Playing Criminal

14 - Twenty Minutes

Okay…maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the truth of the matter was that I didn’t give a damn what the bell sounded like. All that mattered was that I was now free to leave Mr. Berkeley’s room.

Well at least until tomorrow …

***

But that was a thought for another day – literally. Right now, I had to focus on surviving yet another day of gym.

After a long and awkward conversation with the coach about why my t-shirt was unusable, I was able to procure a new one. Thank God.

I knew I would have never been able to pull it off, not in the way that Jack pulled off his boxers the other day. I felt my cheeks burning at the thought, as I tried to block the image of Jack in his boxers from my mind.

That was not a mental image I wanted- especially when I was going to be faced with Jack for the next hour or so.

We did the daily drill upon the coach’s orders and hit the track for a ‘fitness test’ of sorts. The coach apparently thought it imperative that we run around the track for twenty minutes straight.

I, however, thought it was silly. I mean twenty minutes was a really long time to be running in circles. But even so I decided to grin and bear it; if I wanted to reverse the negative trend I’d started at Black Mountain I might as well start now.

Commence action kiss up…sort of.  There’s really only so much kissing up you can do while running around a track, hot and sweaty, panting so hard that you feel as if you can taste the metallic tint of blood in your mouth. The sun beat down on all us poor unfortunate souls in waves, relentlessly, and I soon found my t-shirt sticking uncomfortably to my back.

And that was after only one lap…

However as I rounded my second lap, sticking toward the outer edge of the track to let a group of fast guys go by, I felt someone tug me to the side by my wrist. I shrieked a little before a hand clamped around my mouth. At the same time an arm swung me off my feet by hitting the back of my knees. I felt my body begin elevating as the world tilted so that I was facing the grassy ground below.

I landed with a loud thud a few minutes later and sat up to find myself behind a thick set of bushes by one of the bleachers.

A bit dazed from the whole scenario, I looked around some more to see Jack crouched next to me, grinning from ear to ear.

“You can’t do things like that.” I stated, frowning.

“No one’s stopped me yet,” he smirked as he leaned forward to flick my nose. “Besides it looked like you were dying out there. I was only being concerned for your well being.”

I scowled at the innocent face Jack was trying to put on. “Thanks,” I muttered. “I really appreciate it.”

“Come on, can’t I do a friend a favor?”