He's a Runner, He's a Track Star

Chapter 13: New Beginnings

Chapter 13: New Beginnings

Dear Journal,

Prom night was awesome! My teammate Ashley and I had a blast. Dad and Mom took many pictures and of course we were chauffeured by a black suv. It was great doing Prom with Josh and his date as well. He ended up taking his ex-girlfriend after all and luckily they didn't get into an argument that night! Would you believe that Coach Jay was able to talk to the head coach at UCLA and get Josh a full ride scholarship? Talk about a turn of events! He was able to get his records expunged and completely cleared! I'm so thankful for that. Life has been going great and I'm feeling so much better that I haven't been dealing with Conner either. I feel like I have my focus back and things are falling into place for me. Coach Jay's graduation is this month and he's finishing up his bachelor's degree and also on some good news, he's being promoted to head coach of the track team at Overton!! I think they are even going to offer him a teaching position. My graduation is in a couple of weeks and I'm proud to say that I will be the valedictorian and student speaker for the ceremony. I'm overjoyed and all of my hard work has paid off. Next month I start my transition from High School senior to Freshman at USC. Turns out the coaches there would like for all incoming freshmen to come at least a month before school to get acclimated to the new campus life and team.

**BELL RINGS**

"Hey Alex, are you ready for our final exam today?" asked Melissa.

"I'm as ready as I'm going to be." I said.

"Same here, I have to pass this class with an A to increase my GPA." "I have a lot riding on me and I'm really trying to get into Georgetown University." Melissa said.

"I thought you were trying to get into NYU or something?" I stated.

"Well, my Dad doesn't want me in New York by myself for some strange reason and since Conner and I are still dating, it makes sense to try to go to school with him."

"Oh, I see!" I said nonchalantly. "So you and Conner are going to tough it out?"

"Yes, that's the plan, hopefully he will propose to me during our sophomore year at Georgetown." "I could spend the rest of my life with him," said Melissa.

"Good for you!" I said.

I could care less of what's going on with Melissa and Conner. I want to stay clear of them and that's why I can't wait to be done with school and move on to bigger and better things. I know California has a lot waiting on me and I'm so ready to embark on that new adventure. As I completed my AP biology exam, I was thinking about Coach Jay and what amazing man he is. Josh got his acceptance letter to UCLA and will also fly out to California when I leave as well. We both have been counting down the weeks and days.

"A-Dub, what's up brother?" said Josh.

"Hey bro, I'm good, how are you?" I asked.

"I'm okay bro, just ready to be out of Florida and doing something new with my life." said Josh.

"It's coming brother, we will be in California before you know it." I said.

"I can' wait, I'm so thankful to Coach Jay because I know I would have been just an average Joe here working and trying to stay out of trouble," said Josh.

Josh is right and if it wasn't for the Coach, there's no telling what he would be doing. I owe Coach a great deal and I don't know how I can ever repay him for all he has done. As the last few weeks of school fizzle out and I take my last exams, I'm reminded of how I made a big impact here at Overton and the many people I've met in these halls. I'm glad that a new beginning awaits me. Our track season came to an end last week as I ran my last race as a senior on the varsity squad and of course A-Dub took the lead and won. I'm surely going to miss running here but I'm also ready to run in a bigger arena. Josh wasn't able to run that much this semester due to all of the allegations but he was able to run a couple of times before the school year ended. Coach Jay's graduation is this weekend and me and the whole team are going to support him! This has been a long time coming for Coach Jay and I'm so proud of him.