AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shay!” someone yelled from the car line.
“My shift is over. What do they want now?” Shay said and stood up. “Will you call me tonight?”
“You can FaceTime me when you’re done with whatever you have to do here, and we can unpack on video together.”
“Love that for us.” Shay winked at her. “Later?”
“Later.”
CHAPTER 21
“Oh, I hated that,” Shay said and shook her head.
“It’s not pleasant for anyone,” the woman administering Shay’s test replied. “You can have a seat over there.” She pointed to a few rows of chairs spaced out with at least several feet of distance between them.
She now had to wait for the result. She felt fine and had been sequestering herself inside her dorm room, like she was supposed to, since she’d arrived and helped others move in. She had even resisted walking down the hall and talking to Layne while she stood in the open doorway, with Layne probably sitting facing away from her and leaning out the window so as not to get Shay sick or vice versa.
Hearing that Layne had gotten sick had really hit Shay hard. She dropped all of the other hurt feelings about Layne not calling or texting much, but those feelings resurfaced when Shay thought about the fact that something bad could’ve happened to Layne, and she never would’ve known.
In one of their recent FaceTime chats, Layne had explained that there were three days when it had gotten really bad. Her mom was starting to feel better by then, so she’d taken care of Layne, but Layne had told her mom that there was a letter in her desk drawer. It had been addressed to Shay. Shay had teared up at hearing that.
“It was that bad?” she’d asked.
“It felt pretty awful, yeah. Sometimes, it felt like I couldn’t get any air into my lungs; like an entire elephant was on my chest, and he had a pretty intense grudge against me because he was stopping me from breathing. I went to the hospital. It was a whole thing. Then, they sent me home when I got a little better.”
“Jesus, Layne,” Shay had replied.
She could’ve lost her. And had that happened, Shay knew she would’ve always regretted not getting to know Layne sooner. They never would’ve had a chance at whatever it was they were doing now.
When Layne walked into the room after her and sat down in the testing chair, Shay watched and swallowed because she knew people could easily get the virus again. While they’d both been careful, a lot of people had returned from all over the country and had moved back into the dorm, so there was always a chance they could’ve gotten it and just didn’t show symptoms yet or wouldn’t at all.
Layne finished, and after fixing her mask, she walked over and sat in the chair closest to Shay.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Hey,” Shay replied. “You know what I was just thinking?”
“No. What?”
“That I wish COVID had never happened in the first place, but that I’m also glad it happened now, when we have all this technology, because if I didn’t have a phone or a computer where we could video chat, I wouldn’t have seen your face for months now.”
She could tell Layne was smiling under her mask, and that meant everything to her right now.
“All right. We’ve got all negatives today,” Coach said as she entered the room. “Thank you for keeping yourselves safe, ladies. I know it’s going to be a long year, having to do this every day, but if we stick together, we’ll be fine. More importantly, if we stick together, we’re going to win basketball games. So, on that note, we’re going to have everyone head to the track. I’m going to ask you all to stay as far apart as possible unless you’re actually playing. We’re going to have to run workouts a little differently than we have in the past. And when the season starts, and we’re actually able to practice, we’ll be doing that a little differently, too. So, everyone, up, but keep your distance and keep your masks on as well. Let’s go to the track.”
They all stood and tried to space themselves out. Most of them didn’t even talk as they walked back outside and over to the school’s outdoor track that surrounded the school’s football field.
“We’ll do as much as we can outside until winter hits. We’ve got an outdoor basketball court set up in a parking lot that’ll help with practices, but today, it’s time to get everyone back in shape. I know this summer was hard on all of us and that not everyone was able to keep their fitness at the level we require here, so I’m going to be patient, but we have to get the work done now, ladies, or it’s going to come back to bite us later. Let’s do our warm-up stretches on the field. Shay, are you good to lead them?”
“Yes, Coach,” she replied.
“Spread out as far as you can without making Shay scream, and keep your masks on while you’re stretching.”
“Coach, we’re outside and far apart,” Ledger said.
“Ledger, do you want to do extra sprints today?” Coach asked.
“No, Coach.”
