SWNOVELS Chapter 7 Abilities
Soccorah walked into the room and spotted Luna straight away at the far corner of the gymnasium. She was so relieved that the girl had this class with her. She made her way through the small group of students who had gathered in several small groups to get to Luna. “Fancy seeing you here.” She said with a smile on her face as she sat on the floor next to her to put on her shoes and begin to stretch. Luna was very happy to see a familiar face. She hated Gym but didn’t want to say it out loud as she didn't want Soccorah to think her stranger than she already was. “Hey, Soccorah” she answered. “I didn't see you at lunch.” She replied as she finished putting her hair in a bun. Everyone had to begin by stretching before the gym teacher arrived to start the warmup exercises and group people according to their skills. Luna had taken up Yoga so she was quite flexible. She tried everything to help her get control of herself and get rid of this sleep walking problem.
God forbid if Soccorah were to find out that she was a sleepwalker. They conversed and stretched for about 10 minutes before the Gym teacher walked in. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Luna. Trying not to draw too much attention to the poor girl or himself he composed himself and started with Introductions.
He began; “May I have your attention please. Everyone! Please, please some silence so we could get started... I am your gym professor: Lucian As I like to say; Physical education and practice is a very important aspect of everyday living. To be able to perform well academically, you need to be healthy. What else other than a balanced diet can contribute to being healthy u may ask? What else but physical activity. Afterall: sports is Health.”
“I take it that you are done with the stretches. Let us begin warmups line up in to rows and separate yourselves. I want everyone six feet apart. We will begin with some cardio.” Luna looked at Soccorah and got into position. She thought to herself “Why does everything have to be so intense in this place.” She started following his instructions to the T surprisingly as in high school she could not do more than 10 minutes of cardio and any type of physical activity that caused her to perspire was repelled by her. She had always been frail.
“Damn girl, you didn't even break a sweat. Do you run track?” she asked Luna as she looked at her in amazement. Luna just shook her head and sat down to rest while breathing heavily. She didn’t understand what had changed in her. The old Luna would have probably needed oxygen by now but for some reason Luna was perfectly fine. Her heart rate was normal, her breathing was fine her skin was cool. This did not seem normal but she didn't know how to explain it. She actually wanted more. She felt like she could do so much more, talk about a confidence boost. This year may be a good one for her after all.
Just then the coach separated them and had each person climb one of the 2 ropes which hung from the gymnasium ceiling. Looking at the rope she got cold and asked whether she could pass but the professor explained that without a letter from your doctor no one could be excused. Luna sighed and went to the back of the line. Soccorah went first and she climbed in 2 minutes. That was the best time yet.
Luna watched as the boys showed off their muscles and skills and cowered to the back of the line while watching the clock hoping that by some miracle, she would be saved from the humiliation of being unable to climb the rope. Just then, Soccorah interrupted her thoughts and she returned to reality only to realize that it was her turn.
“God damn it!" she muttered to herself as she whispered encouraging words to herself. She clasped her hands into fists, opened and close them and ran while grabbing hold of the rope. Before she knew what was happening, she realized that she was halfway up the rope and could heat the crowd of students cheering her on. She couldn't believe what was happening. Luna had successfully climbed the 10-foot rope and was down again in under one minute.
This time Luna's heart raced, and her hands shook as she could not explain what had just happened. She was surprised. Mr. Lucian looked at her in bewilderment but did not smile. Soccorah was quite surprised at what she just saw and started to wonder whether this girl was human. She felt a bit jealous as she was the reigning queen of gym class but considering that this was College and persons from a wide cross-section of the continent attended anything was possible.
Luna walked over to the bench and took a drink of water as if to calm her nerves. Everyone was looking at her. She was not used to all that attention. Soccorah came to take a seat next to her and congratulated her on a job well done. Just then the bell rang and Luna got up and rushed to the exit. Soccorah followed her to the showers to get her number. “Hey, you don't be running off so quickly, we need to exchange numbers. Don't forget that you promised to help me with Anatomy.” “Right. I'm so sorry I rushed off like that I just need to catch the bus as I have a ton of work to do when I get home.” She smiled apologetically as she gave her number to Soccorah. “See you around. It was really nice to meet you today.” She said as she headed out the door waving at Soccorah. She tried to make sense of her performance at Gym class today and that look that Professor Lucian shot her. “What was that about anyway?” Luna brushed it off and made her way home.