Aren’t we friends? Friends help
friends out, don’t they?” Fantastic. Again, I regretted the whole
friend thing. Girls all around us were either glaring or going back
to whatever they were doing before Seth got his clipboard. At least
the crowd was too thick with students for me to see the one person
I was sure wouldn’t only be glaring but spitting fire by now. Seth
pulled his shirt off and tossed it to Ty. By now she would have
probably started a fist fight over him, and I wouldn’t blame her.
Something about Seth was drawing me to him, and I couldn’t rule out
his rock hard abs. I really needed to get away if I was going to
keep that promise to myself. But he had used the friend line, I
couldn’t turn Seth down. Instead, I followed him on his way to the
first race.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect with
CRUSH, but by the time I got to the first stop, I realized it was
complete chaos. Students were already competing in the balloon
race. It sounded easy enough to get two balloons from one end to
the other, but clearly it wasn’t that simple. First off, the
balloons were huge and filled with water. A stick-thin girl to the
far left kept dropping a balloon which was probably half her
weight. Second, the balloons were coated in something that
obviously made them slick as the muscle guy next to us would make
it only two feet before dropping his balloon. It was becoming clear
this wasn’t just about athletics. It actually took some brains,
too. And here I thought Seth won last year based on his athletic
skills. Maybe there was a bit more I didn’t know about Seth
Sangre.
Seth stood in line and waited behind a girl
determined to roll her balloon down the space. She already had one
balloon in the bucket at the end of the race and was on her second
try with this balloon. As she neared the end, the balloon popped
from rolling over something sharp. While it was a good idea, she
wasn’t careful enough. She ran back and began again. This time she
took her time and moved every little piece out of the way as she
rolled. Soon enough, she was done and on her way.
Seth stood on the line and looked around at
the competitors. Muscle guy was still going and dropping his
balloon while skinny girl had already quit. With one last glance
around, Seth nodded to no one in particular.
“Ready,” he said to Dee and me.
“Go,” Dee said while clicking his timer on.
I clicked mine too and did my best not to get distracted.
Seth reached into the bucket and pulled out
a balloon. While balancing it against his dry swim trunks, he
pulled out the second balloon and did the same. With an easy trot
down the track, he dumped both balloons in the bucket before the
person next to him even picked one up. I could now see how he would
finish on top. Somehow, he knew exactly how to do this.
With that I was off, watching Seth compete
every course two, three, or more times faster than the people
around him. The second stop went just as easy since Seth had
perfect form with each ball he tossed. At the third stop, I got to
see what a ROTC course was. It was a military basic training course
with tires to step through, hanging bars to cross and an A-shaped
board to climb over. Not something someone without a bit of
athletic skills would be making through very easily. At the swim
center, Seth was like a fish and in and out of the water before
anyone could even count. At the last stop, Seth was actually too
cute to keep from laughing. When they said it was a bike course, I
was not picturing tricycles. Something about seeing cute college
guys on a small tricycle was just funny.
I smiled as he crossed the lap line, and
Seth caught me. I tried to quickly turn, but I was too late.
“You do know how to laugh.” Seth stood
beside me as I filled in my times on the sheet Dee was holding.
Seth ran his hands through his still wet hair. The deep red color
was black now. I wondered if it felt as soft now as it did when it
was dry. I turned my eyes away. I
Veronica Cox, Cox Bundles