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Noelle hunched over, hands on her knees as her chest heaved. She felt a bead of sweat drip down her face. It was a bright day, the sun beating down on her and her teammate.
"Well, you're lucky you can't sweat, Jockington." she laughed, and she hauled herself upright and turned to the snake on her left. He flopped dramatically on the grass and closed his eyes against the sun.
"I'm tuckered OUT, yo." Noelle laughed again. School would be out in a matter of weeks, but a little extra training couldn't hurt.
She wiped her forehead and whipped her head around in search for her water bottle. It was nestled in her sweater near the bleachers and she jogged to get it before jogging back and plonking herself next to Jockington. He opened his eyes briefly and then closed them again.
"You're too hard, on us, Noelle!"
"Hey! We have to train! You just don't wanna put in the work."
He stuck his tongue out at her. She sighed dramatically before drawling, "and here I thought you liked sports…."
He swatted her leg with his tail, "Jockington, LOVES sports." and she giggled, before taking a large swig of her water and sighing.
"Still no luck getting anyone to join our team, anyway."
"Cross-country is, too cool, for them." he shook his head mournfully. Noelle nodded.
Jockington rose, sitting up and grabbing her bottle with his tail and squirting some into his mouth despite her protests, "Hey!"
"What about that, new girl. Susie." He jabbed his tail in her direction, making a silly face that was probably supposed to look scary, eyebrows bunched together and tongue lolling out.
Noelle squinted and cast her eyes to the bleachers on the other side of the track. She had been trying to ignore her presence the entire time, the sun maybe not being the sole reason for the flush on her face and neck. There lay a—seemingly napping—Susie. About halfway through their training session, she had casually strolled in and up the bleachers, plopping herself down on a seat halfway up.
Noelle had almost tripped over, stumbling slightly but then resuming her run after seeing her initially. Oh my god, what the hell was she doing here? Jockington had asked her if she was alright as he slithered past her and she had to shout back that yes! she was totally fine! while feeling ANYTHING but.
She stared at her hooves thundering down on the track below her, scared that Susie might see should she glance up. But glance up she did, only to be met with Susie staring directly at her, an indiscernible look on her face. Noelle audibly squeaked and felt her face heat up, going immediately back to staring at her hooves and speeding up, powering through the next two laps at what must have been her pr speed.
Back to the present, she jerked her head away from where Susie lay. She had fallen asleep after not too long, presumably using the bleachers as a quiet place to nap in the sun. She almost reminded Noelle of a cat. She coughed slightly, embarrassed at having been lost in thought. She was probably red a tomato, jeez.
"Uh, I'm not sure she's the running type." she cleared her throat. "Faha, and I'm not sure she'd willingly do anything school related. Um. Y'know."
Jockington waved his head around a bit, and she wasn't sure if he was nodding or shaking his head. "Uh, yeah, she is totally too cool, for, school. Bad Ass."
He titled his head as if in thought, peering at her. "And scary, as hell. Your, nervous. ha!"
She laughed a little, feeling her face flush again. she kept her head down, brushing some dust off her hooves with the back of her hand. "Me? No… You know I'm not the nervous type." and Jockington laughed at her. "True that."
The two sat in silence for a while, Noelle with her legs tucked underneath her, firmly not looking at the other side of the track and determinately picking clumps of grass and placing them in a grass pile. Jockington rolled about in the grass like a bird having a dust bath. His phone chimed in the pile of sweaters and he slithered over to get it, before lying back down. Noelle titled her head in question. "Catti?"
"Totally."
Catti said she would meet the two of them later. Noelle pondered whether she could convince them to get ice cream. Jockington began to rise.
"Well, i gotta get, going. Noelle. Catti will be, waiting." Noelle nodded, squinting up at him.
"Uh, yeah. I'll catch up with you guys later. Gotta stretch!"
Jockington nodded back, and gave her a high five with his tail before waving goodbye. "Catch you, later, !"
As soon as he left, Noelle readjusted herself before dramatically flopping on the grass, arms spread. She might get a grass stain on her sports gear, and her mom might kill her, but she was to tired to care. She felt the sun on her face and felt her eyes start to burn slightly from the glare, putting her forearm over her face and huffing. Jockington should be glad he didn't sweat, or that he didn't need to stretch, dammit. She could feel her hair stick to the fur on her face, and her legs burned from the strain. Damn snakes.
She wasn't lying when she said she needed to stretch, but that wasn't the only reason she stayed. Opening her eyes, she turned her head to the side, eyes finding the sleeping reptile as grass tickled the side of her face. Since it was so warm, Susie had ditched her usual flannel, simply wearing a white vest underneath, showing her arms to the whole world. She lay with her mouth open, one arm hanging down her side. Even looking from a distance Noelle was blushing. She turned away and squeezed her eyes shut. What would Jockington and Catti think of her now? Gosh, she was doomed.