Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chloe opened her eyes as she woke up from her sleep. She looked around her usual room, full of her cross-country trophies and posters. She started her morning ritual as usual, doing 50 push-ups, 50 crunches, and 2 minute planks. After that, she went outside into the cool 6:00 AM air, and decided to go a little more than usual and run four miles. Once she came back in, she found her father and mother in the dining room, eating the usual salad, peanut-butter crackers, and water.
"Good morning, Chlo," her mother greeted. "How was your run this morning?"
"It went well," Chloe answered, "It took about 26 minutes." She would always time herself for the run.
"A 6:30 mile," her father, who was an all-star at cross-country in high school, interjected, "not bad at all."
This made Chloe beam with fulfillment. Compliments from her father were tough to come by.
"Honey, it's about time to head to school, so take your shower and do your make-up. And make it quick! We don't need you to be late again!" Her mother somewhat politely ordered. Chloe wasn't the best with school. She used to be smart, but then her parents had her start focusing more on sports than academics. "Trust me, with our genetics, you'll get more scholarships from running than with grades." Her father would tell her, however nowadays she knew that what he said was probably wrong. He was probably just wanting to see her carry on the Ross name in the sport. After she started practicing more in sports, she started skipping some homework every so often, and eventually it turned from once or twice a month to twice or three times a week. In 7th grade, she had solid A's, but by freshman year, she finished with mostly C's and D's, a couple of B's, and only one A, which was in gym class. She was decently close to finishing sophomore year, and she was now very close to F's in a lot of her classes. She didn't really care, however, since she was amazing at sports, and won the school many games in many different kinds of sports. Thus, her teachers would try their best not to have her fail and get forced out of sports.
There was only one teacher that didn't care about any of that, and that was her algebra teacher, Mr. Johnson. She was barely squeezing out in his class with a 63 percent grade, only a small bit away from failing. There was going to be a big test that day and it would really hurt if she failed it.
She went up to the bathroom and took her running clothes off. She looked at her naked self in the mirror. Chloe felt pride in her body. She had a super flat belly, with a decent six-pack, a beautiful face, and was slender all over. The only real things she was disappointed by was her flat bust, which was a 34 AAA-cup. Also, her butt was super flat, barely rising from the legs. While neither were very helpful for looking attractive, they did help her in races, since she wouldn't have to carry the weight. Plus, her face made up for it, with nice cheek bones, pretty green eyes, and full lips. She got into the shower, bathing almost nothing but bone and muscle.
Once she got out of the shower and put on her make-up, she got into her car and drove to school. She got out and ran up the stairs to go inside. As she went up, she saw her old friends from middle school and tried to remain inconspicuous. Back in middle school, before Chloe started taking sports seriously, she hung out with the smart and geeky kids, since she sort of was too. Her best friend in that group was a boy named Kyle. They would hang out all the time, and would do fun and adventurous stuff, since they were the only ones out of their group who were outdoors people. They reached there most intimate height back in the summer going into 8th grade, when they were camping. In the tent, they were just talking about things and laughing, and there was a moment of silence. Kyle kissed her, and she kissed him back. Right before it became anything more, they stopped it, and Chloe, who was feeling the awkwardness, said she was going to sleep. Kyle agreed, and they spent the rest of that night in their sleeping bags, wondering why they stopped it.
After that night, they started growing more and more distant from each other, since they felt too uncomfortable to address that night. After that, she decided to take sports seriously, and started being with the sporty group more and more often. Eventually, she almost was never with her old group anymore. It reached the point of no return when her second best friend from that group, Abbi, invited her to her birthday party, which Chloe would never miss. Chloe, for the first time, thought to herself, "I'm too popular for this." She told Abbi that she had other plans that day, and said she had to go. After that, she completely started hanging out with the sporty, and most popular, group in the grade.
She was able to avoid the group and get into class, which was with her boyfriend, Hayden, who was the best runner in the cross-country team, her being a close second.
"Hey, beautiful," Hayden said. He was always so nice and sweet to her.
"Hey," she said, as she got out her math study guide.
"What's the matter? You seem worried," he asked sympathetically.
"I have to study for this test, I can't afford to bomb it. I may miss out on the next season if I do."
This caught Hayden's attention. "What? Chloe, I always tell you not to procrastinate from this stuff, or else this would happen!"
Chloe got annoyed by this. "Well, I'm sorry that I'm not a smartypants like you are!" She tried to reason.
"There's a difference between being smart and procrastinating! Look, I don't want you to miss out on the season, since you're so good at it. And also... I worry about you overall. We've been together for months, and I can see that you care about grades less and less... I don't want to see you flunk out of school."
Chloe got infuriated by this. "Look, I don't know if that's what you think I'll do, but I know I won't. Now shut up and leave me alone."
He saw that she didn't want to talk anymore and went back to his friends. One of them, Brandon, who's a big football jock, jokes, "Yeesh, she on her period again?" A couple of the other friends laugh.
"Shut up, Brandon. She's under a lot of stress and stuff, and she has to study for some math test she may fail." Hayden said.
"Didn't she used to be smart?" Brandon rudely questioned. "I think I may know more than her by now."
"Well, the sluts you sleep with certainly don't," Hayden retaliated. As all the other friends laugh, Brandon looked mad. Before something bad starts, the teacher walked into the room, and class began.
Later that day, Algebra class comes. Chloe felt decently ready, and as Mr. Johnson handed her the tests, he said quietly, "I hoped you studied for the test. You know what may be on the line."
This made Chloe feel even more nervous, since Mr. Johnson realized too how important this test was. She opens the test and answers the questions. She knew all of the questions, or at least thought she did. This made her really happy. After she handed the test in, she felt as if a large weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
When school lets out, she goes straight to the track to the coaches. Coach Longing, the head cross-country coach, beams when he sees her, since he knows she will do what he tells her to do without question. Since it was off-season, he only had her do four miles.
After she got it done, they had everyone race 100 meters to see how fast they were. She destroyed the competition and got first place by a long shot. The coaches even had them do it again and she still easily got first. After that, Coach Longing let out practice. Once she got home, she remembered that she had a lot of homework to do. However, she thought to herself, "That test really took all of my thinking out of me; I'll just do it later." She then got on her phone and started texting people.
Later that night, dinner was ready. It was grilled chicken and broccoli, which she loved.
"How did the test go today, Chloe?" Her mother asked.
"I think I did really well on it! I studied a lot!" Chloe replied, lying. She didn't want her mom to get mad at her.
"Well that's good, because you really need to boost your grade in that class."
"Aw, as if that really matters all too much," her dad said. "If she stays as good at running as she is, she won't need any of those grades. I didn't get the best grades, and we live in one of the best houses in the neighborhood!" It was true. Her father worked as a salesperson, and he was a really good one at that. After Chloe finished her plate, she went upstairs and got back to her phone.
On the home screen, she saw that she got a notification from GradeScan, which was a school app that told her the grades she got on assignments. She read the notification. It said, "Chloe Ross's Algebra Grade has Been Updated." She felt her stomach turn. The test grade must had been put in. She opened it up and finally looked at the test grade. 28/60. She nearly freaked out. How could she have gotten that bad of a grade on the test? Now for the real moment of truth. She looked at her overall grade in the class. 60.27%. She didn't fail the class! She was so happy until she glanced at one of her trophies on her dresser. It said "All A's, All Year. 7th Grade, Chloe Ross." This made her realize something She was just celebrating over having a D. She couldn't believe it. Was she really that dumb now? Tears started rolling down her face. She then looked at the cross country things. She angrily muttered to herself, "If it weren't for you, I'd still be getting all A's. I wish I never took you so seriously."
She felt tired all of a sudden. She decided that she needed rest. Turning off the light, she went to sleep.