022

"You look like you could fall headfirst into your cereal any second now." Leah munched on her toast and glanced over to him.

Jack on the other hand was eating one spoon after the other without saying anything back. His eyes were literally tearing up right now.

Then a big yawn appeared that literally agreed to her words.

'Damn, I don't even know why I'm so tired.'

He was normally used to staying up long or sleeping just a few hours. So he wondered why it was hitting him so much after getting out of the shower now.

[Your energy reserves had been low for a while now. Even before arriving in Summerville. While your endurance is okayish, your batteries need to be refilled at least to some degree. Not sleeping enough will result in your current state.]

'Well, thanks for that information...Looks like my body was not in peak condition and all the activities are still somewhat too much without the needed rest.'

"Do you feel okay?" Now another question came from his aunt after he didn't seem to answer her straight away.

"I'm fine, don't worry. Just...tired."

She looked at him and nodded. "Okay. Guess you aren't going to help me out today then."

Jack raised a brow to that. "Already trying to cash on my words? I expected the weekends..."

"Some customers that saw you working the day you arrived seemed to be intrigued and ask about you. So..." She smiled a little bit while telling him about the local curiosity.

Jack was a little bit speechless. "And you are just throwing your nephew straight to the hungry sharks? Really? I'm flattered for being such a customer magnet, but please keep it in moderation. Besides, what hungry cougars are we talking here about..."

Leah chuckled now. "They aren't that old. Most are around my age..."

Jack squinted his eyes. "If you are the standard, then I can at least be relieved to know that they look good."

"See, you are a natural. No wonder they are interested in you." Leah seemed to eat her toast with a rather content smile now.

"I haven't even met a single one of them." Jack looked at her with a wry smile. "I will think about it. First I need to stay awake throughout the day. And that alone is hard enough. Anyway, I'm off now."

Having finished now he stood up and started to head off.

"Thanks. Have a nice day."

"You too." While replying he took a glance at his curriculum that he placed on a pinboard near the entrance door and saw PE starting in the morning.

"Oh, for fucks sake. Who in their right mind came to the idea of putting PE right in the morning..." with a deep sigh he went and also took his sportswear with him and headed off to campus.

--

Soon he was standing right in front of his locker and placed a few things inside. The guitar he carried along was also already back in the music room for later.

"Good morning.", a soft voice said to him and Jack looked over.

"G'mornin..." , he said back and looked at the girl next to him.

When Eve got his sluggish response and saw the slight dark bags under his eyes she got a little bit surprised. "Wow, you look like you didn't sleep much?" She even raised a brow.

"Can't say I did. Somehow I ended up staying up a little bit too long after yesterday."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"You mean if I don't keel over after doing PE? Not a f'in clue. Somehow I'm still baffled by whoever came to the idea of putting PE classes at the start of the day. Just the thought of it repels me.

"Oh...Then you should hurry. The teacher doing PE isn't exactly lenient on people being late. And with the coerced changing room it is best to be fast before the girls come in."

"Wait, what? We are sharing the changing space. Why?" Jack was now perplexed.

"Even the showers. So you also better hog one for yourself fast as well. Otherwise, if you are too late, the girls won't let you have one. Anyway, it's because of a broken pipe in the female changing room. They still haven't fixed it." Eve smiled wryly.

"Even those!? Damn...Thanks for the warning. Then I should go now before I miss my chance. See you later, Eve."

"See you later." She waved to him and also went toward her own class.

Jack quickly saw she wasn't exaggerating about anything and so he had to change quickly into the burgundy-colored sports kit and left straight to the field outside after making sure his sports bag is secured inside his locker.

Outside he saw a rather sharply build woman with dyed pink hair and a sweatsuit organizing a few students.

When she saw Jack approaching she looked him up and down.

"You are the new guy, huh? Welcome to the Summerville Sharks. I'm coach Bridget. I'm in charge of your physical education. But first I need to see what you are capable off. Run me 2 miles on the track. I will stop your time. If you don't manage to run them in at least an adequate time, you will get punished."

"Huh? Seriously? Can we maybe do something else?" The pure tiredness in him started to flare up even more after hearing that he had to run a decent amount of track.

"No! Get your arse moving!" Bridget used her whistle and pointed to the track.

Jack could only reluctantly start jogging along.