Star-Crossed

Part 35

Sweat is literally dripping off of my face. My shirt and hot pants are both so drenched it looks like I just jumped into a lake. I'm starting to lose feeling in my legs.

"HARDER KARINA," screams Zayn, as he jogs along beside me. Then he blows his whistle straight into my ear, to emphasize his command.

Day one of physical training for the Squad has begun, and it's more intense than anything I ever had to do on Dard. I never thought I could be pushed to workout so hard that my body starts to go numb. Someone already threw up and had to call it quits for the day.

It probably doesn't help that most of us were out late last night because of Ro's party. And that we were all sipping on champagne.

To top it all off, Zayn has been picking on Niko and me the entire time.

We started the morning off by jogging up hills. Steep hills. Zayn made Niko do extra circuits, because he was "exhibiting unnecessary attitude." Whatever that means.

Then, we squatted, deadlifted and did what feels like hundreds of pushups and crunches. I was forced to do extra, because my "form is unacceptable" and so I ended up losing count all together, because I had to do so many - too many. It feels like it was in the hundreds, though. Hundreds and hundreds of exercises. Again, and again, and again.

Now we're finishing-up with high-intensity cardio, in the form of sprints. And, I have the pleasure of Zayn yelling at me so close to my face that he sprays me with the spit flying out of his mouth.

I continue to run as fast as I can toward the goal post. I have a baton in my hand and when I reach the post, I'm supposed to hand it off to Niko. We are building our endurance by sprinting, relay-race style.

It's a perfect autumn day. The sun is bright. The air is crisp. The birds are chirping and everything is bathed in shades of burnt-amber and golden-brown

But my body is on fire. I almost collapse and fall when I reach Niko.

"Great job Kish," he says as he grabs the baton and sprints in the opposite direction.

Niko seems to not be winded at all. And it looks like he's barely breaking a sweat. I don't understand how he's in such great shape already. It's a bit irritating, to be honest.

Zayn blows his whistle again and again and screams right into Niko's face. He's being such a jerk today. What is his problem?

"Niko YOU PIECE OF SCUM!" yells Zayn. "MY GRANDMA COULD WALK FASTER THAN YOU SPRINT!!"

I look over at Eva, who is breathing hard but smiling. Did she tell Zayn about Niko?

She looks like she's lost weight. She's always drinking Iggy's Elixir. I should tell her it's just water with some minerals in it. But I would never undermine Pikar like that. Plus, oddly, it does seem to be working, even though supposedly, there's nothing special in it.

Eva is definitely thinner. And her skin is starting to look better. I think I even notice a very thin layer of fuzz starting to grow back onto her head.

Still - I hate that she's becoming so skinny. She brags about it all the time. And, she never fails to point out how I have hips and a butt and generally speaking - muscles and curves.

It's like she's compensating for the fact that she's now ugly. As if being wafer-thin solves for that. Sometimes I wish I could pick her up and snap her in half.

Before I know it, Niko is almost back. I see that Max is neck-and-neck with him. This will be my last sprint for today, and Eva and I are going to be racing each other to the finish line. I take a deep breath - in and out. All I want to do is beat Eva.