.

"Hi." She said curtly.

"Everyone gets a nick name eventually. You will have yours soon enough. Anyways, that's not why I held you two back. What do you think your time was kid?" He asked. I simply shrugged.

"I don't usually pay attention to my time I just run." He nodded. Looking at his watch.

"16:10. For the both of you." I blinked.

"What?" He laughed.

"That's fast and I'm guessing you haven't had to much training." I smiled completely elated. "Now you have tons of work to do if you you want to be one of the best here." He then looked at the girl. "You missy did great as well, you're still chasing that record huh?"

"What record?" I asked. The girl smirked.

"Ever heard of Mary Cain?" I nodded. " She turned pro ran about 15:45 for three miles. That was a year or two ago. I'be been trying to break sixteen minutes since sophomore year."

"Have you ever thought about going pro?" I asked. She bit her bottom lip.

"Yeah but I would have to drop my times by a lot. Right now I'm just focusing on being the champ. I got second two years in a row. There's going to be an upset this year." She was confident.

"Anyways, you're on the team. Varsity. Maybe if you keep coming you'll motivate some of the bucket heads like Dog. Our boys team hasn't been very good in years. Like I said before you have lots of work to do. 16:10 is not going to cut it against the top dogs. I have faith in you though." He looked at his watch then winced. " You guys should go get cleaned up I'll write you a pass. Oh and kid, call me Coach Rich. It sounds cool and it's easier to say than Richards."

With that I picked up my bag and followed the girl. She set off at a quick pace. In a few minutes we stood in front of separate doors.

"The locker rooms." She informed. "Take a right and the showers should still be on."

Sucking in a breath I pushed open the door. Sure enough the sound of running water echoed through the room. It seemed like no one else was in the room as well. Setting my bag down I stripped out of my clothes and stepped into the showers. The water was warm and easily heated up my skin chasing away the slight chill. I rushed to get done. I didn't want to be late to a class.

Once finished I grabbed a towel from the pile and quickly dried off. Scrambling into my clothes I made my way out of the locker room rushing down the halls to get to math. I entered the class hurriedly sitting down into my seat at the back. Flipping through my back pack I pulled out my note book and pencil. The teacher glanced at the clock. He had a rule that if you were less than three minutes late to class without a pass he wouldn't get mad. I had just made it. Sighing I set to work on the notes that were displayed on the board.

A few seconds later the door flew open and the sound of hurried feet distracted me. Someone flopped down into the desk next to me.

"Cutting it close again?" Mr. Renolds remarked. There was a soft laugh as Mr.Renolds took a slip of paper from the person. Once I finished my notes I lifted my head. It was the girl again.

"Coach got a little distracted." Mr. Rendolds sighed at the girl's words..

"That doesn't really surprise me." He walked to the front of the classroom reading the notes aloud. I tried my best to listen but a chill ran through me. Something I experienced only at home. The sense of danger. The rest of class was more homework and notes. I was one of the first people to finish. Mr. Renolds nodded approvingly.

"I'm glad you're in my class Mr. Sanders you are doing very well." His praise warmed me slightly. I never usually got compliments. With ten minutes left in class I closed my eyes escaping into my mind. I imagined a new idea a story idea. I constructed the hero from the way they looked to what the personality was. When the bell rang I snapped out of my daze and began packing my stuff up.

My next class, English. I hurried down the hall until I reached the door once there I bolted through before claiming a desk.

"First again Blake?" I smiled at Mrs. Greene.Sure I had only met her yesterday but she was different from all of the other teachers I had ever know. Different but in a good way. I made myself comfortable only for another voice to pipeup.

"Sanders!" I spun the girl was standing in the door her arms crossed. "My seat."

I looked down at where I was sitting. That's when I realized what she meant. Picking up my stuff I moved over a desk. She sat on the laminated wood surface. She was wearing black boots, which looked way more comfortable than my shoes, and plain black jeans. Her shirt was the best part though. It was white with medium black sleeves and read 'weird is a side effect of awesome'.

Soon the rest of the class filed in taking there seats. I sat one to the left of the center desk which was occupied by the girl. That had been my seat yesterday and since I didn't recognize her she had probably been absent. Once everyone was seated Mrs.Greene turned the projector on. On it was a writing prompt. It read:

He hadn't meant to kill her...

"Yesterday we worked on proper punctuation, where commas should be placed, etc. Today you will have the entire class period to write a story utilizing correct punctuation placement. Treat this as a test because it is a very important grade. I will let those who wish to share their stories present at the end of class. Understood?" There was some grumbling but the rustling of paper meant people were following directions.

I pulled out multiple sheets of paper and immediately set to work. I had a lot to work with. The prompt was vague. It gave me freedom to do as I pleased. I worked steadily as the minutes ticked by.

"Okay class times up." I hastily scribbled down my last sentence smiling at my work. "Would anyone like to share?"

A hand shot in the air and guess what? It was the girl....again.

She walked to the front of the class. Posture straight. Funny, she always seemed to walk like that. Why?

"Let's here what she has to say. I'm sure it will be good." I cringed at the voice. It was the same stupid boy from practice. Why was he in my class?

"Say what you want but until you get the balls to get up here you shouldn't be talking." The class went dead silent. Mrs.Greene gave the "teacher look" as I like to call it. The girl sighed. "Sorry."

Mrs. Greene's face softened a little. "When ever you're ready."

I leaned back in my chair. I was curious as to how she had approached the prompt.

" The day had started off like any other. Hot and humid with the sun hanging lazily in the sky. The pock marked pavement radiating heat making colors distort and objects dance. Despite the intensity of the weather the man hurried down the pavement. He had promised her that wether he was sick, or it was hot, whether it was raining, or the city was caught in a blizzard he would visit her. He had to. After all it had been his fault. She no longer talked to him, no longer sang in random moments of the day. Yet he could picture her very clearly. The way her smile reached her eyes, how her hair was always down no matter what.

How her eyes always sparkled with a playful hint. Her innocence that she of all people could never hurt anyone. He missed her. More than anything in the world because he had spoken without thinking, because he had acted without control. He never should have done it. He wished that if he could go back to any moment, any point in time it would be then. To fix what he had done. The way the light had left her eyes, they way she had looked at him before it happened. He had yelled, he had cursed, and most of all he broke her heart. He had scared her and as she tried to scramble away she had tripped. Her foot catching on a chair and she went crashing to the floor. It happened in slow motion, yet it happened so fast.

Her eyes went dull ,she was broken. Her head lolling to the side her neck had snapped. He hadn't meant to say those things. He hadn't meant to hurt her. She was his family, his sister. The one person he could always talk to especially when things fell apart at home. He had been angry.

His thoughts were interrupted upon realizing where he was. He had arrived. Pushing open the iron gate he walked amongst the stones. Some old and broken. Others new and beautiful. Then there were those that lacked description, ones created by love, and the ones of contrasting color. Then he saw it. The white glistening in brilliant colors, the sun reflecting off of it. A white beacon in his dark world. Kneeling on the ground he place the flowers. Red and white roses, her favorite. It was here that he felt close to her. Where it felt like she wasn't really gone. He apologized over and over again wanting her to hear him. He hadn't meant to kill her."

She finished with a small smile.

"That's it." She sat back down in her desk. Only it wasn't. When she spoke there was a certain strain in her voice. What she had written had meant something important. I knew because I did it to the I read something that mattered to me. She shrank back down in her desk and for a moment her confidence faltered.

"Good job. That was an efficient and different way to look at the prompt. Does anyone else care about sharing?" I gazed at my paper. Should I? I wasn't used to it. Not when people could see me. Not when strangers heard my stories. There was safety in privacy.

"Can I nominate the next person?" The girl questioned. Mrs. Greene shrugged.

"If you want to." I frowned. I should just be able to get up there and say what I want to. So why can't I? My brain keeps telling me to but my body refuses. I was whacked back to reality when she said the name.

"Fine. I pick..." She paused glancing around the classroom. "Sanders."

No. She said my name. I glared at her. It was obvious that I didn't want to stand in front of the class.

"Go on get up there Newbie." I clenched my teeth. If they wanted to humiliate me fine. I was used to it, I was also used to taking orders. I was angry sure but I stood grabbing the papers off of my desk. I slid out from my seat standing uncomfortable in front of everyone.

"He hadn't meant to kill her... how those idiots bought it so easily. The fake tears, the words of a liar. The innocence of a masked man. They believed everything. It was easy to persuade people, you just have to tell them what they want to hear. No one ever wants to hear that someone has died. No one wants to hear that someone was murdered. No one wants to accept that it was their son, their neighbor, their friend that killed another person. He laughed he had escaped punishment. If he could get away with murder and the courts couldn't prove he had done it. Then what else could he get away with. Only the man was wrong. He hadn't gotten away with it.

The man's lie followed him everywhere, though he wore his mask well, you can never hide from yourself. He soon became convinced that he hadn't meant to kill her, right? He soon became anxious, obsessed. Everyone became an enemy and though no one ever convicted him he had convicted himself. There was no mask anymore he could not hide from what he had done. So consumed with doubt and fear that they would find him he carried his lie to the grave with him. Even as the rope snapped his neck. You see, sometimes it's worse to lie to yourself then it is to lie too others." I finished. The class had gone silent. It was a heavy silence full of different emotions.

Mrs. Greene was smiling proudly, Dog glared angrily, others looked on in wonder, some were bored. I shuffled awkwardly to my desk sitting down just as the bell rang. Suddenly the class erupted in a frenzy.

"You two extra credit." Mrs. Greene called. I nodded a thank you before hurrying out of the class, only I could feel a pair of eyes burning on my back.

The rest of the day drones on slowly and as the final bell rang I found myself relieved. Grabbing my bag I headed into the halls. I made my way to my locker farther down the hall. After grabbing my stuff I decided that I might as well use the restroom before leaving. When I re-entered the hall almost everyone was gone.

Sighing I headed for the parking lot. I was so lost in thought that I didn't realize the sound of angry feet behind me until it was too late. Suddenly I was slammed into the nearest locker my face scraping against the metal. Grunting I tried to jerk away only to be thrown to the ground. Shifting my weight I rolled to my feet. It was the big brute Dog, only this time he was angry.

"What's your problem?" I spat. I had done nothing to him. That I knew of.

"You're making me look bad. No on is better than me. At anything." He hissed.

"What are you talking about?" I watched as he threw another fist though a ducked in time.

"I am the fastest, I am the smartest, and most importantly I am in charge got it? You don't talk back, you don't do anything I don't like understand?" He grabbed my shirt slamming me into the wall again. I gasped for air but the wind had been knocked out of me.

I laughed though it was devoid of humor. "Beating me up doesn't make you get any smarter or better than me. It makes you look even worse. So go ahead." He snarled kneeing me in the gut before slamming a fist into my head.

" I told you not to talk back." I scrambled to my feet. This time I swung back only I was to slow. He shoved my sending me sprawling onto the floor. His foot connected with my side. A painful combination. I laughed up at him.

"You think this is the first time I have been beat down?" He smirked at my words.

"No. I figured a weakling like you has been beat before. You should know what's coming next then." I blinked through the fuzziness of the pain and as he was about to kick me again he suddenly toppled to the ground. I pulled myself away leaning up against a locker. Dog and someone else were wrestling on the floor he seemed to be struggling. Every time he caught the other person they would slip away like he was trying to grab a shadow. Soon the person in black straddled him, twisting Dog's arm into a painful arm bar. He growled in pain.

"Tap!" He snarled. The other person slid off, and he struggled to his feet.

" You honestly think that he's a threat to you? You idiot!" A flurry of curse words followed and I wasn't sure when it happened but the world faded.