Musketeers

8 (MIS Race pt. 2)

The librarian Ms. Judith Gomez is the epitome of the word strict. And I am not exaggerating when I tell you that she turns wolfish when you cause even the slightest disturbance in the library.

So how am I supposed to make her laugh?

"What now?" Koki impatiently said, "Shall we ask for a pass?"

"And receive zero? No way!" I hissed back. "Don't you have any joke? Any funny joke?"

"You said we lack humor," Kiko said.

"But you should help me!" I insisted.

C'mon Rose, think. Think of any of your Dad's jokes...

"Can't you just give any joke?" I told Kiko. I really can't think of any right now.

"Okay." He looked at Ms. Gomez. "What happened when a proton walked into a bar?"

"What?" Ms. Gomez snapped.

"No one noticed it because protons are tiny and everywhere." He had said the joke with a poker face.

An awkward silence followed.

"Is that a joke?" I anxiously whispered to him.

He nodded. I heard Koki snorted.

Ms. Gomez's brows contracted as she thrust the paper into my hand as if telling us to get lost or else... "You got two points," she added without a smile.

"Really, protons?" I laughed as I recall Kiko's joke when we left the library. "I never heard a joke as dandy as that."

"She's kind," said Koki, "giving us two points for something so lame..."

I stopped laughing and nudged Koki.

"What?" he growled.

I jerked my head towards Kiko. He's looking sulkily at his twin.

"Okay, don't fight. We are a team, remember?" I walked between them. "Let's get to the open grounds for the next task."

Neither of them had looked at each other til we arrived at the open grounds. The organizers had place eight mats side by side. It seems we got to exercise or something. Four or five teams had sprinted in after us.

"You have to make some push ups," a class rep said to us. "That's the number of push ups, and the score you'd get for each range." He indicated a banner hanged in front.

0-5 = zero pt.
6-15 = 1 pt.
16-25 = 2 pts.
26-35 = 3 pts.
36-49 = 4 pts.
50 = 5 pts.

"All of you must do the task together. Good luck!" He stepped backwards and motioned us to start.

"I haven't done push ups," I said weakly as I position myself between Kiko and Koki. They are already in push up position.

"How many can you do?" Koki asked with a smirk.

"Er... I'll try and get to 50." I said grimly.

"50? Do you think it's that easy?" he looked forward. "Let's start. I'll count."

We pushed down, then up.

"One. Two. Three. Four... Ten--"

"Wait!" I held my body with my elbows. I must not let my body rest on the floor or we get only one point. "Okay, continue.."

All the muscles in my body ached. It's as if my arms are going to rip, my abdominal muscles are pained with the unfamiliar tension. I felt my sweat drench my tshirt.

"Sixteen. Are you sure you can continue?" Koki said. WHY IS HE NOT EVEN SWEATING?!

"We can stop," Kiko said.