“What the fuck?” Kendall snaps. “Why would they do a relay?”
“It happens every year. It’s their way of stripping us bare. They’re recreating us to build a better team,” Janine mumbles. “Or something like that. Hamilton says it. But a relay is stupid. And I’m not a fast runner. There’s a reason I stick with cross country. I can run and stick it out, but I’m not super fast. I’m pretty good at long jumps too, but that’s not what my scholarship is for.”
“Man, he is a dick,” Kendall snaps. “And why’d he have to single you out like that, Amber?”
“I don’t know,” I murmur, and I really don’t. Maybe he’s just being a jerk, or maybe he’s trying to get under my skin, the same way he does to Melanie.
Does he think I’m arrogant? That I’m full of myself? Because if so, I should tell him right now that I’m not. I know I’m not perfect and I know I’m not the best on my team, but I do want to become one of the best.
Am I a hard worker? Yes. Am I confident in my skills? Yes. But that doesn’t make me arrogant. No. If anything, he’s the arrogant one. He saw my stats and took it upon himself to make a challenge out of it.
That man—my new assistant coach? He’s going to try and make me beat my old times, and he’s not going to be nice about it. And the only reason I know this is because that look in his eyes—the one he gave me when he sized me up and placed me in my own category of a runner—is the same look my father used to have in his eyes when he used to say, “You won’t be the best until you shock me, Amby. Me, one of the hardest men to shock on any given track.”
That’s what is so familiar about Torres. That’s what’s drawing me to know more about him. He’s a trainer like my father. Strict. Demanding. Old school.
But you want to know what I did when my father said that to me? I shocked the hell out of him at the age of eleven by winning a 200-meter race against a group of fourteen-year olds. I shocked him so much that he let me take the next three days off from practicing and training to do whatever I wanted.
To this day, I will never forget that. So, if I could prove my father—a very strict, intense, bullheaded coach—wrong, then proving Coach Torres wrong will be a piece of cake.
SIX
There’s something to be said about having an athlete with stats like Amber Lakes’. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve trained someone with stats like hers.
Actually, you know what? I take that back. I do remember. It was with a high school kid and before I came to Bennett University.
His name was Thomas Vine. He was as quick as lightning, but an arrogant little son of a bitch. I suppose he had the right to be. He used his skills and took them right to the Olympics.
I watched several of the races Hamilton showed me of Amber and had even read about her upbringing and how her father coached her up until she was thirteen, which is when he passed. Her father was a coach for private leagues—leagues only meant for the best runners.
All of it was inspirational to say the least, and I told Hamilton she’d be a fool to not try and bring Amber Lakes to Bennett University when she showed me the clips of her races, but when I’d said that, to me, Lakes was just like the other track runner, Vine. She was good, but just like Thomas, she probably raced against people who weren’t exactly runners, so it meant her competition was weak.
Most students in high school track are running just to have something to do. The private leagues are a little more competitive, but even those can never be enough.
Thomas had no real competition in high school. It was when he went to college and then to the Olympics when shit got real for him. I know it because I followed him on Twitter. Kept up to date with him. He spoke about his struggles as well as his wins. Though he was a little shit, he was practically a track-running prodigy, and I was proud that I’d had the chance to coach him for two years.
When Amber comes here, talking about how fast she is and how much she works out, and how she’s bringing motivation to the team, all I see is that damn kid. Thomas Vine, all over again and I just…no. I can’t.
I’m going to cut that bullshit right now. I had to break Thomas down before building him back up. His coaches before were astonished by his skill, but I knew he could do better. Be better.