Chapter 5

True to his word, the sheriff had kept the press off the school grounds, but they were set up en-masse across the street. However, they did not bother Thad and Tricia as they went into the school, though they did spring to action, taking pictures and pointing video cameras in their direction as they drove into the parking lot.

At the hotel they had escaped unscathed, by and large. The parking garage was attached to the hotel and the manager had arranged to bring their car to the service entrance. They were able to load the car and drive out through the crowd of reporters that were camped in front of the hotel. Thad had to admit that the crowd had come down in size, but it was still irritating that they stood in front of the car, yelling questions and snapping pictures.

Once they got through the crowd, the drive to the school was uneventful. Thad and Tricia chatted about routine school stuff, mostly to cover Thad’s nervousness about how his classmates would react to him. Tricia could sense his nervousness and how it increased as they neared the school, so she tried to keep him occupied with their idle chatter as they approached.

Thad’s Mom pulled up into the visitors’ lot and parked, intending to walk into the office with them when Thad finally blew a gasket.

“Mom, seriously, I know I freaked out a little on Friday, but you would have too! However, I am not a five-year-old and I can deal with school on my own!”

Ellen just nodded, knowing he was right. Seeing that Tricia was plastered to his side giving him all the moral support he could ever need also gave her comfort.

Thad and Tricia walked across the parking lot and into the school without incident, but they didn’t make it far before reality started to set in. There, in the cafeteria, was a huge banner hanging where the football banners normally hung, proclaiming Thad’s new world record.

Tricia saw it a split second before Thad did, so when he went rigid, she knew why immediately. She immediately leaned in to kiss him softly on the check and then whispered in his ear “What did you think; they were just going to pretend it didn’t happen? They all want to be part of history too, to say that they were there, that they saw it happen, even if they have never spoken to you in their life before today.”

Thad just nodded and remembered the talk he and his mother had about this very topic. He recalled when the football team had done well and made the state finals. He had been so excited even though he didn’t play football and wasn’t close friends with any of the players. The best he could claim was that he went to most of the games.

He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, squeezed Tricia to his side and walked into the cafeteria with his head held high, ready for the crowd that seemed to immediately form around him, yelling his name and cheering him.

“Mr. Norton, could you please stay for a moment?” Thad’s economics teacher asked at the end of his last class of the day. Thad had been late to class because he had been mobbed in the hallway by well-wishers who didn’t have a last period class. He was sure it wouldn’t matter to Mr. Hoekker, who was a stickler for the rules.

Thad waited in his seat until his classmates had all left the room when the last bell had sounded. He was trying hard to control his irritation because it wasn’t his fault that he was late to class. Even so, he had only been less than a minute late.

“Relax, Mr. Norton,” his teacher said once the last student was out of the room, “We all know how much difficulty you’ve had today getting around the school and I appreciate your diligence in attempting to keep the disruption to as little as possible.

“Besides,” he added with a smile, “In a minute or two more, the halls should be clear and you and Tricia should be able to get your stuff and head out of the school unmolested, at least until you hit the reality that exists beyond the school grounds!”

Thad smiled and laughed along with his teacher, before being sent on his way. Halfway to his locker, he ran into Tricia who was coming out of her classroom after being kept late as well. She was also smiling and chatting with her Spanish teacher. Of course, they were chatting in Spanish and since Thad was taking Chinese, he didn’t understand anything they were saying. From the looks they were giving him, and the way Tricia was blushing, he strongly suspected they were talking about him.

When they reached the locker bay, her teacher finally bid her goodbye and left Thad and Tricia to get their things. Thad however, who hadn’t seen her since lunch, and even then, hadn’t really gotten to speak to her because of all the people who kept coming up to speak to him, grabbed her and pulled her to the back of the locker bay. Once there, he hugged her to him and kissed her soundly, pressing his body against hers as he pressed her against the locker.

She certainly didn’t seem to mind as she moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck and one leg around his thigh, molding her body to his. It was only after several minutes, when they both had to get a breath, something that took longer than usual since they were in such good shape, that she complained about the lock that was cutting into her shoulder blade.

That seemed to break the mood and they both started laughing as they slowly pulled apart and gathered their things to head off to their respective activities. Thad headed to track practice and Tricia going to study before she had skating practice that evening. Thad didn’t know it, but Tricia planned to study in the stands while Thad practiced. Her Mom was going to give them both a ride home, hoping that the different car might throw off the press for a while. Even if it didn’t work, Tricia knew her Mom was hoping for her fifteen minutes of fame. While she worried that her mom was using Thad to get it, she also hoped he would understand that she was actually trying to help.

As they walked out the door, Thad asked Tricia how she was getting home.

“Oh, my Mom is coming to give me a ride,” she replied, being absolutely truthful, just not divulging the time she was coming to pick her up.

Thad nodded, gave her a quick kiss goodbye, his mind already thinking about track practice and how he would perform at practice. Would he be able to reproduce the speed at which he had run on Friday, or again this morning? How would his teammates react? How do you train to keep up this speed? Was he supposed to race cars on the streets?

His mind was racing as he and Tricia parted ways and he headed off to the gym to change and get ready for track practice.

Soon enough he was on the track, stretching and feeling just as tight and stiff as he ever did. He was glad that Tricia was the skater and did all those splits and flexible stunts because he was lucky just to touch his toes most days. Then he was off to do his warmup laps around the track with his teammates, at least the ones who were still running after the Regional meet on Friday. The State meet was just nine days away.

Thad stuttered to a stop and a couple of his friends looked back at him to make sure he was alright before continuing around the track.

“I need to keep my head on straight, and my focus on the next race, nothing else!” Thad said aloud.

He bent down and stretched a few more times, working out some stiffness that was left over from his morning run and the evenings exercise. But then in a few strides, he had caught back up with his teammates who were still jogging around the track. Soon, he forgot all about the events of the past few days as the coach had scheduled a tough day of speed workout, including bleachers and wind-sprints.

It was halfway through his afternoon workout when he saw her again. He was frustrated and worried. He was definitely faster, but he wasn’t going to be setting any world records with this speed. He knew he could run faster. He had done it this morning! Why couldn’t he do it this afternoon?

Then, there was Tricia sitting in the stands. Her books scattered around her as she studied for her finals. He was starting to feel winded from running wind-sprints after running bleachers, but when he saw her there her hair blowing in the wind, all thoughts of fatigue left him immediately.

And at that moment, she looked up and they made eye contact across the field. The world seemed to melt away for Thad, so much so that he stumbled and nearly fell as he walked around the back half of the track before he ran his next sprint. He glanced back up to see Tricia smiling at him, her look filling him with warmth and love. Suddenly, he didn’t feel tired and as he neared the start line, he sprinted around the track, not realizing he was once again flying by everyone else on the track.

When he neared the finish line, he realized that he was doing it again, and slowed to a stop, wondering how it had happened yet again.

And that was when he realized that it was when he was distracted and not thinking that he allowed his body to do these amazing things. He looked up in the stands to see Tricia standing and smiling widely at him. Their eyes connected again and Thad swore he could feel her love even across the entire football field from where she sat.

Thankfully, outside of the momentary pause in practice, everyone ignored Thad’s little burst of speed and kept running their assigned practice. That was probably because they were too tired to really care what Thad was able to do. Even Thad would agree that speed work was exhausting.

But after that, Thad began to relax and think about Tricia as he came up to the start line. By distracting himself from worrying about running, he was able to repeatedly find that state that allowed him to achieve the speed that he had found Friday and over the weekend. It seemed that thinking about running was preventing him from running, and when he relaxed and let his body just do it, he was able to achieve the speed he had been looking for the whole practice.

“I wish I knew how you did it!” Josh said to Thad as they headed into the showers. “I don’t mean that I need to be as fast as you, but I wish I had your stamina!”

Thad laughed at his friend. “Dude, I’m exhausted. I think I am sleep-walking and my legs feel like lead!”

“So you are mortal after all,” Josh replied. “Anyway, that was pretty cool out there today and I hope you can find that speed next week at state. We’re all pulling for you!”

Thad thought about that as he stood under the warm water and washed away the sweat and grime from practice. No one had treated him like a freak today. They had all been happy to have him around and wanted to be near him. Sure, they didn’t know all he could do, but perhaps if he didn’t flaunt his abilities and remained careful, he could lead a reasonably normal life.

Thad finished up his shower and dressed quickly, knowing that Tricia was waiting on him and that he needed to ensure that she got to her practice on time. She was responsible for his success today and he wanted to be there to support her this evening.

‘How can anyone be that beautiful and graceful,’ Thad thought as he sat alongside the rink watching Tricia instead of studying for his Calculus exam. She seemed to flow across the ice. Her jumps looked like she was swirling in the winds as they ran wild and free! And they appeared effortless, unlike some of the other girls who looked like they were really having to work to get height to make the turns. Tricia simply seemed to flow across the ice, and then the next instant she was airborne, spinning through the air. She was like a leaf blowing and spinning through the air, her auburn hair blowing behind her like the autumn leaves.

Of course, the fact that she was dressed in a golden leotard that hugged her every curve was at least partly responsible for Thad being unable to tear his eyes away from her. She looked amazing, her athletic form and flexibility making her look so incredibly sexy to him. Tricia wasn’t one of those thin girls who didn’t eat and looked like skin and bones, nor was she a muscle-bound Helga. But she was a sexy, athletic woman, full of life and vitality.

Of course, thinking about that made him think about how incredible she had looked naked and how she had moved in bed under him, over him, and beside him when they had been making love last night. He was so lost in that though that he didn’t realize that Tricia has skating over and was standing at the rail in front of him.

“Earth to Thad,” she said, breaking him out of his reverie.

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