Fweeeet!

The sharp sound of the whistle cut across the track, sending everyone's heads up and toward the source. Coach's loud bellow echoed out close behind. "Last lap, folks! Once yer done, gather 'round!"

Pumping her legs just a little faster, Kaitlyn did her best to ignore the burning in her muscles and finish out strong. Perhaps it was a little bit of a misguided effort, considering that this was just a warm-down. Still, it was less about making sure that she was physically exhausted and more about mindset. Training to push like this after a full practice certainly had to be worth something.

A little under a minute later, she crossed the finish line and allowed herself to slow to a walk. She clasped her hands behind her head, focusing on breathing and slowing her heart rate down to normal as the other team members arrived alongside her. Once they'd gathered, Coach cleared his throat.

"Good effort today, everyone. Remember ta rest up and get plenty o' food in yer bellies if yer competin'—you'll need all tha' fuel you can get for this first meet. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, Coach!" rang out from the assembled runners. After a handful of other words from the walruslike man, he dismissed the group for the morning. The athletes began to disperse and talk amongst themselves, making for the exit as they did so.

Kaitlyn headed for her pile of belongings where it lay on the sideline, having recovered enough to keep her wobbling to a minimum. The motion of bending down still elicited a wince though. As she began to make her own way toward the stadium's open gate, the sound of approaching footsteps made her look over.

"Goodness. All this talk about the meet has me starving."

Rachel smiled kindly, shifting her own bag onto one shoulder as she came up alongside Kaitlyn. She returned the smile. "Yeah? If you go to Cappy's now, you should miss the rush."

"Sadly, I need to stop by the dorms first. I wouldn't want to go to the dining hall all sweaty like this," Rachel gestured to her slightly dampened shirt.

Kaitlyn chuckled. "Fair enough. Though honestly, there won't be a lot of people there to notice…"

"That's almost worse. Then it would be a simple matter to determine the source of the smell, now, wouldn't it?"

"Do you really think people pay that much attention?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I just don't enjoy feeling gross."

They chatted as they walked down the relatively quiet path toward the dorms. Rachel and her had once again hit it off early this loop. Kaitlyn hadn't been entirely sure if they would, since she'd joined cross country immediately without trying to replicate that encounter with the girl from last time. But evidently, that wasn't entirely necessary. In fact, she'd been delighted when Kaitlyn had introduced herself and made an effort to regularly walk with her. It honestly felt nice to have Rachel back in her life, even with the resets.

At this point, a few scattered students had begun to rush toward their morning classes or meander about campus for some other morning activity. However, the place wouldn't really come alive for another half an hour or so. Then, people would begin waking up in earnest.

"...Speaking of," Rachel said, "Some of the girls are getting together on Friday. They wanted to go grab lunch off campus. Did you want to come along?"

"Lunch?" Kaitlyn frowned, then reluctantly shook her head. "Sorry, I can't. I've got work."

"Oh?" Rachel raised one thin eyebrow at that. "Where do you work?"

"It's at a company called Fink? Dunno if you've heard of them…"

"Can't say that I have. What do they do?"

"Software, mostly. It's…" Kaitlyn hesitated, struggling with how to describe their product to someone who wasn't in tech. "...We kind of make tools that other software companies use for data collection and stuff like that. If that makes sense."

As it turned out, excluding the fact that she was a college student from her job applications had indeed earned her a bit more interest from a variety of companies. The requirement of working remote still meant that the interest only translated to three job offers instead of the two from last time, but it was an improvement. The new offer still wasn't much better than her previous ones, however, so she'd decided to stay with Fink for at least a little while longer.

It just seems like the best decision, especially since they put me on the same project as last time. I'm basically just picking up where I left off. It might be worth doing it a few more times, just until I start running out of things to learn… Then I can look into a different option. I'll probably be able to grab some better ones by then, too.

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The dark-haired girl's other eyebrow rose to join the first high on her forehead. "Software? Aren't you a biology major?"

Kaitlyn shrugged, a little uncertainly. "Yeah. I do some programming on the side, though."

"Some?" Rachel chuckled. "It certainly sounds like you have a little more experience than that. Besides, I thought that internships were more of a summer thing. How long is it for?"

"Er, it's not an internship," Kaitlyn clarified with a sheepish shrug.

"It's not?"

"No… It's a full-time job."

Rachel just stared at her. They continued walking in silence for long enough that Kaitlyn's cheeks began to burn with embarrassment at the attention. She had to avert her gaze.

Dangit. Why do I feel so awkward about this? It's just a job! I mean, it's not like I'm bragging or anything. And besides, it's not like I'm trying to hide it, either…

Eventually Rachel took mercy on her and spoke. "Sweetie. Do you realize quite how intimidating you are?"

Kaitlyn blinked in surprise. Of all the things she could have said, that was certainly not one she was expecting. "Intimidating? How? I mean, you see how much I suck at running every morning."

But already, her friend was shaking her head. "It's not just about running. Though I would argue your cooking more than makes up for that. Holding down a full-time job—a tech one, nonetheless—while being a full-time student and doing athletics? Didn't you say you also worked in a lab, as well?"

"...Yeah," she reluctantly admitted. "But that's not that impressive. Really. I mean, there's plenty of people who are even busier than I am. My roommate barely sleeps because she's got so much stuff on her plate."

Comparing her own situation to anyone else's wasn't exactly fair on any front. After all, a normal college student would have to carve out time for studying and attending classes and the like. Nowadays, most of that time had been repurposed for work and lab and other hobbies. But bringing that up didn't exactly feel like it would help her case on any front.

Rachel just sighed. "Even so, I seriously think that you're underestimating yourself. Classes alone are enough to completely swamp most people, much less everything else!"

"Fair, I guess," Kaitlyn admitted, keeping her thoughts to herself. "But that doesn't mean I'm special or impressive. I really do think that a lot more people could pull it off than you think. Especially if they were in my… situation."

That was obvious. In fact, she was fairly certain that anyone else who did find themselves in a situation like this would have made far better use of their retries. There were still plenty of things she could be learning, after all, and her efficiency left a lot to be desired. Surely someone with more brains than her could turn an opportunity like this into a goldmine.

If anything, Rachel is way more impressive, she reasoned. She's already a good student and an outstanding runner right out of the gate. She didn't need a second try to manage either of those things, much less a tenth or twentieth. She'd had it figured out before even getting to college. I wonder what SHE could do with a timeloop?

The thought made her shudder slightly. Yeah, no. As much as I've gotten out of this, I still wouldn't wish it on anyone. Especially not a friend. Not with how much it costs…

Looking back over at Rachel, the girl didn't look convinced in the slightest. She gave Kaitlyn a gentle nudge. "You're far too modest, sweetie. Really, you need to learn to take a compliment sometimes."

"I can take compliments! Only when I've earned them, though."

"My point exactly. You've certainly earned this one, despite what you seem to think."

They continued chatting for a while longer, the morning breeze drying the sweat from their skin, until they came to a crossroads in the path. Kaitlyn paused for a moment, turning toward her friend. "Well, time to split up. See you tomorrow?"

"Of course." The dark-skinned girl gave a small sigh that sent her curls bobbing. "It really is inconvenient that you're in the West dorms. If only you were in East with me…"

"It's not that far of a walk, you know. I'm pretty sure you could run it in no time."

Rachel giggled. "I suppose. But then I'd be all sweaty once I'd arrived…"

"I'll just have to make it worth your while. Maybe I'll cook something up after the meet."

"Oh, well I'd certainly make the run for that."

With a brief wave, the pair said their goodbyes and made their ways to their respective dorms. As she continued meandering down the broad walkways, toward a warm shower and a meal, Kaitlyn couldn't help but think about what Rachel had said.

I'm not special. I'm really not. It's just my circumstances that are special.

In a way, she could see where the girl was coming from. The end result of all these loops might make her appear like some super-intelligent prodigy or something along those lines. But she knew the truth. And it was nowhere near that impressive.

Everything I have, everything I've learned, has come SO slowly. I've had to hammer every bit of it into my skull time and time again. The only reason I've made anything of myself is because of the timeloop. She's just seeing the results, not all the work that went into them.

Her gaze roved over the faces passing her by. Ones she'd certainly seen dozens of times by now, but never committed to memory or had a real interaction with.

Any one of these people would've gotten to exactly where I am. Maybe even faster, too. It's not like I was really doing well, especially in the beginning there… So really, I'm perfectly normal or even below average, all things considered.

The West dorms came into view in the distance. The red brick building loomed tall above the trees below, its windows allowing only a few peeks inside as early risers opened their blinds wide and sought fresh air. Making for the stairs on the side of the building, Kaitlyn pulled open the door.

I'm no genius. I've just had a ton of practice.