<div class="floatleft">(http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk137/HaibaneR/Mistaken%20Identity/Amber_Beryl_Stonley_Av_23.jpg)</div><strong>Beryl Stoneley</strong><br/><br/>Monday, August 25th, late afternoon<br/><br/>University track, finishing up a workout<br/><br/>Alone.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Mondays were always rough track practice days, at least in Beryl’s experience, and college was quickly proving to be no different. It was drills, drills, drills, for the most part – a slow warm-up run followed by plyometrics, followed by a mix of sprint and hill running drills, followed by a workout in the college fitness center – which Beryl found amazing, with all the equipment new and bright and gleaming chrome – and then a slow cooldown run, right before sunset.<br/><br/>Beryl kept mostly to herself during the workout, listening carefully to Coach Gabriel when the workouts were being explained, listening to her favorite tunes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZtS9hZQi-4) when it was time to run. She wasn’t exactly antisocial, but with everything so new, she was still trying to figure everything out. And besides, all of the other females on the team either seemed to be a touch slower than her (most) or a bit faster (a few). There really wasn’t much time to socialize on the hard workout days. There were other priorities, like breathing. And trying not to pass out.<br/><br/>As for socializing with the guys … Beryl didn’t think she was ready for that. Not yet, even as hot as some of them were. Not after Gareth. That still stung just a little too much.<br/><br/>Checking her watch, Beryl slowed down to a walk as she finished her last cooldown lap, her entire body drenched with sweat as she headed back to the college athletic center. She smiled, think about what her twin Amber would probably say to her if she could see her at that moment … ugh. All that sweat? Why? Why would you ever want to do that to yourself on purpose?<br/><br/>And Beryl would just shrug her shoulders and smile. The truth was that she really didn’t know, either. It was what she did. The question might as well be why do you breathe? Because she had to. It was a part of who she was.<br/><br/>A cloud of steam poured out of the women’s locker room as Beryl made her way into the building. She made a face as she noticed it – much as she knew she needed a shower, Beryl didn’t particularly feel like she needed more heat at the moment, either. Instead, she took a long drink from the water fountain, and simply sat down in the hallway, letting out a happy sigh as she leaned against the wall by an air conditioning vent, enjoying how the cold air washed over her skin. She kneaded her sore calves with her fingers as she sat, watching the other runners on the team walk by her, giving some of them a friendly wave and a nod as they passed her by.<br/><br/>Beryl checked her watch again. “Shit,” she murmured, “hope the dining hall’s still open.” She was hungry after the beast of a workout she’d just finished … but she didn’t exactly feel like moving yet, either.