Gym Class
a short story by
Yari Garcia
Copyright 2015 by Yari Garcia
Contents:
Gym Class
About the Author
Also by Yari Garcia
Gym Class
“Did she lap us three times already?” Jose asked in disbelief.
Zoe gulped in air. “I think so”, she wiped her sweaty bangs off her forehead. “I don't know how she does it.”
“She’s skinny, that’s how”, Tanya mumbled bitterly from behind.
“Oh yeah? Then how do you explain this one?” Jose retorted, pointing to Corben. He walked next to Tanya, hands deep in the pockets of his skinny jeans.
“It’s not that we’re fat or skinny, you doofus”, Corben said to no one in particular. He had a habit of staring at the ground when he walked. “It’s that we’re all out of shape.”
The group looked around amongst themselves. They realized that even though the four of them were all different sizes, they were all lagging behind in gym class-- literally. They had started the two mile run by jogging, and a few minutes into it they were all too exhausted to keep it up. So they started walking, and then they all fell behind on the eight laps it took to reach two miles. They were still on their third lap, and they had never finished the entire run in the hour-long class.
They all thought gym class was torture, especially in the hot Texas heat. They heard tennis shoes running up behind them.
“Come on Tanya, move those legs!” their fit, muscular gym teacher called to them as he ran by. “And speed it up, Rottweiler!”
“Why does he do that??” Jose said in annoyance. His teacher had a habit of calling him by whatever shirt he was wearing, and today it was a picture of a Rottweiler.
“Next time wear a shirt with a taco on it”, Zoe said. “I want to see him get in trouble for calling a Mexican kid ‘taco’.”
“Zoe, that is sooo inappropriate”, Corben said, but they all laughed anyway.
“Alright guys, let’s try to run at least from here to that turn up ahead”, Jose said.
Jose and Zoe picked up their walk to a jog, and Tanya moaned “Noooo.” Corben grabbed her by the wrists and jogged backwards while she followed, giggling. They heard another set of sneakers running up to them, then past them.
“There she goes again!” Jose protested. “How does she do it??”
“We gotta do something”, Tanya said, staring at her mid-term report card in horror. “So far I have a C in gym class, and my parents will kill me if I ruin my straight A’s this year.”
Corben slouched on the chair. He flicked his report card to Tanya across the lunch table, but the light paper simply glided a few inches, then stopped.
Tanya reached over and grabbed it. “Holy crap, Corben! A D??”
“Yup”, he said. “Coach Stevens has been taking off points just ‘cause I keep my jeans on and don’t change into sweats.”
“Why don’t you change into gym clothes?” Zoe asked, taking a swig of cola.
Corben simply shrugged. “I shouldn’t have to.”
They all turned their heads to Jose when they heard paper ripping. He tore his report card in half. “I for one don’t care that I got an F in gym.” They all gasped when he revealed his grade. “I just want to pass gym class, even if it’s with a D. But what I really want is to be able to jog those two miles-- or even jog half of it, then walk the rest-- without getting so out of breath.”
They all stared at Jose, and he continued, “That way I can keep up when my family goes hiking this summer. I don’t want to be the kid that everyone has to wait on, or leave behind, every single year. I hate it.”
They all sat in silence, deep in thought.
“I would like to lose this extra belly fat…” Tanya finally said. “And to avoid certain death when my parents see my final report card.”
“I want to try out for dance”, Zoe spoke up. “It’d be nice to finish an entire routine without being drenched in sweat.”
“And I want to get BUFF”, Corben said, flexing a thin arm. “Grrrr.”
They all stared.
“Nah, I’m messing with you”, he said with a sly smile. “If I get a D on the final report card, that’s going to lower my GPA. And lower GPA means I don’t get into the college I picked out.”
“So what do we do?” Tanya asked. “We already tried taking band class instead of gym. We sucked even more at that.”
“Simple”, Jose replied. “We work out.”
Their gym coach had them run two miles every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They did written work Tuesdays and Thursdays. So it took a lot of convincing from Jose to talk the others into working out every other day after school-- including weekends.
“So what are our goals?” Jose asked the group the first time they met after school. His parents had a large property with lots of room to run, so they decided to meet there.
“Coach says we have to run the two miles in 20 minutes or less”, Zoe said dejectedly. “I don’t see how that can happen.”
“Forget what the coach said”, Jose said. “What are our goals?”
“Less fat, more A’s!” Tanya said. “Ditto on the A”, Corben added.
“It’d be nice to finish the two miles in the hour we get, for once”, Zoe added. “And I’d like to work on my endurance, so I don’t sweat buckets during dance tryouts.”
“Great, now we’re getting somewhere”, Jose said. “So basically, we all want to be able to finish that dreaded run in under one hour, and we want an A. Not bad. 20 minutes is Coach’s ideal time, but we really just need to finish within the hour we’re given to grab that A.”
“And Corben needs to change into sweatpants…” Tanya added, giving Corben a sideways glance.
“I’ll think about it”, he said without looking at her.
“Great. So let’s do this”, Jose said, and they got to work.
They ran around the property three times a week after school. Jose’s dad even came out a few times to run with them, and to give them pointers on their breathing. He showed them how to breathe so that they could work out their lungs and take in the oxygen they needed. They often stayed over for dinner and talked about their fitness goals.
A few times they even went to Corben’s place. He was a single-child that lived in an apartment with his parents. The apartment complex had a gym, but they needed adult supervision to use it. Corben’s dad worked the graveyard shift, but still went down to the gym to abide by the complex’s rules. He’d often lay on the bench press and fall asleep.
“Hey, it still counts as an adult being present”, Corben would say.
After two months, they were ready for the final exam-- the two-mile run.
“Okay, this is what we’ve been working for”, Jose said to the others as they approached the starting line. “And great job on dressing out, Corben.”
Corben felt stupid in his gym shorts and baggy t-shirt. He shrugged. Tanya threw her arms around his shoulders and said “Aww, he’s got chicken legs!” Corben blushed.
All the students were lined up at the starting line. Coach Stevens faced them all and said “You all know the rules. 20 minutes or less is the optimal performance I need from you guys. You can do it! If you manage to finish under an hour”, he said, looking at the four of them in particular, “then you still get a high grade. Remember, this counts as the other half of your grade. For those of you who didn’t do well on the written test, this is your opportunity to make up for it.”
A few students nodded, but the four of them had no problem with the written test. THIS was the real test for them.
“I’ll be running with you guys the whole time”, Coach Stevens said. “Tany
a, remember to keep those legs moving. And you, tac--” Coach Stevens stopped. He looked at Jose, wearing a t-shirt that had a taco and a Chihuahua on it. “Erm, I mean, Jose… uh, speed it up. Everyone ready?”
When Coach Stevens said “Go!” all the kids took off running at high speed-- except for Jose, Zoe, Tanya, and Corben. They started out with a fast walk, then broke into a steady jog.
Halfway through the first lap, they got lapped by a girl named Janet, as they usually did. Jose ignored it, and kept focused on his own pace. When he heard Zoe struggling to breathe on the second lap, Jose said “Remember dad’s advice”, and she steadied her breath.
By the third lap, the fast-girl named Janet had already finished. She had done it in under 20 minutes. She cheered herself at the finish line as the four of them jogged by.
By the fifth lap, most students had already finished and were hanging out by the finish line. Tanya started to protest, and Corben nudged her arm.
“I bet I can run circles around you”, he said. Tanya steadied her breath and smiled as Corben did manage to run two circles around her.
“Ten minutes!” Jose called as they started their eighth and final lap. All the students were already done, besides one or two who had just given up. “We can do this”, Jose said through raspy, steady breath. The four of them picked up their pace. If they didn’t finish in ten minutes, they didn’t finish under an hour, and all their grades would suffer.
Zoe glanced at the finish line, where she saw Coach Stevens checking his stopwatch, then giving them a hard stare. “Come on guys, let’s do this!” she called out, and the other three picked up their pace-- the final push.
They all approached the finish line with only one minute to spare. “Not great guys, but you made it”, Coach Stevens said, looking down on them.
“We made it…” Tanya said. “Guys, we made it!”
Tanya and Zoe squealed and jumped up and down. Jose and Corben shrugged their shoulders and joined them in the hopping and squealing. The other students looked at them like they were crazy-- they barely passed the running test, what were they so happy about?
But they all felt great as they celebrated. Jose jogged the two miles without stopping, and he knew he’d be able to hike with his family without holding anyone back. Zoe was barely sweating, and she broke into a dance. Tanya knew she had lost some of her extra weight, and both she and Corben were going to get those A’s.
“We did it guys!” Jose cried happily as Coach Stevens walked away, shaking his head. “We did it!!”
The End
About the Author:
I’m Yari Garcia, writer of young adult fiction.
Thank you for downloading this short story!
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Also look for my teen gothic novella
Bryexe: She Lives in a Dollhouse
coming out Halloween 2015
Sincerely,
Yari Garcia
aka
~*Moody Thursday*~
=^ v ^=
Also by Yari Garcia:
The Girl in the Converse Shoes
Nikki and the Vampire
Paranormal Romance: A Short Story
NEON
The Short Story Collection
100 Writing Prompts for Teens
…and more!