Just Another High School Story!

Everything that happened to her in the past was clear to her, she could recall meagre details and be so meticulous about it, that others would say she was making things up, and they'd say things like, "There is no way you remember that!" Leah played her life in her head like a movie, repeating events, analysing conversations, worrying about the future, sorting plans for the day, she even scheduled her Sundays, she was anxious and that bewildered her, no matter how much she worked, she'd still have the time to think, she'd thought that if she absorbed herself in work, her problems would go away, like alcohol provides you an escape from your life, but when you wake up the next day, your bills are still unpaid, you don't remember how you got home, still worst of all, your boss has called you three times already, on top of that, a hangover is cherry on cake, why wouldn't you look for an escape? As Leah thought about this, she realised that running from your problems only delays them, you need to deal with them.

Leah was waiting for Ethan in the auditorium when he entered looking bright as the sun, he flitted to her, and she wondered what put him in such a good mood. "You look like you just figured out how to solve global warming!" Leah joked and Ethan said, with a straight face, "Yeah, I was just talking to the United Nations' President, how'd you know?" Leah smiled and realised that she could finally have a friend, someone she could joke around with, someone she didn't have to be conscious of, or fake a smile, she could bare her emotions to him, because he already knew her biggest secret, the fact that she was bulimic, that she purged, people were often harsh on bulimics because they didn't understand what they were going through it, it was really complicated, all the things that went on in her head, why she felt guilty around food, what made her hate herself, why her happiness depended on being a perfect person. But not Ethan, he was the only person whom she was hanging out with in the present, and he was like a precious present, destroyer turned saviour, she smiled as she tried to picture her old self, and Ethan, in middle school, if asked she'd have named every single person in the school before Ethan as to who'd help her truly understand herself, back then he'd been really cold to her, he'd pushed her around, and they made fun of her for hanging out with boy crowds, everyone had a problem with that, Leah's hanging around boys, they called her every name in the book, her relationships were simple, she liked hanging out with the soccer crowd, as people called them, there were 6 boys that stuck with each other like glue, they stuck up for each other during classes, if one ditched or got caught smoking pot, the others helped him out of the mess, and so they were called the most loyal group of friends in middle school; one day while running on tracks, Leah was accompanied by them and just like that she started talking to them, it was nothing at first but the next day, they got into trouble for messing with the track records of students, the coach wasn't paying attention and someone had messed with the attendance records, they'd wetted the whole damn paper. Leah had perfect attendance when it came to showing up for practice, she was on time for everything, even volleyball, so she naturally had a good reputation among the jocks of the school, also no other girl ran tracks, literally no one else, Leah stuck out and felt like she needed to work harder to be good. Therefore, she always tried to be awesome, mysterious and strong. Being the only girl among so many boys, chances were she'd easily get pushed around or bullied, but not on the tracks, everyone respected her, she had the best running record and no one could beat her. She could run a hundred metres in 20 seconds, but recently because of her health, she'd stopped running for a while, she couldn't do it anymore without fainting, naturally as she'd drastically reduced her diet-- anyway, they boys were her good friends. One of the boys, Jeremiah had really low attendance for the whole month and would get severely punished for missing practice, but that was because he was helping his grandma, she was sick and needed care and he provided it, never once mentioning how it affected him, Jer talked to Leah about it once while she was out running late near her neighbourhood, they lived pretty close and he was making up for all the lost practice time by himself, but he expected to be kicked off the team with all the 'absents' from practice records.

The coach was furious at them, and summoned the soccer team and then Leah and all the other runners, he'd set his eyes on the soccer crowd from the beginning, he knew that only they had the guts to mess with official school records, but he wanted to see whether there was someone else who'd lost their mind, the coach had a habit of marking attendance with a pen, a gel pen, therefore, when they messed with the documents by soaking them, the paper become blue in colour, all the ink acting as water colour, this was a serious offence, since their grades depended upon it, while the coach stood there lecturing away, everyone kept their eyes on the ground, no one dared to speak a word. In the end, he said that he'd kick Jeremiah out of the team, if the culprit didn't come forward, surely, enough everyone glanced Jerry's way, and he looked unaffected, after all he'd expected this. Leah bit on her lip, thought a little and admitted to being the culprit. Everyone was shocked, and they looked at her with admiration in their eyes, it was the most obvious thing in the world that she wasn't the culprit, yet she took the blame, she continued as she felt everyone's eyes on her, "Coach, yesterday when I was putting your file in your locker, I accidentally poured some water over the records, I was really scared and after trying to dry it and restore the records, went home to see if I had the backup records, but it was no use, I take full responsibility and insist that no one else be afflicted, I'm ready to be kicked out but first I need to vouch for Jer. Please, can we talk about him first. I know you're absolutely and rightfully mad at Jer, as he's been constantly missing practice but he's got good reason to do so, he's too proud to admit that he's taking care of his sick grandmother and therefore, finds it really hard to make it to practice on time, therefore, to make up for missed practices he runs alone, in our neighbourhood at night, I saw him running once when I was too, and we happen to be running together every night since. By telling you about his situation, I've jeopardised his hard earned trust in me, but that couldn't stop me since he loves running, he says it feels like falling, falling without effort, the wind makes him forget and in the moment all he can think about is how his legs can move without thinking about it, he runs like we sleep, without being worked up, he feels at peace when he runs, don't we all?" she asked her friends and they silently nodded. The coach was happy that he'd taught her student well, but he gave Leah a good scolding in front of everyone so that the same mistake won't be repeated, he excused Jer's absence but told him that he couldn't miss practice from now on. The soccer crowd, was immediately in awe of the eloquent young lady who'd saved their ass from their ass from being busted, they thanked her and treated her to a soccer game, after being drenched in sweat and playing around, they'd eaten together, and it was with them that she'd become best friends with, but they'd soon had to leave for soccer matches, and Ethan had come into her life. Right now, she was grateful for them, she loved having met Ethan, he was like a steady breeze in her stormy ocean, like the setting sun, on a summer day, you felt content as you walked to your house, because the sunset was beautiful and it reminded her that she'd survived another day.