Chapter 4

It turns out Pete was OK. He started to drift away from Tony’s gang, a couple of other boys stopped hanging around with him as well. It seems that they began to grow up a little stopped taking orders from a bully like Tony. However, some of them were still following his lead. Pete started to hang around with me and Emma’s friends. Everyone was a bit cautious with him, but in time he was trusted. I believe he started dating Emma’s best friend, Sarah. Sarah fancied him as well, but never approached him before since it seems that he was hanging around with the wrong crowd.

After a few weeks, Emma and I started dating. At school, we were always together. We did our homework together. She was always around my house, and I was around hers. Our parents saw how serious we were with each other and how we just let our love grow. I started getting popular at school with everyone, except for Tony and his two henchmen. I think he didn’t like the idea of someone being better than him on the track.

Tyrone and I would meet at Ley Valley Park every day, running together. We exchanged useful information regarding good diets for our physical health plus exercise routines. Mainly we helped each other out during our training. Tyrone’s dad, Mr Brown, would sometimes come to the park to help us with our preparations. During the training at school, I just did the necessary time to maintain my position in the team. I would help some of the other athletes while I was there, in what they needed to do to improve their track times. It seemed that the coach never quite helped any other member of the team, except his son. However, he did provide his athletes with energy tablets to make them stronger. We all accepted them just to be in his good books. Some took them there then. A few others just put them in their bags.

It was a very tough year, with all the extra pressure we had from the teachers to prepare for the final exams. It was our last year at school; we needed to pass our O levels to guarantee our places in university. Emma, Sarah, Pete and I were planning to stay on for another year to do our A levels. I had a good chance of getting a scholarship into a good university, but still, I couldn’t depend just on that.

One of the most important things in my life at that moment in time was Emma. Being with her while we studied together brought us much closer. We studied hard. During our breaks, we would talk about our future together and get to know each other more intimately. Before I met Emma, I had never had a serious relationship. In just under a year I came to believe she was the person I want to spend the rest of my life together.

We finished our exams. It was time to start preparing for the end of year Track and Field event in Ridlins Park Stadium. The main event that all the athletes from the four rival schools trained for to compete. The preparation was terrible. Since the event was at the end of June, we had to train in hot, humid weather conditions. Good thing we had the coach to help us with the energy tablets. There were still some idiots taking them just to show Mr Giordano they followed his orders. There were the others who just bagged them, like me, Pete, and a couple of others.