“Alright,” Alex yelled back. “You got Sofia right?”

“Yeah, I’ll drop her off.”

“Alright then,” Alex said. “Byyyye Sarah.”

“Byyye Alex.” She giggled. They heard Alex laugh.

Angel shook his head. “Don’t encourage him.”

CHAPTER 7

On the ride home from the restaurant the two girls hit it off right away. They both loved running. Sofia was on the track team, and Sarah had been in track since the ninth grade. Sarah hoped Sofia wouldn’t ask about her moving out here. She didn’t. She was more interested in why she hadn’t gone out for track at La Jolla.

“It’s not too late, you know,” Sofia said. “The meets aren’t until next semester anyway. Have you done relays? 'Cause the girl that ran the relay with us last year was really good, but she graduated. So, now we’re trying to find someone to replace her, but no one so far has come even close to her speed. ”

Sarah knew she had the speed. She’d been the fourth place runner in both the 400m and 1600m relays back home and won plenty of times, a few times coming from behind. Her heart ached to think she wasn’t there training with all of her old team mates. She hadn’t even said goodbye to any of them, not wanting to answer any of the inevitable questions. Instead she’d asked Sydney to keep it simple and just tell them she’d moved out of state over the summer. She’d figure out what to say when she got back. “I ran a few relays back home on the team.”

“Oh, my God.” Sofia sat up, at the edge of her seat. “Are you fast?”

Angel turned to her. He’d been holding her hand the entire way. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast.”

“Come out and meet the team Sarah, see what you think. And, oh,” Sofia glanced at Angel and then back at Sarah. “Coach Rudy is fine.”

She mouthed the word fine again, in case Sarah hadn’t caught what she meant.

“He’s a perve.” Angel huffed.

“He is not! Those are just rumors.”

That sparked Sarah’s curiosity. “What rumors?”

“He’s young and hot. Last year was his first year teaching, ever.” Sofia made a face. “So, a lot of the stupid girls are always flirting with him. Anyway people started talking that maybe he’d dated some of the older ones outside school. Even if he did he can’t be more than twenty three, that’s not old.”

Sarah’s eyebrows shot up and Angel gave Sofia a disgusted look. “I warned you about him.”

“Yes, yes, Angel I know.” Sofia turned back to Sarah and rolled her eyes. “I’m not allowed to be alone with him, can you believe it? Anyway, you should come out and run with us Sarah. Coach Rudy will be so excited.”

“But I’m not gonna be here next semester.” Angel squeezed Sarah’s hand and their eyes met.

He turned his attention back on the road. She could see his jaw tense, and his expression turn hard. He turned into a long circular driveway.

The house was impressive, a lot bigger than her aunt’s, and she’d always thought her aunt’s house was big. Well, compared to the one bedroom apartment she and her mom had lived in, anything was big. But this was huge. She looked out the window as he reached the front entrance and stopped. It had an elegant double door entry. “Why?” Sofia almost whined.

“I’ll have to tell you about it another time.” Sarah said, looking back at her.

Sofia frowned and opened the back door. “Tell mom I’ll be back later.” Angel said.

Sofia got out and came around to Sarah’s window. “Please tell me you weren’t the fourth place runner, ‘cause that’s what we really need.”

Sarah felt guilty. “Yeah, I was.”

“Uughh,” Sofia was deflated. “Maybe you can at least come practice with us one of these days.”

“Sure, I can do that.” Sarah said. “I should be training anyway. I plan on getting back on the team at my old school.”

“Good.” Sofia smiled. “I’ll talk to my coach and let you know when.”

“Sounds good.”

Sofia thanked Angel for the ride and went inside. Still smiling, Sarah turned to look at Angel. His expression was so hard, her smile disappeared immediately.

“We need to talk.” He pulled out of the driveway.

*********

They drove up to where he’d taken her the night of the party. Angel could feel the onset of a headache, and his stomach felt a little queasy. What the hell was she doing to him?

Except for when she’d asked him if he was okay and he had simply responded, “nope.”, the drive was a silent one. Still, he held her hand firmly in his. He parked facing the cliff where they had a perfect view of the setting sun. But Angel wasn’t interested in that. He didn’t even wait to get out of the car, as soon as he turned off the car he leaned against his door and looked at her. The worried look on her face made his words softer than he originally intended them to be.

“I don’t understand why you’re in such a rush to get back to Arizona, Sarah.” Without waiting for her response he added. “I mean, is it really that bad here? I know you said your friend is waiting for you, but is your mom going to be there for you?”

He saw the hurt in her face, and his heart dropped. He immediately felt like an idiot. Shit Who the hell did he think he was prying into her life like that? He had barely known her for a weekend, and her plans were made long before him.