BXBX NOVEL Chapter 24 - 24. Gym Class
"Good morning Asher." Jane said this a little quieter than the day before. She had been rolling around in bed all night embarrassed by what she had said when Asher walked her home.
Asher bit in to his egg sandwich and closed the door behind him. Jane looked at him seeing that he had slight bags under his eyes. "Are you alright Asher? You look a little tired, did you sleep well?"The concern in her voice warmed his heart
Swallowing his food he gave her the rundown of his start to a new morning routine. "It\'s good advice your sister gave you to eat more protein then. Your muscles get micro tears when you work them. They get repaired and become stronger so they need protein to build those repairs." Jane remembered this well from biology class, It was one of the courses she was proud to say she aced.
"That makes sense." Asher had already finished his egg sandwich and was about to finish the peanuts. When he realized he had not grabbed a Lunch today. " Ahh I left my lunch bag at home! But we are already at school." The front of the school had just come in to view and if he ran home now he would be late and get detention for sure.
"I was planning to buy lunch today if you want to go with me.." Jane had a lunch in her bag but she figured Ashed did not need to know that.
"Really? Sure, I wonder what they have today. Maybe they will have spicy chicken wraps!" for some reason he was craving something spicy. He was unsure if it was the workout making me sleepy and his body wanting something to push him awake for or what. But he craved a spicy chicken wrap.
Jane pointed at the posted bulletin by the door. "Looks like you\'re in luck, Today is chicken wrap day in the cafeteria. Just promise me you will get some fruit too. If you get cramps while we are in combat you could get hurt. Then we would let coach Winters down." Jane was still under the impression that coach Winters did not have the goal to work them to death but instead to uplift them.
"Yes! That\'s awesome!" Asher raised a hand in excitement.
"You know it is! I knew you would be happy to see me!" Art had seen the way Asher acted as soon as he came in to view.
"Oh, hey Art. I didn\'t even see you there. Good Morning!" Asher greeted Art causing some confusion to show on his face.
But you just..-"
"Come on we only have five minutes to get up to our classroom." Jane interrupted them and grabbed their arms to spur them in to motion. "We are not getting detention today!" she yelled as she pulled the two in to a run. Asher\'s legs fought him on this but they moved nonetheless.
Their normal lessons passed slowly. To the students the academics were nearly torture to them for hours. They needed to sit and take notes while running their minds ragged. The sound of the bell letting them know that they could go to gym class was a blessing.
The large gym was much different in this world than Asher\'s previous. It was made in a stadium style so that there was seating to observe the actions that went on in the huge open space in the middle. The floor and walls were made of some tougher materials to resist the super powers that the students were constantly practicing.
Mr. Smith had exchanged his grey suit for some grey workout gear and stood in the middle of the massive gym waiting for the students. "Alrighty today we will be playing dodge ball. Powers are allowed but if you use anything too strong I will be issuing detention for a week. The teams will be random so no complaining. The losing team will run five laps around the gym before we end class." With that, he started to tell which students to go where.
"Asher, we\'re on the same team! We will definitely win!" Jane bounced with excitement having a feeling that with Asher on their team they could not ever lose.
"I\'m going to take you down! You will be out before you know it." Art was jumping around throwing punches in the air.
"You know it\'s dodge ball right? You need to throw the ball not punch things!" Asher yelled back at him. However, he gave away his taunt with a small smile appearing next.
The two started up their rivalry while Jane watched, Mr. Smith set out the dodgeballs on the center line. "Everyone to the base line! On three you will start!" Mr.Smith glanced at the two teams of five
They all crouched on their respective lines. The girl who had sneezed with her wind super power looked to be the biggest competition on the other team. She knew that if she had figured out how to control that ability then she could just get everyone out easily with the very air in the gym
"1..2...3!" Mr. Smith shouted, causing every student to rush forward. Asher held back knowing that his sore legs didn\'t allow him the best speed. Jane however was far ahead of their other three teammates. She grabbed two dodge balls and tossed one back to Asher while backpedaling to the line.
"That was fast! Do you train on your own too?" Asher felt he had just watched a trained sprinter get off the start g line.
"I do just a little. I was on the track team in middle school but decided not to pursue it until I got my power.." Jane was distracted by Asher\'s amazement.
The rubbery echoes of a dodge ball making contact broke through her daze and she realized she had just been hit in the shoulder. "Ha! That is what I meant when I would bring you down." Art had tagged Jane out first for the fear of her ability. All she had needed to do was lift her mask and the entire opponent team could have been stuck in their tracks as easy targets.
Jane dropped the ball in their hands and walked away coldly. \'I\'ll get you yet Art\' She made herself this promise in silent anger.
Asher saw that the others on his team had been knocked out almost instantly too and all that was left on the opponent team was the girl with the wind controlling super power and Art. "Where did everyone go! I was only distracted for a second!"
"You can\'t underestimate us. We are the power house pair of our team!" Art was talking it up while the other girl just stood there trying to get a ball just past the center line.
Asher saw this as an opportunity to throw his ball and tag her. He wound up and let the red dodge ball fly through the air. The girl saw it coming and waved her arms trying to make the air stop it. Instead, all she managed was to cause her hair to stand straight up. The ball slowed and gently tapped her elbow before hitting the floor. She still stood frozen in place with her hair up straight while Art wandered over to pick up the ball.
"Well my friend, it\'s come to this. I did not wish for us to meet like this, in such a harsh way. But I will defeat you here." Art put on a grand performance as he wound up to throw the dodge ball at Asher.
Asher was looking around frantically for another ball but found that they were all too far to grab. The ball left Art\'s hand as fast as he wound up. Asher moved to dodge but felt his foot get caught. \'My shoelace!\' He knew it was his loose shoe lace in an instant but was unable to adjust himself.
With a turn he tried to roll with his fall and found that his hands grasping out felt something solid. His roll came to an end with him on his back and a red dodge ball caught in his grasp. "Art is out! Asher\'s team wins!"
"Asher that was amazing, how did you catch the ball like that. You dove head on toward it and rolled and then boom you were there holding the ball. It was soo cool" Jane was rambling on about what had just happened. However Asher was laying on his back a little dazed after his accidental tumble.
Art fell to his knees in defeat, victory had been taken from his hands. He needed to act his part and mourning his loss. "Stop your fooling around. It was a dodge ball game not the end of year tournament. Now get running. You all have five laps!" Mr. Smith got them in to motion.
Asher heard this and jumped up, dropping the ball and coming back to reality. His body was still sore but he thought that if he sat there resting he would be falling behind others on his oath to being a hero. "Mr. Smith I will run too." Asher dashed off to the back of the line running right next to Art. "I won\'t let one of my rivals get ahead of me." Art heard this and picked up his pace.