It was Monday the next week before I noticed anything again. It was our usual after school group. Mike, Stef, Kyle, Jessica and me. The cross-country group. We were heading to the dressing rooms to change for cross-country practise when, "Hey guys, wait up!" We turned to see who was coming. Guess what? It was Scott.
"Sure thing Scott," answered Kyle.
"I've decided to join the cross-country team."
"Cool," we answered.
"You couldn't have picked a better day to come though," said Mike sarcastically.
"Why?"
"Because today is hill training day," I finished.
"Oh joy," I heard Scott mutter.
"Don't worry. It's not that bad," I said.
We got to the change room and changed. I was kind of lagging behind, because I couldn't find my shorts. Can you believe it? The second week of school and my gym locker is already a mess. By the time I got on the bus, which took us to Gold Bar Park, the hill training area, Stef and Mike were already sharing a seat. Big surprise there. Kyle and Jessica were sitting together in front of Mike and Stef. Scott was sitting by himself across from the other 4.
"Is this seat taken?" I asked Scott.
"No," he replied.
"Can I sit here?"
"Sure why not."
I turned to sit down. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mike wink at me. I winked back and sat down.
"You and your brothers were so good on Wednesday."
"Thanks," Scott said blushing.
There was silence so I decided t keep the conversation going. "You know, I play the guitar too."
"Really?" he asked, his voice brightened a bit.
"Yeah, not very well."
"What kind of stuff do you like to play?" he asked.
"I mostly play MXPX songs, and songs I find chords for on the net," I answered, "you and your brothers should play in the Christmas L.I.T." (Lack In Talent show. A fun Christmas talent show we have at my school. Not that the Moffatts lack in Talent.)
"We're thinking of it," he replied.
There was silence for a few seconds. Scott obviously not wanting to talk about music right then and there changed the subject. "So what exactly do you do at practise?" he asked.
"Run until you can't run no more," I stated smartly, "actually today we work on pushing our limit on the hill part, which is about 1.5km. Then we get to have a short recovery jog, which I go very slow, and then we do it all over again 2 more times."
"I don't think I'm a very fast runner though."
"That's okay, neither am I. Mike and Kyle are pretty speedy. Me, Stef and Jessica usually run together, but I'm a little faster than them."
"I'll run with you girls then if that's okay."
"Of course."
I had to hand it to Scott He wasn't acting that shy towards me, and we had a conversation going on the whole way there. We finally got to Gold Bar, did our warm up and were on our way. Scott and I were pretty evenly matched in running pace. If he would have joined the team last year, he would have been pretty fast by now. But it was his first day. We wanted to go a bit faster but Stef and Jess didn't quite feel up to it. They told Scott and me to go on ahead, so we did. We had a good conversation going. The funny thing is I don't remember what it was about, something pointless probably. All was going well until about halfway through the second lap. I wasn't watching to closely on where I was going and tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. Scott tried to save me from falling, but no success. I fell to the ground, bringing him down with me. THUD!
"Scott?"
"Yeah?"
"Bad news."
"What?"
"I think I fell on some dog crap."
"Really?" he asked, "are you okay?"
He got up and helped me up after. I looked down at my shirt. Sure enough there was a big brown spot on it. Scott being a gentleman took off his shirt so I wouldn't have to wear mine, and handed it to me. "Here you can wear mine."
"Thanks your such a sweety," I answered.
Just then Stef and Jess came by. They had seen the whole thing. I headed off into the bushes to change. As I did, I heard Stef tease, "Don't look Scott."
"Don't worry, I won't."
To make sure he didn't, Jess covered his eyes.
"You know, I'm not perverted," Scott complained.
By then I was done changing, and back on the trail. "So, you guys aren't hurt are you?" asked Jessica, being more serious.
"No," I answered, "I'm just a klutz," and we began running again.
We finished our run and that was the second sign, I figured, that he liked me.
