"So," Vince repeats, "when I blow the whistle, you sprint all the way to Jorge. He'll note your time down. Once everyone's done, y'all can do whatever you teenagers do these days as we make the duos. Yeah? Yeah."

Ben raises a hand.

"Yes?"

"Do we get multiple tries on the sprinting? And the fastest try counts?"

Vince is silent for a few seconds, considering it, and the nods. "Sure. Three tries for everyone. Best try counts. I'll give you five minutes to warm up and stretch."

The sun is burning hot today. I've already removed my zip-up vest, but even with a nylon shirt, of which the straps are thin, I'm sweating. And we haven't even started running yet!

"After this, swimming?" Sonya suggests. 

A sigh leaves Harriet's mouth. "Yes, please."

"But the pool is warmed up—" I start.

"We're not going to the pool, sticks." Sonya's arms wrap around me and Miyoko. "Don't tell anyone about this. We don't want the actual misbehaving ones to come to our lake."

I gasp. "You found a lake that's safe to swim in?"

"Water clear as crystal. A rope to swing into it. A pier. Even a raft." A grin forms on the Brit's face. "It's going to be bloody awesome."

"As it sounds," I confirm.

"I'll invite Teresa, too," Harriet says.

"Can I bring Lyndon?"

For a second, Sonya's thoughtful. "Fine. But if you bring Lyndon, that automatically means my brother will be there. And that automatically means that Thomas and Minho will somehow end up there, too. Along with Fry, who'll bring Alby and Ben. And then Jeff and Clint will—"

"Well, they all seem fine, so it's not a big deal," I say. The girls nod in agreement, so we whistle Thomas and Minho over.

"You two are gonna come with us to the lake. Not a word to anyone else, or I'll tell your sweet secrets to every single kid here," Sonya threatens.

Damn.

"As if you know my secrets," Minho states, but then he shrugs. "Okay, fine. Do I bring anything?"

"No. It's alchohol free," Miyoko decides sternly. "We're just gonna make it a nice afternoon. And if we miss dinner and just eat fish there, at least we'll all be shucked up when Janson doesn't see us."

Harriet crosses her arms. "So no alchohol or anything related to that, yeah? And if we catch you boys wearing a swim brief, you can go ahead and leave, too."

Thomas holds up his hands. "Never in my life am I wearing that."

"Good. You'd look ridiculous."

"Thanks, Sonya."

Then, the sound of a whistle makes us groan. "You kids done? Get in the two lines!"

We all hurry into one. Me behind Jeff and in front of Harriet. I tap the boy's shoulder. "Psst."

His eyebrows raise. "Yeah?"

"After this, we're going to the lake. You're allowed to come as long as you keep your mouth shut about it. No alchohol or drugs or briefs. Got it?"

He holds his hands up just like Thomas did, but grins. "Sure. I won't spoil."

I see the other girls whisper to the other boys we're inviting before eventually, it's my turn to run. I look to my side to see who my opponent will be. Even though this isn't a race (it just goes faster if two people run at once), I have the urge to run faster than whoever is there.

"Lee."

"Blake." He gives me a nod as if he respects me, yet his expression says enough. "Decent at running?"

"More than decent," I say. "You?"

"More than decent."

Vince starts counting from three to one, so I lower on one knee and place my hands on the red athletics field, the little stones already making prints in my skin.

The whistle only rings in my ears for a millisecond before I'm off, as fast as I can. I sense I should've stretched better. The more feet I make, the faster I go, but Minho is like... very fast. I've underestimated it.

Besides, the running around the neighborhood with my dad was quite a while ago. I'm no longer that fast.

But I'll tire Minho out and fix these mistakes by the time it's my third try.

"You're far from decent," he comments once we're done, and Jorge has noted our time down. Minho arrived at least two seconds before me. In the run world, that's a lot.

"Never said 'more than decent' means 'better than decent'," I reply.

Once we're waiting for everyone to finish their first try, I warm up better. Place the tip of my shoes on the ground and twist my ankle. Move my arms. Anything to get better.

The second time we run, I'm definitely faster than before, but Minho somehow manages to stay as fast as he was; almost unbeatable.

I lean closer to Thomas. "How do I beat him?"

"You don't beat Minho in running," he says easily, shrugging. "I can't even beat him. He goes running almost everyday. Not much to do about that."

"So if there's no way to slow him down, I'm gonna have to find a way to push myself to my limits."

"Eh, perhaps?" Thomas seems confused on how serious I'm taking this. "It's not really a competition, though—"

"Imagine something you're afraid of is running behind you," Ben suggests.

My eyebrows furrow. "I'm not really afraid of... things that could chase me," I say slowly, unsure.

Being a failure can't chase me. Losing Lyndon and Dad can't chase me.

One thing can. Him. He could chase me, wanting money and threatening to hurt my loved ones.

But that won't work, and I don't feel like facing some stupid fears only to win a competition.

Okay, screw that, I'd definitely do it if it means beating Minho.

"Okay," I eventually nod, and get ready for my last try.

"You do know that if you're as fast as him or even faster, he'll be your partner for the following days, right?"

Right.

With my mouth half open, I stare at Thomas. "I forgot about that."

He chuckles. "Good luck. It's your turn."

I take a few deep breaths as I take my place back on the ground, Minho beside me. I'll imagine Lyndon staring next to Jorge, waiting with that bright smile of his. And then the ridiculous act of making Him chase me.

Vince blows on the whistle. I rush forward as fast as I can, pushing my feet to the limit so hard that the wind cuts in my face. I imagine Lyndon is waiting there. I think back about some of days when I was so angry at things that I'd run and run until I fell to the ground, gasping for air.

Reaching Jorge somehow feels like no time and forever at once. In tension, I wait for him to say something. I haven't paid attention to Minho, so I don't know if he finished before me or at the same time or after me.

"I couldn't see who was faster," he states. "So I'll write the same times down. Good job. New records."

My lips automatically morph into a smile, and I almost make a little jump.

Minho lets go of a few breaths, wiping sweat off his forehead. "Nicely done, Blake."

"You too," I can't help but reply. After all, it's undeniable that he's a good runner.

"Lelia, you did amazing!" The genuine smiles on my new friend's faces honestly make my day as they wrap their arms around me.

"Once we have partners and can leave, we're gonna find each other good bikinis, yeah? I brought like five."

Excited at that, because even though I did bring my own bikini, it is way more fun to exchange, I nod. "Okay, sure."

After a few minutes, Jorge and Vince call us together. They do a quick explanation on how they matched the same speeds together and everything we already know. Neither am I curious who I'm going to get teamed up with, because there's only one person with whom I got the same time.

"Harriet and Sonya." At those words, the girls high-five. "Thomas and Ben. Lelia and Minho. Jeff and Miyoko. Clint and Alby."

And the rest of the duos are kids I don't really know. Though I'm paying attention, I'm also beaming to go to the lake, and jump up the second we're told to leave.

Laughing and giggling, we head to our changing room. But nearly there, my name gets called. Well, last name.

"Uhm." Minho's eyes trail over every single girl in front of him. "Conversation with four eyes?"

"We don't count. Whatever you tell her, she'll tell us. Might as well tell us now." 

I nod in confirmation.

"I appreciate that you want to see my face a little longer, ladies, but this really doesn't need a crowd," he says, taking my arm and quickly slipping me away.

"Hey, what's this for? I need to clean up and then go get ready for the lake—"

"Third task on our list," he says. "Minho gives Lelia baby's breaths and she has to act flattered."

Right. That.

My stomach does a twist. A task or not, I've never received flowers from a boy.

"Only have to volunteer to do a task for Janson and lose a basketball game after this," I say, only to cover up the sudden blush on my cheeks as he reveals the flowers.

"Yup. So... here you go." He presses the white flowers in my hands, half smiling and half grinning.

My face heats up even more. "Thanks."

"Act flattered."

"I am acting flattered. Besides, no one's watching so we might as well say I somewhat hugged the shit out of you while I didn't, and they'd believe it."

"No. We're gonna cross these tasks off with honesty."

I groan, nearly palming my face. "Then what's acting flattered according to you, hm?"

"I don't know. But fine, I'll count the red face. Is that a talent of yours or are you genuinely blushing?"

"Shut up." I do my best to stop it, but the thing about red faces is that when you try to stop them, it only gets worse. "It's the heat."

"There's many heats you could be referring to right now."

"The sun. I'm referring to the freaking sun."

He grins as he takes a step back. "Okay. I got it, Blake. Guess I'll see you at the lake."

Then he walks off, olive skin glowy because of the sun, and muscles still tense from all the activity today.