In all the chaos of trying to get away from Raven as fast as humanly possible, I totally forgot to ask anyone where my elective class for parkour was actually held. Classic. Once again, Raven "Payne-in-the-Neck" was to blame for me wandering around like a headless chicken. The ground floor was like a ghost town. No one to be found. Great.

I figured I'd have to bite the bullet and head to the main office. If even anyone was still there.

Then I heard footsteps behind me.

I spun around. Yup. Who else but Raven Payne, casually trailing behind me like this was his full-time job? Unbelievable. I wasn’t about to call him out again. I just wanted to escape. So I turned down the hallway and headed toward where the exit to the schoolyard was.

Parkour was probably close by, maybe even in the gym. Duh. No need to go outside. Where on the map had I seen the gymnasium? I stopped.

Right then, I heard Raven catching up behind me. He really was following me.

Okay, this time I had to say something. What did he want from me?!

"Hey! I told you to stop stalking me! This is seriously starting to get creepy," I snapped, turning around. He just shook his head and gave me a crooked smile. Was he laughing at me?

He stopped a few feet away. "Relax, Miri. You ran off so fast, I didn’t get the chance to talk to you."

Oh, poor you. Just what I was about to say, when he cut in again.

"Wait, wait," he said, holding up his hands defensively. "Before you throw another one of them insulting nicknames my way—I heard you picked parkour as your second elective?"

I blinked. "How do you even know that?"

He gave me a shy smile. "Mollie told me. She saw your name on the elective list when she helped Miss Favour organize them earlier."

Oh. Brilliant. Now he knew.

"Yeah, I did," I admitted reluctantly. "And I know you're in it too."

Raven chuckled. Why was he always laughing at me?

"Then why didn’t you wait for me? I know where to go."

Because I feel weird around you?! Yeah, not saying that. Still, he did have a point.

"No idea," I muttered with a shrug. "So? Are you going to show me or not?"

He grinned, then shook his head. "Where do you think physical electives take place? A classroom?" He turned away and started walking. "Come on, Tiny Genius."

Excuse me?! Did he just call me "Tiny Genius"? Oh, he was going to regret that.

Still, I followed obediently. I really didn’t want to be late—that would be my fault, and I was not giving him the satisfaction.

While I followed him like a shadow, we walked in silence, which suited me just fine. I tried not being too aware of his presence which seemed to work. I didn’t feel totally uncomfortable around him. Maybe I was finally building up some immunity. Nothing can stop Super-Miri™.

We crossed the cafeteria and walked through a big double door, leading us to a roofed short passageway, a  connection between two buildings. I haven’t paid attention to the square building next to the “cross” when checking the map the day before. But of course, we ended up at the gymnasium. Maybe he wasn’t entirely wrong calling me that name. Ugh, no. He was still the idiot who scrambled my brain. 

Raven opened the wide doors and held one out for me.

"After you," he said, mock-formal, gesturing inside.

Was that supposed to be chivalry? Yeah, nice try. Not falling for that!

I strutted inside, not caring if he followed. He’d served his purpose.

The gym looked like any other gym: big, echoey, tall windows to the left, stacks of mats everywhere, and a bunch of boys already gathered in a circle in the center of the room. In the middle stood a tall, bald man in a tracksuit. The teacher, probably.

I marched over, weaving through the crowd of a good dozen boys. Yep. Only boys. Perfect. Time to show them some girl power. Luckily, I was athletic.

As I squeezed into the circle, a few of them noticed me and awkwardly made space. All eyes were on me. I locked eyes with the instructor.

He blinked, looked at his clipboard, and said, "Ah, you must be the new one. Mirona, right? Glad to have you."

Then his eyes moved past me. "Raven, you’re late.” Baldie commented, noting something down on his clipboard. Damn, did I get him into trouble? Luckily the teacher didn’t say anything to me.
“Well, now that we’re all here." The coach’s dark eyes slowly made the round of students. “Get changed and then 10-minutes warm up. Go go go.”
The boys stampeded toward the locker rooms. Raven followed with hands in his pockets.

I hesitated. Oh no. Was I going to have to change with them? Not gonna happen!
The teacher seemed to realise that a second later. "Ah, Mirona, right—you’re a girl." No kidding. Wonder what gave you that idea, Sherlock! "See the door in the back left? That’s the small changing room for girls. Quick now."

I darted across the gym and changed fast. Blue shorts, white tee, hair tied up, same old sneakers. No fancy gear. I couldn’t afford it. But I was ready.

Back in the gym, the boys were already forming a half circle in front of the teacher again. I jogged over and was immediately greeted by a few stray whistles.

Gross.

I glared around in disgust. Maybe I should have worn long pants. Lesson learned.

I found a spot at the end of the row and threw a quick glance at Raven, who stood between me and two other guys I haven’t seen before. No idea why I did that.

He was also looking at me.

Our eyes met. He looked away fast, awkwardly adjusting his mouth like he wasn’t sure how to smile. Did he... blush?

Weird—but, okay. Whatever. I decided to ignore it. Immunity!

“Alright boys—”, the teacher boomed and interrupted any further chatter, then he added with a swift glance my way, “and girls. Time to warm up.” He pointed at someone standing in the middle of our half circle. “Jacob, your turn. Lead the warm-up, you decide what you want to put them through.”
Oh, great. I hadn’t even noticed them, but yep—"Dumb and Dumber" from the office were back. The tall pale guy and the curly-haired gremlin. They immediately both started giggling when they heard Jacob’s name. Do they ever not laugh?
I watched the tower of a guy step forward, taking our coach’s spot.
“Coolio fam, let’s do a five minute jog first. Follow me.”, Jacob mused and set himself in motion. One by one the boys started following, with Jacob taking the first spot. I decided to make the backlight. Didn’t want to give them the chance for any funny thoughts while looking at me while running.
As we began jogging in slow laps around the gym, the bald coach suddenly turned on a boombox that he got god knows where from. A familiar up-beat song played loudly through the gymnasium. It quite took me by surprise, I didn’t think a teacher would ever play well known Anime openings for his students. Not that I minded at all. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
“Hell, yeah!” roared Antonio, who was taking over a couple of other guys to catch up with his friend at the front. He almost had to jump to give Jacob a high-five once he reached him. Both in front now, they actually did a great job hyping us all up to follow them. I had to admit, their energy was kind of contagious.
After around five minutes and two songs later, we slowed down and spread around for stretching. Some squats, arm circles, and jumping jacks. To my surprise, Jacob was a decent instructor. It did give me time to settle in—and keep my distance from Raven.

Once warm-up was wrapped, the teacher clapped his hands.

"Nicely done, Jacob," said the coach. "Today we’ll practice some stand and wall flips. Those who already know how to can help others that still struggle with the exercises. Raven, Antonio, Jacob—you’re up."

They all split up into even groups, leaving Raven with two other guys. Both Antonio's and Jacob’s group had four students in total. That meant… I sighed. Would I ever get a break?

The teacher approached me and distracted any further thought processes. Clipboard still in hand.

"Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. Mr. Walser. So, Mirona, why parkour?"

I looked him dead in the eye.

"I wanted something different. I’ve always been curious about it, and I do martial arts, so I’m familiar with flips and balance. Thought it might be a good fit."

He raised an eyebrow. Clearly didn’t expect that.

"Well then. Let’s see what you’ve got. Come on." He turned, then called over his shoulder, "Raven, you three—with us."

Great. I had a feeling. Now Raven would get a front-row seat to watch me crash and burn.

We walked to a big mat that had already been prepared by the others. The three and Mr. Walser positioned themselves across from me, eyes locked in full judgment mode.

Fine. Watch this.

I took one step forward and nailed a standing somersault. Clean landing. No wobbling. Full confidence. 

Jaw. Drop.

Raven and the others were stunned. I couldn’t help but grin when I looked at the coach who was full on smirking in acknowledgement.

"Very impressive, Mirona," Mr. Walser said proudly.

"Wanna try a wall jump?"

"Absolutely."
Together we walked up to another mat that was laid out at the edge of the sports hall. It was placed directly next to the high walls. I saw that the other groups had already started with their wall flip practice a couple of metres from us. Antonio was just demonstrating to his group how to do it the correct way. I’ve watched him attentively to memorise the movement. If I could hold myself to anything, then it was to sports activities.
“You ready?”, Mr. Walser asked next to me. I gave him a quick nod before focusing my attention towards the mat and wall.

I ran forward across the soft ramp, hit the wall with one foot, pushed off, and flipped mid-air. Landed. Perfectly.

Applause. Actual applause, even from across the gym. Felt good.

"That was almost perfect, Mirona. You sure this is your first time?" Walser asked.

"Absolutely," I grinned.

"What kind of martial arts do you do?"

"Karate. My dad taught me.” I shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

He nodded slowly. Then paused. Looked around.

"Where’s Raven?"

I blinked. Huh?

I looked around too. He’s right. There was no Raven anywhere. I could’ve sworn he was with us just a minute ago. The other guys also let their gazes wander, looking at each other and murmuring while shaking their heads like they didn’t have a clue either. Raven had disappeared.

Where the heck did he go?

I didn’t want to care, but... strange. Even for him.

"Ah well, wouldn’t be the first time." Walser said casually as if it was the most natural thing to happen. "Let’s keep going."

And so we did. I flipped, rolled, even cartwheeled like a champ. Got approving looks. No more whistles. Pretty sure they’ve got the message not to mess with Super-Miri. All the physical activity was good for me. It really was just what I needed. The best distraction from all this bodily confusion.

At the end of the period, Walser dismissed us to get changed again. I was fast, or so I thought. As I left the changing room, the guys were already gone. Only Walser waited for me.

"Next time, if the weather’s good, we’ll do some outside training. You can ask one of the boys where we’ll go," he told me.

"Will do," I said with a smile. We both went to leave the gym, crossing the school building while having a little chat. He told me how positively surprised he was about my skills and that he used to do some Aikido when he was younger. It was somehow refreshing to be able to talk to a teacher so casually.
We parted ways after leaving the cafeteria behind. Coach still had to file some papers away before heading home, so I made my way out the main door.

Outside, the sky had already started to darken.

I checked my watch. A little past 7PM?!

Spring had its advantages, but also its cons. During the day it was almost warm enough to walk around in shirts, but evenings still came early and with them the sunset.

And of course: no phone, I remembered. I couldn't even call home.

No, I wasn’t scared of the dark... but for some reason I got a mixed feeling and a cold shiver ran down my spine.

And without any proper explanation, I found myself wondering...

Where the hell had Raven gone?