The Runner's Heart        

Book One: Rivals

*Note, everything in this story is complete fiction and never has happened to me, or anyone I know. Any real people, places, or things in this series is just coincidental (all except the obvious point that it takes place in Colorado).

*The story itself was something I thought up randomly while going through all the news on sports being cancelled. One of those was track and field (which I ran in high school and loved it) and it sparked my imagination.

*One more thing, this chapter is just setting up the characters for the next chapters and introducing this world. So, go easy on me, but give me some honest advice and feedback and I have already finished editing chapters 2, 3, and 4. Only have chapter 5 to edit now.  

Chapter 1        

Every star's story starts from somewhere.

Every person they meet, every coach they have ever had that motivated them, even every person who’s ever doubted them is a part of that story. At least, that’s half of the typical Olympian’s story. This is a very particular story about two girls, their rivalry, and what one day eventually could lead them into something much more.

        Her name was Makenna Knox, a girl who would one day gain fame and fortune from running the mile, but that was many years down the line and certainly way before she realized she had the potential for college track and field, let alone the Olympics, but this story is even more special, specifically because she had the hots for one girl in particular. Her rival, Mia Kane.

        First, the story must go back to a time when this love of hers for the girl first took hold and brought her to her knees (metaphorically and literally).

While in a rather small elementary school, Makenna realized she was a bit different than the other girls. She realized she liked to look at the girls much more than she cared to even think about boys. Back in elementary school, and even middle school for a short while, Makenna wasn’t the same talkative, friendly, outgoing person she became in high school and later.

        No, Makenna was a shy, quiet bookworm who got beat up for being smarter than the other kids and liking heavy metal and rock bands like Breaking Benjamin. She decided on one particularly hot, sunny summer morning to befriend the new girl in town, that girl was Mia Kane.

        Mia was also a bit shy, so when she finally was approached by someone, even someone as beautiful and smart as Makenna Knox, she was so surprised. Yet she was also very happy about finding someone her own age, who she could spend some time with.

        Eventually they began to hang out more on the weekends and bonded over their love of music and swimming. Their relationship continued to develop and strengthen over the next six months.

        It was on one of these hot and sunny days that they got to talking about boys. That led to them talking about other girls and they admitted that they had felt some weird things for girls. Mia was the one that suggested they kiss, just for practice, but secretly even Mia knew this was a different kiss than anything she’d ever felt before in her 12 years of life. This, of course, led to more than kissing.

         Later that night, when they were in the pool and thought Mia’s parents were asleep they came together and kissed some more, but that would soon be rudely interrupted by Mia’s father finding them in that awkward predicament. It became more awkward when he made a big fuss about it and it ended up with her parents having to come get her. For once, Makenna had made a friend and just like that, her ‘friend’ was beginning to turn into much more than that, there was no more and instead, her “friend” blamed her for what they did and Mia’s father kicked her out because he thought that Makenna had forced herself on Mia.

        He said to not talk to Mia again.

        After that, she began to isolate herself from everyone to the point where it scared her parents, but soon after she resorted to cut herself, as she felt better feeling a physical pain that would ease her mental pain. One day though, the razor cut too deep and her parents had to bring her to the hospital. While she was laying in the hospital bed and recovering, while watching and seeing her mother trying to hold herself together. Makenna decided she would find herself.

        She would never let Mia give her that much pain. She knew she would never stop thinking about wanting to see Mia. Every night she would go to sleep looking at Mia getting into her nighttime clothes and going to sleep. Soon after that it turned into Makenna seeing how amazing Mia’s body was developing from all the swimming and running. It also led Makenna to run more and swim harder as a way to counter what Mia made her feel. Eventually, her parents started to see the major improvements in her running and swimming times. As the season went by she became faster and faster.

        She also ended up winning the 800-meter race that her school did annually for a good cause. All the associating schools connected to the main middle school and senior high school. Three other elementary schools sent their kids after 6th grade into the middle school that graduated around 400 kids a year. Those 400 kids then got sent to the high school.

        Well, Makenna shocked everyone when she went out fast and kept a grueling fast pace that not even some of the boys her age could keep.  

Eventually, Makenna got to the point where she would run two laps from their backyard, all the way to the nearby forest treeline and back. That distance would equal to about 800 meters, which they would clock her times anywhere between 2 minutes and 40 seconds and 3 minutes flat every time.

        They noticed her speed and how much she was improving. After 6th grade, she ran in a summer-friendly meet between her elementary school and a neighboring elementary school and she won the 800m race, she also took 2nd against Mia who cut her off at the end and bumped her out of the lead.

        The officials were terrible and said they hadn’t seen anything, Makenna bet that Mia’s father had paid them off just so Mia would be able to bump her out of the way at the last minute and win. She only won by about two seconds, but that two seconds was enough to piss off Makenna. It was at that moment that Makenna had set her sights on beating Mia whenever they raced next. That was when she decided she would never stop until she caught Mia and beat her fair and square. Not cheating for the win like Mia did.

        It wasn’t long before she was winning 800-meter races and even took 2nd place against a mixture of boys and girls at a highly anticipated 1-mile race in their district finals meet, which was like the older kids state race.  

Makenna made a secret promise to Mia every night that she would find a way to get Mia back for what she did. She never got the chance to do that though because one day she came home after a tough practice to see Mia Knox and her family had moved out of town.

        Mia would give Makenna the stink eye. Makenna would give it back to her tenfold, then they would go and race each other hard. Usually it was pretty dead even until one of the two would make a move at the last 100 meters.  

        It wasn’t until Makenna’s 9th-grade season in cross country when she made the varsity team after dominating the middle school scene and it was at that moment, when she put her bags down at her schools first invitational meet that she saw her, Mia Kane. The 10th-grade bombshell. She grew a bit in height, changed her natural light brown hair to a darker almost auburn color, she didn’t change much physically.

        Makenna thought to herself, damn does she have an ass, though. Again, it was after that “holy shit” moment that Makenna knew she had but one thing on her mind and that was to get the girl of her dreams, Mia Kane, to talk to and recognize her from all those years before. She was sure Mia remembered her by the way she caught Mia dumbstruck by seeing Makenna at the invitational meet.

        Mia slowly approached Makenna as if Makenna weren’t real, but she was and when Mia said, “Hi. What are you doing here?”

        Makenna smiled knowingly and said with a pointed look down at her attire, “I’m here to race today-”

        Mia just smiled shortly and then said, “Yeah, I can see that now. I can also see you put on some weight.”

        Makenna was caught off guard by that and said, “Well, you’ve not changed. Nice to see you, too Mia. Ha, you still muff diving?”

        Mia, after a moment of silence between them, and after reeling back her anger, said, “Well, good luck today on your race. Hope you do okay.”

Before Makenna could respond all she was met with was a tight, toned ass walking slowly back away. Before she could help herself she whispered in quick response, “Damn nice ass.”

        Unfortunately for Makenna, Mia did hear that and turned quickly back around and yelled, “What’d you say? Did you just comment on my ass!”

        Instead of denying what she said, Makenna gave Mia a full-body once-over and said, “Don’t tell me you forgot about our play times we had at your parents' pool. Do you think I could ever forget about that ass of yours?”

        Mia, with a horrified and angered look that turned on Makenna for some unknown reason, yelled, “How dare you?” but before she could continue her tirade Makenna stepped forward and kissed Mia on the lips lightly. That would hold Makenna over for a while. She hoped. She still needed time to figure out why she couldn’t stop herself from kissing Mia.

        She didn’t think Mia would do anything, but she was surprised when she was grabbed by Mia and pushed away, Mia then said, “Don’t ever touch me again. I’m not the same girl that left you behind all those years-”

        Makenna walked away and back to her team's tent without looking back, but she knew she would’ve laughed out loud if she saw the comedic look of shock on Mia’s face. Everything Mia was saying was true, but it also was a lie and it was clear as day to Makenna that she still had a hold on a large chunk of Mia’s heart. In some weird way, that was enough of a reason to continue this rivalry, for her.

        The debates were already out there and everyone from the coaches of Mia, to the families, even to the other team's runners thought she had a huge chance (even as a freshman) to make the state meet that season.

        Of course, Makenna was in 9th grade and while Mia was living a happy, albeit fake straight life, Makenna had to deal with her dad not being too happy about her coming out so early, her mom crying when she told her because her mom said she thought she would never have grandchildren. Makenna laughed and told her that she still would like a little girl or boy, just not with a guy. Her father became an assistant coach and took more time from his full-time job to help with Makenna’s development. He was pushing her coach to let her do the varsity races with the juniors and seniors on the team.

        Her coach was a very pretty, yet very straight Russian woman with piercing green eyes. She was tall, skinny, and very much fit for her 29 years of age.

        Coach Krychevsky said, “Let her run this girls race first to get her feet wet. Then we can see her running the 5k next weekend.” After a look from Makenna’s father, she added, “Then the top 10 varsity roster for the first duel meet in two weeks.”

         Well, not only did Makenna make an impact or impression on her teammates and coach but on everyone because on top of her winning 1st place in the 2.5-mile race, which was the very early race, she also beat the girls 2.5-mile record held previously by none other than Mia Knox’s mom. She was also a cross country and track star in her high school days. Makenna blew her time away, too.

         Makenna broke it in 13 minutes and 49 seconds, which when the coach averaged out all her splits and found that her max pace at the 2.2-mile mark was at a 5:31 minutes per mile pace. Which simply meant her pace was faster than Mia’s current max pace, which also meant that theoretically she could in a way beat Mia for the first mile to the middle of the race, and possibly track Mia for two and a half miles of the race, but then she would dip a bit at the 2.4-mile mark.

        Mia ran later in the girls' varsity race, that was trickier because there was a very gradual, but tough hill that was still wet from the morning rain and Mia ended up in the front of a pack of girls, but lost her footing and tripped. She lost some time on that little slip and ended up finishing in 6th place. After the race, Makenna was at the finish line and went over to where Mia was and could see she looked pretty muddy and cut up.

        So what she did was called out to Mia and said somewhat sarcastically, “Hey Mia, are you okay? Another great race.”

        She went over to help Mia up and tried, but when Makenna got close enough Mia stood tall fast and pushed Makenna off her wrist and one of Makenna’s teammates, Dawn Beck, a 12th-grade bombshell with a fit body that didn’t match the typical long-distance runner because of her muscle, but she also had nice round C-cup breasts and a decent butt, but she wasn’t either Makenna or Mia’s type. She also had almost gold-bleached hair, she was one of the top runners for the varsity girls in their state of Colorado.

        They had just crossed the finish line behind Mia, and another one of Makenna's teammates, Charlotte Beck, Dawn’s year-older cousin came in shortly after Dawn and they saw Mia shove Makenna off her and to the ground and also heard her pretty much just out Makenna to everyone standing around. That was a no-no in anyone’s mind.

        She called Makenna some harsh words that Makenna didn’t even hear because she was too busy seeing stars and after a brief, yet sloppy push-around between Mia and Dawn due to their tiredness, Makenna was ushered to the trainer's tent because she hit her head against the pole right behind her.

        Makenna smiled later on after sitting in the tent in silence, reminiscing about the way things had turned out thus far. She looked around at her teammate and asked, “So, I heard you jumped in to defend me. You don’t mind me being gay?”

        Dawn had a look of shock on her face and said quickly, “No, I would never care about that!” taking a moment, she drew in a deep breath and explained, “You’re our teammate and friend, but… do you love that girl?”

Makenna’s shocked expression said it all, but she still asked, “How’d you find out through our very brief interaction?”

        Dawn smiled sadly and said, “Because I’ve seen that look with couples who fight. It looked like the typical lovers quarrel. Except with more pushing and shoving. Both are still hurting, but one is just wanting to work out and fix things, the other half doesn’t see it that way. They don’t even try to fix things and instead deny their feelings because they don’t want to feel anything.”

        Makenna smiled sourly again and said more seriously, “I never thought I would tell anybody this, but” Makenna stood up and got a water, then took a sip of it and continued, “I don’t really identify as gay, never really felt anything sexual towards other girls until I met her, Mia Kane. I never really liked guys either, so maybe I was asexual, but then with puberty and meeting Mia, I mean I had never seen anyone with her body back then. We were neighbors and loved to swim, and run, and ride our bikes together. It was nice, but I knew, and I think she secretly was beginning to know, even at 12 years old, that our relationship had felt different from the very beginning. We kissed on one hot summer day in the pool, then several more times and it was wonderful, but her dad caught us and she told him that she was doing it just for fun. That I talked her into doing it even though she didn’t feel ready to do anything with a girl. That I was the one that talked her into doing, which wasn’t true at all. She’d always been the initiator...”

        Dawn just sat and looked openly, as if to say, “Go as far as you want to, or not at all. It’s up to you.”

        Makenna continued and said, “I trust you, I’ve tried to see her after that first time, but he caught us again and physically kicked me out that time and my dad had to put his foot down to not see her again. It got so bad that all I wanted to do was crawl inside myself at night when I knew she was over there thinking about me, but not doing or saying anything to me during the day because she thought she had to for her dick of a father...

         Eventually, it got so bad that I resorted to self-harm. I would come home after a run and see her in the pool by herself, but would go take a shower and the guilt and dread would hit me that I just crave that feeling of the razor on my arm.” A pained expression crossed Dawn’s eyes and she went to hug Makenna, but Makenna stood up slowly and motioned for Dawn to stay where she was, she said, “It got so bad that I, one random Thursday, cut myself just too deep and my mom found me with a pool of my blood around me. Unconscious, she had to drag me out of the bathtub and the ambulance got there in record time.”

After a minute of silence, she took a deep breath and continued, “They said she tried to come visit while I was in the hospital, but that my father yelled at her and her mother to leave and not come back.

         I guess he was just trying to give her and her family a pierce of what I went through when all I wanted was to wake up next to her, but that didn’t happen. They moved shortly after that and the new neighbors they had and still have a lovely daughter who I liked and think had the hots for me. I would go over and play with her from time to time and swim with her, but it’s not the same. She’s not Mia Kane. She’s not the same girl I knew and got to know for several months. The girl who was my only friend when nobody else wanted to be. And I can’t stop thinking about her, even now! It’s maddening!”

        Makenna then chose the worst time to try crying because her head started killing her and soon after the coach walked into finding Dawn and Makenna in a chest-to-chest hug with Makenna dry-sobbing.

Makenna said between sobs, “It’s… just so tough sometimes… to know she’s there and still feels some things for me… but she’s not all there. Like she’s faking her feelings for me, just to hurt me because of my father telling her to get lost!”

        Coach just then stopped what she was going to say and then coughed to get their attention and said, “All our stuff is packed and ready to go. Makenna,” Makenna quickly shrugged off Dawn “ah, your stuff is already in your parent's car for you. We decided to let you off easy for the day and to go home with your family, but I expect you to keep being you come Monday and kick more butts because you certainly proved to be a force out there. Just make sure you ice up and stretch out. Maybe some yoga or pilates.”

        Makenna blushed and said, “Okay, thanks coach.”

        Coach K then walked closer and patted Makenna on her shoulder and said in a motherly voice, “If you ever need or want to talk to someone about anything. If you just ask, I’m sure you’ll find that there are plenty of friends around here who will answer your call if you need it.”

        Makenna just smiled and said, “Thanks again, coach.”

        The coach walked out and Dawn followed shortly after, but not before she turned back and said, “I know this was a big thing to tell someone, but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to. Plus, I’ll tell you my secret… I’m bisexual.”

        Makenna just shrugged and said, “You know what? I’m okay with you being bi. I'm not biphobic or anything. I think it’s cool that I made a friend today.”

Dawn just chuckled lightly and said, after a look from Makenna, “Thanks, but You’ve gained a lot of runners’ respect for standing up to her.”

“I’m going to keep trying, concussion be damned.” Makenna responded.

        Dawn smiled, and said, patting Makenna on the shoulder, “Well, that’s more like it. Just… be careful.”

        Then Dawn walked out and Makenna followed her out and her father’s Honda Civic where they left and she got to go back home rather quickly.

                                                …

        Makenna decided to take off the indoor season and get healthy for the outdoor season.

Her outdoor coach thought it would be best if she did some short workouts with weights.

        While Makenna rested for outdoor track and field. Mia was tearing it up indoors and made it to nationals for indoor track as the number one seed in the mile and 3rd seed for the 800, but she only ended up and got 5th place for the 800-meter race.

        Makenna was secretly smiling for Mia when she crossed the finish line and only finished in 3rd place for the mile. Only because one of Makenna’s teammates won that race and because Makenna knew that that would have easily been Mia and Makenna racing for the 1st place and the win.

         Makenna did lose the next meeting between them back in Cross Country season because she couldn’t race as hard and was dealing with shin splints. She still took 2nd place in that meet.

        No girls besides them were going to break 18 minutes for the 5k on that very freezing cold day and indeed they both broke 18 minutes. It was still a default loss for her after the twisted ankle and trip by Mia. No officials were at the location so once she reached the finish line she was depressed that didn’t at least get Mia disqualified.

        Mia had to admit that Makenna was developing a nice body. She smiled silently as she let her mind wander and she suddenly thought of a boy flirting with Makenna. That hurt her to even think about, or even Makenna flirting with another girl, if she was indeed gay.

        When Makenna came back for outdoors, she would come ready and prepared.

        Makenna’s school, New Babylon West, was higher ranked in states at that point than Mia’s school, which was New Babylon East. The two rival schools were both ranked top 10 in states and top 20 in nationals.

        Mia sat on the bus on the way home after the disappointment. She turned and was watching the twin sisters cuddling together.

        She thought she saw something between their tired gaze that said they felt something more than just what twins felt for each other.

        She knew that twins had a close bond from birth till death, but Mia swore she saw something more than just an identical twin bond, there was also a true passion for one another between their gaze. It interested Mia to think that other girls were feeling similar things like she was, but they are sisters. Identical twin sisters at that. That can’t be right.

        She figured it wasn’t for her to say anything because she was just as bad for secretly liking her rival Makenna Knox.

        Mia was infuriated that Makenna was just going to do indoor track for training for the outdoor season, but wouldn’t be competing her 9th-grade year. She was asked by the interviewer if she would come out and race next indoor season and she just told the interviewer that she might consider it if Mia were to win states this season. That sounded like a direct shoutout to Mia to step up her game (or rather) step up her races.

        She knew Makenna didn’t want to have to race against Mia and the older girls indoors. Winning states and sections for cross country was one thing, but coming in top 3 for track (both indoor and outdoor) were very competitive for the girls and guys once you got to the state and national level. Instead of five or more minutes, we’re talkin’ maybe improving by simply just seconds. The faster one gets the harder it gets to drop substantial time.

        On the other hand, Makenna had been secretly watching from the sidelines while Mia went on to have an excellent season and indeed would go on to win states for the mile with a record-setting time of 4:32:02. She even took 4th in the 3200-meter finals.

        She scored points for her team and that led to her school getting a 4th place finish on the ballad for the first time in twelve years for indoor track, all the while still a freshman. Mia’s team was supposed to get sweeps in the indoor mile, but not if a team from Oregon had anything to say about it.

        Makenna knew how dangerous this team from Oregon was because one of her cousins was on the team, her name was Sophie Knox. Her mother married Makenna’s uncle young, but they divorced after her mother came out and shocked everyone, but Makenna and her mom, by that.

        She, Sophie, and Makenna’s other younger cousin, Jacqueline, moved to Oregon shortly after that. Sophie was a rising star in XC running in Oregon on her own. With her little sister not too far behind her.

        Makenna was secretly congratulating and happy for Mia in the 2nd place. Even though she knew Mia would want to come back again and again until she got that 1st place.

        Not gonna happen if  I have anything to say about that.  Makenna thought, smiling to herself, as she walked back to get a breath mint from her bag.

This is the end of chapter 1… leave me a comment, criticism, or even just come say hi.

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