The Bad Wolf by Michelle Clay Read Free Book Online Page B

pretty aggravated. Taking time to be harassed or speak with friends during practice didn’t make a very good impression.
    “I need a ride home, ” Jenna admitted with an embarrassed laugh. “I had to stay late and do some make up work and I guess Ryan already left. We’re practically neighbors so I figured your mom could just drop me off if it’s not a problem.”
    “ It’s no problem,” Chloe called as she turned to rejoin the team.
    “Where’s your head, Chloe? You’re falling behind.” Coach Lewis called as one of the other girls sprinted past her. She ducked her head then pumped her limbs harder. No matter how much she tried, how fast she ran, she could never catch the two quickest girls on the team.
    After practice and the shortest shower of her life, she found Jenna near the bleachers. She was about to call out to her when she spotted Karen talking to Coach Lewis. Her mom’s hand rested on his arm and she kept touching her hair. Karen was flirting with him so soon after filing for a divorce?
    Chloe moved slowly, cautiously. Coach was attractive for a guy his age. She thought he might be in his early thirties, which made him a few years younger than Karen. He looked athletic in navy blue track pants and a white t-shirt. A whistle hung around his neck and a pair of sunglasses sat atop his head. Short spikes of brownish-blond hair pushed around the eyewear. He gripped a clipboard in his left hand. The one her mother kept touching with startling familiarity.
    Coach was the first to take notice of her standing there. He smiled. “I was just telling your mom that you’re an excellent runner.”
    “Okay,” Chloe said then frowned at Karen. It certainly didn’t look like that’s what they were discussing. By then Jenna had joined them.
    Enthusiasm practically leaked form Coach Lewis’s pores. “You placed sixth in your district last year for the eight hundred, didn’t you?”
    Chloe felt an intense surge of pride. “Yeah and I got fourth in cross-country.”
    He waved the clipboard as he spoke. “I was just telling your mom that I don’t think you’re giving it your all.”
    “What?” Her fingers found her hair and began twisting it round and round. She felt defensive and hurt. He hadn’t even given her a chance!
    “Your head’s not in the game. You’ve got too much going on up there.” He tapped his forehead. “You need to let go of everything that’s eating at you and just run, Chloe.”
    She bit her lip as her good feeling dwindled. “Are you kicking me off the team? I can do better!”
    He shook his head and laughed. “No. I’m saying if you apply yourself, I think you could place third or better. Tina and Dana have the speed, but I think you have the endurance.”
    “Oh .”
    His smile widened. “How do you feel about running the sixteen-hundred and thirty-two hundred meters?”
    “I ran the sixteen back home.”
    He nodded then wrote something on his clipboard. “ Cool. You’re going to join our cross country team next year aren’t you?”
    “I guess so.” She shrugged then cast a fleeting glance at Jenna who was p robably bored out of her skull.
    Karen touched his shoulder and smiled. “She won’t let you down, Coach Lewis.”
    “Please, call me Mike,” he insisted with a charming smile.
    Having heard enough, Chloe gripped Jenna’s hand and dragged her toward the car. “Can you believe that? She’s acting like… What do they call it when older women go for younger men?”
    “I don’t think she’s old enough to be a cougar yet,” Jenna laughed then glanced over her shoulder with an arch of a brow.
    “ Gross!” Chloe yelled in hopes that Karen would hear. Never mind she was too far away to hear the discussion leading up to the outburst. “Now he’s gonna be nice to me because he likes her.”
    “Is that a bad thing?” Jenna wondered.
    “Well no, but I want him to like me because of me.”
    “That would make him a pedophile,” Jenna shook her head with mock