Page 18 of Waking Olivia

I have nothing to lose at this point. He's probably going to kick me off the team no matter what. "Yes."

"How far did you go?"

"About nine miles."

"You must be out of your mind," he growls. "On the morning of a race you ran nine miles? Why?"

I say nothing. I mean, he's right, isn't he? I'm definitely out of my mind. I don't think that idea is even in dispute at this point.

"That wasn't a rhetorical question," he snaps. "I expect an answer. I specifically told you to stop running before practice but you did it anyway. Unless you can offer a compelling reason for it, you're off the team. You're nothing but a liability."

"You don't know that," I retort. "It was only the first meet."

"I know how fast you are, Olivia. We should have placed today. So yeah, I do know you’re a liability. You're incapable of taking direction and we all paid the price for it today."

"I can't control it!"

"Is someone forcing you at gunpoint? I must have missed that this morning."

"I do it in my sleep, okay?" I snarl. "Like sleepwalking, except I run.”

I'm not sure what's more horrifying, that he wants to kick me out of the program already or that I just told him the truth. I don’t know why I told him. I’ve only admitted it once in my adult life, and it really didn’t work out for me.

He rolls his eyes. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot of stupid things."

“Fine." I should have expected his reaction, but it still hurts. "Don't believe me. Kick me off the team.” I jump to my feet. “You know what? Don't bother. I fucking quit."

I slam his door and run across campus, back to the shitty apartment I’m only in so I can attend a school I never wanted to be at in the first place. I really wish I could cry. I'd like to right now.

I just ruined everything.

16

Will

The door slamsshut and I sit in shock.

Her story sounded so far-fetched. It never occurred to me for a minute it could be real. Not until she jumped to her feet, her eyes wide and hurt.

It can't possibly be true, though. People don't sleeprun.

This is just one of Olivia’s many talents—the ability to tell a ridiculous lie and make you want to believe it. The minute those big green eyes of hers go even the slightest bit vulnerable I want to hand her my keys and sign over my paycheck. God help the man she ends up with.

It’s for the best that she’s gone. She’s been nothing but trouble since day one, and she's no longer my problem. But I have a curiously empty feeling as I drive out to the farm.

“How’d the meet go?” my mom asks.

"Bad question," I grumble. "I'm gonna go check the horses."

"The horses are fine," she clucks. "Sit down and I'll make you some lunch."

"I don't have time for lunch, Mom. I have a shitload of work to get done and Jessica expects me by seven."

"One quick sandwich and I'll leave you alone," she promises.

Over lunch, I tell her about the meet, about Olivia and my frustration that we lost because of her.

"It sounds," she says gently, "like you'd have lost with or without her?"

---