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Day 1, Tuesday October 5th

I was awoken by the lovely serenade of my alarm clock, "BURNING FROM THE INSIDE OUT BLOODY FOAM SPEWS FROM YOUR MOUTH SMELL THE PUTRID STENCH OF FLESH AS IT BURNS YOU TO YOUR DEEEEEEEEEATH!"

I tapped my alarm off and limbered myself up in bed, letting out a wide-mouthed yawn that let up into a smile. Nothing like hardcore death metal to wake you up at 5:45 AM, hehe. Waking up an hour earlier left me feeling a little tired, but sleeping in was overrated anyway. Carpe diem for life baby!

Actually, Jayce and the others always thought it was weird that I was a morning person... Was that weird? Come to think of it, whenever a gay high school student was portrayed on gay smutTV shows, they always seemed to hate waking up in the morning... nahhhh I'm probably just imagining things.

Navigating the strewn clutter of mostly laundry and sheet music on my floor, I reached my drawer and quickly tossed on a pair of running shorts, a 'Literally Dragons' T-shirt and a yellow hoodie, because why not wear an intensely bright yellow hoodie? Already my tail was wagging in anticipation for today's early morning running. From a brief glimpse at my wall mirror, I noticed that my curly blonde hair was getting a leetle bit long for my tastes. Zoinks, it was covering up the bases of my ears, no wonder fidgeting with my right ear piercing was getting a bit annoying. It could wait though, it wasn't like I was_Rob_ or somebody, who had a new obsession with maintaining his hairdo. Like, who was Rob trying to impress with that gelled up hair anyway? Some girl he met from his part time job at TOOLS R' US? Hehe, that was pretty good.

I snaked my way through the trailer's cramped living space to the tattered old couch on the other end. I quickly snatched up my prepared backpack and water bottle (full of healthy lemon water, fight those carcinogens!). Sure, the trailer I lived in was cramped like a mosh pit, but Dad was always at least good on paying child support, so there was always money enough to pay for the necessities and a little extra I could spend on my hobbies, even if mom did work at Woolmart...

Speaking of which, mom was still sawing logs in bed, _very very loudly,_so as much as I wanted to wish her a good day at work, I began sneaking out silently, all ninja Wolf style! It was a little bit hard with my tail wagging as much as it was; guess I was excited for jogging to school and the accompanying shoot I can't remember the word, dope-a-mean? dopamine rush! The early October chill tickled at my fur as I ventured onwards to the still-dark outside. It seemed like the lazy-ass sun still had an hour or so to peek its way out of the horizon. The perfect time for a run.

I popped my headphones into my eager ears, and pulled up the music playlist Rob and Jayce had put together for me the day before. It was full of High octane pop, rock and metal songs in English and various Asian languages. Now, I definitely knew more than enough songs on my own -I'm in a band for crying out loud- but listening to fresh songs was always the best to get the adrenaline pumping! And despite looking like a total stiff dweeb, Jayce was surprisingly well-versed with music. He knew some excellent underground bands, not to mention all the Taiwanese bands he knew that I would otherwise have no way of knowing. And good old Rob (though you could never get him to admit it in front of Scott), knew all sorts of J-rock songs, which were totally on point for running. Together the two of them had managed to come up with nearly a hundred songs in just one night, and from listening to just a few of the tracks yesterday, it seemed like string bean and gelled hair boi had done a great job with it. ...Thanks guys.

...Except this song: Karma Chameleon? What the fuck is this doing in here?

The last track on the playlist was also a bit out of place: Dog Days Are Over by The Machine + Florence_._ Why was this... oh! Aww, that big lemon-lime flavored popsicle, he remembered one of my favorite songs (that was loosely related to running)! He probably meant it as a song for the day of the big race, but let's just listen to it now, because waiting is for suckers!

The song opened with the ukulele strumming and already I was getting pumped! As a sort of a warm-up, I began jogging to the High School running rack, the lush green trees and tidy, colorful suburban houses still casting grey under the lowlight of early morning. When the song reached the sick catchy melody I couldn't help but start skipping and fluttering my legs in the air as I ran:

Run fast for your mother run fast for your father Run for your children for your sisters and brothers Leave all your love and your longing behind you Can't carry it with you if you want to survive

...You know that I think about it, this lyrics might actually be pretty dark? Ah well, still catchy as heck, haha!

It wasn't even five minutes before I had made it to the well-kept school track. 5:57 A.M: looks like I made it there a few minutes early. I eagerly scoped the darkened track, still untouched for the day. Couldn't wait for the traction of synthetic rubber to reach the soles of his hindpaws. Aw yeah, I'm gonna tear this course up! Just you wait and see, Lach! I've got the power of FEELINGS behind me!

When I was beginning my warmup stretch routine, I spotted a big old hoodie wearing Rottie slogging his way to the track on a beat-up looking bike. He looked hella tired.

"What up, what up!" I greeted Daren eagerly, hoping some of my energy would rub off on him.

The Rottie mumbled something guttural and unintelligible, as he lazily rested his bike against a nearby Buckeye tree, not even bothering to lock it up, though it wasn't like anyone would really care to steal a rinky-dink bike like that anyway. I can relate to having to use old stuff; I've had the same used electric guitar for years now.

Daren trudged on over to me by the track gates, eyes closed shut, frowning intensely as though he was an industrial revelation era worker beleaguered by the bitterness of living under the capitalist state that was crushing all of his hopes and dreams while he futilely clenched on to hope of a better life (or at least that's how Angie would describe it).

I couldn't help but laugh at the comically grouchy face. "Not a morning person?"

"Mmmm," was all Daren managed to respond, eyes squinted nearly shut. I thought it odd that he offered to join me if he was that much of a cranky-pants in the morning.

Daren took out some sort of an insulated mug out of the side of his black backpack. His drooping eyes cracked open slightly to look at it like it was an oasis in a barren dessert.

"That coffee?" I asked in the middle of a calf-stretch.

"Green tea..."Daren managed to annunciate, then taking a sip and grimaced from the hot tea as if he had just taken a shot of rum (not that I knew what that was like or anything...). After lolling his tongue out to cool off for a few seconds, Daren added an unenthusiastic "Coffee tastes like piss..."

I couldn't help but find some humor in our curious situation, "Dang Daren, I've seen emo kids with more spunk in the morning than you. You sure you're okay to be waking up this early just to help me out?"

Based on the sudden apologetic jolt in Daren's expression, you'd think the Rottie had been caught doing something really bad, like stepping on someone's cellphone or uploading shitty low quality audio files on a free music sharing site, "Y-Yeah! I'm okay, sorry... 'sall good."

I cocked my head at his suddenly shameful reaction; maybe he was still uncomfortable around me? I decided that sounding like a dork was probably the best way to get him to loosen up, "Alright, then let the training begin, ROCK E FOUR!" I cheered loudly, pumping both of my fists up in the air. Daren followed suit, tiredly raising his paws in the air with a weak "yaaay". It was kind of cute actually, especially considering that he looked embarrassed while doing it.

And so my three weeks of hellish training began.

Daren and I Bantered a little bit before I began with my first practice 5k. I explained the general concept of the October 5k, and that I'd likely have to shave off a full minute or two to get my goal timing of 15 minutes 15 seconds. Daren also told me that he hadn't noticed how thicc my thighs were until now and that they looked really nice, which caused me to blush a little bit. Hey, I'll take any compliments to heart from a handsome guy like him!

Because Daren only had an old flip phone (that poor Dog!), I gave him my eye-phone so he could use the stopwatch function to record my time, so we used that for timing and marked the approximate location on the quarter mile track where'd I'd finish running five kilometers. I realized I didn't remember the measurements for a 5k on a quarter mile track (doh), but luckily Daren knew in his head how to convert kilometers to miles (who knows that?!) and easily calculated that it'd be just under 12 and a half laps on a quarter mile track. Dayumn, that's one smart Dog.

Final preparation. My playlist was a go; I'd be starting out by listening to Rob's J-rock section, the first song being some Mitsune Haku jam called Melancholic (which was surprisingly upbeat). Hoddie off, and I took a big gulp of my lemon water for good measure. All things set, it wasn't long before I was crouched down on the track ready to run, and Daren was began the countdown, "3... 2... 1... start!"

I started out at a sprint, with the full intention to push 100%, always, always always (yeah, I could have paced myself, but I had to make the impossible happen here!). My legs were moving fast as they could, like they had a mind of their own. The feeling of synthetic rubber on the soles of my shoes was addicting. Naturally my pace dropped to a run, but then I grinned at the song reached its second chorus, and it gave my legs a second wind to keep it up. I was owning this thing.

4 minutes down. I was tired but I kept running. My body was getting hot, wishing I had taken off my shirt as well. It was getting hot...

Next song, it was a dark Japanese metal song with surprisingly feminine and cute sounding vocals. Oh this was that Babbymetal song that Rob was telling me about at lunch that one time...

Run... run... run... Five laps... feet getting sweaty... keep going... damn, legs getting heavy already, oh well, onwards! I'm fueled with love baby! I'm gonna win this thing for you Lach!

The song ended. How many minutes was that? The lung burn was beginning to assault me. Felt like I was starting to breathe in ash. Didn't matter, legs still attached, keep going. Can't stop, can't slow down. ROCK E FOUR! I picked up my pace back to a run.

Another Japanese song. High octane screamo. Perfect. That would help me push through this tiredness. Let's keep this going. Runrunrun, ack that's getting tough... Daren was still watching me methodically. He was watching me with wide eyes like he was impressed. Hehe... I'd feel flattered if I weren't so tired. Ack, keep running! Fucking, shit this hurts!

...

...

...

I was beginning to slow down. I kept trudging forward. One leg after the other. I'd notice several times that I needed to go faster so I forced myself forward. I wasn't just running with my legs, but with my mind too.

...but still I was slowing down.

Was that like 12 minutes? What song am I on now? I'm losing track of my senses... Legs hurt. My lungs feel like they're full of holes... But I can't falter. Think of Lach, think of his smile. Think of how much that's worth. 100% all the time. No weakness, no hesitation, not even on the first go, that's what it means to make the impossible happen!

By the time Daren yelled out "Two more laps!", I already felt like my lungs were going to burst. But I still had more to go. I kept running as fast as I could, to the point that it hurt my sides and my legs felt like they were amps shrieking loud painful noises through the stage that was my body. But I kept pushing along with the fast pace. This run wasn't fun anymore. It was getting to be painful. Keep pushing, ROCK E FOUR! ...Shit, that worked so much better last time.

"Final Lap!"

I was circling the final lap, my legs and chest were nothing but molten pain. I kept going. Somehow. I felt like I was going to collapse over. So thirsty. So much fire in me. Short on breath...

It hurts... ahh... but almost there RAAAAARRRR

_ _

I was on my last legs, but I squeezed out the remaining reserves of energy, practically hyperventilating as I did it. My face was no doubt contorted from all the pain. My mind wracked itself forcing my legs to keep going. I was eyeing the finish point that Daren was standing at. So far away. So far away. Keep going... ah...

It felt like hours but I finally made it.

I collapsed, gasping for breath. My exhaustion was all I could focus on. Was this what making the impossible happen felt like? God... it kind of hurt. Fuck, it's like a big slap in the face... lungs... entire body, shit my head is all woozy. Just gotta rest for a while.

"You aight, there?" I distantly heard Daren ask, to which I just continued gasping for air. After a few moments I nodded. Daren handed me my water bottle, which I drank insatiably from, still in a supine posture on the grass.

"Gimme like... 10 minutes to rest," I said through strained breath before taking another deep drink of my lemon water. It felt so good... like I was drinking life back into my body. I drained the remainder of my bottle and immediately let my arm fall back down limp on the ground. Even my arm was tired... I've done a 5k before but it was never like this...

The sun was beginning to peak out of the horizon. After panting for who knows how long, I started to feel a wave of satisfaction overtake me. The good vibes were back. With as hard as I ran, I was probably already close to the time, right? I really kicked ass there, huh? Pushing it to the limit like a boss, no slacking for this Wolf, haha.

I sat upwards, my upper body slumping down on my legs. "How'd I do, doc?" I asked eagerly. I didn't have the energy to wag my tail, but I was vaguely aware of the instinct.

"You was damn fast. 16 minutes 31 seconds. You'll have to shave off about a minute and a quarter, but still, damn that was impressive."

A minute and a quarter...?

_ _

My expression fell blank. I mean, it was a good timing, especially considering I hadn't done conditioning for track. I even expected it to be somewhere in that ballpark. But after how hard I ran... To the point where it hurt excruciatingly even... You'd think I would be a bit closer. Oh well, I still have three weeks, no sweat no sweat, this was just the beginning! Shaving off a minute and a quarter is definitely doable in three weeks! ...Right? What am I saying, of course it is! This is just the beginning!

I shook my head, so as not to let Daren think I wasn't anything but utterly positive, "Yeah that sounds about right!" I said, continuing to pant despite how much time had passed. "Just gimme a few more minutes and we can do some light jogging together."

"You sure about that? You seem awfully tired. We can always jog a different day."

"Of course! Rock E Four, means you gotta push 100 percent, 100 percent of the time!" I explained with both paws doing the 'rock on' sign, ignoring the signals my legs were sending me to keep my ass down.

And so we waited for a while, talked about this and that before we started our jog around the track. Daren was clearly not on point with his cardio game. It was only a few minutes in before he said, "Raptor Jesus Christ, how the hell do people like this shit?"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Goddamn, why didn't I eat breakfast today? So hungry. Might need to get something at the vending machine."

"You didn't eat breakfast?"

"Yeah, I dunno. I guess it didn't occur to me. I probably should eat breakfast, huh?"

"I think you ought to if you gon' be training in the morning. Ya need energy if ya want to run that intensely, fam. Same concept with weight lifting. I ain't ever lift on an empty stomach. Food'll probably help your time."

"Yeah... Yeah I'll make sure to do that, Thanksies!"

"'Welcome."

It was about 7 A.M, a good forty minutes before school started. Daren and I were now both exhausted from the jogging. There was still lots of time left so we decided to amble over to school and get some school work done in the library. Well, Daren probably would, I was going to rest like a lump. I didn't want to do much more than pant at that moment, but there was the elephant in the room I needed to address (No, I'm not going to make a joke on how that expression is racist against Elephants). "Thanks for helping me, Daren."

"No prob," he said in the midst of a powerful yawn.

I let out a giddy giggle at the yawn, "I was surprised when you of all people offered to help, but you're probably actually one of the best people to help me since you're so smart. Like how you helped with the 5 kilometer measurement, and also your breakfast advice? I'm sure you'll come up with some great ideas for helping me lower my time."

"Ah, uh... thanks," he said hesitantly. Not used to being praised, maybe?

I was a little bummed he didn't volunteer an explanation on why he wanted to help. Though... I was starting to get a feel for why that was, so I didn't press it. There was something else I was just bursting to talk about, "It's nice to finally have another gay guy in our group of friends," I said, blushing a little as I spoke.

Daren, who hadn't been making much eye contact, immediately locked eyes with me, surprised. He stopped walking while we were dead in the middle of the parking lot. "Wait, you gay?"

Well that was a first.

"Yeah, I mean, you couldn't tell? I've got a pretty high pitched voice, plus everyone tells me I have 'gay eyes', whatever that means..."

"Huh... Rob ain't tell me shit about you being gay," Daren said, crumpling his facial muscles.

I snorted. Oh Rob, RobbyRobRob, "I guess he still hasn't caught on, typical! Thing is, Rob's the only one of my friends I haven't told yet... well, I guess not Toru either, but I haven't really known him for that long."

Daren turned to me quizzically, "Why ain't you tell Rob yet?"

Why haven't I? Why would I?

I made a 'phhh' noise through vibrated lips, "Have you heard his joke terms for being gay? 'Bootie bandit'? 'Ass goblin'? 'Semen vampire'? 'Cum_pty Dumpty'? Oh and let's not forget 'Hey I heard that guy's a real fan of the movie _The Day the Gay stood filled!' Heck, even Allie is less crude on the topic!" I exclaimed in total exasperation. I swear that's like the only thing about Rob that just TRIGGERS me. ...Huh, when did I start using that word non-ironically?

To my surprise Daren seemed to find my retelling of the jokes funny; he began snickering at the first one. "For real? He talk like that?"

I let out a little huff and let the good vibes and levity sink back it. I didn't like harping on my friends... Rob was good people, and everyone has their own little faults with them: Jayce won't let up on his stupid pretentious way of talking, Marty is more vulgar than a Nick E Manaj song (and he doesn't even realize it, hoooooow?), Scott needs to learn the meaning of 'personal space', and Toru... I could go all day on Toru, poor kid.

I smiled, "Yeah, but like, don't get me wrong, Rob's a great guy. He was super nice to me when I was a freshmen and was having trouble with making new friends at this school. And I know he's not homophobic or anything, it's just if you ever bring up the topic of being gay with him it's always 'butt pirate' this, 'semen milkshakes' that... it's just not something I want to talk to him about."

"Ah... maybe I can get him to stop." Daren said, as he shoved both paws into his hoodie pockets. He sounded strangely... mischievous? That's curious... I wonder if I'm reading into this what I think I am? Hehe, we'll see.

I giggled, "I mean, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth, but don't worry about it, it's not really a big deal. Anyway, a new day of school awaits us!"

"You actually sound excited..." Daren grumbled.

"Call 'Creep' an overrated song one more time and I'll dropkick your flat ass."

"Good luck jumping high enough for that."

Ahh, another good-spirited argument with Jayce during, you guessed it, the last ten minutes of AP World History class. My body was still aching from the 5k earlier today, but I got a little bit of spunk back when Jayce all but picked a fight by mentioning that he thought Radiobutt's greatest angsty song 'Creep' was whiny and overrated. Which, oh no sister, I had to shut that shit down. "Whatever! You just don't want to admit that self-pity can be artistic!"

Jayce scoffed like he was fucking King Henry VIII, "Oh please, at the end of the day it's evident that the song is just some frivolous lamenting that the singer feels like he's not good enough for some girl and-" I suddenly let out the world's biggest yawn. Jayce blinked a few times. "Tired? Did you go running this morning?"

"Yes indeed-y." I said "Daren and I went to the track in the morning and we-"

Oh snap that's right, Daren was in our class, literally right now! Shit, I probably look like a total ass-hat not inviting him to work with us! Not to mention I like being around him, so there was no reason not to! Smeesh, how can somebody so big have such a small presence? So easy to miss...

I looked over my shoulder, scanning the room until I spotted Daren and... why did he pick a corner desk? There was plenty of room in the class... "Hold that thought." I told Jayce with a raised paw, "I need to go ask Daren if he wants to work with us."

"Oh, excellent. He might actually assist me with the homework."

"Cram it, Kermit the Frog! I'm too tired from all the running this morning."

Satisfied with my on point comeback, I walked over to Daren, passing by several other background characters of no consequence who were talking about Jrake's newest album. When I reached Daren's side, jazz hand waving at him, he looked up at me with wary but delighted eyes. "Hey hey hey! You want to work with me and Jayce?" I asked him.

I wouldn't say he looked uncomfortable, but the Rottie still shrunk back at the offer, "Oh? Uh... that's awfully nice but... I dunno... you sure you want to work with me?"

I chuckled, "Well what do think I came here for? Cardio? I already got a lot of that this morning! So C'mon! Just push up Terry Huggins' desk, she works at a different area anyway! Plus, Jayce would love your help on the homework!"

He let out a brief chuckle before looking away ruefully, "Uh, I dunno... he your friend and you been working with just him this time, and we just met... I ain't wanna intrude or nothing."

"Oh Pshaw, We're friends too, you big lug!" I said, giving him a playful punch to the shoulder.

He smiled back at me weakly, uncertainly, saying nothing. One tough nut to crack this one...

I crouched down casually and smiled brightly at Daren, but spoke in a voice low enough to just be heard over the din of the classroom. "That's why you wanted to train with me, right? Cause you wanted to get to know me? Why else would a guy who hates waking up early and who's never ran before want to help me train?"

Daren eye widened, "You could tell?"

I looked away for a moment. My smile turned a tinge sorrowful, "Believe me man, feeling out of place and wanting to make new friends? I've been there..." I said with a wistful sigh, brief as it was. I quickly reverted to my usual demeanor "So C'mon! It'll be good times! You can help me convince Jayce that he's a dumbass and that 'Creep' is one of the best songs ever!"

No response for a while. Daren let out an uncertain humming noise, and started rapping his fingers on the desk. One big nose breath, then another. Finally, he looked at me with a look of determination, "Aight let's go," he said, gathering his things off his desk. Before we headed over to my desk, he let out a single embarrassed chuckle, "And uh, thanks Chris..." He said with a blushy smile. It was a shy one, not very pronounced, but it was one of the happiest smiles I've ever seen.

I couldn't help but grin.

God, it's making my heart melt looking at him...