The Transplant ✔️

21. Cruella Does Pilates

Jolie's POV:

Apparently, my walks around the park and runs to the store wasn't enough to prove to my mother that I could stay active by myself through this illness. Pushing me to my limit, Mom signed Candy and I up for a pilates class. I wasn't used to hard work outs, but I wasn't going to tell my mom no, especially after ditching therapy without telling her.

"I'm actually glad we're not at the park today with the amount of mosquitoes out. I will be perfectly fine with sitting in a cool building pretending to do pilates for an hour." Candy focused her attention on driving her red Jeep while I flipped through the stations for something energizing to listen to. There was hardly a song the two of us haven't heard of, so singing and leg shaking was going to be a definite on the way there.

"Do you have to be limber to do pilates?" Of course my mom would buy me a membership to the one place I had no idea about.

"Beats me if I know. Pretend it's sex; just pretend like you know what you're doing and it'll be fine." Candy and her sexual language lately!

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." I teased.

Soon, we pulled into the parking lot, Candy lowering the music as we found a spot to park.

"What are the odds there's a pizza place next to the pilates building? I know you'll love that." Candy nudged me on the shoulder.

She was right about that; I loved a good pizza and wouldn't mind it after a hard...somewhat hard...work out.

Before walking out the jeep, my phone lit up with a text from my mother to be careful and have fun.

"Who's that? Is it Jobe?" Candy reached over towards my phone, obviosuly hoping it was Jobe Boston.

"No, it's not." My words were a bitter cold in the heat of the day. I had been irritated with the mention of Jobe. I knew deep down he didn't like me, but pressuring me into giving his flirty friend a chance made me realize the hard truth. Maybe that's what I needed to bring me back down to earth and realize Jobe and I aren't meant to be together.

"Something wrong." Candy Lane asked.

"No, just that Jobe's friend Andy likes me."

"Ohh, that's perfect! I've dated a guy once just to get to his friend and it worked. Jealousy is the key to any healthy relationship, Jolie." Candy was downright insane...but maybe insanity could work. But I'm not the type to fight back with jealousy, and yet I was pondering the idea.

"If it's the key to a healthy relationship, then why aren't you still dating that guy?"

Candy thought for a minute before shaking her head and brushing me off.

"Ugh, I don't know. You ask too many questions!"

I couldn't help but laugh. She always managed to make me feel better.

"Okay, I won't ask any more questions, only because it's time to go." I gestured to the brick building in front of us.

Inside of the pilates building was rather small, the baby blue walls closing in on us as we looked around. There wasn't much to see other than rows of pink mats, a few dumbells neatly placed by the mats, and an aroma diffuser in the front of the class. Candy and I found ourselves in the back, away from the seemingly flexible women in the front of the room.

"Not one of these girls have a leg bigger than the size of my pinky. This doesn't seem like a place to get healthy; morelike the girls here throw up in the bathroom and pretend they worked out."

"Candy, be quiet and stop being so rude." I forced Candy to hush it while forcing her to sit down on the floppy mat.

The two of us noticed the other girls were beginning to stretch, so in order to act like we knew what we were doing, we followed suit. We stretched for what felt like hours before the instructor walked in.

The class greeted her with smiles as she set her gym bag in the floor. I'll admit she had a nice enough shape, compared to the sticks in the classroom. She was wearing a white frilled, crop top with white see-through shorts that had speckles of black polka dots. She wasn't afraid of her body, her modesty clearly invisible to the human eye.

As soon as her gym bag was on the bag, the instructor eased her way onto her feet and faced the class. I finally got a good look at her from the back of the class and realized who she was.

"Lisa." I muttered to Candy.

"What's that skank doing here? I can't believe that she, of all people, can teach any sort of class." Candy said.

I wanted to leave and be as far away from her as possible, but Lisa would surely call us out for being cowards.

"This is her type of thing. Do you not see the type of people that are in here?" I mentioned to Candy.

"Yes, they're all slutty like her, and that's a lot coming from me. I mean, come on, do you not see what she's wearing? She looks like a slutty Cruella, except not only the dogs are scared of her." We held back a laugh, trying to focus on our stretching.

It was obvious that Lisa had made notice of our presence, but made no remarks in front of her class.

"Alright, you guys, we will start with our roll ups. It's just a nice stretch before we get to the exercises. Now remember what I always say, breathing is key."

Stretches? I thought we had already done that, but I guess not.

I took my time laying down, then rolling myself up until my hands touched my feet. I sat onto my hip bones at a ninety degree angle, and then proceeded back flat on the mat. This repeated ten times before Lisa said the warm-up was enough.

"Okay, class, I'd like to bring up two very good friends to the stage. Their names are Jolie and Candy, and they are new to the class. But God knows they needed to lose some weight. Come on, don't be shy." Lisa wouldn't stop until we were fully mortified and ready to cry. She was doing this out of pure hatred for us because we called her out on who she really was.

"Just give me the word and I'll knock her out." Candy muttered as we walked to the stage, pairs of blinking eyes running over us.

"Stay calm." We made it to the front of the stage, thoroughly unprepared for the torture she would make us for through. Water boarding would have been more pleasant than to have been on the side of Lisa.

"Ladies, why don't you show the group how to do a bridge? Or maybe a the clam...no, no, let's start with the tease. We all know you don't put out. No one wants a diseased girl to have sex with." Her attention was towards me and not Candy. That was a low blow, even for her. I'd rather be a prude than sleep around.

The crowd had a good laugh at their instructor's joke, but Candy and I were livid because we knew her joke was meant to harm. We didn't bother worrying about the exercises. We got up immediately from the mats. I had to hold Candy back from throwing a punch in Lisa's way. We walked out in a fury, my gaze barely noticing Jobe as I ran straight into him.

"Woah, what's the hurry? You okay?"

"Your girlfriend's a maggot! I hope she rots in hell!" Candy wasn't holding back her disgust in front of Jobe, and I honestly could care less.

I let Candy walk to her car alone, telling her it was okay to leave Jobe and I alone for a minute.

"What did she do to you?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's not important. I'm sure you're here to see your girlfriend and not talk to me, so you're free to go."

"I'm not going until you talk to me." He grabbed the side of my arm, firm in his stance of not leaving.

Finally giving in, I nodded my head and spoke.

"Okay, give me a ride home?"

"Let's go."