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A few weeks later, after a particularly rough day at practice, you are looking forward to your run more than usual. During practice Jessica and Debbie had been especially uncooperative and spent every minuet you weren’t keeping an eye on them goofing off. When you reprimanded them when their suntan lotion left an oily residue in the pool they complained that they needed to work on their tans for the weekend it being Friday and all. After that things went further down hill and you considered canceling practice early but stuck it out.

After practice you change into a pair of sweat shorts and a tank top and start stretching in preparation for your run. Just the thought of it brings a smile to your face. You had always enjoyed the feeling you got at the end of a good run, it seemed that you always left whatever problems the day had given you behind afterwards. The fact that Erin had been joining you lately made it even better. She reminded you of yourself a bit at that age, optimistic and filled with a desire to take life head on. She really seemed to be willing to put in the effort to get what she wanted and it made you feel good that at least one of the girls on the team appreciated your help.

In the name of fairness you had offered to set up a training regiment for any of the girls who were interested. A few had taken you up on it at first but most had given up when they saw how much work that would go into it. Hillary had tried it for a while but she spread herself so thin with all her other activities that she slowly started working at it less and less until she had given up entirely. Jessica and Debbie didn’t even bother with the pretense of pretending to be interested.

That left you and Erin to train on your own. You had decided after learning about the forfeit bets that you would use them to your advantage. Erin had confirmed what Taylor had told you and assured you that if any of the girls lost to you that they would have to honor the forfeit or face the disciplinary committee themselves. Armed with this knowledge you had been using these forfeits to get the girls to comply with your practice regiment. Therefore you needed to get yourself back into top shape and having someone to train with made it more enjoyable.

As the other girls left the locker room you noticed that most of them were dressed to go out. While all students lived in the dorms on campus the seniors were allowed off campus after classes and on weekends as long as they followed curfew unless they were confined to grounds for disciplinary reasons. As Jessica and Debbie left you noticed that they were dressed especially to make an impression. Jessica had on a black top with a neck that scooped down her chest that showed off her cleavage and the fact that she clearly was not wearing a bra, a short black skirt, and black boots. Debbie was wearing a stretchy red midriff bearing top showing off her tone belly with a gold chain around her waist to accentuate it, a short brown suede skirt, and matching brown boots. If there was a picture for on the prowl they would be it you think.

After making sure the pool was secure you head over to Erin’s locker to see if she’s ready. As soon as you see her your breath catches in your throat. She’s tying her long hair back into a ponytail for the run and at first you think she’s topless. As your gaze wanders down her tone back you see that she has on a pair of short red track shorts that accentuate her tone legs and firm ass nicely.

“Hey coach Jane ready to go?” she asks drawing your gaze back up her body. You can see the light definition of muscle in her flat stomach, and see that she has on a grey sports bra that struggles to contain her ample chest. The overall effect makes you feel flushed and weak in the knees. You see a small smile on her lips and a flash of something in her eyes but it fails to register as you try to regain your composure.

“Huh….oh yeah, I’ll meet you outside I forgot to lock the door to the pool.” This is a lie but you need a minuet to regain your composure. As she heads out you try not to stare. You don’t know why you’re reacting like this to the girls, especially Erin, you’ve never had these thoughts about another girl before and you it’s confusing the hell out of you. “Get a hold of yourself Jane,” you think, “this shit with Matt just has you all turned around.” Taking a deep breath you settle your resolve and head outside.

When you get there Erin is waiting with a smile and appears to have finished stretching. "All set?" she asks.

"Yep, how far do you want to go today?" You ask feeling like you could go for a nice long run today yourself.

"How about once around campus, that's what, about four miles?"

"Sounds about right", you respond. It's actually just under five miles but if Erin's up for it your game. You find that after Taylor, Erin's your favorite person to spend time with here, so a long run with her doesn't bother you at all. As the two of you head out you fall into your usual routine, both quiet for the first quarter mile or so getting into a rhythm and finding a comfortable pace. After a while you begin to talk as you run, mostly about how each other's day was and goals for the upcoming season. "So I've got to say I'm surprised you didn't blow off today" you say after a while.

"Why's that?" Erin asks picking up her pace a bit forcing you to do the same.

"Well, it is a Friday night and it looks like the rest of the team is heading off campus for a night on the town."

"Yeah most of them are headed over to the Coventry. It's this restaurant in town; it has the bar and restaurant up stairs and a hall in the basement. Most Fridays during the school year they have bands playing in the hall. Usually it’s just an excuse to try and pick up on locals.”

“Sounds like fun, how come you didn’t go?”

“It usually is but Debbie and Jess are making it a big deal, this being the first weekend out of our senior year. Besides, I’m not in the mood to get pawed by a bunch of guys on the dance floor. If I wanted some guy to do that I would’ve stayed with my ex-boyfriend.”

“Handsy type huh?”

“Not any more so than the typical guy, it’s he just didn’t know what I liked and if I tried to tell him he’d get all huffy and defensive. He complained that waiting till I was eighteen was bad enough, and if I was going to be all bossy about it maybe he wouldn’t have stuck around. Thankfully I met someone who knew what they were doing, and didn’t mind if I gave a few suggestions.” She says with a girlish giggle.

“So why not spend the weekend with your mystery guy?” This probably isn’t a conversation you should be having with a student, you think, but there’s something about Erin that puts you at ease. On these runs you find yourself forgetting that she’s one of your students and not just a friend.

“Well they were four years older and got a job offer in California that was too good to pass up. Besides if they stayed things might have gotten complicated.” She frowns and falls silent for a while.

You realize that this is a sensitive subject and decide not to press her on it. After a while you begin to talk again and you tell her a few jokes and tease each other good naturedly and you are glad that you have been able to cheer her up. By the end of your run you both feel reinvigorated and relaxed, as well as exhausted and sweaty.

When you get back to the pool locker room you are surprised to find the door unlocked. You shrug it off and chalk it up to you having been distracted earlier and a stressful day. As you head into your office to get your locker key you hear Erin swear. When you get to her locker you see her looking at it in disgust and trying to pick something out of the lock.

“What’s a matter Erin?”

“Somebody stuck a huge wad of gum in my lock.” She responds gesturing toward her locker as she begins to pick pink stuff off the end of her key. Sure enough you can see that someone had jammed a good size piece of gum in the key hole. Unfortunately for Erin these were the kind of lockers with locks built into them so students were issued keys instead of using combination locks, meaning it wouldn’t be as simple as cutting the lock off, and looking at the clock you see that maintenance has already left for the day.

“Well unfortunately it looks like you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get your things.”

“But my dorm keys are in there and the dorm monitor went home for the weekend. I won’t be able to get in.” Erin says beginning to get upset.

“Well I’m sure someone could let you in the dorm at least.”

“Yeah, but all of my friends are going to be out till curfew so I’ll have to sit in the lounge until they get back, I really need a shower after our run and to top it off I don’t have any clean cloths to change into.”

You feel a little guilty I if you hadn’t forgotten to lock up before your run Erin’s locker probably wouldn’t have been vandalized. You could offer to let her hang out at your place until curfew. You don’t have any plans for the rest of the night and she could at least get cleaned up and you probably have something clean she could wear. Or you could call April and see if she or her mom could help.