"Broken Boys" - A Young Royals Continuation

Chapter Thirty-Four

It.

Was.

Time.

The rowing/erging competition that determined a great deal of their athletics grade for the school year.

Here is how the competition works:

Each school gets their own ergometer. The teams decide the order of the people who will erg.

Hillerska chose:

-August
-Henry
-Marcel
-Simon
-Brice
-Wilhelm

August had decided this, saying, "We must start and finish strong!"

That asshole.

Anyway, once all the schools had chosen, the first person would get on their respective ergs.

August clambered on Hillerska's with a certain swagger and confidence that no one else seemed to have.

It was infuriating.

Wilhelm glanced around the gym.

It felt cluttered with all the people, more than he had ever seen in such space before.

The other teams had their first person on the equipment as well.

It was almost time to begin.

And Wilhelm was sure that nearly everyone in this gym was sweating as much as he was.

The referee or judge of sorts stepped into the gym.

She was a tall woman.

A very tall woman.

Six foot something perhaps.

She looked strong, muscles flexing through her skin tight shirt.

And her face was pinched in an angry expression.

Well- maybe not angry.

Rather stern.

'Good,' Wilhelm thought to himself. 'Someone that can keep August in check.'

The gym silenced at the woman's presence.

They all waited for her to speak with baited breath.

"Hello all," she finally begun after many moments. "Before we begin, let us thank the Hillerska team for volunteering to host."

The woman didn't look one bit grateful.

"I am Coach M. and I will be judging today. I will tolerate no tomfoolery, and if I get so much of a whiff of any form of cheating, I will take unmeasurable punishment. Understood?"

Wilhelm gulped. This woman- Coach M.- was rather intimidating.

Most of the gym nodded at her statement.

"Very well. Now without further ado... welcome to the annual erging competition!"

The room erupted into applause.

"Yes, yes excellent," Coach M. said dismissively, letting this clapping die down. "On my whistle, the first person can begin. Remember, the goal is to get the lowest split time. Each person ergs for exactly two minutes."

**Split time is the time it takes a rower to row five hundred meters. A lower split time is better. For reference, a good split time would be around 1:40.**

"Sit ready at the catch."

August slid forward into the catch position. His grip on the handlebar tightened. He was ready.