Through Thick & Thin

Chapter 13

"Reyanna 50.14, Denise 52.08, Crystal 52.38, Morgan 53.00," Coach called out. Reyanna couldn't believe it, she was this close to beating the school record for the 400m race of 50 seconds! "Reyanna good shit! Ooops, I mean great job," Coach Zellers said. She tried really hard to stop cursing, but when she was really excited sometimes she couldn't help herself. Everyone crowded around Reyanna to congratulate her as she was catching her breath. She heard a lot of "Great jobs" and "You go girls", but right now she just wished everyone would back up so she could catch her breath. Then as if Crystal had read her mind, "Alright everyone back up, give her some space so she can breathe." "Thank you Crystal," Reyanna thought to herself. Reyanna was real proud of herself at the moment, but she didn't have time to celebrate. "Where is...ah there she is," Reyanna thought to herself as she spotted Denise off to the side by herself. She looked pissed off.

"Alright everyone, take a quick water break and then reconvene back at the track," Coach said," We'll proceed on to the relays next. Crystal, Reyanna, and Denise you all don't have to participate in the 4x1 relay since neither of you actually participate in that race, so just save your strength for the 4x400." "Cool with me," Crystal said as she made her way over to the water cooler. Reyanna looked over to the opposite side where another set of bleachers were and saw Michelle and Riley sitting there. She walked over towards them saying, "Hey you guys, what are you doing here?" "Well we rarely ever get to see you in action anyways," Riley said, "So we figured why not come a little earlier and see Reyanna in her natural environment," Riley said with a giggle. "Plus Riley wanted to see if maybe you could fill her in on what's going on. I figured you would probably want to be the one to tell her, so I kept the info to a minimum," Michelle said. "A minimum, you didn't tell me squat," Riley said. Reyanna just laughed and filled her in on everything that had been going on over the past month and a half. She decided to leave out the thing with her parents, because she knew how upset it would make Riley, so she decided to tell her later.

"Where's that heifer at, I'll teach her a lesson myself. You don't mess with my sister and think you're going to get away with it," Riley said. She was definitely a little firecracker at the moment. Reyanna thought about just unleashing Riley on Denise for a moment, but there was more to it than just her. Michael's future was at stake too after all. "Chill out Ri, you see that man over in the bleachers," Reyanna said, discreetly pointing her hand in the direction of the man who had shown up not too long ago. "That's Dr. Erickson, the Director of Athletics. I asked him to come out here so he could see for himself what Denise and his son had going on, and the guy I told you about Michelle? Turns out he was able to come through, so we'll have just the proof Dr. Erickson will need to clear Michael's name. Of the weed anyways," Reyanna said with a smile. Michelle just got up and wrapped her arms around Reyanna giving her a big hug. "Thank you so much Rey," Michelle said, "you have no idea how much this means to me." "Don't sweat it Chelle," Reyanna said. "It's the least I could do."

Reyanna looked at her friends and realized how lucky she was to have them in her life and have their support. Honestly she wasn't sure if she would be able to get through what was about to happen without it. "So tell me has she been acting out or anything," Riley asked? "Boy has she," Reyanna said, "If I were to tell you all the things she's been doing you would never believe me. You just have to see it for yourself. Just pay attention to her. I gotta get back over there, but like I said keep an eye out for how she acts, and when he gets here, tell Michael I said hi and that I love him." With that Reyanna gave her friends a hug and jogged back over to the bleachers. She sent a quick text to Greg telling him to find where Michelle and Riley were sitting and to just wait there, and then she sent a text to Randall telling him to meet her at the track since they were wrapping up practice early. After that, she put her phone back in her bag, gave a quick half smile to Dr. Erickson, and headed back on the field.