••• fashion vs. function, [wide open!]

[justin caleb sullivan]

Justin wrinkled his nose as the brisk cold assailed his face. Bending his head to avoid the sharp wind and shoving his hand deeper into the pockets of his coat, he marveled at his drive to get a little soccer practice in despite the cold weather. And granted, jeans and peacoat were not exactly the best work out materials, but shorts and a t-shirt were hardly an option in this temperature.

The strap of his bag rubbed uncomfortable against his shoulder as he made his way toward the field. The area was relatively empty,and Justin couldn't blame the students of Bradford for keeping to their dorm rooms or apartments today. The local news had promised milder weather as the day progressed into afternoon, but the high school senior had reasoned that he might as well get the impromptu soccer practice out of the way early and leave the rest of the day for more pleasant - and warm - activities. With each step he could feel the soccer ball in his bag bounce against the small of his back.

Sucking in a breath of chill air, Justin took the last few steps before arriving at a large oak tree. He slid royal blue duffel bag from his shoulder, letting it plop onto the grass. Kneeling down, he grasped the icy zipper and tugged it across the length of the bag before reaching inside to extract the worn soccer ball from the bag's depths.

He stood, the ball tucked under one arm, and reached up to run his gloved fingers through his dark spikes of hair. A gust of wind blue through the field, sending a shudder through his body.

"Come on, let's just do this." he muttered to himself under his breath.

Justin's hold on the ball fell away, and he let the ball drop several feet before lifting his foot to catch it between his foot and ankle. A smug grin formed across his wind-chapped lips.

"Kid's still got it."

[alexander drew sinclair]

Yes, winter definitely was around the corner. Which meant that the cross country season was winding down quickly. There was just three meets left before the conference meet. And in just four days Alex was going to finally run in his first meet with Bradford High School's cross country team. That fact was truly exciting, at least for him anyway. Especially considering that just a few months ago the thought of running at all would have been something he wouldn't be able to do at all. Yes, things had definitely changed for the best since then. He wiggled further down into his jacket as a blast of icy wind hit him. His stepmother had tried to get him to go for a run later in the day when it warmed up. Alex had just told her that he was used to running in the early morning and that changing to the afternoon would probably throw him off. His stepmom had seemed to be content with that answer and had just reminded him that she was bringing him shopping with her. It wasn't Alex's idea of a great way to spend an afternoon. But Alex wasn't going to argue with her because he knew that Chase would never agree to go out and do something with his own mother. That fact made Alex angry and rather disgusted. When people asked him about why Chase did the things that he did Alex just replied with "that's Chase." Nobody could ever understand why his stepbrother did the things that he did. Because Alex thought that Chase really didn't know the answer to that question either. He wanted to believe that Chase didn't do things just to be mean to others yet there were some days when that thought did cross his mind. Like when Chase had tackled him and then kicked him out of the house when his parents hadn't been home a few days ago. He had bruises from that little incident and his parents knew about it and apparently they were playing with the idea of just kicking Chase out. Alex hoped that they did, it would be less stress for everybody and the college freshman might actually grow up a bit and stop being mean to people.

As he rounded the corner and the college's soccer field came into full view Alex noticed one very brave soul out there in the elements. It only took him a moment of watching the person to know that it was Justin out there practicing soccer. Alex increased his speed slightly as he turned toward the entrance of the soccer field and quickly made his way inside. He hadn't gotten to talk with Justin too much yesterday because he'd needed to go to a doctor's appointment. And he was pretty sure he had told Justin that. It hadn't been anything serious it just was that the doctor had decided to run a few tests on him to see how much had changed since the last time he had seen the doctor a few months ago. A small smirk appeared on his face as he remembered the look on the doctor's face when he'd told him how far he could run now. The good news was, he'd finally returned to the weight he had been before he was diagnosed. Which meant that he finally could stop trying to eat as much as was humanly possible. Alex stopped a few feet away from Justin and then shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "Hey, so I'm not the only one that goes out when it's freezing cold to get some exercise in." He said and then looked around the grass on the field was starting to slowly turn brown and the ground was starting to freeze. Alex was happy that Justin had been here because it meant that he could have a break in his normal running routine. Plus if Justin wanted somebody to practice with he was more then willing to be that person. Alex did like soccer, he just wasn't as good at it as Justin was and he wasn't on the team. Although he had been when he was younger.

As another blast of wind blew Alex looked up at the sky, right now it was a steel gray color. Hopefully the suns rays would eventually make their way through the clouds and warm the day up like they were supposed to. "Think of me in four days when I'm at the staring line for the cross country race in shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Yeah, I'm really hoping that it warms up otherwise I'm going to break out as much as the winter running gear as allowed." He said and then checked his watch. He had told his stepmom he'd go out for "a short run" but she wasn't used to the fact that short runs were still a few miles. Alex hoped that she wouldn't start to worry when he didn't come back in fifteen minutes. He had shoved his cell phone into his pocket but it was turned off right now. "So, do you want somebody else to practice with because I haven't been beaten by you in a soccer game in a few weeks." He asked and then rocked back and fourth on his heels as he waited for a reply.

[justin caleb sullivan]

Justin flicked his foot to get the ball back in the air, and knocked against it with his shoulder, sending it a few feet into the the distance, He lurched forward, his knee colliding with the ball at just the angle he intended it, and pivoted swiftly, taking aim and giving the ball a swift kick, punting it some twenty feet away. Drawing in a sharp breath of frozen air, he braced himself against the cold, put on a burst of speed, and took off after the ball. When he reached it, he angled his foot to send it off into oblivion once more when a familiar voice sliced through the crisp air.

"Hey, so I'm not the only one that goes out when it's freezing cold to get some exercise in."

Justin turned, already expecting to see Alex's crown of blond hair. "Hey!" he greeted. The corner of his lips twitched. It was nice not to be so alone in the cold, cold world. Alex was clothed in more traditional work out clothes than Justin was, and, for the millionth time, the high school senior cursed himself for never buying himself a good pair of wind-pants. He was missing the flexibility of athletic gear in his jeans. "Trying to a get a run in?" he asked, although he already knew the answer. Her knew full well that Alex was beyond excited to finally be in shape to compete in cross country. He was glad to see his friend pulling himself together so well. It has been a long road to recover for Alex - and Justin had witnessed a fair share of it thanks to Conner's strange attachment to the kid.

"Think of me in four days when I'm at the staring line for the cross country race in shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Yeah, I'm really hoping that it warms up otherwise I'm going to break out as much as the winter running gear as allowed."

Justin laughed. "I feel your pain, man." He could recall too many times where he practically froze to death on the soccer field. He wrinkled his nose as the memory of frostbite touched his senses. He could imagine that running aimlessly through the elements was just as uncomfortable. He'd given cross country a shot in middle school, but it wasn't for him. Without the objectives of balls or scoring goals, he couldn't really get into the competition. But he could appreciate Alex's interest in the sport, it made sense that cross country would be his sport. It fit him somehow.

"So, do you want somebody else to practice with because I haven't been beaten by you in a soccer game in a few weeks."

Smirking, Justin kicked the ball from the ground into his waiting hands. "Hey, if you think you're up for it," he teased tossing the ball at Alex and shuffling backwards.

"Oh, hey!" he called out as a memory struck him. "How'd stuff at the doctor go? Are you officially super-human, now?

[alexander drew sinclair]

Alex was definitely up to playing against Justin. The two were relatively close to the same height and even though their skill levels when it came to soccer were probably at opposite ends of the spectrum he would at least be able to work on his speed. Since stamina was only half of cross country you needed to have speed in order to get one of the better times and actually win races. He caught the ball and the held onto it rather tightly so that the wind didn't somehow catch it and send it flying. "Trust me, I'm up to it. The longer I'm outside the better because when I get back my stepmom is making me go shopping with her." He said a and then made a disgusted face. It wasn't that he hated shopping or anything, but when he went with her she probably would suggest a million and two things he didn't need. Alex was hoping to get away from her for a bit so that he could check out on getting a new pair of cross country spikes. Seeing as how his old ones were pretty worn out since they'd been in his possession for about two years now and had logged countless miles with them. Right now he'd just thrown on a slightly battered pair of running shoes since he'd basically ran on the sidewalk for this run and his spikes were reserved for trail running or meets. Since most meets were ran at golf courses or something like that due to the fact that most schools didn't have a course set aside for cross country. As far as he knew there was only one school in the conference that did. Last night he had been bored and done tons of research on the different teams in the conference. He'd almost passed out when he had found his name on Bradford's roster. It still seemed so unreal to him. He had printed that roster off and left it on the kitchen counter this morning. Since he knew that his dad would probably carry that piece of paper around with him all day now. And the odds had been that if he hadn't printed that off that his dad would have found it anyway.

At Justin's mention of being super human his smile grew slightly. "Perhaps one could call me that. You see, I kind of blew his mind away with everything. The good news is, I weigh one twenty three again so now I can stop eating a ton of food every day. He said that the word medical miracle came to mind. Since I guess I wasn't supposed to recover so quickly. And I am going to be in his next article for this magazine. Well not me, I told him to make a name up." He said as he resisted the urge to bounce up and down and yell. Although that's basically what his father had done in the office when the news had sunk in. Then after the yelling was done his dad had hugged him so hard he had thought that a few of his ribs were going to crack. "I'm not sure how I'm going to tell Connor that information. Because I know he's going to probably get a bit emotional and...yeah." Alex knew that he didn't have to go any further with that statement since Justin would know how emotional Connor had gotten when he'd told him about the treatment in the first place. He hoped that Justin would think up a way to tell Connor, since Alex knew that he would have to tell Connor something. The college sophomore wouldn't have forgotten about that appointment yesterday. Right now Alex was trying to think up a way to thank both Justin and Connor for all that they'd done for him. They were a huge reason why he'd recovered so quickly. Connor had been there for him during the really bad times, and later Justin had too. But Justin had pushed him alot more physically than Connor had and that he got his competitive spirit started again.

"I mentioned it to Chase but he just kind of shrugged and said at least I looked like a normal person now. But hey at least he didn't call me a dwarf. But anyway, let's get started before we both become permanent statues on this field." He said, brushing off what Chase had said to him. He wasn't going to let it bother him on such a nice day. Then he dropped the soccer ball and gave it a small kick that send it a few feet toward Justin. "Are we going to face off? Or at we just going to play 'let's see how long Alex can keep the ball away from Justin.' Because I can guarantee that would only be about ten seconds." He said and then laughed, knowing that he should be able to keep the ball away from him for at least half a minute at best.