Fallen Crest Forever (Fallen Crest Series Book 7)(23)

I took it. “What is this?” It was a map of campus. I could see the paths highlighted on it.

“Those are running paths.” He stood and used a pen to point to the route labeled C. “That’s the route you girls are running today. They know all the routes, so you’re right about that. I should’ve given this to you earlier.” His pen followed the trail until it connected to another route labeled D. “If you really want to knock my socks off, follow C until it leads here. Then follow D all the way back. You’ll have gone twice as far as the other girls today. Faith and Rae do that sometimes. They branch off on their own. I’m offering the same privilege to you.”

I memorized the two trails, then folded the paper and put it in my pocket. I’d have to pull it out again later to review. “I’ll do it. Thank you.”

He held a hand toward the door, grabbing his clipboard, stopwatch, and whistle. “It’s almost three. Taylor is excused for the day, and I’ll keep an open mind, but my hands are tied beyond those two things. I can’t kick off two of my best runners because they said mean things to you. It’s not enough to go on. Not yet.”

That was the most I’d been hoping for. “Thank you, Coach.”

“Now, go get warmed up. I want to see how fast you can really go.”

I headed for the door. I was itching to do just that.

Since I was already dressed, I stopped to fill my water bottle before heading out to where the team had congregated. They paused when I pushed through the door, and I made a point of going to a different section of grass to stretch. It didn’t surprise me to see Faith and Raelynn stretching on their own too, nor was I shocked by the way everyone looked to them like they were waiting for orders on how to handle me.

Faith narrowed her eyes, but didn’t move toward me. She resumed her stretching, and the rest of the team followed suit.

“Samantha.” Courtney called my name.

I shook my head. “Save it.”

She sat next to me and reached for her toes. Nettie and Grace watched, but they didn’t come over with her.

“I can’t,” she said. “I’m sorry for this morning.”

I released my leg and reached for my toes, mirroring her. “You made me feel bad about excluding you.”

“I know.”

“I felt like an idiot when I saw you there.”

“I know.”

“Why are you here?”

She looked around, her forehead wrinkling a little. “Where’s Taylor?”

“She’s skipping today because I was worried something might happen to her.”

“Are you kidding me?” Her eyebrows shot up. “You think we’d do something to hurt her?”

“Yeah.”

“Faith and Rae might be a lot of things, but actually harming someone isn’t something they’d do.”

I stopped stretching. “Are you here on behalf of them, or are you here because you feel bad about your part?”

“I . . .” She hesitated, her head dipping down for a moment. She took a breath and looked back up. “I feel bad for my part. I knew they were going to do that, and that’s why we asked to join you guys.”

“So, we wouldn’t know right away that we were outcasts?” My old anger was surfacing. I felt it simmering. “We’d find out later, when something actually happened to hurt me or Taylor?”

Shame flooded her features. She looked back down at her legs. “Look.” She twisted her hands together. “I feel bad for my part. And you should know that not all of us follow those two. I think you’ll be amazing for our team, and I’m glad you joined.”

I looked at her friends. Nettie huffed, looking away. Grace gave me a timid smile back.

“And your friends? Are they on the same page?” I asked.

“Grace is.”

“Not Nettie?” Not the drunk girl who’d made out with a guy for everyone to see?

She hesitated again, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “If Nettie has to choose between you and them, it’s them.” She lowered her voice. “I’m not even sure she’d choose Grace and me over them. Not that it helps.”

I nodded. Coach Langdon came out and went over to the two divas. He had a word with them, and both whirled around to look at me. A couple seconds later, he moved on to talk to Ruth. Faith and Raelynn stormed over.

“You narc’d on us? Are you kidding me?!” Faith hissed. She turned to Courtney. “What are you doing over here?”

Courtney straightened, raising her chin. “I was apologizing.”

Faith snorted. “You’re weak, Courtney. If you want to be on the losing side, so be it. We’ll target you too.”