Oh. My. Gods. - Weebly

“Oh really?” I ask, trying for cool, disinterested calm when my
insides are jumping for joy. “That’s too bad.”
“No, it’s not,” he says, not looking at me but smiling just the
same. “I never realized what an awful person she could be until I
saw how she treated you.”
Though my heart is pounding like a bongo, I don’t say anything
else. I just let the excitement over the possibilities crackle in the
silence.
Together, we half-race around the track a few times before doing
another cooldown. Racing Griffin in a good-natured competition
feels good—like a kind of freedom I haven’t felt before. I want to
win, but at the same time I’m just having fun. And if the big smile
on his face is any sign, he’s having fun, too.
When we finish our last lap, he teases, “Race you to the water
fountain.”
“No,” I reply, swatting him on the arm. “Then we’d have to cool
down again.”
“Afraid you’ll lose?”
I look him straight in the eyes. “I won’t lose.”
Then I take off for the water fountain in the tunnel at full speed.
Griffin is fast on my heels as I skid to a stop, bending to take my
victory drink.
“Well, well, well,” a girl’s voice echoes through the tunnel. “Aren’t
you two having fun.”
“Quite the pair of running buddies,” another girl—the voice
sounds like Stella, but I can’t be sure with the echo—says.
Griffin moves closer to my side, like he has to protect me from
something. Must be that hero instinct in him. Seconds later, Adara
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