Kathy

My music blasted in my ears and sweat dripped into my eyes. I hit the punching bag with full force, wishing I had my boxing coach with me. When the buzzer inside my head sounded, I stopped and took off my gloves, fully aware of the group of spectators that had gradually grown larger outside the door.

Making a show of completely ignoring them, I wiped the sweat from my face with a towel and grabbed my skipping rope. I headed to a mirror and began to skip. Skipping had become second nature to me, so I spent the time inspecting my many admirers trying to peak into the room. They were mainly guys, big shocker there, but there was one guy who seemed to be familiar. I couldn’t place where I had seen him; he was probably one of the people who had tried to talk to me earlier today. There were so many that they all kind of blended together.

I was still watching them when Mr. McGregor pushed passed all of them and entered the room. I stopped skipping and pulled the ear buds out of my ears. “What’s up?” I asked him when I noticed another man had entered the room with him, “Who is that?”

Mr. McGregor stepped aside and motioned towards the other man, “This is Mr. Stone, he will be your personal trainer.”

I raised my eyebrow, “Personal trainer? Do you know anything about boxing?”

“I do, I am a part-time coach at the training centre we have in town,” Mr. Stone told me.

I grinned excited for the chance to have a coach again, “Perfect! I already finished my work out for today though. Are you able to come back tomorrow? Like is this going to be an every day thing?”

He chuckled and said, “I will be seeing you tomorrow, as for every day, we will have to see since I have other athletes I train as well.”

I nodded and shook his hand, and then started to pack up all my gear. I wiped my face with the corner of my shirt and shouldered my duffel bag. I turned towards the door and sighed. There was no way I would not be able to leave the room without dealing with my many admirers. So, I lifted my head high and threw my shoulders back, pushing my way out the door, trying to look way more confident than I felt. I strode past all the people, who just stood there gawking at me, and made it to my locker without incident.

Unfortunately, I can’t say that it stayed without incident. When I got to my locker, I stuffed the track pants that I had come to school in in my duffel bag and slammed the locker shut. I jumped when I finally noticed that one of the people who had been hanging out and watching my work out was now standing on the other side of the door, leaning casually into the lockers. He was the guy who seemed kind of familiar.

“Can I help you?” I asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” he said with what some people might classify as a hundred-watt smile, “My name is Josh. I’m a friend of Tom’s and just happen to be in the same Prism history class as you. I’m heading over to Tom’s house and just thought that you might want some company on the walk back.” He flashed me another smile, which lit up his deep blue eyes. Not that I was impressed or anything.

I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore him, so I could leave the school in peace, only to find out that he was still following me. I really didn’t want to have to deal with him. I knew his type: good looking and well aware of it. He had tousled dark brown hair which perfectly framed his deep blue eyes. Broad shoulders and a sweet smile seemed to complete his look. I might have been attracted to him… if he wasn’t so sure of his looks and that every girl would fawn over having him pay any attention to him. Sadly, I wasn’t one of those girls, so I had to try and think of a way to get rid of him.

As I pushed through the front doors of the school, I thought quickly on my feet and said, “I guess, but I was planning on doing one last run to get home, burn off the excess energy I have from today you know?” A total lie… I was hoping that I would be able to have a nice quiet walk back and focus my thoughts a little bit. Guess that wasn’t going to happen now. “Do you mind carrying my bag back home for me though?” I added, because I really didn’t want him to feel completely disappointed and ruin the situation I had at home. He was Tom’s friend after all.

Josh didn’t seem to be derailed by my rejection and said, “Sure, I will meet you at Tom’s.”

I smiled and pulled my shirt over my head, not even thinking about what Josh’s reaction would be. I stuffed my shirt into my bag, and took off, almost at a sprint, to try and get away from his hungry gaze and gaping mouth. In all honesty it sent chills down my spine. And not the good kind of chills.