Unspoken Colours

Chapter 5

"Do the damn press-up!" Coach yelled. "How hard is this to understand, you do five press-ups then a lap, then five-press-ups then a lap. Eric, don't think I didn't see you do four press-ups! Get down and do five more!"

It was (yet again) another football practice after school and the day was hot and humid for the beginning of winter and to add to that, coach seemed to be in more of a bad mood than usual.

"But coach-" Eric began, breathless.

"Do you want to play in the league? If not that's fine with me, Alex here can fill your place," He said, smugly.

"Woo!" Alex cheered.

Eric turned and glared at Alex and when coach turned away came over to him.

"Dickhead," he spat.

"You what?" Alex said. "What did you just call me?"

But before Eric could reply, Coach turned back around.

"Alex! You've done your press-ups now go and do a lap! And you Michael! Go!"

My back hurt and my leg muscles were throbbing, but I managed still to pull myself off the ground and start running. Each time my foot banged against the ground it hurt more to pull it back up again and carry on, but by then I was used to tiredness and simply did it all anyway.

"I hate this shit," I heard Alex said behind me. I slowed down slightly so we ran next to each other.

"It's not even football," he complained between breaths.

I was too tired to reply, so just nodded.

"We should skip it next time,"

"W-W...hat?" I breathed, and then gasped to refill my lungs with the air I used to talk.

"Skip it," he repeated. "I hate this, don't you? Skipping one isn't going to hurt, we can skip the actual timetabled gym lessons, not the afterschool practice, because then there are more of us in gym and he won't notice."

"So you mean, bunking off?"

"Well if you want to put a name on it, yeah," he grinned.

"Okay let's do it," I blurted out.

So, the next day, we did. Gym was last lesson, then after gym we were expected to go to football training. Everyone even if they were on the football team or any team or not did gym and because coach did it, we mostly did football. I told Mum that football after school was cancelled and that I would walk home and she simply nodded. The lesson before gym was French and like hell did it drag on, but then the bell finally rang and I began to pack my stuff away. Alex appeared by my side and gave a little smile at me, the same smile he often did.

"I know a place we can go where no one will find us," I said. "You'll like it, trust me."

Alex nodded and we walked out the classroom down the corridor along with the rest of the school like we too were heading to lessons. The school was full of corridors; everywhere and anywhere, it was like a maze and I remembered while sat in French the time when I got lost and ended up down some sort of secret, cleaner's corridor. It was somewhere on the top floor of the school; I remember opening a door up there thinking it was a classroom, but it was actually a door to some stairs I'd never seen before. Unable to resist, I went up the stairs which brought me to a small corridor with three other doors, one of them being a cupboard with window low at the bottom of the room, almost like a look-out spot where if you lay on the floor, you could see the whole school from.

"What the hell is this?" Alex said when we got to it.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I found it on my first few days at the school when I got lost. You know that tower-like part of the school right in the centre that goes really high up?"