Castle High

33. Lay-Offs - II

“…45…46…47…48…49…and 50!”

Jake cried, hitting the button of the stop-watch and concluding his count-down. “You did it!” He yelped in delight, as he advanced towards the worn-out figure of Ariel who was down on the tracks in exhaustion. He had offered to help her in jolting her speed up a notch by a popular technique known as – ‘Plyometrics.’ In the process, the athlete has to perform a number of jumps in preparation of a run.

“Oh, God.” Ariel panted heavily, with her face buried in her palms as she sat up straight on the track. Looking up at Jake’s hovering figure, she stretched out her right arm.  Jake latched unto it and hurled her back on her feet, after steadying her gently with his other arm on her waist. Their gazes locked for a brief moment, before Jake withdrew his hands hurriedly.

“Uhm, so what’s next is the run.” Jake cleared his throat, glancing at his wrist-watch. “How many meters do you wanna go. A hundred, two-hundred perhaps even a marathon.”

Ariel’s brows furrowed incongruously. “I’m sorry did you just say – run? I can’t run right now, If you don’t allow me take a seat I’m gonna fall over and take one on the floor, anyway. If you knew it was a must to take a run immediately after the jump, then why did you make me do – fifty?”

Jake grimaced. “I’m sorry, that’s what professionals do. I’ve forgotten you aren’t one.”

Ariel didn’t miss the hint of condescension in Jake’s tone. “Hey, you don’t have to sound so mean. I was simply implying that you should have taken it easy on me a first-timer. You know baby steps, not straight to the top. But if you want me to run, then no biggie – let’s do this.”

Jake grinned, shaking his head in the contrary. “Nope, you’re right. We should take a break and continue afterwards. Then we’d start from below and not straight to the top.”

“Good point, there Mister.” Ariel acknowledged, tapping Jake’s shoulder affectionately before striding past him – heading for an unoccupied bench. “You know I really appreciate this, Jake. I’ve done nothing to deserve your help.”

“Nah, it’s nothing.” Jake shrugged, trailing behind her. “I was taught these things by a close relative of mine. I always say if I wasn’t a basket-baller, then I’d wind up being an athlete. After brushing my teeth in the morning, the next thing I do is to jog every morning for about 200 meters.”

“Wow,” Ariel remarked in shock, arriving at the bench and sinking into it rather vehemently. She continued when Jake slid into the seat by her right. “I’m really kicking myself for not making an extra attempt to get closer to you earlier. I could have learned so much last semester.”

“And you’d have dumped me after my use has expired.” Jake quipped in a comedic tone, causing Ariel to giggle lightly. “It’s no biggie. We still have time on our hands, besides it’s not like I have a whole list of things to teach you. It’s just Plyometrics and we’re done.”

“Hopefully not as friends I hope?” Ariel asked rhetorically and got confirmed by a nod in the affirmative by Jake. “That’s great. It’s just that you’re really reserved and selective with the sort of people you talk to. You might talk to all the boys, but I think Shelby is your only ‘real female friend.”

Jake smiled knowingly, clasping his hands together. “Well, I’m kind-off introverted around female strangers. It usually takes time for me to get used to their type of person and all, but after a couple of weeks – my real self would manifest, I guess. I just don’t believe in walking up to people and initiating conversations, I mean what if they don’t want such. So I let circumstance and other factors play out in inducing relationships, I guess. Shelby for instance became my friend as a result of the fact that we sat close to each other on the bus to J.C. on the third week of last semester.”