Running From the Bull

Marcus's chest burned. His lungs screamed. But he kept running.

Not because he wanted to—because he had to. The senior track captain had bet he couldn't complete the entire cross-country course without stopping. Marcus was a sophomore. Nobody expected much from sophomores, especially not the ones who spent too much time in the library.

But Marcus had something to prove.

"You gotta bear down," his dad always said whenever Marcus complained about homework or tryouts or life in general. "No pain, no gain."

Marcus hated that phrase. But here, mile three into the woods behind school, he understood it.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Probably another text from Jenna. They'd been talking since the homecoming game, and things were weird. Good weird. Scary weird. The kind of weird where you stay up until 2AM scrolling through old Instagram posts and overanalyzing every emoji.

He slowed to a walk, hands on knees, gasping.

Then he heard it.

Snorting. Heavy breathing. Branches cracking.

A bull?

No way. There weren't any bulls in these woods. But whatever was making that noise sounded massive. And pissed.

Marcus's heart hammered. Forget proving himself to the track team—now he was just trying not to die. He took off sprinting, dodging trees, leaping over fallen logs, the footsteps behind him getting louder.

"MARCUS!"

He risked a glance back.

It was Tyler, wearing the full bull mascot costume. The giant foam head wobbled dangerously as Tyler tried to run while waving his arms.

"Dude!" Tyler called, sounding completely out of breath inside the suit. "Wait!"

Marcus slowed. "Tyler? What the—"

"Jenna wanted to ask you to Sadie's," Tyler panted. "But she's too scared. So she made me do it. In the costume. Because, you know, you're running... and I'm a bull... it's supposed to be cute or something?"

Marcus stared at him. Then he started laughing. Couldn't stop.

"So?" Tyler adjusted his bull head. "You going or what?"

Marcus grinned, still catching his breath. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm going."

"Cool." Tyler nodded. "Also, you missed a turn. You were running the wrong way."

Marcus looked around. The school was in the opposite direction.

"I know," Marcus said. "I think I like it better this way."