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“A secret, Veronica. Tell me!”

“Why would I do that?”

Kendra looked at me better. “Because you know a secret of mine.”

“You want a secret for a secret, is that it? Don't you trust me?” I feigned indignation. It wasn't like I expected Kendra to trust me overnight, but the question caught me by surprise. “Hm... well, you've seen my tattoo.” I teased her. “That's a secret.”

“It's not a secret if me and that…trashbag…have seen it.” She didn't mention my ex-boyfriend's name and I mentally thanked her for that. “I want something that only I know.”

I laughed weakly.

Something only she knew... well, she turned me on when I saw her with another woman. It was a secret and it was a fucked up, twisted secret, but I couldn't tell her that.

“I need to think about it…”

“Don't you have a secret on the tip of your tongue?”

“I have several, all boring.” I declared, trying to avoid that subject. “I bet you don't want to know that while I was broken up with... well, you know who, during high school, I ended up kissing his best friend.”

“Wow, how naughty!”

“Oh, shut up.”

We laughed and continued walking.

“Let's run, Kendra. I want to see if you can keep up.”

“Of course I can keep up... My knees, though, I can't promise much.” She mocked.

“Let's go, so who knows, maybe I can think better about a secret.”

The expression of defiance overcame her and we accelerated our steps until we were both running and laughing.

I felt sweat running down my body as soon as we stepped back into the dorms.

“You're petty, Veronica. Stole in the last 100 feet!” Kendra insisted on that only because she had lost our race.

I could only laugh at her face.

“It's not my fault you are a sore loser, Kendra.”

“Oh, I'm a sore loser? You were shady, shorty.” The nickname took me by surprise, but something about the sound of it made me smile.

We were both in a good mood and tired. We still had practice in two hours, but for now, all I wanted was a shower and then throw myself on my bed in just my underwear and t-shirt for a good nap.

We each went up to our floor and said goodbye.

I ended up passing by my room and seeing Emily meditating while Troian hadn't even woken up. I picked up my toiletry bag in silence and went to the shower.

Half an hour later, I was doing exactly what I wanted: lying down on my bed in just my panties and a loose t-shirt that reached the middle of my thighs. And another half hour later I was getting up again to do more physical exercise.

The training would start to intensify, I knew that, and my muscles were just asking for peace. I tied my hair up carelessly and went with my roommates to the TC. Karlee was already there with her clipboard when talking to Evans. As she spoke, her hand remained hiding her lips, which made me suspect that she was already thinking about the next steps to prepare for the competition in Daytona.

Kendra was sitting on the mat, stretching with Jazmine by her side when I approached them.

“Hey...” I smiled at both of them.

“Hi, Roni!” Jazmine said, always friendly and excited. “Hey, can I ask you something?”