CHAPTER 34: TRACK AND FIELD DRAMA

The afternoon sun baked the massive sports complex behind Crestwood High.

The school was for rich parents.

So state-of-the-art facilities were the norm!

Inside the dojo of the martial-arts club, the mood was already a war crime.

Two senior boys were curled on the tatami like discarded shrimp as they quietly questioned every life choice that had led them to challenge Susan Fox today.

Their groans were soft, almost polite; Susan had clearly been in a merciful mood. If she’d actually been trying, they’d be speaking in falsetto for a week.

The club president was a wiry third-year named Elijah with a buzz-cut and permanent stress lines.

"Uhh... who wants to fight Susan today?"

He sluggishly wiped sweat from his brow and scanned the remaining members.

Half the guys suddenly discovered intense interest in their toenails or the ceiling tiles.

"No one’s got the balls today?"

A wave of shuffling.

Someone coughed.

Another guy pretended to tie a shoe that was already triple-knotted.

Elijah’s eyes landed on the biggest body in the room.

"Dean."

He was a six-foot-four, two-hundred-twenty pounds of defensive-lineman muscle.

But he went the color of skim milk.

Maybe it was time to rejoin the football team.

"P-, Prez... my shoulder still clicks from last time..."

"Shoulder, knee, pride; pick one. Get in the ring."

Dean groaned regretfully as he trudged forward like a man walking to the gallows.

Susan waited in the center, black gi sleeves rolled once as her ponytail flicked like a cat’s tail.

She looked super cute.

But she’s also a big danger to them.

There used to be two girls in the martial arts club.

Susan and Nadine.

But after Nadine suddenly "lost interest" and quit that made Susan the only girl left.

Every guy in school admired her, and because of that the guys in the club would go easy on her so she wouldn’t get annoyed and leave too.

But somehow, every time they sparred with her, they were the ones fighting for their lives.

Susan bowed respectfully.

Dean bowed slightly so his body pains wouldn’t spike.

"Hajime!" Elijah shouted.

Dean exploded forward to throw a blistering four-punch combo followed by a roundhouse that could’ve unscrewed a fire hydrant.

Susan slipped every strike like it was a ballet lesson.

Her mind was somewhere else entirely.

『I really need to talk to Nadine about this guy. She’s been obsessed. But she’ll probably just squeal and ignore me. She almost climbed his fence the other night... wait. Wait, would it be that crazy if I—NO! Susan Fox, you are NOT breaking into someone’s house to prove he’s an imposter! That’s how you end up on a watchlist!』

Her cheeks will turn a bright color of pink.

『But I wanna know more about him...』 (,,¬﹏¬,,)

That’s when she realized Dean was still swinging for the fences and she hadn’t even broken a sweat.

"Eep!"

A mortified squeak escaped her lips.

It was like a cute cockroach scream.

On pure reflex she snatched Dean’s extended wrist then pivoted her hips.

"Oh no..."

"He’s gonna die!"

The traumatized guys prepared for the worst.

Susan launched 220 pounds of pure beef over her shoulder like he was a throw pillow.

BOOM.

The dojo shook.

Dean hit the mat with so much force his mouth flew open and cried like a dying whale.

The rest of the club recoiled in unison.

"Ooooohhhhhhh..."

"My spine felt that."

"She’s never gonna let us hit, bro..."

Elijah rubbed his temples.

"Okay, practice over."

He chuckled awkwardly as he poked Dean with his toes to see if he was still alive.

"Everyone... uhm, stretch... I guess?"

Outside the wide windows.

A crowd had already gathered... it was mostly girls from the kendo team, a couple of soccer guys pretending to stretch and random freshmen with phones.

The second Susan stepped out of the dojo toweling her neck, they all went mad.

"Did you see that throw? She’s literally a final boss."

"I talked to her once in bio! She said ’excuse me’ when I was in her way! We’re basically married."

"Move, I sat behind her in assembly last year, we shared the same air for forty minutes."

"Track Susan is about to happen, places people!"

Five minutes later.

Susan is out of the locker room in her running gear.

The collective male brain cell in a five-hundred-meter radius flatlined.

Track guys openly wept that they weren’t distance runners today.

Even the popular cheerleaders on the bleachers muttered jealous curses.

The way she took off her warm-up jacket in a way the made her delicate breasts jut out.

They were perky and springy.

You didn’t need to touch them to know!

That paper-thin white crop top she wore that glued to her skin when she started to sweat. It wasn’t even meant to be revealing but it had no chance against her body. The fabric stretched right across her chest to outline the soft modest curve of her breasts and the faint points of her nipples when the evening air came.

But the real soul-snatcher was her lower body.

Her black dolphin shorts were meant to be loose.

On Susan, they never were!

The second she pulled them on, the leg holes went up and the fabric bounced and folded into the deep crease where her thick, rounded thighs met two bouncy cheeks. Every step made the shorts creep higher to expose the lower half of her cheeks that were covered in track sweat.

She’d rake her dark hair into a high ponytail as the motion lifted the crop top just enough to flash a strip of toned stomach then jog off to the starting blocks for cooldown sprints.

In school a lot of guys love track girls more then the cheerleaders because of this.

The endless sweat and their cute short shorts was so much better to them.

And track girls had Susan Fox.

She’s the second-year’s goddess to keep it simple.

Then Nadine bounded over like a golden-retriever missile in a cheer uniform, arms wide.

"SUSAAAAAN!"

"Gack—Nadine I’m literally dripping!"

Nadine tackled her anyway, nuzzling shamelessly.

"I don’t care, I’ll sweat twice as much at practice!"

Susan peeled her off with the same gentle strength she used to fold Dean.

"Just be careful. There’s a creep stealing girls’ gym shirts and selling the sweat to students. I’m not joking. I heard it from the Student Coun—"

Nadine recoiled, face scrunching.

"Gross."

Susan’s eyebrow shot up.

"Exactly. So maybe don’t—"

She stopped. Stared past Nadine’s shoulder.

Nadine followed her gaze to the football field.

A flood of huge guys in practice jerseys jogged out, but every eye as well as theirs was religiously locked onto one figure walking beside them.

White compression shirt and broad shoulders.

Track pants hanging low on narrow hips.

Messy black hair in a small bun as long bangs framed a face that looked airbrushed.

Nadine squeaked. "He goes here!?"

Susan sighed.

"That’s the thing. Apparently that’s—"

"FATE!"

Nadine excitedly seized both of Susan’s hands and shook them violently.

"He bought the cramped house across the street from us and now he’s at our school! He looks and acts rich but lives alone so he’s definitely self-made OMG!"

On the field, the cheer squad lost all their pride.

"Tell me he’s trying out."

"Look at his arms—oh my god."

"Jace and Derek are shaking, lol."

Bree Hoffman stood front and center, pom-poms loose in her fingers and a greedy smile.

『Perfect. If he joins he’ll be invited to parties, there’s also away games and locker-room rumors... I’ll have him eating out of my hand and between my legs in a week. Virgin pigs are so easy to control.』

She twirled a pom-pom innocently.

Susan folded her arms.

"I wonder what they’re saying. I took lip-reading classes last summer, I could—"

Nadine snorted. "Of course you did."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing~"

On the turf, Nick scratched his cheek a bit lost.

"Hey, uh... any chance I could try out?"

He adjusted his bangs.

"Yunno, for the team?"

Most of the third-years burst out laughing.

Jace and Derek looked like they were about to vomit on their cleats.

The tallest, blondest, squarest-jawed one stepped forward with a wide grin.

That’s Jason Keller.

He was the starting quarterback, walking hall-pass for half the female faculty, and also rumored to have dated two teachers and one substitute.

Jason was one of the most popular seniors.

He looked down at Nick like he was trash.

"Plastic surgery freak wants to play football now?"

Jason waved him away boredly.

"Cute. Get lost."

Nick opened his mouth.

Jason cut him off. "I said get lost. Now."

Nick gave a tiny shrug that somehow looked elegant.

『There’s other sports...』

He walked off the field.

A chorus of third-year barks and laughter erupted.

"Good one, Jason!"

"Showed that pretty boy who runs this field!"

Jason’s grin widened.

"I’m not done yet."

He snatched a ball from the equipment bag, spun it on one finger then launched it.

The football became a tan blur,

It traveled with the speed and form of a missile straight at the back of Nick’s head. If it connected, concussions would be the least of his problems.

From the track, Susan and Nadine’s arms shot up.

"WATCH OUT!"

"DODGE!"

Half the spectator crowd gasped.

Phones whipped out.

Nick paused mid-step, glanced over his shoulder with mild confusion.

"Huh?"

He lifted one hand and caught the screaming projectile one-handed.

Zero wobble.

The ball might as well have been tossed by a toddler.

Dead silence blanketed the entire sports complex.

Nick turned fully as he tilted his head at Susan and Nadine like nothing happened.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

Nadine’s jaw dropped so fast it nearly hit the track.

Susan blinked twice.

"I... nothing. Never mind."

Behind Nick, Jason’s face went red with rage.

"THAT SMUG BASTARD!"

The cheerleaders screamed so loud you’d think they’d seen a celebrity.

"Did he just—?"

"One hand?!"

"How is he so calm, dammit—!?"

A faint blue panel appeared in front of Nick.

[Ding! Make sure to humble the arrogant quarterback in front of the entire school!]