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explanation. I want to ask him what the errand is, but I know that if he wanted me to know, he would have told me.
     
    “So, no Hendrix puzzle later?”
     
    “Sorry, Pep. I got this thing I can’t get out of,” Jace tells me, being vague as usual. As usual, he’s keeping me out of his social life. I only know a little about it from the school gossip.
     
    “Yeah, okay,” I say, resigned. My guess is he’s going to hook up with a girl. I know he does this with lots of girls, but it still makes me queasy. And I know why they call it heartbreak. It’s weird; my heart does actually hurt a little every time I think of him with another girl.
     
    “I can get a ride home with someone on the team now, who lives near us. So, you don’t have to give me a ride home anymore,” I tell him as I get out of the Jeep.
     
    It’s petty, I know. But I don’t want him to think I’m some obligation. And I want to know if he actually likes coming over for dinner and sitting in the car with me. Maybe it’s just a habit for him, and it’s easier to stick with than quit. After all, it’s his senior year. He might have better things to do. 
     
    “Who?” Jace turns the full force of his green eyes on me, narrowing them slightly.
     
    “The new kid. Ryan,” I tell him.
     
    Jace looks ahead out the windshield and clenches his jaw. I don’t think he likes Ryan and I’m not sure why. It feels like five minutes pass before Jace turns back to me. “Do you want to ride with him?”
     
    I shrug. “It just seems easier, you know, since our practices end at the same time. And then if you have stuff to do after practice, you don’t have to worry about it.” 
     
    “Whatever. If that’s what you wanna do.” He turns up the radio, indicating that the conversation is over.
     
    I take the not-so-subtle hint and head inside. 
     
    Gran’s made coconut cream pie for dessert and it’s Jace’s favorite. “I’ll wrap up a piece for you to bring him tomorrow,” she says.
     
    My mood lifts when I flip through my running journal after dinner. I’ve been writing down my workouts for over a year now. I know that we did the exact same workout from today at some point last season. And it was the same mile loop on the baseball field, too.
     
    I find the page from last September with my mile splits and I compare them to my splits from this year. I’m already a little faster, and it’s only August. Coach mostly just had me doing easy base mileage all summer. Today was my first real speed workout of the season and I’m in great shape.
     
    I pull out my calendar and count thirty-six days until my first meet. I’m skipping all of the September races and my first race is the Aspen Leaf Invitational in October. After that is Districts, the first weekend in November. State is the weekend before Thanksgiving, and I need to place in the top seven to qualify for Regionals. While I don’t think I should have much trouble placing in the top seven at State, I want to win it a second year in a row.
     
    The last Saturday in November is Regionals, and that’s when I really have to throw down the hammer. If all goes well, I’ll be racing at Nationals in December. Until then, I need to focus on staying healthy, not getting injured, and sticking to the training plan.  And the plan does not include Jace Wilder.

Chapter 5
                 
    Ryan Harding is waiting by my locke r the next morning. “Hey Ryan, what’s up?” I greet him, wondering what he’s doing here.
     
    “Not much. I was hoping to catch you.” He leans on the locker next to mine as I play with my combination.
     
    “How’d you know this was my locker?”
     
    “Oh, I was talking to Charlie this morning, and I asked him.”
     
    I take a peek at him. His hands are shoved into his shorts pockets, a pair of worn dark khakis that are slightly frayed at the bottoms.  With a light blue tee shirt that accentuates his tan, he looks good. I notice girls checking