They truly don't, the second place is giving Theo the type of look that gave birth to the phrase "If looks could kill".

From the watching crowd the looks vary a lot. Many are of astonishment, others are distracted, only one person is looking with concern.

But Theo is excused if he doesn't recognize that concerned boy; he doesn't go to this school.

Theo's hardly looking into the crowd for a random boy who doesn't go to his school. He just won the 400m!

... Those glares are definitely dampening his mood, though.

It is like the second place doesn't want the newbie to be happy for stealing his place! Either way, more glaring.

Luckily the coach comes to his rescue and there are many congratulatory pats in the back, some pretty girls winks and many remarks to the effect of "What amazing natural talent!"

The crowd filters out, the concerned boy stays, out of the way, remaining inconspicuous, apparently checking his phone but looking at Theo every 30 seconds.

At first, Theo takes no more notice of him than usual; again, just a random kid, sitting in the stands: it's hardly anything to take note of. He goes into the changing rooms, ignoring the looks from the other competitors, then has a quick shower, changes out of his sportswear, and comes back out.

Practically everyone's gone, but he notices that the boy's still there. He also doesn't recognise him. That's a bit weirder.

The unfamiliar boy gets up and apparently is moving to talk with Theo...

Then a much more familiar face materializes in front of Theo. "Amelia Dylan. I'm the school's reporter." She says with a smile and Theo already knew who she was but they never talked before. "A word?"

The unfamiliar boy halts and waits, checking his phone again.

"Um. Sure?" he says, a bit off-guard in response to the smile. Is it just him, or does it seem a bit... predatory?

Amelia's smile widens, this does not help her look any less like a wolf in front of prey.

She makes fairly generic questions: His full name? How long he has been running? What other sports he likes? What he has to say about the coach saying Theo might compete at the national level?

Mr. Second-Place gets out of the changing rooms and Amelia notices; she smiles crookedly and says a bit too loudly. "What would you say about potential accusations of... too much success too soon?" She gives Theo a meaningful look while shaking her head towards the glaring boy.

Both boys react to this and Mr. Second-Place glares while the unfamiliar boy looks... contemplative?

"Theo Hughes. Not too long, actually – I only started running properly at the beginning of this academic year. Football's okay? I'm not sure national-level competition is for me, really."

He follows her gaze over to the boy who came second place, notices the look, and starts feeling a bit defensive. "I'd say that I'm a bit surprised by my progress, and I'd hope people wouldn't try tarnishing my reputation just for beating them in a race."

Mr. Second-Place lunges towards Theo. Amelia steps out of the way with a confused expression in her face. Unfamiliar boy is about to intervene but then stops.

Theo was focusing on Amelia when the boy lunged at him, so he doesn't notice the move immediately. He gets knocked to the floor, surprised by the attack, and tries to roll away from his attacker. "What the fuck, dude?"

Putting his hand to his face, he notices he's luckily not bleeding, but seriously, what the hell? He notices the other guy coming towards him again and dodges.

The boy doesn't get any other hits in and after about four of five attempts he is pried off Theo by the unfamiliar boy, who looks annoyed.

"Yeah, Thompson, what the fuck?" Amelia says nervously and unsincerely.

The unfamiliar boy holds Thompson down by locking at his arms.

Theo gets up, looks at the restrained boy, then says, "Thanks," to the unfamiliar guy. He brushes himself off and glares at the guy who came second place, apparently "Thompson". 'If looks could kill' indeed.

"Did you seriously just attack me because I beat you in a race?"

"You can't get this good so fast!" Thompson snarls. "Who is this clown?" He says to the guy holding him. "Is he your dealer? Fucking dopers. Oh, look he tensed and he is strong." The unfamiliar guy presses harder against Thompson. "Fuck, I can't breathe."

Theo growls angrily. "I have no idea who he is! I'm not on drugs, you prat."

Thompson growls something and tries to wrestle his way out of the other boy's grip, to no avail.

"Oh, for god's sake, just let him go," he says to the unfamiliar boy. "Idiot." he spits in the direction of the attacker.

"You better go." The unfamiliar boy speaks for the first time.

Thompson leaves.

"Are you two going to report him?" He asks.

"Ugh. Maybe. If it happens again, definitely, but... I don't know."

"Yeah, not a good idea to just report people like that. I'm sure he learned his lesson." Amelia says, is she a bit frantic? She might be.

"You instigated the situation, they are likely to punish you as well." He says bluntly.

Now Amelia is frantic and defensively she asks "Who are you anyway? I never forget a face."

"Yeah. I mean, thanks for stopping him... eventually... but who are you? I know you don't go to this school."

"My sister might attend here next year." He says like reading a script.

"Right!" Amelia says incredulously.

"I can report this to the principal."

"Right!" Amelia says credulously.

"Okay, I guess," he says. Not wanting to continue to talk to Amelia or the weird guy, he just walks away.

Later on Theo's way home he might notice a certain familiar face sitting on a park bench. This time the guy waves and calls Theo closer.

That's... weird. He walks over to the guy warily – they met once, so what? – and says, "Hi?"

"Hi!" He smiles warmly. "You met my twin earlier."

It isn't hard to believe the two are different people just by general posture and speech, but Theo isn't all that familiar with either of them.