We greeted him and sat around the table to begin eating. “So what did you kids do today? I’m guessing shopping since you guys brought back so many bags.” Uncle Earl asked. He glanced over at the bags of clothes and school items. His facial expressions looked like he was back to normal, not like when we first walked in, all flustered.
“Yea, I was thinking we can have the two of them go back to school it would be a good break for them,” Hali answered.
“From what? Us two?” Uncle Earl pointed out, “I’m against this. There is no reason for the two of them to go to school. Aren’t we on the run? WE can’t just let them go like that.” He looked pretty upset about it. I could understand his point, but it’s better than staying stuck in this apartment. Hali and him also never saw eye to eye on many things. I’m surprised he’s like this, back in Pitt Meadows he was always known to go along with what others wanted.
“Relax, Earl. I have a friend who still stays here instead of going back to Cultor Nemorum. He watches all of us who do training here in the land of continents and owns a school here in this city from grade eight to grade twelve. I already called him about the two of them, if anything happens he will be there to keep them safe. I will also be working at the high school to keep an eye on them.” Hali told him.
“I don’t know, Hali. I don’t like the sound of this.” Uncle Earl argued, “What if they followed us here? The kids shouldn’t even be leaving the house.” He got up and shut the windows and covered it with our dollar store curtains we bought when we first got to the apartment.
“I don’t want to say this but, what about you?” Hali retorted.
“What about me?” he answered raising his voice a little.
“I’m just saying, lately you have been on your phone quite a bit, and also leaving the house quite a bit. I followed you the other day and saw you meet up with a couple of guys in suits. You want to tell us about something?” she debated with her eyes narrowed at his.
“Do what you want. If you lose the kids, it’s on you!” Uncle Earl just groaned and stormed out of the room.
After dinner, Hali came with me to do my circuit training in the park nearby. She gave me two pounds heavier weights for each wrist and ankle. Circuit training went normal, it was a little bit harder than yesterday since she gave me heavier weights, but the thought of not needing to do this tomorrow made me push harder. I was excited to just take a break in my training. Since I’ve been working at it diligently and improving a lot, maybe it was time for a little reward. Panting and sweating I began to follow Hali on a light jog back home.
“So do I have to wear these weights at school too?” I asked out of breath. Hali didn’t even break a sweat even though she did the same exercises as me and she ran faster than I also.
“Not exactly those weights but I prepared some socks and shirts and added weights to it. My friend from the school helped me create these just for you. They should look like normal socks and shirt but it’s pretty heavy. For your arms, probably wrist bands.” Hali answered. I groaned. So much for taking a break. It's okay, I guess.
When we arrived back home, I took a steamy shower right away. The hot water felt so great on my sore and tired muscles. We had proper shampoo and soap this time, remembering the bar of soap I had to use last time made my hair all stiff the next day. I stood in front of the foggy bathroom mirror drying my hair. I wrapped my bath towel around my chest to cover my naked body and wipe away the condensation on the mirror. Subtle changes were happening to my body. My body figure around my belly area felt and looked tighter and smaller, so did my calves and arms. The lining of the whole body looked a little more curvier than before. My collar bone was starting to show more. I turned around and looked into the mirror and strike a pose to also notice my shoulders had muscles and definition. The circuit training has been moulding my body to become stronger. Feeling confident I picked up my clean clothes and put them on. After I finished using the washroom, I walked over to the living room where my body weights were and placed them on my wrist and ankles. I took the last one and pulled it over my head to rest on the shoulder and strapped the Velcro tight on my waist.
Hali walked in and was holding a bag and pulled out socks, wrist bands and tank tops. “Here try these on. These are what I was talking about earlier so you can keep your body training during school time. I was thinking these would be good for you, probably easier to maneuverer around also.” She offered.
Looking around the room, Glass and Uncle Earl weren’t here so I pulled my shirt off, I could feel my nipples becoming stiff from the coldness of the room. Quickly, I pulled the tank top over my shirt. Just pulling it over I can feel the weight, it was about just as heavy as the weights I put on earlier. I tried on the socks and wrist band also. They didn’t feel too bad. It wasn’t as bulky as the ones I used at home and they made look normal. Not like a bulked-up puff from the large vest, I wore before.
“Thanks, Hali.” I thanked her. I went to bed excited about the thought of actually going back to school. It’s going to be better than staying at home all the time. Finally, I fell asleep. That night I had a dreamless sleep. When I awoke, I felt rested. The first I did as most teenagers do is grab my phone. I checked the time and social media posts that I haven’t looked at yet. I don’t use my social media account. There’s no information on it since I don’t have friends but I like to look at other people's accounts. Cooks, athletes, influencers and celebrities. That’s all people do nowadays on their accounts anyways, right? Doing this every morning became more of a habit for me because it made me feel a little bit more of a normal teenager than I knew I was.
I walked to the washroom and Glass was already brushing his teeth. He looked up and waved to greet me. Reaching over him, I picked up my toothbrush and toothpaste. The toothpaste top was covered in thick dry paste, annoyed I said, “Glass, why is there toothpaste all over this?” He shrugged and spat toothpaste foam into the sink. I groaned and began brushing my teeth. After my dental routine, I washed my face with some facial soap. I was starting to break out of all the junk food I have been eating at home. It would be nice to have a home cook meal again, but there was no kitchen in this studio apartment.
As I circled the soap on my face with my fingers, it transformed into soft foam. I rinsed it off and dabbed my face with a nearby towel. After I walked back to my room to get ready, Hali was still passed out on the bed. Since it’s a studio apartment, the guys have to sleep in the living room in futons, Hali and I just sleep in the same twin size bed. The guys didn’t like the idea of cuddling up to each other while they slept every night.
Walking over to Hali I shook her awake, “Hali get up. What time were we supposed to meet your friend?” I asked her. She moaned and looked up at me. “What time is it?” she croaked. “Seven-thirty...” I answered. She bolted up from the bed and yelled, “Shit! We are supposed to meet him in half an hour.” I put my hand to my face and walked over to my dresser. On top of the dresser, I had my outfit ready picked out from last night. I wore the clothing that Hali showed me last night with a pair of blue jeans and a green bomber jacket. I could hear Hali panicking in the background, when I looked over she was desperately pulling her pants on. I combed my hair and placed on a black snapback that had blue and green two letters ‘VC’ on it. We got this hat at the mall yesterday, I’m guessing it meant like Vancouver City or Vancouver Community.
Finished with changing, I grabbed my bag that was packed also the night before. I walked to the bathroom mirror and gave myself one last check of what I looked like. Glass was waiting at the door with his shoes on, ready to go. I sat down in a chair holding on to my runners and slipped them on. When I looked up, Hali was ready to go. Barely. Her hair was still sticking up from bed head. Glass and I followed Hali to the school. It was only a twenty-minute walk from where we were. When we arrived, it was bigger than any school we had in Pitt Meadows. A tall man with dirty blonde hair slicked back was waiting for us at the entrance. I checked the time on my phone. It was 8:07 am. We were late.
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