The rest of the day, Gabriel avoided Aaron. It’s like he’s everywhere, he sighed, as he dodged once again the green-eyed boy, by taking another corridor than his. He’d have to face him at some point, he couldn’t keep avoiding him forever. Tomorrow. What would he even say? “Hey, I’m sorry for jumping out of the window at the party, I panicked because of all the people. And sorry for avoiding you.” Pathetic. As Gabriel walked towards the locker room for his P-E class, he inwardly groaned. He hated running. And Aaron would be there. 

Almost everyone was already running when Gabriel reached the field. He was late, as usual. The less I have to run, the better. The coach sent him a disapproving look before ordering him to run three laps around the field. 

It’s too hot to be running like this. Gabriel had barely run a lap and he was already tired, he could feel his face getting redder by the second. Everyone had already passed by him at least once, going at an incredible speed. Or maybe not so incredible, but to him it felt that way. Maybe he was just so incredibly slow. 

Suddenly, he heard some steps slowing down behind him, and someone was calling his name. 

“Gabi! Hey!” 

Eventually, someone was right next to him, running at the same speed.

Urghhh no. As if this couldn’t get any worse. 

Gabriel didn’t turn his head to look at Aaron, he just continued running, looking straight in front of him. 

“I’ve been trying to talk to you all day! But every time I see you, you just vanish. It’s like you’re avoiding me. ” Arron laughed, ignoring the lack of response from Gabriel. Then he added, in a more serious tone : “Are you avoiding me?”

Gabriel couldn’t talk, he was having a hard time breathing altogether. His lungs felt tight.

“You know what, never mind, you don’t have to answer that. Im probably just imagining things. I’m curious, though. You know, from the whole ‘jumping out of a window at a party’ thing. Is that a thing you do at every party you go to? That’s kinda messed up, dude. There are doors for that. And you missed all the fun, really. The party had barely just started. You should stay, next time. Why did you leave?”  

Gabriel tried to speak, but the words didn’t come out properly, and his breaths were getting shorter and more jagged as they continued running. He could stop, but then he would have to explain himself to Aaron, so he decided to do the next best thing : run as fast as he could. It was stupid, really, because he knew Aaron was a fast runner and could probably beat him at any sport. But in the moment, Gabriel didn’t really think. He let his feet take him as far as possible, faster than he probably had ever ran. Aaron was right behind him, but maybe if he increased his speed just a little bit, he could outrun the boy. 

So he ran even faster, and for a moment he thought running wasn’t so bad, after all. Maybe if he didn’t struggle so much to breath, he could actually enjoy it. The wind in his hair, the lightness in his legs, it wasn’t so bad. 

Then, just as these thoughts ever so briefly crossed his mind, he felt himself trip, and in the blink of an eye he was flying towards the ground.