The Runner's Heart Chapter 4

Name: Blackthorn Lord

Title: 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 or places is just coincidental (all except the obvious point that it takes place in Colorado). The story itself was something I thought up randomly while laying in bed one night.

Chapter 4

* Time jumped to Makenna’s sophomore year in school. Mia’s junior year.

Over the past two seasons things had been ever increasing in intensity between Mia and Makenna after that kiss in the girls bathroom, but nothing got physical between them like the time in the bathroom. Mia, as well as Makenna, had decided to not tell anyone about it. Makenna and Mia also swore to not do it again. Makenna didn’t like that one bit, and secretly, neither did Mia, but Mia stuck to her words. As for Mia’s mother catching them

Also, nothing had changed over the course of the previous two years, with Makenna keeping her distance from Mia and not letting her in, physically or mentally. Meanwhile, Mia still tried to be cordial with Makenna. It seemed as if the roles had flipped and Mia was the one in pursuit. In pursuit of what? Just why am I obsessing over her? Mia would ask herself the same question, day in and day out, but she was never actually closer to finding out the truth.

The tension, especially sexual, had also been building between them since they had taken traded blows.

Mia was just coming off a rather fantastic sophomore campaign winning states in cross country and blowing everyone else away in the states for indoor, all except Makenna Knox who had been talked into running indoor by Coach K, even though she didn’t want to, she really just did it because she was trying to stay closer to Mia. As the saying goes “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” and she was rattled ever since what they did in that dirty-as-hell bathroom. Makenna always thought they’d keep the bathrooms clean for all the athletes and people, especially considering it was a very public event such as the Indoor Nationals, but no, they, of course, picked the dirty bathroom that wasn’t for the competing athletes but just the extra bathrooms in the massive arena.

Coach K was having a baby so she was taking off the season, but before she left, she left the cross country team to her brother (who was no slouch in his own rights in coaching), she did give Makenna her personal number which was a bit risky as the school had forbid that, all because a female student wound up getting caught with a female gym teacher years before Coach K was there.

The student was found guilty of seducing the teacher, but instead of making it a big deal since the girl was eighteen they just laid the gym teacher off for eight months. Without pay, of course. And of course the girls parents didn’t want her seeing the teacher, but when she threatened to leave the house and never come back (and not just being a dramatic teenager about it, either), they, with their hands tied, allowed her to see the teacher.

Coach heard about this news before she was hired because it was her own younger cousin who was the student that pulled the little stunt.

When Makenna finally told her coach about what was happening. Not all the details, but just the surprising fact that she might have had some feelings for Mia.

Surprisingly it didn’t actually shock the coach as much as upset the coach, but Makenna stood by her words and said that she wanted the coach on her side, but what she did on her own time and who she chose to spend her free time with was up to her.

Coach K just laughed it off and said she didn’t mind it, as long as it didn’t distract Makenna from her workouts, races, and schoolwork.

The coach was very inspiring to Makenna and the school saw that improvement in Makenna’s times when the coach was present. Makenna found herself able to stick to Mia’s tail, but didn’t have the explosiveness she used to, in order to “close the gap” as coach would tell her.

This was due to her running the 2-mile race and a few 10ks over the summer, which made her slow her pace about thirty seconds slower than her usual 5k pace, but as a result. Makenna also found herself winning a record 13 consecutive races preceding all the way back to her freshman year. Quite the trip for someone so young, but Mia knew she could be beaten. She’d done it before and she could do it again.

This particular race was a biggie and because of that and because of the popularity of it, with an invitational of this caliber, with some of the top-ranked mile runners in the country coming to this race either to watch, or to win. The school decided to bring in a professional pacer to help them keep on track for a record-setting pace. The deal was the pacer would keep at the record pace for the first 800 meters, then they would drop out and leave it for Mia and the other racers to keep that pace.

Some of the top-ranked schools in Colorado and the nation were attending this specific invitational at the University of Colorado. Both Mia’s school and Makenna’s school attended this invitational, the Acadia Invitational, for the last seven consecutive seasons.

Makenna caught a glimpse of Dawn, who was at the fence, walking and talking to someone with dark hair. Someone she immediately recognised. She got closer and then could tell it was her cousin, Sophie knox. The tall, skinny brunette stood out like a sore thumb with her dark hair and deep green eyes. What was even more impressive was the new look Spohie was sporting. Along with the dark hair and smoke-shaded eyeliner she also had a new, easy-going clothing style, just a black top with a frilly dress design that showed off her impressively well-defined legs. She also had a new aura about her. Something she didn’t have before.

Makenna decided to jog over and say hello to them before the race began.

Sophie first saw her and waved, Makenna waved back.

Makenna and Sophie hugged briefly before she asked how she was and why she was there.

Sophie replied, “Oh, well, as you know, Dawn and I have been talking and because I’ve been getting time off of work lately and I’m done with running… we thought it’d be nice to drive down and see your race today as it wasn’t far from our school.”

Makenna thought to herself, It wasn’t far, Briarcrest University was a private university in the middle of the woods about twelve miles East of UColorado. Nothin’ wrong with that, nothin’ at all.

The girls mile race was about to begin and Makenna then smiled and said, “Alright, well‒” thinking for a moment Makenna turned to Dawn and whispered, “I know she’s a big girl, but take care of her, will yah?”

Dawn looked at her shocked and asked conspiratorially, “How did you know about us?”

Makenna smiled and whispered quickly back, “Oh, I could see it all over your face. You’re falling for her. I want to hear the story one day.”

Dawn looked at Makenna cautiously and then when Makenna promised she wouldn’t tell anyone until Dawn was ready to tell her their story, Dawn nodded in acceptance and said, “Of course I will. But I honestly don’t even know what to do. I haven’t even officially asked her on a date yet.”

Makenna looked between the two of them and then leaned in to Dawn and said, “I give you permission as she’s my cousin… go for it. Don’t wait like I have.”

As she backed off and said her goodbyes and headed back to the team tent Makenna knew there was a story of their own developing almost in front of her own eyes, sooner than later, Dawn would have to make the first move because if there was anything Makenna knew about her cousin it was that when dating boys or girls she didn’t like to make the first move, but she was okay with the silence for now because she had her own things to deal with.

Of course, one of the very first events to start was the mile, so she was very much still half asleep when she got her warmup in.

She briefly saw her friend and teammate, Tyler Shae, sprinting down the finishing stretch to win the boys eight-hundred. He set a meet record and most definitely punched a one-way ticket to the section and state meet.

The girls mile was called again to go to the starting line.

They got to the starting line and Makenna saw the pacer, a tall, skinny dark-skinned woman with brown hair. They got their BIB numbers and got to the line, got set, and were off in under two minutes from the last call for the mile.

Mia got out and held the lead close behind the pacer the whole race from the gun, and off the gun, Makenna knew it would be a fast race, not a tactical one. Even with the pacer, she could tell the pacer would be pushing a bit more for Mia. She heard the pacer and Mia talking about getting the record before the race started.

By the first thousand meters in, and by the time the pacer stepped off the track, Makenna was still where she wanted to be in the lead pack, but she could feel the pack was separating a bit and she heard her coach yell, “Make your move, Makenna!”

She did just that, she pushed forward once she heard the bell signaling the last lap was upon them faster than anticipated and although she still lost Makenna was still becoming more popular than Mia because every second place finish for Makenna behind Mia was a comeback.

She stayed back in fourth place and waited to make her move with the rabbit (the racer who sets the pace in the front of the lead pack) because of her intense long distance endurance training.

Mia had been the one to break Makenna’s win streak and that didn’t actually aggravate her. It was because Dawn and Sophie’s developing relationship was beyond friendly and she couldn’t think straight with the thought of that possibly being Mia and her one day, but that all left her the last lap, when she came back and finished in second place all she could see was the smiling faces of her parents, coach, and sister.

While she didn’t win this one… she certainly continued to grind Mia’s gears because of her laughing off the 2nd place finish when Mia said something nasty to her about coming in 2nd place. She just smiled at Mia and said, “You did a great job, congrats on the record.”

Mia did end up setting the record, but it wasn’t by a crazy margin. With that knowledge that Makenna said she was saving herself for the 2-mile race wasn’t something Mia wanted to hear after she just fought hard to keep Makenna off her back for much of the last lap. That led to her pushing Makenna off her when Makenna tried to give her a hug after the race ended. With that happening the hosts from the invitational forced Mia to be disqualifed much to Mia’s teams dismay because Mia was their only runner in the lineup.

Makenna had 4 girls with her. They let Makenna race the 2-mile since it was her only race left in the day. All Makenna could think if in her preverse mind was when Mia pushed her off and Makenna, out of surprise really, grabbed a handful of Mia’s ass on accident.

The past season Mia had a rough season as she hurt her ankle bad. She had to sit back and watch as Makenna did all the work and won all those races. She seemed to be back to full strength this year and was beating everyone, even Makenna had to give it to her that she had gotten more intense. Secretly, she thought that look Mia got when Makenna was about to pass her at the end was super sexy. The pained look of pushing to the limit. Just so her rival couldn’t kill her in the race.

When Mia got injured Makenna was the one who carried her back to her teams tent.

For that, Mia’s school, even though rivals of Makenna’s, applauded Makenna of her shivalry and sportswomanship.

During the beginning of the season Mia had come back with a vengeance and was beating everyone, then Makenna got a win against her in the mile. She did it twice the past season, but she knew that her team and Mia’s would be fighting for a podium finish in states and nationals, which meant as long as all of her seven other teammates ran fast enough they had a chance with at least five of them to do good enough to place top 3 in states.

At the end of the season, the tide turned and Makenna found her groove early on in the regional and state race.

She was not going to let-up and wanted to prove to Mia that she could beat her, even if she was having a lousy sophomore campaign. She wouldn’t give up and had been working a lot on her endurance as she realized she lost endurance in the mile for the sake of higher speeds for the eight-hundred. This time it was very much the opposite. She was a deadly combination of speed, endurance, and mental strength.

She ran the fastest time on her team and she blew out the rest of the top competition with a time of 9 minutes and 42 seconds on the 3200, or 2-mile.

She felt so relieved to get Mia back finally, and it was not for nothing as she turned around to find her teammates were swarming in top 10. They ended up taking states that season, but at least they beat out Mia’s team. That was the goal from the start. She now was deadlocked with Mia again.

After finishing the season at nationals. Makenna took 1st place for the mile with Mia crying after coming in 4th place. She also led her team and school into battle and got big-time points to get the sweep with her team in the 3200. Her teammates stepped up and while she would take 1st, 2nd would go to Makayla Skyler, a senior, 5th, madison Skyler, younger sister of Makayla and also very good 3200 meter runner and 13th, a surprise eighth-grader, Makenna’s own sister who surprised everyone including Makenna. She knew her sister could do it, but it was a matter if she would have the strength to compete against the best at a higher level.

Even better, Makenna wasn’t finished as she came back from that terrific season in outdoor and she got Mia back even bigger at the end of the XC season when she came back from 6th and beat Mia and two seniors at the end, twins Kelsey and Fiona Richie, who were slated to possibly complete a sweep for their team at one and two, but Makenna and Mia both made short work of them after the big hill at the halfway point.

That was when the lead pack split and Mia and Makenna paced on each other. Both riding solid low 5 minute/mile paces. They both got into Regionals cleanly as Mia let up at the end and gave it to Makenna. When Mia told her she gave it up to her, she even surprised herself when she said, “I gave it up to you because I wanted you to know I’m coming for you. States was just the beginning.”

With that in mind, Makenna went home that night and with an ice pack on her shin, she watched the film of their race and realized she could’ve been stride for stride with Mia at the end and after watching the finish she saw that Mia wasn’t lying. She had let up.

Makenna shook off the thoughts of why and continued riding a high win-streak.

On the other end, Mia could only smile as she crossed seconds after Makenna.

She had to admit, she knew why Makenna liked to sit in at 2nd or 3rd place behind her. The view is pleasant, she admitted to herself.

She went home that night and masturbated for the first time to the thought of Makenna’s sweet, tight ass swaying back and forth in front of her.

2nd place felt fine to her when losing to Makenna. Little did Makenna know that Mia had developed her own little plan. She would have Makenna by the end of that season. She had to be close to her. She needed to return the favor from what Makenna gave her all those seasons before… freedom. Freedom from not having to worry about someone being homophibic towards her. Freedom when it came to giving herself and her body and soul up to someone else.

Mia was ready two weeks later and decided to skip on Foot Locker Nationals, unlike the previous season.

She was happy with that 16th place finish at Nike Cross Nationals, but she wanted to be fully healthy when she knew she’d be able to be at full strength to get Makenna back, who again had an amazing freshman season, coming in at 5th at Nike, but she also skipped out at Foot Locker. They had her slated to be a top-5 finisher there as well.

Nike was a whole other monster. Nike gave anyone who comes in their top 15 in the State and Regional meets a shot. Since there were over 12 different regions, that meant Mia and Makenna were racing some of the best in the country. While Makenna was happy sitting in top-25 at Nike her freshman season, she wasn’t as happy because she knew that Mia would come back the next season, her junior season. A runner's junior season is usually where they grown the most in speed and running form, that’s what was missing was that Mia was behind her by about 12 runners and Makenna just felt off without her rival running next to her. They could have easily taken a top 5 podium finish. That’s what her goal was for the previous two seasons, yet, she felt out of place without Mia being there. She didn’t really know why, but then again, she also didn’t know why she always got a tingly feeling in her stomach and lower region whenever she’d brush up against Mia before a race.

Deep down, she knew what that ‘something’ was. Or, more likely, what that ‘someone’ was that she was missing in her life. She just didn’t know if her mom would faint or be genuinely happy for her happiness. Was love worth the risk?

All Mia knew was that she wanted to try. She’d never known what being in love before, but she could only think about Makenna. Makenna was everything she thought about. She wanted to give it a shot, even if it meant she’d be left desolate and broken, even if her rival wouldn’t see things the same way anymore. As she lay there in bed masturbating over seeing makenna’s sweet ass in front of her again, she knew just plan to get Makenna wanting her again.

The end of Chapter 4… next up, last but not least, chapter 5.