Scramble
Copyright© 2025 by Lumpy
Chapter 15
Coach Greer’s whistle blew as I finished my last two-hundred-meter sprint. My legs burned from the interval work, but it was the good kind of burn that meant progress. Eduardo jogged up beside me, coming from the guys who were running mid-distance on the training track, sweat dripping from his face but breathing steadily. His stamina was really picking up. The early morning sessions we’d been doing were paying off.
“Bring it in, everybody,” Coach called out, clipboard in hand. “Gather up.”
I grabbed my water bottle and headed over with Eduardo, while the distance runners finished their cool-down lap and the field event guys wrapped up their drills.
“Alright, listen up,” Coach Greer said once everyone had gathered. “I’ve finalized the spots for our first meet. Some of you have been asking about this for weeks, so here we go.”
Everyone started paying attention, the chatter dying down. I knew everyone would participate, but it mattered if you got all the events you wanted and who else was on the event with you, since in some sports, it could dictate your performance.
Especially in the relays.
Coach started with the field events, which seemed to go about how everyone expected. There weren’t that many guys doing field events, so we usually only had one or maybe two people, so basically everyone got what they’d come out for.
Track was different. It’s where the bulk of the runners were, especially in the short distances. I’d only signed up for the one-hundred and two-hundred, leaving the longer distances up to others. I felt like I was competitive in the shorter distances, but slower in the mid-distances and wanted to leave room for others to participate.
It wasn’t like I wanted to compete in track long-term anyway. As expected, I was listed as competing in both the races I wanted, although Eduardo’s face fell when the four-hundred was listed, and he wasn’t on it.
“On the relays,” Coach said, continuing. “On the four by one-hundred. Danny Cruz on lead off, Marcus Williams second, Jerome Patterson third, and Blake Sims will anchor.”
While I knew I’d end up on the shorter relays, I hadn’t expected to be the anchor, which is usually saved for the fastest or second fastest guy, but a few of the others nodded like it was a given.
Marcus and Jerome were seniors, and Danny was a Junior. I didn’t really know much about them, although I’d heard that Jerome had played football his freshman year. It was no surprise that the four by two hundred was the same lineup. There were only the four of us running the shorter distances, so it was bound to be us four.
Danny was running the straight one hundred with me, Jerome the two hundred, and Marcus was running one of the hurdles in addition to this.
“Moving on to the four by four hundred, we have Sean Bates leading off, Jason Norris second, Eduardo Guzman third, and Andrew as our anchor.”
Even though there were only two people who ran the four hundred, Eduardo and the senior Andrew, Eduardo’s mouth dropped open like he was shocked he made the event. It seemed obvious to me, since both Jason and Sean ran the fifteen hundred with another senior named Cody.
That wasn’t the only reaction to the announcement. A few feet away, Ted Collier, who did pole vault, made a loud scoffing noise.
Coach’s head snapped up from his clipboard. “Is there a problem, Collier?”
“Yeah, Coach,” Ted said. “Eddie’s time is slower than Cody’s for the four hundred. Why’s he getting a relay spot?”
I’d seen Ted and Cody hanging out together talking when we had breaks and when they walked to the locker room, so I guessed they were friends. Not a surprise that Ted would go to bat for him, although it was kind of a dick move since Eduardo was standing right here. Cody, however, gave a small chin jut of thanks to Ted.
For his part, Eduardo looked like he wanted to disappear into the track surface.
“I’m just saying, relay spots should go to people who’ve proven themselves, not charity cases.”
If the first was a dick move, then this just made him a dick. Eduardo had been busting his ass and wasn’t that much slower than Cody. To call him a charity case was unfair, at the very least.
Coach Greer, however, let him finish without interrupting.
When Ted kind of shrugged and took a small step back, I guess to signal he’d said what he had to say, Coach asked, “You done?”
Ted shrugged. “I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking.”
“Really? Because what I’m thinking is that you need to shut up and listen. Eduardo is on the four by four-hundred because he’s shown the most consistent progression in improving his times of almost any runner on this team.”
“But progression doesn’t matter if you’re starting from...” Cody started to say.
“I wasn’t finished,” Coach cut Cody off. “Track isn’t about one year, Weems. It’s about development. Underclassmen need experience; it’s the best way anyone improves and the team will still be here after you graduate. But even if that wasn’t the case, Eduardo deserves that spot because he’s dropped more seconds off his time than anyone else on this team.”
Eduardo’s face was turning red, but I could tell he was trying not to smile.
“You know why that is?” Coach continued. “Because he’s shown more dedication to improving than anyone else here. Maybe you could all take a note from his playbook. I’ve noticed Blake and Eduardo arriving at school early for extra training sessions before classes start. That kind of dedication and rapid improvement is exactly what makes someone a valuable relay team member. Someone who’s hungry to get better, who puts in the extra work, who doesn’t think they already know everything.”
Ted’s face was flushed now.
“Improvement doesn’t matter if you’re starting from behind,” he said again. “Relay spots should go to the fastest runners, period. This isn’t little league where everyone gets a participation trophy.”
“And this isn’t a democracy and it isn’t debate. My relay decisions are final. Anyone who has a problem with that can find another team.”
He turned and started walking toward the equipment shed without looking back. “Practice dismissed.”
An awkward way to end the practice. For a second, everyone just kind of stood there, looking at each other but very much not looking at Ted, Eduardo, or Cody. Finally, guys started to head toward the locker rooms, shrugging it off. I was happy to see both Jason and Sean come over and congratulate Eduardo. Andrew didn’t, but he was notoriously shy and never talked to anyone.
Eduardo just stood there, looking stunned.
“Dude,” I said, nudging him once there were only a few of us left. “Good job.”
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “Blake, man, I can’t thank you. Like Coach said, I would have never made it without your help.”
“Bullshit. Yeah, I helped, but you did the work and Coach is right about your improvement. You’ve been dropping time like crazy.”
“My mom is going to make you something, though, you know that, right?” he asked, which caused me to laugh. His mom made food every time I did something to help them, not that I’d ever turn down her cooking. “Do you think we could add some evening sessions? I want to step things up now that I’m on the relay.”
“Can’t; I have the thing with Coach Moreno, remember,” I reminded him. “You can still do some conditioning and training on your own, and maybe you can join me when I condition on the weekends.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s right. Sure, that’d be good, too. Wait for me a sec. I need to grab my backpack.”
Eduardo jogged back toward the locker room, while I headed to the bleachers where I’d dropped my stuff to exchange my track spikes for football cleats. While I did, I couldn’t help but notice Ted and Cody hadn’t followed everyone else to the locker room. They were standing about twenty yards away, near the starting blocks, talking to each other and shooting looks toward Eduardo.
Whatever they were discussing, it didn’t look friendly. Ted was gesturing angrily, and Cody kept nodding and glancing at Eduardo’s back as he disappeared into the field house, completely oblivious to them.
They were still there talking when Eduardo came back with his backpack slung over his shoulder. We started walking across the field toward where Coach Holloway was setting up cones for my quarterback practice. Eduardo was practically bouncing as he walked, energy radiating off him in waves.
“Seriously, I do want to start doing conditioning with you. And maybe I’ll keep training once you come over here for football stuff. I need to work even harder now,” he said.
He was still talking as we passed near where Ted and Cody were still standing, and I kind of tuned him out as I tried to hear what they were saying.
“... ‘s playing favorites because Blake’s some kind of golden boy. You know how they are about football players around here. I guess it applies to their little sidekicks too,” Ted was saying.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cody replied. “I’m not stressing it. Eddie’ll choke at the first meet, and Coach will have no choice but to pull him. Just watch.”
I didn’t want to stop and make it obvious, but I didn’t think Cody was taking it as well, if you could call that well, as he was playing it off. Not with the way he was glaring at Eduardo. We walked far enough away that I couldn’t hear them anymore and tuned Eduardo back in just as we reached where Coach Holloway was finishing setting up the cone pattern for passing drills.
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow morning for our workout,” Eduardo said. “Same time?”
“Yep. Six sharp. And hey, don’t let those guys get in your head if they say anything else. You earned this.”
“I won’t. Thanks again, Blake. For everything.”
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