By the time they were at they reached the track, Ashley was on her second sandwich and wishing she had gotten something sweet. Like a donut, or coffee that didn’t suck. They didn’t put enough cream and sugar in hers. She used to always get her coffee black, no sugars. She didn’t even put splenda or sweet n’ low in there. Then, a bit after she came to Buttercombe, she realized that tasted like literal hot garbage.
“Alright, Vandergriff.” Ashley grunted. She always emphasized the ‘griff’ when she grunted. “You’re probably familiar with most of this from Soccer but--”
“Football.”
“Soccer!” Ashley shouted. Jean flinched like she had physically hit her. Ashley couldn’t understand Jean sometimes. Most girls quivered when she got angry, some were made of sterner stuff. Jean reacted like she was more afraid of Ashley then anyone, but unlike anyone else, Jean just kept coming back for more. Ashley sighed, and tugged down her sweatshirt to try and cover her enlarged mass. “But...success in running always begins in stretching, and flexibility.”
Jean nodded rapidly, focusing her eyes very intently on Ashley’s mouth to pick up everything she was saying, but interrupting all the same. “Uh-huh. I can do that. I can do that really good...see!”
Before Ashley could stop her, Jean had lifted her foot into the air, then grasped it in her hands, and then, bending only slightly at the knee, forced it upwards and behind her head, keeping a precarious balance on one foot...for a few moments, before she fell over and collapsed into a knot of lithe teenage limbs.
Ashley held out a hand and ground her teeth to stop herself from yelling. Her first reaction was to yell at her to stop, to focus, and to stop showboating. On the other hand, that was actually one of the most impressive displays of athleticism since she came to this stupid school, and more importantly, Jean was trying REALLY hard to show to her how eager and she was for this. And that was what she was here for, to take Jean’s raw energy and make her focus, no, to guide her.
“That’s wonderful Jean. That kind of flexibility will really help you. Especially since you don’t have a lot of natural advantages as a runner.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jean asked, dusting herself off.
“Well...you’re short.” Ashley said bluntly. “Most runners are tall. Longer limbs mean farther strides. But don’t worry, maybe you’ll hit a growth spurt.”
Jean’s tallest brother was 5’ 8”. “I doubt it.” Jean said, glumly.
“That’s fine. Because you’re going to beat them using better technique, and better training and harder commitment. Trust me, there’s not a lot of girls training at five in the morning in December for track in spring.”
Jean beamed a perfectly white, straight smile at the encouragement.
“But there are some!” Ashley added. She thought back to her own high school days, getting up before the sun, and never taking the bus so she could jog to school. “And those are the ones that you’re going to have to train your hardest, and focus to beat.”
Jean’s hands clenched into fists again, this time, in determination. “Show me what I need to do.”
And that’s how Ashley got Jean to take the warm-up seriously. She realized, a girl with this much natural athleticism and flexibility, she never really took the warm up stretches seriously because she was so flexible, so brimming with energy to start. But good stretching was how you prevented damaged muscles later, and the way she was going to work Jean, she was going to neat every bit of help she could get to protect her leg muscles.
After the warm up, Ashley put Jean through her paces on some basic exercise. She made her run through tires, she made her do some suicide drills, she made her do duckwalks and jump squats and burpees. Jean didn’t even need these exercises really explained to her, from her previous background, and she didn’t even need to be really pushed. Jean took to these exercises with a natural joy she hadn’t seen in any other student. And for the first time since she came here, Ashley felt a natural joy in coaching. It wasn’t a chore, it didn’t get her blood pressure up or get her red in the face. It was simply what she had hoped for when she took this job, encouraging a young athlete.
Things hit a more serious snag when they moved from fundamental fitness to technique. Jean had two problems: Soccer had taught her to run for efficiency, rather than speed, and her launch off the line was atrocious. Ashley decided to tackle the second problem first.
It started when Ashley tried to show her how. The fifty or sixty pounds she’d gained since coming here slowed her down, but it wasn’t enough to make it impossible to show off. But Ashley felt gross. Getting down with her face right behind the line, her fingers gripping the track, she really hadn’t done it since college. Even when she tried running, before her accident here, she’d usually just jog. She wasn’t competing so she rarely got into a proper ‘start.’ So in her mind, it felt exactly the same way it had back in college. Instead, her front leg pushed into her belly, her thighs chafed, and her ass dragged behind her. She wasn’t so out of shape that she couldn’t demonstrate it for Jean, but it put Ashley in a bad mood for what came next.
Following Ashley’s lead, Jean got down into the start position, and took off. Ashley blew her whistle and signaled for her to stop. “You’ve got to keep your chin up.” She explained.
“Yes, Coach.” Jean said, turning around and getting back into position.
Jean took off again, and Ashley blew the whistle again. “You have to keep your back straight, too.”
“Yes, Coach.” Jean said, with less enthusiasm.
Jean got back down, and tried again, and once again Ashley blew the whistle.
“But you’ve got to keep your weight forward.”
“Okay, Coach.” She said, getting down again.
By the tenth or twelth time, Jean actually had everything right...and then she started to wobble, and then fell forward.
“Jean--”
“You don’t have to say anything.” Jean said, clamping her eyes shut to hold back tears. “I know I screwed up, OK?”
“You--” Ashley didn’t know what to say. Her mind gave her a million hackneyed cliches that she herself didn’t even believe, and she doubted Jean would. She realized that this was really her first time coaching someone, and she really didn’t know how, or what to do in this situation. Her thoughts were interrupted when she made out a figure approaching the track.She was fat...that didn’t really narrow it down. She squinted to make out who it was. It was that fatass Farron. ‘Head Coach Farron.’ Ashley corrected herself with a shudder. “...You did good work today Jean. Finish your laps for this morning and you’re done. And don’t forget the extra ones for drooling on me.”
“Yes, coach!”
Ashley turned her back and crossed her arms, pretending she hadn’t seen Farron, and watched Jean take off like a rocket. Someday, she was going to make a state champion out of that girl.
Finally, Coach Farron made it the rest of the way to Ashley.
“Ashley! I didn’t expect to see you out here. I’m glad you’ve gotten back to running.”
“Coaching, actually.” Ashley corrected her.
“But Ashley...you’re not a coach anymore.” She was more confused than accusatory.
Ashley pointed out to the track to guide Farron’s eye. By now, Jean was on the far side of the track, and was a little difficult to make out.
“Making someone run laps for you at this hour? That’s low, even for you.” Farron was scandalized.
“I’ll have you know, some of your students don’t like the way you’re teaching gym class. Jean out there practically begged me to start coaching again.”
“You can’t really expect me to believe that Ashley.” It came out more arrogant then she intended. But maybe it revealed something important. She really thought it was more plausible that Ashley was out here enforcing her fantasies of being a coach, than the idea that anyone would want Ashley Knight as a coach instead of her.
Ashley pulled herself up to her full height, and swelled up her considerable size, and smiled back in Farron's face. For the first time since she got here, she felt she had ammunition to hit back at this school on their own terms. "Hey Jean!" She called out as the pixie sized girl finished her first lap and rounded close to the two coaches again. "That's your best lap yet, keep up the good work!" She was actually fudging a few seconds, but who cared? Jean smiled, and literally leapt for joy, and kept running. Maybe she'd make a good hurdler someday, Ashley thought.
"I-I...I'm--" Courtney tried to stammer out an apology. She could barely get Jean to not try to sneak off campus during gym, and Ashley had her out here running for laps and jumping for joy.
"What are you even out here for, anyway?"
"I-...It's gotten too cold outside, so I was going to bring the soccer goals inside so the girls could play lacrosse today."
"Fine. Wait 'til Jeans finished with her laps, will you?"
"I...sure. That's fine, Ashley."
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Get MORE!
Shop Memberships
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
