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. âFancy seeing
you here.â 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 didnât want to say it out loud as
she didn't want Soccorah to think her stranger than she already was.
âHey, Soccorahâ she answered. âI didn't see you at lunch.â 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; âMay 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.â
âI 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.â Luna looked at Soccorah and
got into position. She thought to herself âWhy does everything have to
be so intense in this place.â 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.
âDamn girl, you didn't even break a sweat. Do you run track?â she asked
Luna as she looked at her in amazement. Luna just shook her head and
sat down to rest while breathing heavily. She didnât 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.
âGod 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. âHey, you don't be running off so quickly, we need to
exchange numbers. Don't forget that you promised to help me with
Anatomy.â âRight. 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.â She smiled
apologetically as she gave her number to Soccorah. âSee you around. It
was really nice to meet you today.â 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. âWhat
was that about anyway?â Luna brushed it off and made her way home.