Chapter Five - Sucker Punch
"Right. Moving on from the track run! Some of you need to improve your time. Maybe even get some tips from a certain someone." Mr Rain looked straight at Roxy and gave a slight wink to her. She knew what he meant by it, but she couldn't shake the feeling of creepiness that crept down her spine. "Next, we are going to be performing the high jump. Now I know that many of you dread doing this, so you refuse; unfortunately, it is part of the sports day event, so someone has to do it. Now, first up, Roxy. I'm assuming you know how to do a high jump?"
"Jump as high as you can over the bar and pray you didn't touch it?" She mockingly said whilst getting into position for a run-up. She tied up her hair from a ponytail into a messy makeshift bun. The bar was positioned about 3ft high from the ground, sitting upon two blue stands with a protective mat for the students to fall onto after their attempt. Roxy stared at the bar, calculating how high she needed to jump to clear it. 'Easy', she thought to herself. Then, taking a deep breath, she sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her, taking tiny breaths with each stride. As she got in position, she launched her body over the bar and crashed safely onto the mat on the other side. The students chatted and whispered amongst themselves, admiring how easy Roxy found the jump.
"Wow! That was effortless!" One of the girls whispered.
"I know!" Replied another, "She wasn't even close to hitting the bar!"
Astonished, Mr Rain decided to raise the bar higher, now 5ft high. "Seeing how easy that was for you, let's bump the height slightly." Mr Rain began to test Roxy's abilities, seeing how far he could push her before she gave out.
Knowing full well she could clear that jump with ease; she didn't even stop to calculate. Instead, she ran at full speed and quickly launched herself over the bar. This time, the students got up and started applauding, amazed by what they had just witnessed and shouted praise and support whilst Mr Rain raised the bar to 7ft high, the very limit of the stands.
Roxy held back, taking time to calculate every little detail she could before sprinting hard and fast towards the bar. Mr Rain braced, making his whole body tense, and waited to see Roxy clear the absurd height.
The students gasped as they watched Roxy's body fly over the bar, only slightly missing it, and roared with excitement when her body landed on the mat and the bar untouched. Danni and Thomas ran over to her;
"Wow! That was incredible, Roxy!" Danni told, her face contorted into a smile.
"How did you do that? You're like some super-soldier! Like Captain America!" Thomas chimed in, clapping hard in praise of Roxy.
"I've been training all my life in this sort of thing. I'm thinking Olympic gold medalist." Roxy told, hiding the valid reason she was so athletic. Then, finally, a distant ringing could be heard from the school.
"Right guys, straight to the changing rooms and onto your next lesson, please!" Mr Rain called out as the students flooded back to the school grounds, "Roxy, could I have a word, please?" Roxy felt her heart go through her chest with every footstep towards Mr Rain.
"Roxy, that performance was incredible!" He began, "Would you ever consider joining our gymnastics team? We compete every year, but with the current students, we've never won. With your abilities on our side, there's no way we can lose! Maybe you can even teach the girls how to perform as well as you did! What's your secret?"
Roxy laughed, brushing her hair behind her ears, "I've been training all my life. My parents wanted me to be an Olympian, so I've put everything into training. As for the club, sign me up! I'd love to join. I need to get ready for my next lesson, though." She began walking off and heard Mr Rain call back, "I'll send some letters for your tutor to give you to look through! Excellent work today!" Roxy giggled as she walked back, knowing her secret would stay safe.
The changing room was still packed with the girls changing and chatting, so Roxy grabbed her stuff and moved to a quiet corner of the room to undress her P.E. clothes and get back into her uniform. She changed quickly, hiding her body as much as possible to prevent students from questioning the scars that littered her body like a child with a pencil. Then, pulling out her timetable, Roxy scanned down the list of today's lessons, D.T.; with no idea where the classroom was, Roxy decided it was best to wait quietly until some of her classmates left to follow them. But in the distance, she heard her name being discussed by a group of girls, sitting waiting for their friends. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying but hearing her name once, then twice, and then three times filled her with so much anxiety that she grabbed her backpack and left the changing rooms almost tearfully.
Roxy swung the door open. Her anxiety-filled head cleared and turned to joy as she saw Tyler waiting patiently for her.
"Hey, you!" He cried, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him, "How was your lesson?" Roxy tried to brush it off, not trying to sound prudent, "It went pretty good. I had loads of fun."
"Pretty good? She was incredible!" A voice called from behind them. Thomas walked out of the changing room, swinging his bag over his back and joining Roxy and Tyler. "She got the fastest run time AND cleared the high jump at 7ft!" Thomas struggled to contain his excitement and looked like he was going to start jumping on the spot.
"Seven feet! That's surely some record!" Tyler exclaimed, walking with them both to their next lesson, D.T.
"Well, you know me, Olympic athlete!" Roxy chuckled and nudged Tyler, hinting at their inside joke about her true identity. They made their way to the D.T. classroom and waited outside for the teacher to arrive.
"So, have you guys got any plans tonight?" Thomas asked, hoping they would say no.
"Well, we are going to the gym later," Roxy began, "I've gotten him into training with me the last couple of days, and I think I may have been a bit too strong on him."
"Ahh! It all makes sense now! You must've pulled a muscle and taken a few days off!"
"Yeah, exactly! The bench press was too heavy, and I needed some time to recover."
Jack, one of the popular students, overheard what the three were discussing. Jack was what Tyler called a pretentious dickhead; tall, well built and wealthy, he used to bully Tyler when they were younger for being the opposite. Now Tyler was around the same height, Jack tended to make comments and digs to keep the fire burning, but Tyler never minded. He brushed the words off and went about his day, knowing one day Jack would get his. Thankfully, today would be that day.
"Little Tyler's started the gym? What were you benching? 10kg?" Jack laughed at his joke, but no one else joined in. Finally, Roxy turned to Jack and looked him up and down disapprovingly.
"And who the fuck are you?" She asked accusingly.
"The coolest kid in school. Surely you've heard about me?" He snottily replied, leaning up against the wall to look cool.
"No. I haven't actually, but for someone who calls themself the coolest kid, I can see why."
Jack looked shocked, unsure how to respond; he stuttered;
"Well, maybe an evening out will show you just how good I am."
Roxy stood millimetres from his face, a disgusted look upon hers;
"I don't like you at all. That said, I wouldn't go out with you, let alone talk to you again, if it was just us left alive. Hell, even if I did want to catch an STD, you'd still be the last person on my list, and god knows you're riddled with them!" Tyler and Thomas couldn't help but laugh at the carnage that Jack was experiencing.
Hurt, he attempted to strike back at Tyler;
"We will see how funny this is when I kiss your girl, Brown."
Just as Jack went in to attempt to kiss Roxy, she grabbed his hand and twisted it around, causing Jack to scream in pain. Then, when he was on his knees, begging her to let go, she brought back her arm and struck him with a hook, sending Jack crashing to the ground with so much force that his tooth fell out and landed next to him.
Thomas, stunned by what he had just witnessed, was speechless—frozen in place like the roots of an oak tree. Roxy walked over to Tyler, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply, proud of what she had just done for him.
Tyler was amazed by the events that took place and kissed her back, their lips moving in sync.