The Program

4

— Let Your Acting Training Begin —

I turn and walk to the workout room. To this day, I still know none of the proper names for the equipments.

Leg day.

I take off my hoodie, revealing just a black muscle shirt. I step up to the treadmill. It looks very similar to the ones in the workout gym at The Program. I click the on button and it starts slow.

The door behind me opens. It's Jay.

I lift my head, quickly, in attempt of a welcome. Nothing in return.

He's wearing a gray muscle shirt. Hm, we workout alike. He looks at the weights, then at me. He drops his bag by the door and plugs in some wireless headphones. He walks over to the treadmill next to me and gets on it. I stare at him. His arm muscles are huge. For basketball?

He turns his head to face me and I immediately look away. I bump my speed up.

He looks down at my speed turns his on and bumps it above mine.

A challenger.

I bump mine up one more. A slow run.

He looks over and frowns. He raises the speed.

I click above his.

He clicks. He is running now.

I raise two above his.

I side eye him as his eyes widen.

He hits it three times to get above me.

At this point we are sprinting. We are both getting tired.

I can do more. I click mine up.

He does the same. His large arms are pumping as he runs, starting to breath heavily.

I click one up more. I start to feel a burn.

I can sense his pain and frustration. Good.

He clicks it up too, pumping his legs as fast as they'll go. He is basically panting.

I notice my breathing getting heavy too. I start to control it. In slowly through the nose; put slowly through the mouth.

I click mine up. I see his eyes widen. They look as if they are about to pop out of his head.

Just to prove that he is better, he clicks his up. Sweat is forming on his forehead, slithering down his face.

I have to let him think he won. I wait a second and after sprinting, I click mine up. "Max speed." Oh, the treadmill talks.

Jay gasps, then clicks his up. "Max speed."

My legs pump, pretty fast, but I'm faster. I can beat him.

We run for about five minutes. Both of our legs are pumping. We're panting. Sweat pours from both of our faces.

All of a sudden, he slips. He flies into the air, and is launched back. The treadmill stops and Jay flops on the floor. I stop my treadmill, struggling to keep my balance. I rush over to him. He is definitely bruised.