To see it now, it made Sawyer look a million times better. It surprised Ethan to his core. Driving home, he thought about it several times. Crazy what you can find out about a person.
Ethan ran around the corner of the track first place. His friends were cheering him on. He almost made it to the finish line when the tip of his shoe hit the concrete the wrong way and made him fall forward off his feet. The impact was intense. He fell onto his face and rolled. When it was over, he was cut and bruised all over.
The track coach ran over and bent down. Ethan was conscious, but in a lot of pain. A lot of students were also gathering. The coach picked Ethan up and several students helped to cart him to the nurses station.
Ethan laid on his back on the bed miserable. Shortly afterwards, Sawyer walks in with a thermometer. When he sees Ethan on the bed, his heart skips a beat.
"What happened to you? Get into a fight?" He asked Ethan.
Ethan looked over and was surprised to see Sawyer. "What are you doing here?"
"My mom is a nurse here."
Ethan just looked at him.
"And I help out after school sometimes."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"I need to take your temperature Ethan. Can you sit up for a sec?"
Rolling his eyes, Ethan sat up and opened his mouth. Sawyer stuck the thermometer in expertly and waited. A minute or so later, he took it out again then wrote something down on a clipboard. "Ok, mom should be with you shortly."
"Cool," Ethan remarked.
Sawyer turned to leave then thought twice. "So, you never really answered my question. What happened?"
Ethan opened his eyes. "I fell during a race running track."
"Ouch."
Laying his head back down, Ethan prayed Sawyer's mom would give him something strong to knock him out.
In minutes he was back to sleep.
Ethan's parents were livid over the injuries of their son, went to the school board, and complained. Upon approval of the faculty, Ethan was allowed to stay home for an entire week and recover. Talking about a happy camper, Ethan smiled from ear to ear the entire time.
He went online to complete whatever assignments he had for his classes and stayed caught up. He was waited on hand and foot. After a week he recovered and went back to school.
Sawyer was at his locker looking through his things when he saw a hand prop suddenly on the side of his opened locker door. Alarmed, Sawyer spun around ready to confront the culprit invading his space.
Shock went all through him to see it was Ethan. Literally, heat rose to his cheeks.
"Hey," Ethan smiled.
"Hey," Sawyer returned, unsure of himself. "What's up?"
Ethan leaned slightly in, close to Sawyer's face. "I wanted to apologize if I had been a butthole to you a week ago when I fell. I was really out of it and I don't even remember all that we talked about."
Sawyer fought a smile. "Oh, it's ok. I don't even remember myself."
Several students walked by and stared at Ethan and Sawyer. Sawyer stared back, almost angered.
Ethan didn't even notice.
Sawyer turned his attention back to Ethan and ignored how unnerved he suddenly was. Ethan patted him on the shoulder. "Ok well I will let you get back to your routine. See you later."
He winked at Sawyer and Sawyer nodded back. Strange, Sawyer said to himself, then went back to his books, thinking about how weird it was that Ethan was starting to befriend him. Strange indeed.
Sawyer attended the next pep rally his school had with a mixture of bitterness and interest. He had heard Ethan was running in a race sponsored by the school, but hated how the whole school was forced to attend. Most of the time students had an option on whether or not they wished to attend, but this particular time there wasn't a choice.
Sawyer made his way across the bleachers. He sat on the very top row. There, he could watch the race in peace.
He had brought a book to read while the festivities passed by. None of his classmates could be seen. Sawyer was content sitting alone.
When the whistle sounded for the runners to take their mark, Sawyer looked up from his book. He spotted Ethan in lane three. Once the pistol fired, every single runner took off.
Sawyer was in awe over how fast the guys were running. He recognized a few of the runners from his class. But what kept him spellbound the most was how fast Ethan ran. He mastered each curve perfectly and gained even more distance away from his competition. When it was over, he had literally killed it. Winning first place was normal for Ethan. Sawyer had never watched a track race. He loved playing sports, but hated watching them. He took little interest in his schools sports.
When the pep rally was over and everyone had ooh'd and awe'd over Ethan's triumphant win, everyone left the track field and slowly began to leave school, having been dismissed once the rally was over.
Sawyer made it to his car in record time. When he sat in his Jeep, he looked up in time to see Ethan standing beside a bunch of his friends staring across the parking lot at him. When Sawyer stared back, Ethan waved. Sawyer waved back, again taken aback at Ethan's sudden friendliness. All the way home Sawyer couldn't get the race out of his mind. For the first time ever, he had finally enjoyed a pep rally.
