Cori The Last First Milestone

Fuuuck! 1:09....I'm never going to make it

!

Cori's eyes flashed up to the scoreboard, counting down from 8-minutes 30 seconds, as it came into view around the first corner of the track.

300 yards...just 300 yards and you are done with the stupid high school. Done with this stupid unfair "Fitness Assessment" and on to bigger and better things.

She heaved a ragged breath and pushed herself a little harder.

6'1" and 240 pounds, Cori was not built for running...her thick thighs rubbed and slapped against each other as she ran...she could feel the chafing and knew she'd be tender down there...but that was the least of her worries, alternating between the bounce of her 53 inch backside and her "Cow Udders" as her mom referred to them; her body, from her shoulders down through her hamstrings and into her legs and feet had taken a pounding during the last 7 ish minutes. She could only hope it would hold out for another minute so she could finish her high-school career with a perfect 4.0 GPA and become her class valedictorian.

Her school district had this stupid requirement that all students meet a "General Fitness Criteria" in order to finish with an "A" in physical education. For girls, that had meant a grueling gauntlet of sit ups, flexed arm hangs, stretches, throws, shuttle runs, push ups, and most brutally to Cori a mile run in under 8 and a half minutes. If she finished with an A she'd beat out that bitch Arabella for the top spot in her class and secure the full-ride scholarship to Northwestern that was given out to the top student-graduate at Hughes High School.

From a class of over 800 she'd pushed to the top. 4 years, perfect attendance, 3 varsity letters in Softball (all state), Volleyball, and Golf (conference individual girls' champion), Chairman of the National Honor Society, and Student Director of the musical...Cori had achieved what anyone would consider an illustrious high school career...accomplishing everything through hard work, talent, and a strident desire to keep as far away from her home as possible for as long as possible every day. She had this single milestone left to achieve to put a capstone on that career and by-God

(Allah, Odin, flying spaghetti monster, whatever....)

she wasn't going to come up short.

"Push," she gritted under her breath eyes straying over to the finish line where her teacher, Mrs. Winston, and her best friend Nikki were shouting encouragingly,

"Come on Sweetie! You got this" cried Nikki, a cute, doe-eyed bubbly strawberry-blonde whose cherubic cheeks and beautiful elfin features were still flushed from her own mile-long ordeal...

She must be exhausted...but she stayed out her to support me. I love that girl....

Nikki wasn't natural-born distance runner either. At 5'4" and 180 lbs Nikki had quite a lot of "Junk in the trunk" to carry around the track as well, but she carried it with confidence. Despite not having the "ideal" teenage body, Cori envied how Nikki could pull off her cute ensemble of leggings and sports bra, the latter pulling her pert c-cup breasts together nicely while displaying the cutest little sliver of belly before meeting the high-rise of her leggings. Cori wore an oversized t-shirt and basketball shorts to try and hide the uncontrollable sway and bounce of her ample body while Nikki somehow managed to ooze innate sexiness even while drenched in sweat with her hair flying every-which way after 7 minutes of running in the windy Chicagoland spring...if only....

Don't think about that...she's your best friend...and you need to focus anyhow!!

"HALFWAY BABY!" Nikki cheered "Just 200 short yards!"

Cori glanced back at the clock as she rounded the bend

37 seconds! FUCK!

and nearly tripped over her own feet. She regained her balance and pulled herself together. But she knew it was going to be close now...

"Pick it up Just a little Cori!" shouted Mrs. Winston, "You're on-track, but let's not leave anything to chance!"

Mary Winston had been Nikki's gym teacher, softball coach, and mentor for 4 years. Cori and Nikki had led her Softball team to the state-semifinals 2 years in a row, coming up agonizingly short both times. Cori was an all-state fast-pitch softball pitcher and was undefeated two years in a row. Nikki was an all-conference catcher and power-hitting slugger despite her short frame, and the two of them had led their otherwise un-exceptional team of girls as far as possible. Unfortunately, Cori couldn't pitch every day, and she and Nikki couldn't take every at-bat. In the end, other teams with deeper benches prevailed.

Despite that, Mary was incredibly proud of her star players, and she held an especially soft spot for Cori, who despite her many achievements, was achingly short on confidence. She desperately wanted Cori to succeed at this fitness test that she knew was unfair but could do nothing about. In no way was Cori "Un-fit" but the district rules were iron-clad, and a lot was on the line with the scholarship. She couldn't do anything but pray her favorite student would make it in under the gun.

"Shit, did you see that?" giggled a voice from the bleachers. "The Cow almost took a dive..."

Nikki and Mary glanced back, Nikki's eyes shooting daggers in the direction of a small blonde girl who looked like a Lululemon model in her perfectly curated "activewear" ensemble that showed off her willowy figure and impeccable hair and makeup. She hadn't needed to run today, as she was an all-conference track athlete and had several sub-5-minute miles on her resume in official competition already. But she was ostensibly out to support her coterie of friends and followers as they slogged through the final run.

Arabella Pulaski and her gaggle of followers had been lurking at the edge of the bleachers, pretending not to be interested in what was going on at the track as they ever-so-slowly meandered their way back to the locker room, but the girl couldn't hold in her glee after Cori's misstep.

Arabella was Cori's competition for the valedictorian spot, and equally accomplished in sports and extracurriculars. She was a poster child for "entitlement" and had an especially sore spot for Cori who she viewed as a "Charity Case" who didn't deserve the achievements and awards that Arabella had always assumed, and been told were her destiny. It was only a technicality that she would be valedictorian anyhow with the stupid tie-breaker of attendance record!

"Girls, get to the showers...there's no need to be hanging around out here." Mary said, as pleasantly as she could manage. She knew it wasn't professional to dislike a student, and if she had to admit to herself, Arabella wasn't a terrible kid...she was just a brat.

The girls turned and headed back to the locker room "Charity-cow needs the scholarship more than I do anyway..." muttered Arabella, just loud enough to be overheard as the girls giggled their way down the passage to the locker rooms.

Cori saw the "mean girls" walking off the track as she turned down the final straightaway to the finish line but she couldn't be bothered to give them even a second's thought.

"15 Seconds Sweetie!" Nikki yelled, "You got this!"

Cori swallowed a gulp of air and pushed into a full-on sprint. She didn't want to leave anything to chance. She pushed as hard as she could, and her body screamed at her to stop as she shifted into high gear. She crossed the line, breasts heaving for oxygen and back screaming for relief as Nikki ran up and wrapped her arms around her.

"You did it Cor!" she bubbled "I'm so proud! And with 5 seconds to spare!"

"Oh gawd!" Cori panted, as she veered her disgusting sweaty bulk away from her beautiful best friend." I need a second...." And went down to a knee, and then awkwardly, onto her side as she felt a fire shooting up her left side.

"Cori, are you ok?" Coach Winston asked, rushing over. "You need to keep moving or your muscles are going to seize up". She put her hand gently on Cori's elbow. "Come on, let me help you up."

"Too late," Cori guttered, "I think something is wrong with..." she reached down, feeling an egg-sized knot forming at the top of her buttocks / lower back. The cramp/spasm felt like a winch pulling her shoulders and backside in all the wrong directions and Cory let out a sob. "I made it at least, right?"

Coach Winston tutted, grumpily "Not that you should have to...but yes, you have 'proven' to the district that you meet their arbitrary standard of fitness."

"She had to almost kill herself to do it," Nikki griped, "You're stronger and have better endurance than all the girls and most of the boys in school, and still you had to do this bullshit run.."

"Nikki!" Winston snapped, "Language! Go get yourself cleaned up and on to your next class...I'll make sure Cori is taken care of...and I'll forget that slip this once!"

Nikki's big blue eyes brimmed with worry as she looked down at her wounded best-friend "You'll be ok babe! You're the biggest badass I know! Love you!"

"Thanks Nikki" Cori breathed out through clenched teeth, "Go ace your Calc Final. I'll catch you in the parking lot after 8

th

period."

Nikki's eyes darkened slightly as she anticipated her dreaded Math final, but her jaw set cutely as she stated "I'll do that! I've had the best tutor possible after all! I won't let you down! Feel better! Eep! Look at the time!" She said as she scurried off to change for her next class.

"Now you," Mary said, "what am I going to do with you."

"Maybe you should get a forklift and just haul my fat butt off the track..." Cori retorted, "I'm not sure I'm moving."

"Nonsense," her coach soothed, sliding her hand down to her back, "They don't call me Mrs. Miyagi for nothing! Is it ok if I look?"

Cori had no idea what a Mrs. Miyagi was, apparently Coach Winston had a near magical reputation in the training room and years ago some of her students had told her she was like some magical Asian guy in an old movie.

"It's....it's...I don't know, it's back here" Cori said shyly and pulled her shirt down defensively as her already pink cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red, she didn't want anyone, much less her favorite teacher poking around the top of her fat sweaty ass. "Just give me a minute...."

She rolled onto her back and felt the pain shoot again as her weight pushed down on the knot. She winced and hissed, "I'm sure it'll loosen up in a second".

"Sweetie, it's ok" You've got nothing to be embarrassed about, you worked HARD! Let me help you up and we'll get you to the trainer's table and see if we can get you loosened up. I'm so proud of you, I know how tough that run was!"

Mary and Cori worked together to leverage her off the track and onto one leg. Her coach reached down gently as Cori hopped slightly on one foot, trying not to put any weight on her left side. Her strong hand slid down her mid-back slowly toward the knot of pain. "Let's see, oh my! Cori this is a huge knot!" she gasped as her hand settled on the ridge above her buttock, ever so gently probing the offending muscle"

Cori tensed as her Coach's hand probed the injured area. At first,she was afraid of the pain, but then she tensed even more as a different kind of tingle sent a shiver through her core. She had always had a bit of a secret crush on her teacher, one of many secret crushes she continued to nurse, and now this beautiful older woman's hand was gently probing around somewhere that had never been touched by anyone but her doctor or chiropractor.

When Mrs. Winston pulled her hand away and maneuvered herself under Cori's left arm she shivered again. "Let's go, I'll help support your left side, if we can just get you to the table, I'll have you fixed up in no time!"

Coach Winston was a former Gymnast and she looked it. Short at barely 5-feet, she weighed maybe 120 pounds, even as she moved into her early 50's. Her breasts were small and barely noticeable below her standard-issue gym teacher polo which fit tightly to her slim body and tapered down to show a belly that was still flat. Cori had always wondered if she had a six-pack under there and would have given just about anything to find out. In the 1980's she'd apparently even tried out for the Olympics. Her hair was short and curly, what she'd heard Arabella refer to as a "Helmet Head," But Cori always thought is looked right on her, accentuating her strong jawline and swan-like neck. Cori could smell a fresh-floral scent coming off her hair as she pushed her weight up under Cori's arm to take the weight off Cori's aching left-side.

Cori felt her breast press down on her teacher's shoulder as she moved in closer to accept the support and tensed again.

"What's wrong honey? Did I hurt you?"

Cori's mind scrambled for something to say as she felt the casual contact to yet another one of her private areas send another shiver through her, and started to pull away. Mrs. Winston's face was inches away from her breast after all...Cori's breath quickened as she stuttered out "No...um, sorry, I just realized I'm getting sweat all over you!"

"All in a day's work!" Mary grunted, as she lifted Cori a bit more, surprisingly strong for such a tiny woman. "I've had worse on me! Did I ever tell you about the time Julie Vance threw up in my lap on the bus? This is nothing"

Cori started to giggle, but her back suddenly reminded her why she had her breast pushed up against the shoulder of her favorite teacher and the laugh turned into a quick hiss. "Don't make me laugh!" Cori pleaded!"

"Sorry! Let's get you to the training room"

A few minutes later Cori and her teacher made it into the training room. Cori had been in here many times getting an ankle taped; or taking an ice-bath after a long practice. The smells of icy-hot and ace-wraps, and the ever-present undercurrent musky dankness inherent to all locker rooms filled her nose bringing back years of happy memories.

Athletics were her happy-place. The one time when she could drop all her apprehensions and worries and just be herself. Cori was going to miss the camaraderie with her teammates, the joking and the emotional ups and downs, and even the painful grueling days of practice. When she was playing sports, she wasn't an awkward, chubby, too-tall, freak with a weird mom and thrift-store clothes. On the field and in the locker room, she was a star, her best self, someone who others admired and relied on. Someone people wanted to have around.

Today the training room was empty. With the school year winding down, there weren't any other hanging around waiting to be taped up for practice or using the facilities. Coach Winston led her to one of the training tables and had her lie down on her stomach.

"Rest here sweetheart," she said. "What's your next class? I'll let your teacher know you can't make it for a bit".

"It's ok!" Cori said, "I'm all done, this was my last final...now that I've finished my fitness assessment, I'm done" she said a bit of wonder entering her voice, "I guess I'm technically not even a student anymore, right?"

"Congratulations! Let me be the first to welcome you to adulthood!" her coach said, a grin in her voice.

"Well technically I turned 18 a few weeks ago" Cori joked, "So I've been an adult for AGES" she giggled.

"And a fine woman you've turned out to be." Mary said, softly. "I'm so proud of you Cori. Now that you're 'officially' not my student I can tell you, you've always been one of my favorites. I hope you know what an amazing, special person you are. Not just on the ball-field, but in life...please don't forget about your old coach as you step off into this bigger better life you've got on the horizon!"

"Never! Mrs. Winston, you'll always be special to me. Hell, I've spent more time with you in the last few years than my own mom. You're practically family! You and Nikki and my Uncle Adam are the only people in the world I truly care about. Don't forget about ME when you get a new crop of students through the door!"

Mary Winston wiped the beginning of a tear from her eye, grateful that Cori could not see her from the position she was lying in. She rested her hand on Cori's upper back and said, "Impossible! No more of that Mrs. Winston or Coach stuff!! From now on I'm Mae...that's what my friends and family call me." She leaned forward and kissed Cori on the back of the head, playfully. "Now, let me grab a few things and we'll get this back fixed up in no time".

Thanks "Coa...Mrs....Mae" Cori said a bit awkwardly. "I...you're....just...thanks." Corry sputtered and sobbed just a bit, but gathered herself together quickly.

Mae walked over and grabbed a towel from the rack and ran it under some cold water. She brought it over and put it on the back of Cori's neck. "Here, let this cool you down a bit." She said gently. I need to go lock up the supply closet quick and I want to make sure everyone got off to their next class ok"

Her coach bustled out of the room and Cori breathed a sigh of relief...she'd been so tempted to say how she really felt about her coach, and now that her head cleared up for a second she realized how humiliating it would have been for her, and how awkward for her coach and mentor, to have to let her down gently. She knew, 'adult' or not, that Mae would be horrified at the prospect of Cori as a romantic partner. Hell, she didn't even know if Mrs....Mae liked women.

Cori wasn't sure herself either. Correction, she knew she was attracted to some women. She knew the kind of porn she liked to watch, and she knew who her late-night fantasies included...but in reality she had no experience either way.

She'd been in love with Nikki since they were in Jr. High but that was platonic friend stuff. Still, that didn't stop Cori from admiring how beautiful and sexy her friend was. Her crush on her coach was really just girlish infatuation too, she knew. She was attracted to how confident and...comfortable they were. She knew they both loved her, but she was certain there was nothing sexual about the way they felt,

How could there be?

Other girls, and boys, had been almost non-existent for her. She didn't allow herself to feel anything for any of the other students in her class, except for fucking Arabella, she had to admit to a few self-indulgent hate-fuck fantasies she'd had about that snooty bitch recently.

But; she was focused on her athletics, school and other activities to the exclusion of anything else. She'd had a few schoolgirl crushes on men too, most notably (and embarrassingly) on her Uncle Adam over the years. But he was LITERALLY family, and besides, she reasoned, just another example of me going stupid for anyone who gives half-a-shit about me.

At that moment, she realized she'd forgotten about the pain in her back as another sensation overtook her. A tingling between her thighs drew her attention to just how non-platonic her crushes were, at least to her. Imagining kissing Nikki's beautiful lips, or Mae's hands on her body, or Uncle Adam's massive-but-gentle arms wrapping themselves around her was helping tremendously to distract her from the pain in her back.

She reached her hands down, around her soft belly, into her shorts and panties, and through the soft, dark hairs of her pubic area, and let her fingers move up and down her suddenly very slippery outer lips. She shuddered as her fingers probed her pussy while she imagined all the beautiful people she loved, and lusted after, and how she would react if they felt the same way. She let out a gasp as her lips separated and she grazed her clit, which had begun to swell with her arousal, sending a wave of warmth and joy up into her core.

She'd nearly forgotten why she was lying prone on the training table when she heard a jiggle in the doorknob and her heart nearly jumped out of her throat. She quickly yanked her hand out of her pants as Mae came in and shattered the momentum that was building in her core.