The Foxfire Chronicles- Comrades and Classmates

Chapter 4- P.E. Fiasco

                Sophie entered the gym, and following Dex's instructions, walked over to a clipboard nailed onto the wall. Sophie moved her finger down the roster of names attached to the clipboard until she saw Foster, Sophie. It took her only one glance at the locker number by her name and memorize it, as she had a photographic memory. 

             Sophie walked over to a door, that that she assumed was the locker room. She hurried quickly, wanting to be early, just to be extra sure she wouldn't be late. When she walked into the locker room she was glad to see that there were only a few people in there. Wait, Sophie thought seeing a familiar face, That's Keefe from the pool! Keefe looked shocked to see her. "Foster?" he asked incredulously. Then he grinned, looking as if he was trying hard not to laugh. "When I said maybe I'd see you at school, I didn't know that you would go as far as to come looking for me in here." he said raising one eyebrow.

             Wait. Sophie thought, dread filling her stomach. Keefe is a boy, that means that . . . I'm in the boys' locker room!!! Sophie let out a little yelp, and even though Keefe and the other guys there were still fully clothed, she covered her eyes with her hands and tried to run out.

            Sadly for Sophie, she rammed right into someone and fell on her back. She lifted her hands from her eyes, face blushing furiously. She looked up to see a very handsome boy, with dark hair and unusually teal eyes. He held out his hand to her.

             Sophie took it, stood up and mumbled a quick apology. She rushed past him, wanting to get out of there as fast as she could. As soon as she burst out of the locker room, she heard a chorus of laughter behind her.

            Sophie internally groaned, mad that she had made such a fool of herself in only her first 5 minutes here. This time, she carefully checked the label, "Locker Room- Girls", before going in. Now that she had wasted so much time, almost everyone was already there and changing. Sophie quickly changed and threw her clothes into her P.E. locker, not wanting to add being late to her embarrassment.

             Most girls had already left to their P.E. classes, but Sophie was struggling to get her shoes off. She finally slipped them off and tied on her new gym shoes. She ran out of the locker room, sitting down with the rest of the class just in time. 

              A muscular blonde man who Sophie assumed was Mr. Fintan glared at her. "I don't recognize you." He said, not at all sounding friendly. "But in my P.E. class, I don't tolerate latecomers. Don't make it a habit." Sophie nodded, not wanting to argue even though she had made it before the bell. He turned back to address the class.

          "I will take roll now, and don't expect me to remember your names." Most of the other kids looked as surprised as Sophie felt at Mr. Fintan's blunt disdain. He started to call out names;

           "Biana?" he asked, as a familiar looking girl with beautiful facial features responded, "Here." He seemed almost irritated by her response.

             Mr. Fintan continued. "Valin?

            "Stina?"

             He continued, and each student responded with the expected, "Here." not wanting to frustrate the clearly impatient teacher. As the class progressed, Mr. Fintan lectured them on what was and was not expected in his class, snapping at the students all the while.

           As much as Sophie wished she could block his sharp voice out, she knew she had to pay attention if she didn't want to get called out again. After forty-five minutes of him droning on, the bell rang and class was over. What a miracle.

          Sophie quickly changed and was happy to see Dex waiting for her outside of the gym. "How was torture session with Mr. Fintan?"Dex asked sympathetically. "You made it all right, no mishaps or anything?"

         Sophie's mind wandered to the locker room incident and almost being late. Finally she decided on saying, "You know what? His class is amazing." When Dex cocked his head, clearly confused, Sophie elaborated. "It's going to make my other classes seem like heaven on earth."

             Dex grinned, high-fiving her. "That's the spirit." he said, as the pair headed to their next class. After that incident, what could possibly go wrong?