Glade High

Chapter Five

Minho sped down the hallway, walking as quickly as possible without it being considered a run. A ridiculous smile was lighting up his face while his back pack swung at his side.

Track was today.

Today.

Today.

Track was the only thing that kept Minho sane while he had been in his last school where he had been made fun of everyday.

"Oh, look, it's the gay dude."

"I hear he's a foster kid. So unbalanced."

"Freak."

"What's with his sense of style?"

"His voice is so annoying."

Minho shook his head to rid himself of the familiar thoughts, though the anger was already rooted inside of him. He clenched his fists inside and out, his nails digging into the palms of his hands. Track had been his only source of release, the only time he could just let all of his pent up anger out by running. And jumping.

As his excitement peaked Minho flung his bookbag into the corner of the hallway and broke out in a sprint.

"CASTRO!" bellowed Coach Jorge as Minho dashed onto the track field. "You're almost late, hermano."

"Lo siento," Minho teased in a horribly fake Spanish accent. "I got out of class late."

Jorge grinned lopsidedly, his dark hair framing his handsome face. "It's all good, kid. Just get in line. It's not like you aren't already on the team."

Minho smiled and struggled to keep his happiness down. It would be mortifyingly embarrassing to accidentally throw himself at Coach Jorge in a hug. Nope. He was not having a repeat of the first time he was let on to the track team.

"Oi, slinthead!" shouted a familiar accented voice. Minho's head shot up and he saw Newt and Alby sitting on the benches next to the field.

"C'mon, bro, you got this!" Alby exclaimed, his voice pitching towards the middle.

Minho shot them a cheeky grin and thumbs up before jogging to the end of the line of students. About twenty five kids were on their team; not enough for regular competitions, but they had fun anyway.

Suddenly, his wandering eyes were distracted by a flag of light brown hair. Oh god no...

"'Sup?" asked Thomas Jones with a horribly infuriating smile on his face. "Thought I'd try out for track."

Anger boiled up in his stomach, making his hands shake and his face burn. Please. No. "You have got to be shucking me."

"Not if you begged on your knees, dude," Thomas replied, turning back towards the front of the line where their team-mates were beginning to run, one by one. "What have you got against me being on this team?"

Minho's eye twitched and he dropped his head for a moment, letting out a breath. "Nothing," he grated out through his teeth. "Absolutely nothing."

"If you're sure..." Thomas raised an eyebrow curiously before turning around to the rest of the team. He bent over to retie his shoelace, giving Minho a rather good view of his backside.

Fighting off a blush Minho looked over at Newt and Alby who were bickering good-naturedly. He let out a dramatic sight and turned back towards the front of the line.

~WICKED~

"TONIIIIIIGHT~ WE ARE YOOOOUUUUNG!" Alby and Newt sang as they sat on the benches, arms linked and bodies swaying to the off-beat tune of the song.

Minho glared up at them from his spot on the track, causing the two to explode into peals of laughter. He made a rather obscene gesture that Coach Jorge didn't manage to catch.

Chuckling, Alby looked at Newt and grinned. "Do you miss being out there?"

"Not really, to be honest," Newt replied with a shrug. "It was fun last year but I'm kind of over track."

"Oh really?" Alby smirked. "What are you into now?"

"Certain things... certain people." Newt winked.

Alby attempted to keep the blush off his face by yelling, "GO THOMAS, YOU CAN DO THIS!" The new kid was pacing cirlces around a group of other students, his arms above his head as he stretched.

"Thanks guys!" he called, grinning and pretending to wave to the "crowd".

"Look at Minho," Newt whispered, nudging Alby's arm and staring at their friend. "He looks pissed."

If looks could kill, Thomas would be dead. Minho was glaring at him with a snarl frozen on his face as though he had caught a whiff of something unpleasent. "Oh god, this isn't going to be good," Alby groaned. "He had that look on his face the first time that Brendan came to the school too."

"And we know how that turned out..." Newt shook his head. "Do you think Minho has a chance with Tommy?"

"Doubt it," Alby snorted. "Thomas looks about as bent as a ruler, but hey, you never know."

Newt smiled. "True. You never really do know. Of course, Brendan was slightly more obvious than Tommy. His voice for crying out loud!"

Alby chuckled and said, "I know. So what are you gonna be doing to keep your mind off the track thing?"

"Maybe some more baseball," Newt murmured. "It'll be nice to only have one sport to focus on this year."

"Try-outs are tomorrow, are they not?" Alby asked, his gaze sliding over Newt, who was staring at the students on the track.

"Yeah. But Coach says I've guarenteed my spot on the team regardless of whether or not I show up." Newt had the intense look on his face that Alby loved to see on him. His blonde hair swept just slightly in front of his face and his pale eyebrows creased over his sky blue eyes, both of which sparkled in reflection to the warm sun overhead.

"So I can assume you'll be busy after class tomorrow," Alby replied, grinning. "I know you wouldn't miss it for the world."

Newt grinned. "That is true."

There was a sudden sound of a claxon horn blaring and then the athletes took off around the track.

Alby wrenched his gaze away from Newt and jumped to his feet.

"C'MON MINHO!" they both shouted, stamping their feet into the bleachers and waving their arms.

"Quite running like a girl!" Alby yelled. "MOVE. FASTER."

Minho's leg muscles flexed as he sprinted, arms pumping at his sides. Newt watched, transfixed, and Alby noticed his face contort in a slight pain. His leg must be bothering him again.

"He's got it in the bag again," Alby muttered, sitting back down on the bleachers. "I don't know why the others even race against him."

"I know," Newt said, rolling his eyes. "It's like he doesn't even try, either."

Suddenly, there was a shout of surprise. The pair's eyes swiveled up to see an astonished Coach Jorge flapping his arms around in the air, black hair ruffling wildly. "God dammit - " the coach cursed in his Spanish accent before stopping himself. Alby's eyes widened as he took in the scene before them.

Thomas Jones was sprinting neck and neck with Minho, breathing smoothly, his gait easy as he went. Minho looked furious, his deep brown eyes trained solely on a spot in space in the air.

Alby and Newt paused to look at each other. "This is new," Newt exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. "Minho has got some bloody speed racer on his tail!"

"God, who would've thought," Alby said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't have pegged him for a runner."

The two teens raced along side each other, and Alby watched, captivated. Minho had an intense look of concentration he didn't see on him most of the time. Thomas had a grin stuck on his face like a grimace. Both were sweating as they turned another lap.

"GO MINHO!" Newt yelled, waving his arms. "C'MON TOMMY!"

Alby felt a shot of envy through his body at the nickname. "Yeah, go Minho!" he yelled for the sake of it.

With only a few meters left to go the two were pushing themselves harder than ever, panting and coughing. At the very final second Minho threw himself forward... and ended up tripping Thomas up. The two went down in a cloud of dust.

~WICKED~

Thomas hit the ground hard, his breath coming out in gasps. A dead wait barreled over him, flailing its arms and legs. The two seemed to be tangled, arms entwined and legs hooked around the knees. Huffing for breath, the two boys tumbled to a stop.

For a moment, Thomas sat, completely dazed and out of it. Then, his gaze refocused and he fixed his green eyes on the pair of dark brown ones above him.

He was pinned to the ground, sweating and red-faced, and Minho was on top of him in a straddle, legs over Thomas's midsection. Minho seemed slightly dazed as well, eyes catching the light of the dust around them. A blush inched its way across Thomas's face that he fought off valiantly, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea.

"Sorry," Minho snapped, getting off the ground hastily and brushing away the dirt. Then, he stopped and smirked at Thomas. "If you'd wanted me on top of you, all you had to do was ask."

Thomas growled quietly and got up, marching over to Minho. "Shut up, shank!"

"Make me, slint head," Minho purred back, his eyes angry slits.

The two glared at each other, and Thomas momentarily forgot that they had an audience.

"If you're done, hermanos," a tenor voice said from behind the boys.

Thomas stepped back awkwardly, Coach Jorge stepping up and waving a stop watch in his face. "You two tied. Exactly. And I've never seen anyone come even close to beating Minho's time."

The small audience of students had gone silent. Thomas glanced around uneasily, though he was proud of himself. "What? No one has ever beaten him?"

"Never," Coach Jorge said. "He wins all the competitions."

"So I'm the first ever to allow a match for you..." Thomas looked at Minho, who was bent over catching his breath in light intakes of air. He looked pissed.

"Yes, you're the first ever to almost beat me!" shouted Minho. "So you had better not get used to it, Greenie. You don't even come close to my skills."

Without another word, Minho stalked off across the field, back towards his friends Newt and Alby. The two had gotten off the bleachers and were walking towards the team, as though to find out what was going on.

Thomas just watched. Despite the congratulations and the compliments being aimed at him, he felt slightly empty.

I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get this out! My laptop has been down for a few months, and I only just figured out how to edit these documents on the mobile version of this site. I am such a loser. Anyways, I'm ALSO sorry that this is such s short chapter. Ah well, at least i know how to write on here anyways.

Thank you for the lovely reviews! I would write them all out but that would take a painfully long time on my phone. :( Just know that I loved each and every one of them! Any more suggestions for this story? I'd only gotten a few! Really, I'm willing to write a lot. XD

Hopefully the next update will be sooner than this one. XD

Dani :)