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jirrith2007

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            It was the beginning of May, and it was the last home track meet of the year. They were hosting the regional finals, the last one before State. Dan ended up also joining the track team, claiming that he had nothing better to do anyways. Caiden ended up being the star of the track team. He would either win every event he entered in, or came in second. Caiden competed in the 100m, 200m, 400m, and was the anchoring leg on the 4 x 400 boys relay. Dan was also on the relay, as he was the third leg.

            The stands usually had a decent amount of spectators at each home meet, but at this particular one, the stands basic overflowed with people. A lot of them wanted to watch Caiden, but it was also that this was the first time in over five years that the school would qualify to go to the state finals.

            He was in lane four warming up for the 400m race, when he felt something. It felt as though he was being watched. “Of course you’re being watched, many people came to see you run,” he thought to himself. But this didn’t feel as though they were just watching. It felt like he was being inspected under a microscope or something.

            As he looked into the crowd to scan the people, he saw someone gazing intently at him, never blinking. On a closer look, he saw that it looked exactly like his uncle Damien. “It’s only Uncle Damien. I wonder what he’s doing here, since I never told him that my track meet was at home. I guess he figured it out himself then.” Caiden scanned the crowd again and saw his mom and dad sitting in the bleachers waving at him. “But if mom and dad are here, then why is he not sitting with them? Oh well, I’ll find out later.”

            The voice came over the speakers, signaling for the runners to take their starting positions. Caiden got into position, while clearing his mind of everything and soon the race was off. He got off to a good start, setting the pace for the other runners in the field. He pulled away in the backstretch, and as he was going around the turn to come home. No one else knew but him how little effort it took for him to run like that. He could have gone faster, but he didn’t want to go too fast and have people suspect something.

            As he came onto the home stretch, the crowd went wild. He snuck a glance behind him and saw that he was far out in the lead. He slowed down a bit and glance up to the crowd. He pointed to his parents and smiled, and they cheered even louder in return. Looking around, he tried to spot Damien again, but he wasn’t there. His teammates were standing on the infield of the track at the finish line, waiting for him to cross.

Once he crossed, he went to the infield where his team was waiting. One by one they pat him on the back and congratulated him. “Now that’s the way you run a race son,” the coach said shaking his hand. “And you set a new school record at the same time. Way to go Caiden.”

            The team gathered around him and began jumping up and down. “One more event to go before we go to state!” they began cheering.

            Soon it was time for the final relay, and also the last event of the meet. “Good luck in the race Caiden, even though you probably won’t need it with how fast you are,” Carlee said as she gave him a peck on the lips.

            “I’ll take any kind of luck I can get, no matter how fast I run,” he said giving her a tight squeeze. “If we win, let’s go out and celebrate, on me,” he said grinning at her before he went and took his position for the race.

            He was jumping up and down in place when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Dan giving him a worried glance. “Are you okay Caiden? You seem a little jumpy for some reason.”

            “I’m fine. I think that it’s just a little case of nerves,” he replied while scanning the crowd again. “Did you notice that mom and dad are here?”

            “Yeah, I saw. They’re probably here to watch you,” Dan said grumpily.

            “Come on Dan. You know that mom probably dragged Dad here. You know that he likes you better, because of you-know-what,” he said grinning.

            “That makes me feel so much better,” Dan said sarcastically. “Just run like you did in your individual 400m race, and we’ll win for sure. No pressure or anything.”

            Within seconds the race was off. Their lead off runner took off, and after the first lap, they were currently sitting in third place. As soon as the stick was passed, Dan went over to take his place to get ready for the next pass. Caiden looked up in the stands one last time, and saw Damien again, staring at him intently. “When I get home I’m going to talk with Uncle Damien,” he thought as the runners came down the home stretch.

            When Dan finally got the stick and took off, they had slipped back into fifth place. But Dan was the third leg for a reason, as he could make up quite a bit of ground and give the team good position for the final leg. As they came around the final curve heading for home, Dan had moved into second position, but the runner in first place was a bit ahead of him.

            Caiden cleared his mind of everything except for the track as Dan approached him with the relay stick. Soon as the stick was grasped firmly in his hand, he took off, closing in on the runner in first position. After going around the first curve, he was right behind him. Usually runners don’t pass on the straight away in the back, but Caiden went past him and kept going and went around the curve, setting a faster pace.

            Coming off the final curve, the crowd went wild again, this time even louder than when he raced the individual 400m. He began to slow his pace down, but not enough for the other runner to catch up to him.

            As he crossed the line, the whole team was there to meet him. Carlee glomped him and gave him a kiss. Caiden was immediately lifted into the air, along with the other members of the relay team. Cheers of “We’re going to state!” could be heard, getting louder and louder as the fans from the stands came over to the team and congratulated them. Most people tried to get near Caiden, but it was impossible with all the people that were already near him.

            “Are we still going out to celebrate?” he heard Carlee call over to him.

            He looked around until he spotted her. “As soon as they put me down and I change out of this, we can go,” he shouted back.

            Those who were holding him put him down afterwards. As he went to walk back to the locker room, he was stopped by his parents.

            “Great job out there today kiddo,” Colleen said giving him a hug. “Well Dan, don’t you have something to say to your son?”

            “That was one heck of an anchoring leg Caiden. Good job. You had had a good run on your leg there too Junior,” Dan said to Dan Jr. as he joined them.

            “Thanks dad. But I think that we’re going to head to the locker room now to get cleaned up. We can talk more about this when we get home,” Dan. Jr. said as he walked away and motioned for Caiden to follow.

            When they were out of earshot, Dan muttered, “Gosh parents can be so annoying.”

            “Agreed,” said Caiden deep in thought. “Dad actually gave me a compliment. That’s like the first one ever. I think I’m growing on him,” he said giving Dan a nudge.

            “Enjoy it while it lasts, because it might be the last one you get for a while,” Dan said jokingly as they went into the locker room.

            After they got cleaned up, Carlee joined them and went to the local ice cream shop and hung out for a while. Once they were done with their ice cream, Caiden invited Carlee to go over to his house, where he was sure that his mom had some kind of celebration planned for after the track meet.

            Pulling up to the house, they saw that there was indeed a celebration going on. A banner hung from the house that said “Congratulations for qualifying for State”. Their parents were waiting out in front of the house for them, along with some of their other relatives and people on the track team.

            “They sure went all out for the track team,” Carlee said laughing. “It looks like your parents invited the whole track team. Hey, there are my parents! I’ll be right back.”

            Caiden watched her retreat as Damien approached him. “So that’s the girl you were talking about, right?” Damien asked placing a hand on his shoulder.

            “That’s her,” he said still watching her.

            “She seems nice. Oh, by the way, congratulations on qualifying for state. I heard that your races today were something to be seen.”

            “I guess they were. But weren’t you there?” Caiden asked now looking at Damien.

            “No, I wasn’t, but I sure wish I was. If I knew that you had a track meet, I definitely would have gone. I used to run track myself,” he said taking a sip of his drink.

            “You weren’t there? Then how come when I looked up into the stands, I saw someone who looked exactly like you watching me?”

            Damien’s face went from happiness to fear. “Wait, you saw someone that looked exactly like me?” Caiden just nodded in response. “This is definitely not good. I have to warn your parents that he is back,” Damien said starting to babble.

            “What’s not good? Who’s back? Uncle Damien, I deserve an answer.”

            Damien looked around to make sure that no one was listening to them. “When I said that he’s back, I meant your father. Your real father.”

Ohs mans guys... well, whoever reads this anyways. The story is winding down... and I am working on a new one called "Watching Over You". Please check it out!